PRICE:
Frommer's Highly Recommended

Shaw's is a local institution -- if you ask average Chicagoans where to go for seafood, chances are they'll point you here. The bright, busy dining room has a lively vibe, and the extensive menu should suit all tastes (the appetizers, for example, run the gamut from popcorn shrimp and fried calamari to crab cakes and exotic sushi combinations). And lest you wonder about ordering seafood when you're so far from an ocean, Shaw's does fly in seasonal seafood daily. You can even order fresh oysters according to their provenance (Nova Scotia, British Columbia, and so on). Main courses include Alaskan king crab, sautéed scallops, Texas stone-crab claws, crab cakes, and french-fried shrimp; you can also take advantage of various (expensive) surf-and-turf combinations. Shaw's trademark dessert, Key lime pie, suggests the restaurant's subtle Key West/Papa Hemingway theme, as do the suave strains of such 1930s tunes as "Begin the Beguine" playing in the background. On Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday nights, there's live jazz and blues in the lounge.

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's Chicago 2009, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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