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Here's a wrap up of Chicago.    I left a little before 11 in order to avoid as much morning rush hour as possible.  I'm a tad over an hour from downtown so it worked out pretty well (construction didn't help things).  I do need to do better parking research as the garage I picked was $51, albeit it was convenient by the big fountain between downtown and the lake, but Chicago is an easy city to navigate.  I might even try to find cheap parking by an L-train stop and ride in.  Oh, well.  I wanted to do Willis Tower first, but the low cloud cover made it pointless.  It did appear clearer later, so I got a timed ticket for 6 pm (Willis is pricy, too).  I then circled north to Riverwalk.  That bit has restaurants and boat rides all along the length, also a very active place other than the lake front.  Navy Pier was after that, just walked up and down the length of the pier, got some good pics of the city.   Then made my way south back to Millennium Park for Cloud Gate (aka, the bean), and the Buckingham Fountain before a late lunch.  The place I went to (posted above) was right by Willis Tower so I chilled there for a few hours (Chicago deep dish pizza also takes a while to cook).  I only stayed up Willis for 20 minutes, being at those heights while not on board a coaster is a bit weird for me, but the view was great.   The last bit was walking from there to check out Soldier Field (which was by far the biggest walk of the day) and finished taking the L-train up to Wrigley (the Cubs did play a day game vs Boston, but by the time I figured my itinerary, the game sold out because the Cubs are good and the Red Sox are a big draw).   Just glad I did what I wanted to do.   SFGAm in the morning.  Then on Saturday, I'm getting up uber-early for the trek to Cleveland. 

If they're going to put in a new restaurant, I've got my eyes set on something going in the KillMart building with indoor seating, some outdoor seating along the KMAA fence, and a new kitchen and serving area added onto the back of the building. There's enough space for it and it would activate that area of the park more. Give the inside some good Victorian-ish decorations and it could even bring some of those vibes back to Coney Mall (lost with the removal of Coney Potato Works and the old ICEE stand).  Or maybe a new quick-service/refresh station either where The Beast Canyon Cold Drinks stand used to be (you could put a bandstand across from it), or on the side of the path just past Diamondback's train shed. Make it bigger than the Shooting Star Cafe. A larger Brewhouse-style indoor restaurant could fit in the Saltwater Circus plot and be very useful for Winterfest.  In all reality, Chicken Shack could have its dining areas enclosed (like was done at Kings Dominion) and a new quick-service location with better flow can replace the Ice Scream Zone if Action Zone ever finally gets redone. 

I've had the idea of a "Farmhouse Kitchen & Grill" style BBQ restaurant across from Rivertown bathrooms. There would be a large outdoor seating area with a small bandstand, and have the Diamondback splashdown be the backdrop of it all.

I thought it was already confirmed a Cheesecake Factory and Burger King 

I think he was asking about what new type of restaurant(s) could come to the park.