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Nothing beats lunching and people-watching with gal pals at Cru Cafe & Wine Bar’s outdoor tables, says Michelle Elliott, 36 (from right), who met friends Sun Segura, Helene Ellingsoe and Inger Klixbull (with baby son Erik) there for salad and sandwiches and — for some of them — mimosas on a recent weekday afternoon. “I love people-watching,” says Elliott, adding that the downtown foot traffic also kept her 11-month-old daughter, Madison, happily occupied. “I think Chicago is the best place to do that. It’s so cosmopolitan.” Go during the week to snag a great table, she says, adding “that is the biggest secret.” Cru Cafe & Wine Bar, 25 E. Delaware Pl.; 312-337- 4001. — Trine Tsouderos
MOST LAID-BACK BEER GARDEN
Sheffield’s in Lakeview, a 10-minute walk from where Joe Ribando (center) lives, is a place he says is “not real pretentious” and “a good mix of people.” Ribando, a University of Chicago MBA student, comes here about once a month as part of a Notre Dame alumni get-together. And as summer draws near, Sheffield’s beer garden is a good place to catch up with his fellow Fighting Irish — new jobs, travel plans, the Cubs, how Brady Quinn got dropped to the 22nd pick in the NFL draft. “The beer garden is real nice,” the 28-year-old Ribando says, “if you wanna get away from the bar smoke a bit.” Sheffield’s, 3258 N. Sheffield Ave.; 773-281-4989, www.sheffieldschicago. com. — Kevin Pang
AWESOME-EST VIEWS
Steven Wittenberg was eating with pal Mike Koenigsberger at NoMI on the seventh floor of the Park Hyatt Chicago recently. “We are both lawyers who work in the area and we go to the garden for lunch several times each summer. Even in the middle of a workday, you come out here and you feel like you are on a little vacation,” says Wittenberg, who says the duo favors the sushi, calling it “probably the best in Chicago. We usually get the tuna, ebi and the NoMI roll.”
Adds Koenigsberger, “It’s such a relaxing atmosphere and the food is top-notch, and you can almost imagine you are somewhere like South Beach. Plus, up here you get enough blue sky so that you can almost forget you’re in the city. And if you’re into architecture, you get this great downtown view.” NoMI, Park Hyatt Chicago, 800 N. Michigan Ave.; 312-239-4030. — Monica Eng
THE COUNTRY-EST VIEW
What do four girls do when they get together and lunch at a Greek restaurant? They gossip, duh. Meredith Dodson (from left), Rachel Stevens, Chrissy Larson and Michele Griffin are professional meeting planners. But they weren’t at Opa! Estiatorio to plan meetings. The topic of the day included the movie “Ocean’s Thirteen,” you know, with all those rich hot guys who always seem to be in Us Weekly. Oh, and Meredith’s mom once had a run-in with Jennifer Aniston — who was going out with Vince Vaughn, and she was married to Brad — anyway, Meredith’s mom thought Jen was just a doll. The four lunch at Opa! Estiatorio at least every other week. And they always get the same thing without fail: the Greek salad, they say, is to die for. Olives, cucumbers, feta cheese, capers, onions, tomatoes. Now that it’s nice outside, it’s perfect to sit on the patio, the trees and lake behind you, and just talk for a few hours about, you know, whatever. Opa! Estiatorio, 950 Lakeview Pkwy., Vernon Hills; 847-968-4300, www.oparestaurant.com. — Kevin Pang
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