Labor Day weekend in Chicago
I was in Chicago more than 10 years ago, on a layover to Europe. Even then, it was incredibly easy to get from the airport to downtown, near the lake. This time around, a childhood friend and I were looking for a perfect destination for the two of us to meet, and explore together.
Any big city has a multitude of things to offer, for any discerning taste. The highlights of this trip were the Art Institute, and a trip to the meat packing district for an unsual culinary experience, "4 taste." (read the review)
Landed in Midway Airport, early Friday afternoon. Getting from the airport to the hotel was relatively easy, with a CTA pass on the subway. A day ticket can be purchased for $5.00, and single fare, one way, is $1.
Both a bit weary from our flights, we went exploring on State Street, lined with shops for bargain hunters. On the search for shoes, we popped in and out of the wackiest shoe stores, finding everything from gold lame knee high boots with brown faux fur, to hot pink spandex numbers. Overall, though the shoes are quite inexpensive, they are not meant for extended wear. We opted for Lady Foot Locker instead, and got Pumas for our wanderings through the city.
We stopped in at 17 West, located inside the "Berghoff" building, for a late lunch. Though it has new owners, the Berghoff has been open since the late 1800s, and is a historic highlight for the tourist.
Back at the hotel we made ready for new adventures to come. We opted for a long walk down the "magnificent mile," which is Michigan Ave. Street performers and artists were everywhere near the Art Institute, and many were out tonight to enjoy the warm summer night, and the many inviting sights. Near the new Millenium park, there is much to see, made more beautiful at night.
We spent a couple hours touring the galleries of the art institute, enjoying free admission and a dazzling collection of ancient to modern art. (see review)
More than a mile later, walking through the busy center of retail life, the chicago tribune, and cozy restaurants in side streets, we arrived at Navy Pier.
More a mecca for tourists desirous of shopping, keepsakes, and souvenirs, we were disinterested in most of what it had to offer, though our bellies grumbled.
A long walk back to the hotel had us extremely exhausted and ready to pass into fitful sleep. We had walked more than 4 miles today, and slept until 1pm next day!
With hard determination we rolled out of our beds on Saturday afternoon, showered, and made ready for another long trek. In nearly two miles, we were at Jackson and Halstead, which is where one would find most of the Greek restaurants of Greek town. We ate at 9 muses, one of the many traditional greek destinations for large helpings, and flavorful foods.
The trek back led us past Sears tower, Union station, and many other hallmark buildings in the city. Our next destination was the Buckingham Fountain, a gorgeous meeting place for tourists and townies alike. We passed here to arrive at the Field Museum of Natural History.
Initially built on the site of a landfill, it is an impressive Greco-Roman structure on the lake, housing treasures from Ancient Egypt, the Inuits, Plains Indians, tibetan monestaries, as well as boasting a vast taxidermal wonderland of everything from Giraffe to spider monkey. Within its main hall, one can also see "sue", the T-rex. her 600lb. skull sits in a second floor gallery, as it was too heavy to mount on the actual skeleton. wow!
we wanted to visit the "king tut" exibit, but were too late in the day to gain entry.
drop off was at navy pier, where we stood in line for 15 minutes to get a heavenly concoction of coffee from "Starbucks." with our coffees we did some exploring on the "magnificent mile", sucked into the black holes of retail. couple hours later, after playing with make-up at "sephora" (silly, really. we can go to sephora virtually anywhere else) we walked back to the hotel to get ready for a really long night.
friend chris picked us up at the hotel around 8pm, and we drove into the meat packing district of chicago. according to him, it is fast becoming the hip scene.
our first destination was of course, 4 Taste, of which i wrote an extensive review. thus far, my favorite restaurant! we were there for hours, the only customers, sipping wines and sampling the delectable fare. following that, we were off to another club,whose name i can barely remember. it was in the same area, think it had the name of a hotel. inside, everything was white. there were the usual assortment of scantily clad dancers, hipsters, and martini swilling studs. every major city has places like this. the djs talents are wasted on people who are there to see and be seen, drinks cost a day's wages. been there, done that! courtney and i were the only people dancing, having a great time, but it was time to move on to bigger and better.
