Hey there! Anyone want to help me finalize some details for our upcoming trip to Chicago? It's one of the biggest hubs of Pakistanis & Indians in America, and surely some of you have been there and can give me some tips for things to see & do. My family actually lived in the suburbs of Chicago when I was 5 until I was 8, so I do know a bit about the main tourist attractions we're planning on visiting. But of course back then, I never knew about the entire street of Pakistani shops & restaurants. It's so Pakistani-fied that the street sign even says "Mohammed Ali Jinnah Way" after the founder of Pakistan.
Mostly, I am looking for some first-hand advice as to the best restaurants. I've heard there's a Sabri Nihahi there - is it the same as Sabri from Karachi? I've been looking around, but Yelp.com is only so helpful, y'know. We might go to the Devon area more than once, and one thing I'm thinking about doing is maybe making a meandering appetizer stroll. I've never had any of the traditional indian appetizer-y foods like sambhar or dosa. (<---I don't even know what those things mean.) So, what are the more Indian staples that I should try if I have the chance?
If you know of a good, open & inviting mosque to visit while we're there, that would be nice too. Actually, any mosque recommendations are good because we'll be staying over a Friday and would like to attend Friday services somewhere nice.
The reason we're planning this trip is because a year ago, I entered my email address in some promotion Hyatt was having, and I won a free night to use anywhere in the world at any time. We'd originally hoped to use it on the way to Dubai, in the $500+ per night Hyatt there, but we ended up flying through Abu Dhabi instead. I still wanted to use the free night to stay in some insanely expensive hotel that we'd never, ever stay at otherwise. I checked around and narrowed our selections to either New York City or Chicago. We go to NYC fairly occasionally because M has so many cousins in New Jersey, but we've never been to Chicago, and I'm dying the see my old grade school haunts. I like that this trip is like our marriage - half about me, half about him. Checking out my old school, eating some Nihari. New & old, perfect harmony, blahblahblah....
So anyway, we'll be staying at an insanely expensive Hyatt for one night. I didn't want to spend money on plane tickets and stay one night, so I used hotwire.com to book another hotel and I got a fantastic deal at another hotel called theWit for a fraction of the regular price. It also looks soooo nice. In between now and our trip, I'm going to have to invent some sophisticated alternate personality so that I can actually blend in at these hotels!
I'm really excited! Help me make it fantastic, tell me everything you know!
