When I went to Giordano’s, almost exactly a year ago come to think of it, the waiter asked me if I wanted to take a picture of my pizza before he sliced it. I was about to ask if they asked you that as well, since you obviously took pictures, but I’m guessing from the cardboard box and paper plate that you got yours to go.
Yes, to go. Was able to put away a slice and a half (out of 6) before I physically couldn’t eat any more cheese. (I would’ve asked for easy cheese if I knew how much they used.) We’ll see if I can put the whole thing away before it dries out in the minifridge and becomes unpalatable.
Something I noticed while walking around the Loop. On the traffic lights at the intersections, there’s a black metal box mounted at the level you’d expect a “press button to cross” button to be, but there’s no button and you don’t have to press anything to make the little green man appear. What are those for?
And what’s with the revolving doors? I think I’ve seen more revolving doors in the last few hours than in the 40 years leading up to today.
Vintage Chicago Style Traffic signal light terminal box.
These are used on every traffic signal pole in Chicago. Chicago wires their traffic lights in a unique way, in that they run a 19 conductor cable to every pole, with all the indications, and use these boxes to select the wires they need for the lights on that particular pole.
Chicago doesn’t have sensors for vehicles or buttons to cross in most places. Everything is just timed. I think we are running on ancient infrastructure.
The L tracks around the corner from the hotel certainly look like ancient infrastructure. And the CTA buses I’m seeing look like how city buses in San Diego looked when I was a kid. Guess I’ll find out tomorrow how they hold up.
Tomorrow’s agenda: breakfast at Manny’s, Art Institute, lunch at Luke’s, boat tour, Willis Tower, dinner at Kuma’s. (Anyone know if Kuma’s has Malort? I need to try Malort so I can find out if it’s really as terrible as everyone says.)
I haven’t interacted with many Chicagoans yet, but I have heard the stereotypical Chicago accent twice so far - and both of them were cops, one who I nodded to on the sidewalk and another who was kicking a guy out of a convenience store.
Honestly, the weather here doesn’t seem much different than it is back home right now. Y’all weren’t kidding about that “windy city” thing, though - I almost lost my hat walking from Union Station to the hotel.
Common (if older) strategy for keeping warm air in buildings (and cold air out) during the winter.
Decided I needed one more meal before bedtime and wasn’t up for more pizza, so I went on Doordash and ordered an Italian beef from Portillo’s - combo, hot and sweet, just a little wet (since I didn’t want it to get soggy while being delivered) with a cup of jus on the side.
DEAR SWEET JESUS.
Truly this is the food of the gods. The stuff I’ve made at home is no comparison. The Italian beef place in Portland that was run by a Chicago expat for 40 years is dogshit in comparison to this. I need to put as many of these inside me as possible in the next 84 hours.
Do so, and your journey to the Dark Side will be complete. You will find that you now refer to an Italian Beef Sandwich as a “Beefs.” 
I’ve never met anyone who dislikes Pequod’s pizza. Doubtless there are some like @jnglmassiv
I have also taken many people to have “traditional” deep dish pizza like at Pizzeria Uno or Lou Malnati’s and I have had many, many complaints that those pizzas suck (see: Jon Stewart’s famous rant which was mentioned above).
To be sure it is a subjective thing and I know people who think Lou Malnati’s deep dish is the best thing on the planet (my BiL for one).
To each their own. But for deep dish (or pan pizza…not sure of the difference) Pequod’s is a winner every time for most people (at least in my experience). There is a reason there are usually very lengthy waits to get into Pequod’s and almost no wait to get into Lou Malnati’s or Giordano’s.
Manny’s was OK.
The place has charm. The seating area is massive - there weren’t many people there when I was there, but that place must get crazy when it fills up. When I saw “cafeteria” in the name I wasn’t expecting to literally grab a tray and walk down a line. Seeing those big pans of beef stew and spaghetti and liver & onions srewing away seemed a little unsavory, but maybe it sells faster closer to lunchtime.
I showed up in the mood for the blintzes I saw on their online menu, only to discover they only serve breakfast on the weekends. So I ordered a half pastrami sandwich (which was good if a little too fatty, and still too big for me to finish) and matzo ball soup. Never had matzo balls before and I found them to be bland and mealy, but the broth it came in was good. They included a latke with the sandwich which was very good, but would’ve been better with some sour cream or something.
The 7-Eleven across the street was blasting opera music, which was just plain odd.
Was that to discourage homeless people from sitting in front?