we hit about three of them, sampling local lagers, downing blue ribbon, dancing to anything that the DJ threw on the decks. cabbing from one place to the next, all locations remaining nameless places of drunken revelry, we arrived at our final destination. down a dark alley, arriving at an oversized, tattooed, bald bouncer, we stepped into "neo." a goth, industrial, new wave kind of club, all black, all dark, dirty, and filled with the smoke of cigarettes and fog machines...this is where we would dance for hours until we could barely stand, until the place itself shut down in the wee hours of the morning, at 4 am.
a relaxing cab ride had us back in the hotel and in our beds by 5am. drunk-induced sleep had us tossing and turning, and up at 11am!
Hungry, heads feeling like anvils, we stumbled down to Millenium Park for some lunch at the "park grill.
We were back in the hotel shortly thereafter, to languor in bed and do absolutely nothing. our heads and feet hurt, and we had no further plans than to visit the other location of "4 Taste" that night...
Though that particular spot was larger and more hip, near the famous Michigan Ave., we did not enjoy the ambiance, or the food, as much as we did the one on "milwaukee." We were in bed by 10pm that night, Courtney was off early in the morning, back to Canada.
i was up at 7am, and made ready to visit "King Tut" at the the Field Museum.
Let me spare you the details about every little thing in the galleries. I will start by saying that neither his sarcophagus, nor the enclosing shrines, or his mummy were part of the exibit. The Egyptian government apparently chooses not to let him leave the country any longer.
What was in the exibit were many 3,000 year old artifacts from daily life at court. Statuary, jewelry boxes, make-up cases, golden hand held mirrors, portable shrines, beds, chairs, walking staffs, etc. Highlights were Tut's pectoral, which was buried with the mummy, as well as the gold dagger, beautifully engraved, which guided him into the next life.
The finale in the last room, were images of the various x-rays and scans performed on his mummy over the years. a great mystery yet remains as to his cause of death. It has been found that it was not a blow to the head that caused his demise...so the cause is still uncertain.
amazing was to see a recreation of what Tut may have looked like, based on the structure of the skull.
I toured the rest of the museum, with more attention given to the Egyptian galleries in the basement.
This concluded my trip to Chicago...I was so exhausted from walking as much as I had done in those last few days...anxious to get back home and relax!
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You get what you pay for, unless you work for an airline or the hospitality industry.
For $118 per night (hotels.com) in downtown Chicago on Grant Park, there was no pretension. The hotel was listed as a two star, and it barely made the grade.
To me, when traveling to a big city, location is the key to ease of exploration. Congress Plaza does have the perfect location, within walking distance of all major attractions, including the Field Museum, Aquarium, Millenium Park, and the Art Institute.
Built in the late 19th century for the columbian world exibition, the lobby and meeting rooms are gorgeous, a mixture of 1920s elegance, the European baroque, and Byzantine mosaic. You get impressed by the marble and chandeliers that greet you when you walk inside, but don’t let that be your basis of comparison for the rest.
Two elevators were available for taking guests up to the north tower, neither of them worked. I hoofed it to the 3rd floor, where the staircase strangely did not continue on. A friendly maintenance worker escorted me, along with other guests, to the freight elevator. Wow! Looks really different in that part of the hotel, makes you wish you had never stepped inside.
The standard rooms are nothing to write about. High ceilings, plain and peeling wall paper, and cheap blankets. When I entered it felt 60 degrees. Checked the thermostat, and there was no cool or warm temperature indicator. There was a high and low fan setting, which delivered either an icy blast of cool, or a milder fan of cold. A call to the main desk , and within minutes the maintenance man was here. His tidings were that the entire hotel is set to summer, until winter hits. This meant that I wouldn’t be able to warm up the room unless he could get one of the other guys to deliver a space heater.
The hotel is old, plumbing and pipes likely just as ancient. The morning’s shower had water rising above my ankles, and no water pressure. However, an engineer was up to the room within minutes to fix it and plunge it.
