Musing in Chicago

Last week I happened to be in Chicago for training and having the evenings free to wander around(on foot) I of course decided that food would be a good way to pass the time. Here are a a few pics and my impressions of a few of them.

Sunday Night I was on my own and hungry for a deep dish Chicago - style pizza and as I was staying downtown in the Streeterville section I figured there was a good chance I would be able to find one.

*Travel tip #1* In an unfamilar city? make friends with a couple people - front desk,

bellstaff, and housekeeping. They best can be your best resource and make your trip more pleasant.

So I asked the front desk guy, who had an uncanny resemblance to Twins centerfielder Denard Span, where to go. His answer? Girodano's. He said it was his favorite, it was within walking distance, and he had a 20% off coupon.

Off to Superior street I go to order the house supreme( as recomended by Denard Span's doppelganger), which brings us to
*Travel Tip # 2 - if you are a single diner most places will let you sit at the bar and order off the full menu even without a reservation.

anyhoo..... I ordered the small supreme as it was to feed 1-3 people (yeah right).

1 small salad -ruffage is very, very, important - 2 goose island lagers - gotta stay hydrated- and 2 slices(slabs) of pizza later I am barely able to make the 4 block walk back to the hotel but when I did I did offer my take away to Denard and his co-workers which they gladly accepted.(see tip #1)

Pizza Notes  - crust nice flavor, corn meal texture - sauce a little bland, good slightly thick consistancy- fillings spicy sausage, peppers, onions delicious - and geezy was it cheesy. Well worth the 30 minute wait the pizza takes to bake.

Day 2 - The Weber Grill

As a "tourist-y" destination restaurant there were a lot of choices steaks, burgers, seafood, etc... I opted for the 3 meat grilled platter with sausage, brisket, and a house specialty grilled meatloaf with bbq beans and a bleu cheese, pecan cole slaw.

The meal was served with a really thick, sweet, bbq sauce, pretzel rolls with honey and cheddar cheese butters and I ordered a Weber Grill Backyard Ale ( again for hydration sake)

The meal was above average with the meatloaf being the star.

*Travel tip #3* If a restaurant denotes something as a house specialty they probably make it well and it is a fair bet that it will be good.

Tuesday- I was really looking forward to try a place called Coco Pazzo that I had read and heard about. It is a place similar to what I would love to run - higher end but still casual with the food being the main event , good wine good service. unfortuneately, Coco Pazzo was a little farther than we wanted to walk after a long day of training and as there were seven of us that wanted to eat together we really didn't want to coordinate cabs. Luckily for us the Coco Pazzo Cafe was 2 blocks from our hotel.

As I said, there were seven of us and we had not made a reservaton.

*Travel tip #4* If you have a group and no reservation, go early. If you don't mind eating around 6 pm, many places will seat you to fill in the "dead spaces" before the dinner crowd starts coming in.

My dinner for the evening was a rabbit ragu on fresh papardelli pasta which was really good and not a sauce I would usually ma.ke at home

And for dessert a semi- freddo made with cocoa and hazelnut with creme Anglaise

nothing more need be said.

On the last night our group of merry mucnchers decided to try another iconic Chicago pizza place just down the street from Girdano's  called Gino's east(not sure if there is a north, south, and west).

This time there were six of us so the occasion called for two pizza a sausae supreme and pepperoni.

as you can see the Gino's pie is a lot sloppier than the Girdano's and while Girdano's crust was much more flavorful the sauce on the Gino's was a nearly heavenly experience. Seriously if I were thrown in a vat of this stuff I would try to eat my way out and die a happy man if I couldn't make it. It was that good.

All in all I gotta agree with The Chairman of the Board when he sings " My kinds town Chicago is"  

One last tip --

* Traveler's tip #5- Many local places will open outposts in the airport and the best of these in Chicago's Midway airport is Manny's beef. I don't have a picture but  I do have memories of the corned bef on rye with mustard!