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CHICAGO...The Windy City

Even though our Culinary Adventure of April 22, 2005 started with temperatures in the 30’s, wind, rain and even snow, we ended up with a beautiful sunny weekend to enjoy this fabulous city. Our trip got off to a great start with a sampling of Chicago Deep Dish Pizza at Lou Malnati’s. We especially enjoyed the vegetable pizza and the chocolate chip cookie pizza, served warm with ice cream. We followed lunch with a city tour and got an overview of the ethnic neighborhoods, museums and the various styles of architecture in the impressive buildings of this lovely city. We later checked into our hotel, The Whitehall, a landmark boutique hotel, just off Michigan Avenue.

The first evening’s dinner was a culinary delight at Café Spiaggia. A lovely décor and excellent service combined with an exceptionally delicious meal of pear & gorgonzola salad and a light-as-air potato gnocchi with braised beef and a super creamy gelato for dessert. The walk back to our hotel in the frigid, blowing rain was an invigorating ending to a delightful evening.

On Saturday, we joined Evelyn Thompson for an informative and gastronomically satisfying neighborhood tour of ethnic cuisines. We started in Greektown, where we sampled stuffed grape leaves, feta cheese, hummus and pastries in the very popular restaurant, Artopolis. We later walked to a neighborhood bakery to buy more goodies to snack on.

We moved on to the “Little Italy” area of Chicago and a terrific restaurant, Pompei. We indulged in their version of a Calzone called Pizza Strudel, which featured a yeasty pizza dough. After stopping in a typical Italian bakery, Scafuri, and grabbing some biscotti and Italian breads, as well as a small grocery for more foods to sample, we headed toward Chinatown. We were given endless samples of dim sum and green tea at the restaurant, Phoenix. We then tried walking off a little of the day’s feasting by checking out some of the fabulous shops down Michigan Avenue.

Saturday evening was pure fun. We were picked up by a trolley car that took us to the Apollo Theater for a performance of MENOPAUSE THE MUSICAL. We laughed til we cried at this hilarious musical parody of women and the “change”. We finished off the evening at the top of the John Hancock Building on the 95th floor with an unparalleled view of the city.

Sunday found some of us taking in the Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years at the Field Museum. Lunch was delightful at Park Grill at the new Millennium Park. We then walked the entire “Magnificent Mile”, lined with tulips, stopping in some of the finest shops of the city. Sunday dinner at Bistro 110 was some of the best French “comfort food” to be found in the city. From artichoke stuffed with brie, roasted garlic on French bread, slow roasted lamb with spring vegetables, steak au poivre to a sinfully creamy crème brulee, it was all delicious.

We left this exciting city on a beautiful sunny day with an new appreciation of it’s architecturally unique buildings on lovely flower lined streets, interesting ethnic neighborhoods, fabulous restaurants and lots of wind!