On the third day the on-demand movies listed on the menu were not the ones playing, and I of course ordered the wrong movie. Though I was credited for the mistake, it took an hour and a half and two phone calls for someone to come and take a look. The problem was not fixed, but we had some movie channels nonetheless.
In short, this is not a destination for those seeking spa, heated indoor pool, or luxury accommodations. In fact, though I don’t need to spend a lot of money on accommodations when traveling, I will definitely decide against returning here.
If traveling to Chicago in the future, I think I will opt for a hotel with down comforters and pillows, climate control, good plumbing, and friendly desk managers and associates.
Though the hotel was visually stunning upon entering, I had a major issue with not being looked in the eye or acknowledged when I arrived at the front desk. Two associates and a manager were trying to figure out why my check-in was coming up the day after, and then that I was a no-show. When I asked what was going on, I was ignored. An obnoxious hello and waving of the hand from me alerted them that I was still there. Then they mentioned the other person on the registration had checked in, they handed me the room key, and that was it. It really really bothers me when people that work in the customer service industry can’t manage a smile, make eye contact, or verify that my needs are being met. Yikes.
Once again, you get what you pay for, and I would rather pay more in the future.
Located at the Berghoff in downtown Chicago on W. Adams Street, this is an old Chicago restaurant serving an interesting mix of German fare.
The restaurant has a long history, the founder being an immigrant from Dortmund, Germany in the late 1800s. During the World’s Faire in 1893, he sold his beer at the fair, and with its great acclaim he opened a café, which later expanded into a restaurant.
It is the dark wooden furnishings, the long mahogany bar, and the mammoth wall safe that retain the feel of turn of the century Chicago. Initially, we believed this to be the location of an old bank, but the waiter informed us that in earlier years, restaurateurs did not trust the banks to keep their money safe, so they had their own safes installed.
We had the wiener schnitzel and spaetzle, along with the bratwurst sandwich on toasted pumpernickel and sauerkraut. Berghoff has its own brewery, featuring delicious hefeweizen, warsteiner, and lager. There is also Root Beer on tap, for those who want to try something non-alcoholic.
The food was great, and it made me feel as though I was in Germany again.
we were fortunate enough to get in free, as admission on thurs and fri nights was free in the evenings.
Beautifully arranged, the galleries feature a large collection of up to 5,000 year old pieces from ancient egypt and china, to 19th century france. you will find many Rembrandt's, Dalis, and Van Goghs here, though my personal favorites are the Renaissance, and romantic/victorian era galleries.
Traditional greek food, in huge portions, not meant for the light eater.
Here we started with some Saganaki, the flaming cheese, and feasted on a gyro plate and chicken kabob plate. Food was good, not exceptional, and was way too much for us to finish responsibly. Members of the staff seemed very young, almost too inattentive for my taste, but I won't complain.
The decor doesn't feel greek, music playing through the speakers was contemporary pop and dance hits, so I would not recommend this place if you want a real Greek experience. Seating by the bay windows, open to the busy street outside, seems like a nice touch - though it's noisy and curious passersby want to see what you are eating.
I recommend the place for its nice selection of foods, but I am certain there are many more like it in the area that would suit even more.
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This 375 seat restaurant, near Millenium park, always seems to be full of patrons. Though American/Chicago fare, it is with some new twists on old favorites.
The menu changes seasonally, so this is a wonderful destination for tourists who want to sample local fare. I tried the Tomato Heirloom salad, as these tomatoes only grow in the area, and will be out of season soon. They have an incredibly wonderful, buttery finish. They were served with gorgonzola, onions, and sea salt. Delicious! The server recommended I come back in October to sample the Pumpkin Soup, to which a local added she comes here just for that.
Overall, you will find the traditional American classics like burgers and club sandwhiches, but they set themselves apart...not to mention, the portions are huge!
The Park grill is also a destination for wine tastings, which are hosted seasonally, and you will find an extensive list on their menu.
