Chicago Restaurant Roundup

Perhaps it was just good timing, but when I visited the Whole Foods in DC for yogurt (ended up finding FAGE, yay), the Saveur magazine next to the checkout aisle had a huge cover story on Chicago. On impulse I purchased the magazine and read it on my plane trip. As a side note, kudos for public transportation. I managed to get from Georgetown to Reagan National without a car and also from Midway to Eddie's place. Sweet stuff. The magazine was actually full of good stories and recipes from Chicago. They especially recommended two street foods: Chicago style hot dog (with pickle and coriander seeds and lots of other stuff) and Italian beef (gloried roast beef au jus with hot peppers and veggies). Of course they talked about the different ethnic foods and Chicago pizza. I wasn't convinced. Pizzeria Uno had been my only experience with deep dish pizza, and I only remember two characteristics: greasy and bad crust. Needless to say, all this changed after I tried real Chicago pizza in Chicago. It's like Eddie said, when you take a local specialty out of its borders, you lose something. Kind of like how any random pizzeria in NYC has better NY style pizza than the glitziest pizza restaurant out of town.

Besides the usual touristy stuff such as Sears Tower (totally worth it, by the way), Millennium Park, Navy Pier (go on the Ferris Wheel and the Stained Glass Museum!), and the Loop (I loved the Chagall mosaic) from my Fodor's Chicago's 25 Best Guide, I got to try some good food thanks to my gracious host and practically Chicago "native" Eddie. Some highlights below:

Cafe Iberico
737 N. LaSalle Dr, Chicago, IL 60610 (close to Chicago stop on red line)
312.573.1510
website
genre: Spanish tapas
favorite dish: grilled octopus (I want to find this somewhere in NYC!).
notes: very pleasant place. the sangria somewhat stronger than I expected. a party of 3 ordered 6 tapas and we were very full afterwards. At least it inspired us to walk a lot and check out the city at night (well, we missed the boat tour since they had changed their schedule at beginning of Oct.)

Bandera
535 N. Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60610
312.644.3524
menu pdf
genre: traditional?
favorites: corn bread focaccia, Bandera style roasted chicken
notes: I was way underdressed for this but I loved it all the same. Saw the chicken rotisserie as I walked in and was convinced that I must try their signature.

Giordano's
5309 S. Blackstone, Chicago, IL 60615 (plus other locations)
773.947.0200
website
favorite pizza: Spinach and Cheese, although the Special was good too. We had half and half.
notes: beware that the pizza takes 40-45 min. to cook. So arrive early! We had the fried mushroom for appetizer which made us more hungry, but hey, better we had something in our stomachs right?

Below is the photo that is my current wallpaper. Serene and beautiful Lake Michigan, taken at the Navy Pier.

Windy City Chicago

It's good to be prepared. The list, before I even set foot there. I'm sure I'll update this list when I come back.

#Info
Chicago Transit Authority (CTA)
Chicago Office of Tourism
[edit: get a map from the station. It has both subway and bus routes, very useful for those short distances downtown! The free CTA map beat out both my guide's pull out map and the tripleAAA map which is better for cars. When I was picking up my bag at the airport I noticed that they had some brochures for tourists. One of the brochures had an attractions map and also some coupons. It helped me locate Hard Rock Cafe which was nice.]

#News/Gossip
Chicago Tribune
Time Out Chicago
Chicagoist Blog
Chicago Sun


#Art
Art Institute of Chicago
Smart Museum of Art
Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA?)
[Edit: went to the Art Institute which had an awesome miniature room section. It's on the bottom level, check it out! oh yea, and of course the impressionist room is great. I have more respect for Wright now that I've seen and read about him.]

#Music
Buddy Guy's Legends (blues)
Metro (alt/rock) home of the pumpkins, forever and ever


#Fun
Millennium Park
Navy Pier Area
University of Chicago
[Edit: Millennium bean is easily the most fun place to take photos. Buckingham Fountain is great but the nearby area was blah. Navy Pier Ferris Wheel is a must for people who love high places. Although I suppose Sears Tower is good for that too. But the Ferris Wheel let you see more water. The University of Chicago campus has better and more lawn than Georgetown. It's true. Their Gothic beautiful and high ceiling libraries speak for themselves.]