The Art Institute is [i]huge[i]. You could get lost in there. I did get lost in there. The galleries are mazelike. I took a wrong turn looking for the Seurat painting and wound up spending half an hour ogling 17th century firearms. The classical wing was amazing, and I loved the Pollocks, Rothkos, Duchamps, Magrittes, and Warhols in the modern wing. I was a little disappointed with how small the Egyptian wing was, especially compared to the Asian sections. I wound up skipping lunch so I could take in as much as I could before the boat tour, and I still didn’t get to see the Dali exhibition (the “virtual line” was already too long by the time I got there.)
Here’s a Renaissance-era crucifix in which Our Lord is looking mighty proud of Himself, if you know what I mean.
Oh, and here’s the photo that makes this whole trip worth it;
Nice abs, Jesus. Those are abs, right?
The boat tour was interesting. Great views and very informative although a little dry - there’s only so many times you can hear the tour guide say “On your left is the XYZ Building, completed in 19XX, Charles Q. Piddlesworth was the architect” before it all starts glossing over. It was cold down on the river - I left my hat at the hotel because I was worried the wind would get it, and I had to put on my face mask for warmth. My teeth were chattering by the end and I was grateful for the occasional sunbreaks.
Willis Tower was breathtaking. I think some of the complaints upthread are out of date - they’ve moved to timed entry instead of FCFS, so while there is a long Disneyland-ish queue to get to the elevator, I just walked straight through it. They have a glass ledge extending out from the edge of the building that you can step onto for a photo-op, which felt crazy, but again, amazing view. There were times when I was sure I could feel the building swaying in the wind, though I’m sure the actual swaying is probably imperceptible.
CTA bus drivers are - aggressive - they don’t hesitate to lay on the horn if someone is in their way. Doesn’t seem to be exclusive to them, either - I’ve been to San Diego, LA, Portland, Seattle, Vegas, and Cleveland, and never heard so much honking as I have in Chicago.
Kuma’s has a good burger and good music, but I didn’t care much for the fries. While I was there, a guy at the table next to me convinced his (boyfriend?) who’d never had Malort before to order a shot, so I took the opportunity to do the same. It’s… not bad. Not nearly as bad as I was expecting. It’s certainly BITTER in all caps, but it has an interesting flavor profile, like a grapefruit with the sweet and sour somehow removed and replaced with internalized anger. I may have to try it again. (Apparently there’s even a liquor store back home that sells it.)
In between the major attractions, I went to Buckingham Fountain and tried to replicate the opening shot from Married With Children (can’t - too many newer buildings in the way), and saw the Bean (and flicked it, on video, at the behest of one of my coworkers). Got to experience riding the El, which is remarkably efficient, and the 19th century Quincy station with its vintage ads and station maps was pretty neat.
Tomorrow’s agenda - condescend to taking advantage of the free breakfast at the hotel, Museum of Science and Industry, JP Graziano, Second City, and a late dinner TBD, possibly just something Doordashed to my room since apprently every single restaurant downtown is closed by 7.
Quite the jam-packed schedules. Good show.
I don’t know if or when I’ll ever be in Chicago again, so I’m trying to fit as much as possible into the amount of time that my budget (and my paid vacation hours at work) allowed for. I left the hotel at about 9 AM and wasn’t back until about 9 PM.
Tomorrow I should have some downtime between lunch and Second City.
Twin Anchors is near to Second City (you can walk there in about 5-10 minutes) and open until 10p. It’s been there seemingly forever and is pretty good and reasonably priced.
They’re open until 10 and the Second City show starts at 8, so I probably won’t be able to made it. Sounds good, though.
Another night, another late-night Doordashed Italian beef, this one from Al’s.
Ordered this one hot and sweet, regular with jus on the side just like last night, but this one was a LOT wetter - it came in two layers of butcher paper wrapped in foil, and I wound up not even needing the side cup. Overstuffed enough that a good third of the meat and peppers fell out as soon as I picked it up, and had to go at those with a fork.
Like you said, the spice blend is very interesting. The cinnamon and allspice are predominant, with oregano in the background, and I think a bit of cumin. It would probably be more appropriate to call this a “Greek beef”. It reminds me of the Mexican beef birria that has become all the rage in recent years. Not better or worse than Portillo’s, just different. My only complaint is that the broth is so strong that it drowns out the flavor of the peppers.
We have no such sandwiches as these in the land where folk believe that hot dogs and cheesesteaks are best topped with cream cheese. This error must be rectified.