I was clearly not paying attention when I booked my flight to Chicago on Easter Morning. I had a hard experience trying to decide what to eat since Rick Bayless' empire closes on Sundays and Mondays. I strolled down to Lou Malnetti's but of course an Italian place wouldn't be open on Easter (More on my actual experience with L.M.'s at the end of my Chicago dining discourse).
A middle-aged but hip woman stopped and asked if I needed any help finding something when she saw me scrutinizing my NFT Chicago guide. I recounted my dilemma and she suggested that I check out Epic Burger just a few blocks up the street.
Epic Burger is sustainable fast non-fast-food option with 6 locations in Chicago, IL. I had an Epic Burger with Buttermilk Blue Cheese, Epic Sauce, Grilled Onions, Lettuce, and Tomato. The burger was great, but the fries bordered on being inedible since they were a bit overdone. I know; some people do go for crispier fries than I do?
In other non-foodie adventuring, I was glad that The Art Institute and Millennium Park were open. Millennium was stunning. I had only 3 hours to explore the Art Institute. Even though I passed by some really interesting looking wings, I combing American and European art after 1900 my only priority. I had a half hour left after that but decided I was sick of looking at art at that point.
Chilled at my hotel watching episodes of The Office on my Ipad until I finally got the call from Teresa M. that she and Curtis R. were ready to swing by and pick me up.
Our first stop was famous Wiener's Circle. From the Wiki:
It is famous for four things: its signature Chicago-style hot dogs, hamburgers and cheese fries, and the mutual verbal abuse between the employees and the customers during the late-weekend hours.[2] On the weekends, the establishment stays open as late as 5:00 AM, drawing many drunken customers who have arrived from bars and clubs.[3]
I had I think Polish with grilled onions and a Chaddardog with raw onions. Here is where it sort of begins to dawn on me that original Chicago dog does not contained pickled hot peppers, but... Okay, here's the Wiki for Chicago-style hot dog (which for the record, I managed to have four of over the course of my trip to Chicago):
A Chicago-style hot dog, or Chicago Dog, is a steamed or water-simmered all-beef frankfurter[1][3] on a poppy seed bun,[4] originating from the city of Chicago, Illinois. The hot dog is topped with yellow mustard; chopped white onions; sweet pickle relish with a large amount of fresh chopped mint leaves mixed in, giving it a bright green color (some fast food chains just use green food dye, however, the mint is essential to get the correct "Chicago Dog" flavor); a dill pickle spear; tomato slices or wedges; pickled sport peppers; and a dash of celery salt.[1][5][6][7] The complete assembly of a Chicago hot dog is said to be "dragged through the garden" due to the many toppings.[8][9]
Oh damn you Wikipedia, none of the dogs I had just came with pickled sport pepper.
In any case, I vaguely remember seeing Wiener's Circle on TV back when I still watched TV on TV. Apparently, this infamous Chicago hot-dog stand has its own reality TV show these days. Last time, Teresa and Curtis went they had to sign waivers.
Teresa was telling me about how W.C. doesn't actually serve milkshakes, but if you are daring or ignorant enough to pay the $20 they demand from you, the employees (a crew of sassy, black women) will take of their shirts and shake their boobs for you.
This young girl (college-age?) walks in and has no idea why they want $20 for a chocolate shake. She eventually leaves to cross the street and get a shake at McDonald's, but I do see her come back. For what reason, I know not why.
Monday (2)
Monday is a slow food today. We spend nearly all day chilling in Teresa's neighborhood of Oak Park. We try going to a cafe there that's actually supposed to have perfect french macaroons , but they were out of them. We had some other sweets and I had a Raspberry Nestea. I didn't feel the need to jot down the name of the place.
We go on a walking tour of Frank Lloyd Wright-designed private residences in the neighborhood he lived in for much of his life, Oak Park. We would have gone on the tour of his house and studio, but we got there too late. Interestingly enough Teresa used to go to school with someone who once lived in one of the houses we saw. And although she's lived in Oak Park since she was in third grade she had never taken either of these tours.
Right before we go to look at Unity Temple (Too bad we showed up too late to look inside. Alas, an activity saved for my next trip to Chicago.), we check in on Teresa's job at yet another Crumbs franchise to see if she can't pick up a free cup of coffee. Through a certain amount of kismet we luck out and Teresa gets a couple coupons for a free meal at Noodles & Company for people who work in retail on Lake Street.
So since we were at a chain restaurant that's pretty much spread across the country in a diagonal swath (which for the record does not include Massachusetts), the food wasn't terribly exciting haute cuisine. Me and Curtis both wound up getting the Japanese Pan Noodles with Marinated Steak (the suggested meat). Hell, I know I like all sorts of things with udon noodles in them. Teresa had sacrificed both her coupons to us and got the Tomato Bisque (which was quite awesome actually). This may have been a better option for Curtis since he had just that day gotten his stitches removed after a wisdom tooth extraction.
