Taste of Chicago

Chicago has pretty much everything I love about a good city:  walkability, great architecture, water access, museums, culture, colleges, interesting neighborhoods, lots of parks and plenty of food and beverage offerings.  There's something about the expanse of Lake Michigan that gives Chicago an airy quality that New York lacks; it's also one of the cleanest large cities I've ever visited -- how do they do that?  How is it not awash in the grit and grime that seems to lay over my city like a blanket?  And where's all the trash?  I was constantly amazed at how sparkling and pristine the public spaces were, even ones that were crowded with Fourth of July revelers. 

Chicago also has a nice energy to it -- it's got a good pace, not as breakneck and neurotic as NYC but still upbeat and forward-looking.  But it's also down to earth and homey and the people are genuinely friendly in an unhurried way.  I'm a huge, huge fan, in short.

So basically, amid some cultural activities, some visits with friends and some athletic events, we did a lot of eating.  Also drinking. 

There was Taste of Chicago, where we braved body-to-body crowds and tremendous lines -- it was somewhat of a miscalculation to go on Friday evening, just before the fireworks crowds converged on Grant Park -- for some deep dish pizza, some rib sandwiches, and a waffle sundae.

After making our way out of the crowds at a glacial pace, we spent some quality time at the Art Institute -- in addition to seeing the Seurat that featured prominently in "Ferris Bueller", we checked out the new modern wing, which is beautiful and has some pieces well worth seeing. 

On the walk back to our hotel (the Park Hyatt, which I would highly recommend -- from the delicious breakfasts to the lap pool to the cloud-like bed, it's tough to go wrong), we realized we were still hungry, so we stopped at a wine bar called Enology and had some flights of wine and a cheese plate.

On Saturday, we hit the Shedd Aquarium and U of C, and then, much to our chagrin, walked all the way to Harold's Chicken Shack only to find it closed for the holiday.  Evidently Harold was unconcerned about depriving patriotic Americans of hot sauce-smothered fried chicken on Independence Day.  Not cool. 

We consoled ourselves with Chicago-style pizza at Edwardo's, and if you have to have a consolation prize, you could certainly do a lot worse than pepperoni and cheese sandwiched between layers of dough and covered in spicy tomato sauce. 

 

Yikes, I look awful.  Get this woman some makeup!  And better sleep!  In my defense, we'd been walking through the rain without an umbrella for hours.  The pizza perked me up:

 

I couldn't quite make it through all the crusts, but I put away half a pizza plus a big salad plus we were going to be eating a fancy dinner a few hours later, so I had to draw the line somewhere.

I'm going to have to finish this later in the week because Flickr is being a pain in my butt, and I'm having trouble concentrating my mental energy on getting Jillian to kick Wes to the curb on The Bachelorette.  Dude, this season has seemed COMPLETELY staged, am I right?  It's ridiculous.  From the Jake/Wes showdown at the Marriott Corral to the totally unsurprising return of Ed, it all appears to be a lot of smoke and mirrors to distract us from the fact that there isn't a whole heck of a lot of chemistry between any of these people.  Why do I do this to myself, season after season?  Oh, ABC.  Damn you and your wily ways.

Comments

[Carolyn J.]

I've really only seen the western edge of the US. Chicago is #1 on my cities to visit next! I am dying to see the art museum and go to a baseball game.

[nonsoccermom]

Ooh, Chicago. LOVE. I also love Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce, which is thankfully available in my local grocery store. Glad you had a good time!!

[Laura]

Well speaking as a native Chicagoan, glad you had a good time! Our mayor has been mayor for, like, 20 years or so, and my personal opinion as to why he keeps getting elected is that he is somehow able to keep the city so clean!

[Jamie]

Ahh! You were in my neighborhood! So happy to hear that you had a good time in our fair city. We love it too. :)

[Suebob]

I'm looking forward to going to Chicago in a couple weeks for BlogHer. Hoping to eat at one of Rick Bayless's Mexican places.

I have no idea why I keep watching the stupid Bachelor shows. This season is particularly awful, rife with duds and I love your running commentary.

Out of the three losers left, I think Ed is dumb as a box of rocks, Reid, albeit cute, is neurotic, and Kiptyn has set off my gaydar from the very beginning. I mean, it is pegged at 10 going BING BING BING!! I bet you $10 that he is the one who ends up with, as the commercials so delicately put it, E.D.

[glenna]

sounds like a great get-away!! So glad you had fun.

[beyond]

you look so happy and beautiful in these photos. -not that you have ever posted a picture of yourself where you're not beautiful!- you know what i mean, right?
i will have to go to chicago one day...