All Eyes On Chicago Restaurants

BEST DATE NEWS

Dec. 14, 2023: Best Date News Volume #53

Good morning and welcome to another edition of Best Date News, Chicago’s most fun and interesting Thursday newsletter.

In today’s newsletter, we dive into Chicago Restaurant Week, Chicago’s best restaurants and restaurant closings, Shot of Art Chicago, Google’s plans for the Thompson Center, Netflix’s cool new streaming report, holiday things to do and more!

Dec. 14: National Holidays

• National Free Shipping Day

• National Monkey Day

• National Roast Chestnuts Day

• National Bouillabaisse Day

Shot of Art Chicago

• The Coolest Date Idea: Shot of Art in West Loop is one of the most fun dates we’ve had in a long time! It’s a cool art studio where you can make art in creative and unique ways, like we did in the above picture where we shot down paint-filled balloons with an airsoft gun. It also makes for the perfect holiday gift!*

Chicago News

• Chicago Restaurant Week: Reservations for the 17th Annual Chicago Restaurant Week just went live! The event runs from Jan. 19 through Feb. 4 and will include over 380 restaurants! Plus, there will be more than 55 new restaurants this year! See the participating restaurants.

• Chicago’s Best Restaurants: A new ranking by OpenTable has produced the 100 top restaurants in the United States by gathering dining metrics from more than 12 million users. While California came in first place with 14 restaurants, Illinois tied for second with six restaurants making the top 100 list.

• Restaurant Closings: Unfortunately, it’s not all good news for the Chicago bar and restaurant scene as there have been a handful of closing announcements recently. We shared a list of six spots that are closing their doors in December.

Just for Fun

• Thompson Center: Yesterday, Google unveiled its plans for their new Chicago office at the iconic Thompson Center building in the Loop. While many changes will be made, they are expected to still maintain a glass exterior and giant atrium inside. See initial renderings.

• The Wieners Circle: Did you know that the Chicago Bears are only one game out of a playoff spot? The Wieners Circle does, and they are giving out a whole bunch of free hot dogs if Da Bears make the playoffs.

• Netflix: The streaming platform made big news this week as it released data to the public about its shows for the first time ever. This new “What We Watched” report will come out twice a year and will rank all of its shows and movies by what was most watched! Learn more.

Holiday Things To Do

• Home Alone House: Did you know that the house that the McCallister family lived in from the Home Alone movie is located just outside of Chicago? It still looks the same and is a cute holiday date idea! See our visit and read the caption for fun facts about the movie!

• Taylor Swift House: Speaking of cool holiday houses in the Chicago suburbs, did you see that a house in Naperville went full on “Swiftmas” with their holiday decorations? It has gone viral and made national news.

• Chicago Holiday Bars: While most holiday pop-up bars in Chicago require tickets, this one has free entry, does an amazing job with decorations and might just have the best Christmas drinks.

Poll Question of the Week

Last Newsletter's Poll Results

Poll Results: Last newsletter we asked you if you would want to cruise on the Chicago River in one of the new Hot Tub boats and 55% of you said that you would.

Today's Sunset in Chicago

The sun will set in Chicago this evening at 4:19pm. Which means the sun sets today at the exact same time that it did last week.

*Indicates a sponsored post from a Best Date Food partner that helps allow us to keep Best Date News free for our readers. If interested in becoming a sponsor, please reach out to [email protected].