Chicago Restaurant Week depends on your definition of cheap

Starting tomorrow through February 28, Chicago’s Restaurant Week is back in full swing with 160+ restaurants here, in the suburbs, even Indiana!

Now $22 lunches and $32 dinners aren’t exactly our definition of thrifty‚ unless you pick the right restaurants. For a few, it’s still the typical price of a meal, but in pricier places like NoMI and Il Mulino, you are dining on the cheap, sometimes for more than half off.

Most are three-course, if not more [as in the case of Tizi Mezzoul, 5 courses!]. To help your decisions I’ve a short list of resources:

• OpenTable reservations, free and online
• The Trib’s Phil Vettel has an excellent guide to the week
• A list of the restaurants participating here and in the suburbs [and even Indiana!]
• And if you’d rather cook some of these dishes at home, there also are recipes!