Classic French food at nonclassic prices makes for a winning combo at this quaint little spot. Neighbourhood types who know a good deal when they see it come here to feast on all the standards from France. The lyonnaise salad is a winner. Other faves on the short menu range from escargot to chocolate marquisse (a chocolate mousse without the egg whites).

The king of Chicago cooking, Trotter's eponymous restaurant, set in a 19th-century building in Lincoln Park, takes seasonal ingredients in note-perfect directions. Pastry Chef Della Gossett makes the final act here as memorable as the first. Reservations are essential and often required months in advance.

Those who know hot dogs come to Huey's. Regularly ranked among Chicago's top dine-and-dash greasy spoons, this gregarious hole-in-the-wall makes a perfect pit stop if you're still peckish after a dainty meal at one of Andersonville's upscale eateries. The shakes here are also legendary.

One of the world's premier museums, the Institute has a collection that spans 5000 years of art - its Impressionist and Post-Impressionist collection is second only to France's. Excellent maps are available free at the information booths. The bronze lions flanking the steps are Chicago icons.

The collection is world renowned; some of the highlights include Grant Wood's American Gothic, Edward Hopper'sNighthawks and Georges Seurat's A Sunday Afternoon on La Grand Jatte.

Chicago's most-visited tourist attraction, Navy Pier will blow the minds of children under 12. Its high-tech rides, hands-on fountains, kid-focused educational exhibits, fast-food restaurants and trinket vendors will transport your child into an overstimulated, joyful state. Oldsters will get a thrill from the giant Ferris Wheel and its great views.

A landmark of American popular culture and music, Chess Records was the recording studio where, in the 1950s and '60s, artists such as Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Howlin' Wolf, Willie Dixon, Chuck Berry and the Rolling Stones made some of their best music. Today it's a blues museum, and, in summer, blues acts perform outside.

If you love the genre or any of its offspring (i.e. rock and roll, hip-hop and a few other major musical movements from the last 50 years), you better stop on by, but make sure to call and book first.

Seventh inning stretch and the crowd belts out a beer-soaked version of 'Take me out to the Ballgame.' There's only one place in the world you could be - Wrigley Field. Home to the Chicago Cubs, Wrigley Field draws tourists year-round who pose under the classic neon sign over the main entrance to this baseball shrine.

This ivy-covered stadium, one of the oldest in America, is described by some as being as 'big as a pillbox'. It's an old fashioned ballpark, where the scoreboard is still changed by hand and where fans fought tooth and nail to prevent the stadium being kitted out with lights. If you don't have tickets, or don't want to see the Cubbies lose (as they're prone to do), stroll over to one of the streets next to the stadium, chat with the guys who hang around all day waiting for a ball to be hit out of the park or go sink a beer in one of the neighbourhood sports bars. Notice how the surrounding flats have adapted their roofs with bleachers for watching games. Players take fans on tours of the stadium several times during the season.

It's not been the world's tallest building for years but there's no doubt that the Sears Tower has become a symbol of Chicago. On busy days you may have to line up to get to the Skydeck but the view from the top is spectacular. It even makes up for the hammy film, entitled Over Chicago, that is force-fed to long-suffering queuers.

You're damned right they got the blues at this premier club, owned by the master himself. Seven nights a week you can hear some of the world's best guitarists crowing that their woman done gone left 'em or that they woke up that mornin' feelin' blue. Sure, there's a touristy feel some nights, but you're almost guaranteed a great show.

Before the show, you can order up all kinds of burgers, including the 'Damn Right Burger'. Then you might like to enjoy some some Chicken Fried Chicken, some gumbo, or some 'Gravy Fries', which is a pound of homemade fries, smothered in 'Gramma B's Homemade Milk Gravy'.

This legendary ensemble netted a Tony Award in 1985 and put Chicago theatre on the map. It's given the world such actors as Gary Sinise and John Malkovich, and such is the cred of the place that both return for the odd performance. It's very much an actors' company, showing works like True West and David Copperfield.

Though its clientele consists mostly of gay men in their 20s, Spin has also become a popular destination for hetero men and women looking for a fun place to shake it on the weekends. Serious dancers head to the main floor, while those looking to chat and cruise orbit the large bar by the club's entrance.