Welcome back to the Second City! My two current favorites are Willow and Stitch (both on Damen) but there are a LOT of great finds. La Porte Rouge on Division, perennial favorite Jayson Home & Garden, Caste on Halsted and, if you're up for a field trip, Jubilee Furniture in Carol Spring has some FANTASTIC modern and post-modern vintage. Another favorite spot for finds/details is the American Barn Company on Clark. I found some vintage tin ceiling tile, painted it and am about to hang it as a headboard. If you're shopping in Bucktown/Wicker Park and need a break, Violet Hour on Damen has some of the best cocktails in the city and is still in its first year. And if you want company- send me an email!

Also head up to Andersonville and Edgewater, up on the north side of the city. There are several great shops and restaurants. In Edgewater there's several great antique malls along Broadway: Edgewater Antique Mall and Broadway Antique Mall. To eat try Indie Cafe, an inexpensive, but delicious sushi/thai place. The newly opened Uncommon Ground is another good place for dinner and fun cocktails.

In Andersonville, definitely check out Scout! I think it is probably the best store in Chicago. Larry Vodak, the owner, has a fantastic eye and always puts together an amazing collection of finds. His window displays always make me stop in my track and drool! Check out White Attic, Urbanest, Brownstone Antiques, Women and Children First (an awesome book store), and Gethsemane Garden Center can't be missed. There are a ton of great restaurants in Andersonville, just throw a stone and you'll hit one. Jin Ju (Koren) is a great place to go for a night out. You must try the Hopleaf, a fantastic Belgian bar. Pasticceria Natalina is an amazing Sicilian bakery. The Swedish Bakery is a neighborhood classic. The Coffee Studio is a new, but very hip coffee place for when you need to fuel up.
There aren't too many places to stay around this part of town, but there's a nice little B&B tucked into the neighborhood in Edgewater called House 5863.

Try Posh on State St. and Elements on Wells for shopping and Bistro 110 on Pearson for lunch or brunch.

Penelope's on Division is fun and Milk and Honey across the street is great for brunch - the best coffee!

so exciting! i can't wait to hear what you uncover. i agree with the earlier posts but my personal faves are sprout home, porte rouge, rr #1, pavilion, jayson home & garden, le magasin and scout. have fun!!

I wish I'd had this info two weeks ago on my first visit to Chicago.I had a marvelous time with my two days of sight seeing. We mostly hit the shopping like Filenes Basement and Nordstrom's Rack. (Near Michigan Ave.) You HAVE to go to the Eleven City Diner on 11th and Wabash. Oh.My.Goodness.

I absolutely love the city of Chicago. Please find/visit the
Bongo Room. You won't regret it!

You'll no doubt be eating in the West Loop District where there's several places with great food with over the top decor like Alhambra, Carnivale, Red Light just to name a few. While you're there you could head to Green Home Chicago Design Center on Morgan. It's Chicago's hottest retail store with great green one stop shopping for finish materials, furniture and works by local artists.

OK, I'm biased, but all you need to do is get a copy of Chicago Home + Garden, the city's authoritative source for home design! See what I mean at chicagohomemag.com

Furniture/decorative objects:

I second the Scout recommendation.
Scout is next door to the White Attic, which is well worth a visit.
A little further west, in Ravenswood, lies Patina, which is a relatively new shop that has reasonable prices and is stylistically similar to Scout.
Patina is at 4907 N. Damen.
RR#1 at Chicago and Ashland has many fans.
I highly recommend Sprout Home, which is probably already on your shortlist.
Pavilion Antiques has a fine collection of mid-century designs.

While you are in Andersonville, you must visit Pasticceria Natalina at 5405 N. Clark. It's an Italian pastry shop with an emphasis on Silicy. Call and speak to Nick or Natalie, the owners, about their hours of operation during your visit. They are lovely.

Food and drink:

Spacca Napoli is a fantastic pizzeria made in wood-burning ovens. It's in Ravenswood, so you could easily eat there before or after visiting Scout et al. The Hopleaf is a great place to drink Belgian beer and eat moules and frites, but it's almost always rammed.

Southport Grocery is an excellent place for brunch. Try the grown-up Pop Tart, which is filled with jam and mascarpone.

You should really have a drink or two at The Violet Hour.

We have terrific Thai food in Chicago, and TAC Quick is my top choice. Avec is a an absolutely brilliant small-plates restaurant.

Souvenirs:

You should take back Intelligentsia or Metropolis coffee, caramels from Das Caramelini (available at the two Provenance food shops), chocolate bars from Vosges, Carol's cookies, and cheese from Prairie Fruits Farms (available at Pastoral and Fox & Obel). I have tried most of our local foodstuffs, and these are the best of the lot.

Lastly, please e-mail me if you need assistance. I would be glad to provide further recommendations.

Enjoy your visit.

Molly

Welcome to Chicago, Rita! As an eco and fair trade advocate in Chicago, I love the new Greenheart Shop in River North (it's both eco-friendly and fair trade gifts and home accents in a warm decor makes it a fun place to enjoy the experience of shopping).

Secondly, if you're heading to the popular and indie-shop supported Andersonville (I saw another posting for Scout which is an EXCELLENT shop), I'd walk another block north to the Andersonville Galleria. The Galleria is a retail space that houses 40-45 smaller, indie artists and artisans in their own retail spaces. You'll find wonderful wall art, vintage lighting and home accents, jewelry, candles, and eco-friendly fashions like denim jeans, organic shirts and handbags made from rubber tires. It's a great place to find a lot of different gift ideas or home decor items!

