Midway Club

Call first. We went on a Thursday. It’s not what I would call an «establishment». No wait staff no menus no nothing. It was basically a temporary restaurant. The flight to Chicago had more cocktail selections. We wasted our time walking here in 20* ass freezing weather

Most people would not go to the Midway Club unless they are somehow affiliated with the University of Chicago. I think that should change, as it’s a lovely place to have lunch, particularly a business lunch. Getting there is half the challenge. Here’s how you do it: go to University of Chicago’s Gleacher Center. Take the stairs or the elevator to the 5^th Floor. Enter what looks like an office. Walk down a long hallway, and you are in the restaurant.
The view of the river, while not without parallel, is exceptional. The food is good and done by Wolfgang Puck. People really like the tuna nicoise and the turkey club, among other items. They also serve great bread basket, something that you see less and less.
Midway Club is a bit on the dressier side at lunch so another option is to go by in the afternoon for a beer. You’ll have the place to yourselves.
Enjoy!

Best kept secret, indeed.
Lunch today was at once excellent and almost too odd to enjoy. In town for a conference at the Sheraton, I checked Unilocal for close by places and decided to give Midway Club a try. I headed up to the fifth floor where a woman sitting at a desk in an office asked me if I was there for lunch– otherwise, there would be practically no way of knowing one was at a restaurant. I followed her directions down a long conference hall and stepped into the club area where I was greeted and asked if I had a reservation. I did not, which didn’t seem to be a problem.
Now for more oddness– I was seated at a 6-​person round table with my single place-​setting (the empty 2-​seaters must have been reserved). I was served an amuse bouche and I ordered an appetizer salad and a pasta entrée. The food was very very good and I couldn’t believe the price given the food, the view, and the obvious business-​class clientele (everyone in a suit– glad I was dressed appropriately). I would have given 5 stars, but my food was served on top of each other, and my bread plate was actually brought 3 minutes after my entrée, which came about 2 minutes after my app. Just strange timing that made me feel rushed.

Love it.:.wait hate it don’t come you shouldn’t ever be able to find this place. Keep it a secret

My deep concern is that potentially after writing this review, that the Midway Club will become so popular, and that the very reasons that I enjoy it so much, will cease to exist.
I write when an establishment moves me on so many physical and emotional levels. I do not write for notoriety, but to share an experience that was so profound, that it yearns to be experienced by others. The Midway Club has moved me for nearly a decade and continues to do so today.
Imagine a place with the distinguished and refined elegance of a Royal estate. Imagine, beautiful vistas, oustanding service and delicious victuals. Imagine a dining room that has probably served more Nobel Laureates than that during the annual Nobel Prize dinner in Stockholm, with a pricetag that would make any Graduate student on a budget gleam with joy. The aforementioned describes The Midway Club.
When I dine, there are so many attributes that shape my opinion of the establishment that I am at. As within my own restaurant, my team and I put forth great effort in ensuring that every patron feels comfortable and exhilirated, while enjoying delicious food and lively conversation in a visual cornucopia. The Midway Club is very similar in the experience that it creates for its patrons; however, does so in a unique understated and humble manner. Please indulge me, as I unfold one of the most amazingly best kept secrets in the Western Hemisphere.
7 Years ago in 2004, I was invited to an intimate lunch meeting at the Midway Club, located on the 5^th floor of the University of Chicago’s downtown Booth School of Business campus. The Business School is ideally situated across the NBC Tower, 1 block East of Michigan Avenue and on the North side of the Chicago River. At the time, that I dined, the Midway Club was exclusively ONLY for University of Chicago Professors, Alumni and special guests (i.e. Nobel Laureates, dignitaries, visiting scholars).
So in 2004, I arrived in my suit and tie, was met by a hostess quietly situated down a very long wood panelled hallway which opened to a magnificent dining room with a vista so bright and grand, that my pupils dilated to absorb every visual delight. The dining room of the Midway Club, was absolutely beautiful — white linen table cloths with conservative flower centerpieces, fine napkins and bone china table settings. Approximately 15 tables that could seat a total capacity of 50 people was the size of the intimate, yet spacious dining room. The views were stunning.
Tall 15 feet long vertical windows adorned the entired dining room. Regardless of the table that one sat at, one could have an obstructed 180 degree East, South and West view of the city landscape. Underneath the tall windows, river boats cruised by, to my right, busy shoppers moved here and to on Michigan Avenue, back and forth over the river bridge… to my left, cars zoomed over the St. Clair river bridge as well as on Lake Shore Drive in the distance. The visuals were so moving, I had a challenging time focusing on the important conversations that I was having. The food was brought by servers impeccably dressed in white and black uniforms with a grace found only in the finest restaurants in the world.
Other patrons, notable academicians and important guests of the university sat around me, engaged in discussions to abstract for my non-​Noble Laureate mind to comprehend at the time. The combination of exclusivity, the academic prestigiousness of the university setting and the air of civility made an indelible mark in my pysche — one that would influence me for many years to come.
Fast forward to 2011, where I am more mature, more jaded and extremely more critical of my dining experiences than ever before, yet I continue to be moved by my experience at the Midway Club. I recently dined at the Midway Club today. I came into the Booth School of Business, took the elevator to the fifth floor, walked down the panelled hallway into the dining room and was met by an exotic and gracious hostess, who proceeded to take out a menu from an antique wooden hutch with 2 large baroque Gargoyles situated on it. I was seated near a window and for in that moment, I imagined myself in a place of refinement and class that was indicative of the lounge in the movie Casablanca or the drawing rooms of the Victorian Era and the boardrooms of a Gilded Age such as those described in The Fountainhead.
I ordered the Tuna Narcois, which for a surprising $ 11.00, came atop a beautifully decorated crustini, topped with calamatta olives, fresh sprouts and a sliced hardboiled egg. This complemented with a wonderful side salad with a complementary assorted plate of artisan breads and cheeses as a starter, proved to be the perfect balance of flavors for a wonderfully lavish meal. Afterwards, I visited the 6^th floor gallery of the 80 Nobel Laureates who are affiliated with University… I also wondered, how many ordered the Tuna ;-)

Gorgeous views. Good drinks. Excellent company.

Public bar, but it seems like a private club.
The Midway Club is on the 5^th Floor of the Gleacher Center, part of the Univ. of Chicago’s Booth Graduate School of Business. It’s open to the public, but no one seems to know it. Nice bar, fabulous view over the river, bar area and seating area, all with the atmosphere of a business club. It’s not open late, but early and mid-​evening it’s a great place to meet fellow business associates or conventioneers. It even has a billiard room in the back.