<p>Since you are stating your visit is in July, I think that may be relevant, depending where you come from.
The first time I visited Evanston and NU, it was for less than 24 hrs on a layover and it was 4th of July. OP, if you are from a different climate, be aware it may be extremely hot and humid in July - I was pretty surprised as our climate is different. I had a light jacket in hand (as I came out of the aircon), which was ridiculous and actually tiring to lug around.
Walking around NU campus and Evanston is usually very enjoyable, it is scenic, as I have found since then, but I felt pretty exhausted on that visit…we walked first (before getting any refreshment), which I regretted as we were then about a mile from it (refreshment options) when we really got thirsty/sweaty, as we walked north “up” the campus. True, stuff was shut. Campus services will be open for your visit (in contrast to our visit) so this won’t be as much of an issue for you, just a minor fyi about the weather.
Walking along the lakeshore is nice, beautiful view of downtown skyscrapers.
Plenty of restaurants of all varieties in Evanston, easy to find walking around. I have experienced good service and good food.
I have also been pleased at the courteous service at the local Evanston hotels as well as in downtown Chicago. I have found people appreciate my business, which is something I like.</p>
<p>A few good restaurants downtown Evanston (near Northwestern):</p>
<p>Dave’s Italian Kitchen - inexpensive, generous portions, if you like cheese, get the baked spaghetti</p>
<p>Pineyard - yummy Chinese food!</p>
<p>Buffalo Joes - fast food style - wings are their specialty!</p>
<p>I concur with the Walker Brothers discussion above for breakfast. It’s a short drive from downtown Evanston. Try the apple pancake or French crepes if you like sweets for breakfast. The omelets are also amazing</p>
<p>[Margarita</a> European Inn - Evanston, IL](<a href=“http://www.yelp.com/biz/margarita-european-inn-evanston]Margarita”>http://www.yelp.com/biz/margarita-european-inn-evanston)</p>
<p>We go to Walker’s every time that we go to Chicago (2-3 times a year) even though my inlaws live in the Western suburbs. Great waffles and pancakes! Jackuk</p>
<p>Walker Bros is great, but beware of long lines. It requires a car to get there. Another brunch option that is walkable from campus / Orrington is Le Peep. I think it’s on either Church or Davis a block west of Sherman.</p>
<p>Yes, we stood on line at Walkers for about 20 minutes at around 10:30 a.m. on a Sunday. (The funny part was that our son remarked that he had never stood on line at Walkers before because he didn’t usually go there “so early”). Le Peep is also great (sometimes lines there too but shorter - we’ve never waited longer than 10 minutes even on big campus weekends).</p>
<p>When we did these visits, we flew to midway and stayed in the loop. Rented a car for the day to drive to NU and took taxis back and forth to UChicago. We did some sightseeing in Chicago during the evenings we were there–we were lucky and happened to be there the evening the Art Institute was free. If you are at all interested in fossils and minerals, check out Dave’s Down to Earth Rock Shop in Evanston.</p>
<p>We will be planning the same type of trip in the near future for our daughter. The recent mob violence is a bit off putting. Should this be a real concern, especially if she ended up at either school?</p>
<p>“The recent mob violence is a bit off putting. Should this be a real concern, especially if she ended up at either school?”</p>
<p>The violence was at the campus downtown Chicago (law & med school, I believe), not the Evanston campus. They are not near each other.</p>
<p>This happened in downtown Chicago (not in Evanston) at the edge of the medical/law campus by the Museum of Contempory Art, down the block from the Watertower. The city’s best hotels (the Ritz Carleton, Four Seasons, Park Hyatt, Drake, etc.) all surround the area. Generally incredibly safe. This may be the last place you’d expect to see a crime committed (anywhere), but then of course crime happens everywhere.</p>
<p>What mob violence?</p>
<p>[Emanuel</a>, police respond to mob attacks - Chicago Tribune](<a href=“Emanuel praises police response to mob attacks”>Emanuel praises police response to mob attacks)</p>
<p>When we did the same trip we decided to do it as my son would have to do it - with no car. We stayed in Chicago as we were doing UC first. Took the L to the campus and did the visit and the next day took the L to Evanston. Took the L to and from the airport as well so he could get a feel for how transportation would be if he decided to go to school at either place. I let him figure it out and he loved being in control. We went in the winter so the weather was less than great, and public transportation was wonderful. We also made sure that after his afternoon visit to UC we went back there at night to see how comfortable we were with the walk from the station to campus and walking around campus at night was [its a lovely area surrounded by a not so nice area…]. He got into both schools but decided on a NYC school instead up by Harlem. When we visited NYC we also let him be in charge of transportation - including the taxi and the subway. It gave us piece of mind that he could handle anything.</p>