Locals and toursits alike talk about the hightlight of the grill being the view. Located on Michigan Ave., you can see the all the busybodies on the street, you can sit outside and do the alfresco dining, see the city sweep out before you.
Some sample menu items:
Lobster Corn Fritters
Maine lobster with a spicy remoulade
Fennel Pollen Scallops
shiitake mushrooms, asparagus salad, summer radishes and a citrus reduction
Fried Rhode Island Calamari
roasted goat horn peppers, caper berries and italian parsley
Acorn Squash Salad
lightly grilled with arugula, spiced walnuts, and fresh goat cheese with a red wine vinaigrette
Spiced Pumpkin Soup
slow cooked with maple syrup and apple cider
Quattro Formaggio Pizza
extra virgin olive oil, cured tomatoes, parmesan, mozzarella, pecorino and manchego cheeses with an arugula-fennel salad
Park Grill Kobe Burger
10 oz kobe beef, gorgonzola cheese, balsamic grilled onions and grain mustard
Cavatelli and Rabbit Pasta
slow cooked ragu with rosemary and pecorino cheese
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I think I have found my favorite restaurant in the world!
Hard to imagine that with my varying tastes, discerning taste buds, and high expectations, I would find a favorite in the meat packing district of Chicago.
Though there is a second location, this particular one was worth a visit just for the dark and gothic décor. Candlelight, brick walls, gauzy curtains of purple and brown, waxen mannequins embracing in the dark, the Czech waitress with long black hair and attire, industrial gothic furnishings…
The three of us felt as though we had walked into a private club of sorts, as we were the only patrons, on a Saturday night. The foreboding sign on the façade of the building, 4 Taste, smelled of a blood thirsty coven of vampires, using this establishment as a ruse for luring innocents. Okay, overactive imagination aside, it was a clever way of advertising what we were to discover on the menu within.
Everything on the menu is an appetizer. All items are $9.95, hot or cold selections, but exceedingly well prepared, cooked, and presented. I am a fan of the four and five star eating establishments that serve smaller portions, but are cooked to perfection and always have unique combinations and flavors. This is that place, but one is not paying $30-70 for a piece of grilled meat with gorgeous garnishes and superior sous selections. This is the place of my fantasies, where everything looks so wonderfully delicious, and I can sample at least four of the dishes without succumbing to overstuffed malaise. That night we feasted like tycoons and oil barons; lingered there for hours sipping Shiraz and Johannisberg Riesling.
So, without further ado, in order to do this brilliantly crafted restaurant the justice it merits, here is the list of choices we greedily devoured, as well as the list from the second location, the second night.
Assorted Cheese Platter (at least five varieties of cheese, including gorgonzola and brie, grapes, thin apple slices, and crostini.
Roasted New Zealand Baby Lamb Chops with sautéed grapes and redwine reduction
Grilled Shrimp with Black Bean Chipotle Cream and Cumin Oil
Grilled free range Australian beef tenderloin with caramelized onions and Dijon cream
grilled calamari, canolini beans, tomato basil and balsamic reduction
Mississippi Quail, Yukon gold potato hash, fried quail egg, and black pepper molasses sauce
Grilled ribeye with green peppercorn cream over garlic mash potatoes
escargot with garlic parsley and butter
Grilled ostrich with hollandaise sauce, sautéed green beans and a petit salad
apple stuffed ravioli with smoked chicken, sun dried tomato, walnuts, and cream
Oh, to think back on the experience now, I can taste it all.
All choices, except the ravioli, were phenomenal. Each dish so unique in its flavors, a great opportunity for trying things I had never had. My two absolute favorite selections were the tenderloin and ostrich, though all the meats were flavorful, juicy, and grilled to perfection. The ribeye was overcooked, but the peppercorn cream really made up for it. The escargot were better than any I have ever had, the garlic and parsley completely absorbing the usual gritty, earthy taste.
I had never had calamari in the fashion this was prepared. Thin strips, nearly looking like miniature bear claws, charbroiled, paired with the balsamic reduction gave the taste of this fairly bland sea creature an exciting twist.
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