Hope this helps - and let me know if you need any more ideas! I love your magazine and think either of these would be fun for your readers to learn about, too!

-Meg

For a great overview of the city, go to metromix.com. It is hosted by the Chicago Tribune and has all info on restaurants, shops, new bars, etc. It will give you an idea of the various neighborhoods too. The Art Institute is great and you might pick something up in their shop. Lincoln Park, Old Town, Wicker Park/Bucktown are great for shops. You should plan a trip back when all the art and street fairs are going on in the summer - you can't beat them!

I second some of the spots already mentioned. Scout, Le Magasin, Jayson Home & Garden (make sure to go downstairs to the outlet), Sprout Home - all excellent. My current new favorite is Urban Remains @ 410 N. Paulina. It's architectural salvage and they have some fab.u.lous finds! That whole West Town hood has some cool off-the-beaten-path salvage/industrial rescue type warehouses. Have fun!

The Afternoon, located in Oakbrook Mall in Oakbrook, IL., is a wonderful little shop with all things creative & artsy, from books, trinkets, stationery, decor, jewelry, gifts, and home goods...they have THE coolest stuff. Walk in that store and you'll have a hard time walking out without at least buying a few things and spending at least an hour in there. A must visit! It's right off of Route 83 and Butterfield Rd., about 20 min. West of Chicago. Have a blast!!!

I'm so pleased to hear that you're going to my home town. I can't wait to hear what you think of it! I agree with all the other suggestions, and would like to offer one other recommendation of an off-the-radar spot for really cheap, really great antique and vintage finds: the Ravenswood Antique mart. It was recently covered by Apartment Therapy Chicago. The photo of recovered slipper chairs makes me drool! I would love to own those. Here's the url: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/ravenswood/shopping-in-chicago-ravenswood-antique-mart-0208-040860

ok, wow what can i not say about my city. it is the second city but second to none when it comes to dining and shopping and living.

ok, so eating out..

i love green zebra which has in recent months added brunch service is my all time favorite for dinner..

for a funky urban dining experience, earwax is a must..

and yolk is breakfast central (crazy on the weekends)

i live in wicker park/bucktown so i am a bit partial to the area and the wonderful small shops that run up and down damen, milwaukee and division..

so, i wont single any particular one out but no trip to chicago is complete without a stop in this area..

oh and concur andersonville/edgewater is another area with the most fab shops..i love walking that street and especially when they have the sidewalk sales..

i am one of those natives who tries to stay away from central downtown on most days but when i have to i prefer the quiet streets like wells and lasalle in the river north area and the new shopping mall on roosevelt and canal is a favorite and growing area

i am a crafter so, i love paper source, dick blick, pearl and the needle shop..

i have at times booked a room just to get away from the kids & the dog and my partner and i last stayed at the W city center..it is fab with a sleek cool little bar ..

i am sure you will have a fabulous time, are you sure you have booked enough days for your trip? there is so much to see.

My recommendations mimic others already posted: Jayson Home and Garden on Clybourn in Lincoln Park, Hollywood Antique Mall in Andersonville and Stitch on Damen in Bucktown. Please stop by Blue Tux boutique on Damen in Bucktown while you're in the neighborhood. Many, many back issues of Domino were the inspiration for our store design. Safe travels to Chicago!

WOW, Rita!

I just had to comment about the wonderful enthusiasm of your readers! They've given you the most amazing travel guide!
My husband went to Chicago on business a few months ago and came back wanting to relocate there. I've never been, so he's taking me in the fall and I am going to use all of the tips given by your commentors so that I can get to the real Chicago - the city that inspires so much love from people who live there and visit ... I can't wait!
Thank you, Rita and Rita's peeps!

Bleeker Street - 773 862 3185

Ok, So i am biased. I own a home store in Chicago that Domino has actually held events at.
DESIGN SHOPPE at the corner of Armitage and Fremont in Lincoln park.
We would love it if you swung in for a quick visit to check us out. We are a home interiors store that also has a design center and offers interior design services, window treatments, etc.... we have a collection of new and vintage accessories as well as hostess gifts. I hope we have all of our new spring inventory when you are in town.
Also check out the new Color Lab store on Armitage. They custom make all of your makeup for you.
We hope to see you soon!
Enjoy Chicago!
Meg

Gosh - thank you all SO much for this information. i don't know if you realise how incredibly valuable and enormously helpful it is for me when i arrive for the first time in a city with this kind of insider information. Will be checking it all out next week. Monday and Tuesday. x

You must go to Avec for dinner. The pork shoulder will change your life. If you happen to be a vegetarian the focaccia is equally mind-bending.

All these places that people recommend are well and good but there is a great way to find all these places with a chicago retail map. It has all the retailers mapped out and on the back it lists them in categories with address and phone and hrs. Its really great if you want to hop around to places you've heard of or even ones you haven't. I bought mine at the walgreens on the mag mile but you can buy yours before hand on their website, which also lists all the stores in chicago plus the burbs if your out that way. Try it I've found it totally helpful, www.seemoreshopping.com also called the seemoreshopping map inside local downtown walgreens.
Have a great time!

You must check out Assemblage on Jefferson, just west of the Loop. It's brand new and I don't think anyone's covered it yet. Gorgeous vintage furniture. Then head to Avec, Blackbird or Sepia for simple yet beautiful food.