Chicago’s Public Hotel

I love a beautifully designed hotel (don’t we all?) and Chicago’s Public Hotel is among my stateside favorites. I’ve admittedly only been there for dinner and drinks (two nights in a row, shameless), but it was such a chic spot I’d have happily returned for a third. Famed hotelier Ian Schrager was behind the space’s renovation (formerly the Ambassador East hotel) which was completed in late 2011. Its legendary restaurant, The Pump Room, was a glittering hot spot frequented by the likes of Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland in its heyday. Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten has since reinterpreted the menu’s classics and the result is both decadent and delicious (prosciutto wrapped pork chops, scallops with a brown butter vinaigrette…). A highlight for design aficionados are the restaurant’s chandeliers — a series of steel and fiberglass orbs by Neidhardt that you bet your bottom dollar I instagrammed. The space aims to recapture “the glamour of the 30’s and 40’s with a modern twist,” and as far as I’m concerned, they’ve succeeded. I can’t wait to get back.