Since they had neglected to execute Curtis' request that they leave out the sesame seeds (He shouldn't have seeds due to his procedure.), Teresa elected to get another one of the same dish for free I think. Even without the seeds, Curtis had trouble eating the food. Perhaps over-ambitious after I assume at least a week of pudding, mashed potatoes, and ice cream.
No more food was consumed on Monday except for brandy-soaked cherries at the Matchbox (see "Chicago Bars" entry).
Tuesday (3)
My stomach groaned with food today. I largely blame the fact that I tried to cram two meals I had to have at the end of the day. Who knows.
Even though Morgan M. didn't have the time during my trip (She did kindly host me on both Monday and Tuesday nights.), she suggested that I start my day off by taking the 66 (it runs across Chicago Ave) to Hoosier Mama Pie Company. Good advice, Morganza.
Should I go with sweet? Should I go with savory?
I'm having breakfast after all, and breakfast should taste like dessert I read somewhere. Probably Michael Pollan.
I wind up on the side of savory and get a slice of pork, sage, and apple pie. Quite a good decision with iced coffee with no ice. Considered getting a slice of one of their many sweet pies wrapped up to bring to the Lincoln Park Zoo, but I wind up deciding to not overdo things. Plenty of other food to eat throughout the day as I will soon relate to you.
Barely got to Hot Doug's in time. For some reason I thought if a train station stopped at the same avenue that would put me in reasonable proximity of my intended destination. How wrong I was...
I probably swung through the door at 4 PM on the dot. I was greeted with the usual Midwest hospitality with the addition of, "I don't mean to rush you, but we are closing soon." A pause and then the guy adds, "Well I guess I do need to rush you." I shut my eyes to the specials and focus on the dogs.
I get a "The Dog" (R: as advertised, a plain dog) and an "Anna Kendrick" (L: "Fire dog. Mighty Hot."). Decision made, I let my eyes linger on the menu a bit and it takes me about ten seconds to tell the guy to add sport peppers to each dog. Both hot dogs were quite good. It's funny that I will judge a dish's spiciness by my first impression, but the A.K. did build up nicely in my mouth.
Skipped the fries and got a small Cherry Coke. Maybe next time I go to Chicago I'll make sure be there on a Friday or Saturday (Foie gras fries and dogs), but it's kind of hard when they close so early every single day.
Also, it's kind of the middle of nowhere out there.
A cute parody of "American Gothic" I found on the back wall of the woman's bathroom.
Yes, this was apparently at the Art Institute; no, I didn't see it in real life. Just souvenirs.
And now for the sheer highlight of my dining tour of Chicago. Honestly, my experience at Rick Bayless' Frontera Grill was the sheer highlight of any of the dining experiences I have ever had PERIOD. I scraped the all the sauce of both my street food and entree plates even after I had reached the point of utter fullness.
Occasionally I closed my eyes during the meal so I could focus deeply on the gorgeous smokiness of each bite:
"Enchiladas Potosinas: Chile-spiked corn-masa turnovers with spicy homemade fresh cheese. Pepita-avocado mash, Tamazula hot sauce, crema drizzle, arugula salad. $9.00 "
"Shrimp in Chilpachole: Grilled fresh Florida shrimp, chilpachole broth (chipotle, epazote, shellfish broth), red chile-roasted potatoes, crunchy chayote, crispy epazote. $25.50"
Both dishes were out of this world delicious. This was the first time I have EVER had PERFECTLY cooked shrimp so that was a revelation.
I'm not sure the chayote was actually crunchy though, but it would be an ABSOLUTE SIN to visit Chicago and not eat at one of Rick Bayless' several outposts (including O'Hare's Terminal B). You can dress up and drop a shitload of money at Topolobampo or easily not spend any more than more than $20 at XOCO. The choice is up to you, but my answer would be I'd love to go to both. However, I'd only go to Topolo for lunch because, shit, I'm not made of money and I don't exactly have the clothes to dress formally.
Wednesday (4)
So I was planning on just going to XOCO before flying out before realizing taking my last chance to eat Chicago deep-dish trumped yet another Rick Bayless experience (Though I did manage to have a side salad [Still amazing even for an airport side salad!] and cocktail at O'Hare.
Though I got to O'Hare in time to, um, do what I mention in the above parenthetical, I was scared and anxious about making it there in time after chatting with Morgan for a bit. My face fell when I finally got to Lou Malnati's on State Street and was told that it would be a half hour if I wanted to place an order for a "Malnati's Chicago Classic."
But of course the restaurant is prepared for the tourist on a mad dash back to the airport and had some sausage pizzas ready to go. I devoured it in the waiting area of the restaurant, a more appropriate venue than the closest bus shelter.
To sum it up, I managed to eat the city of Chicago in 4 days and I highly suggest you do the same. Perhaps you shouldn't attempt what I did on Tuesday with the back-to-back Hot Doug's and Frontera Grill (Argh, so full...), but hopefully this proves to be a helpful though hardly definitive guide to dining Chicago-style.
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