Chicago – the Windy City

After meeting my dad in 2007 in Chicago, we had once more a family reunion in this beautifully modern and clean city in Illinois.
We arrived almost at the same time at the Congress Plaza hotel next to Grant Park in Chicago which you might think is great. However, not having had lunch yet at 3pm CET while the others flew business class from Europe to Chicago led to a conflict in interests and priorities – a Chicago-style deep dish pizza for me and a beer in a pub for the men. I did not get my pizza.
We ended up having drinks in the hotel bar to wait for the others who did not join us later anyway (!!!) when we headed to Buckingham Fountain, Millennium Park and the Cloud before looking for something to eat for me (not pizza though 😦 ).

My mood was lightened however, after two cocktails at the Signature Lounge in Hancock Tower with an amazing view of Chicago. Prices were acceptable with $15 for a cocktail and $8 for a bottle of beer, as you did not have to pay entrance to get up to the 96th floor.

At night we met the others for steaks at the restaurant Wildfire. Even though the ambience could have been improved to turn it into a more authentic steak house, service was very good and so was the food.
My delicious appetizer was applewood smoked bacon wrapped around scallops. The bacon was tasty and the scallops soft and juicy. It was served with an apricot chutney which complemented the bacon perfectly. As a main I had Roumanian skirt steak with roasted vegetables. This steak was thinly cut but they still managed to serve it medium. The marinade was very nice and the caramelized onions complemented the meat perfectly.
After dinner a small group of us went to House Of Blues ($10 cover) for some more drinks. The venue north of Chicago River has mainly wooden interior which is painted in a way so that it has a bit of an afro american flair. The music was good and the venue was only half full so we were able to stand/sit comfortably at the bar.

For day two I had planned to start the day with pancakes at the known brunch place Yolk. However, there was a 30-45min wait for a group of ten (hello…? I wanted to go there, no need to follow me arround people! Do your own research!) so we went to a bakery which did not serve pancakes. Fail number 2. I had french toast with beacon and scrambled eggs instead which was an acceptable alternative. In the morning my dad and I went to The Art Institute of Chicago as it was raining. The collection in this museum was good, impressionism, modern art, American art, European art ( also some Jugendstil furniture from Vienna is currently displyed) and then some Roman/Greek/Asian/African etc Art which we skipped though. I found it interesting to compare this museum with the MoMA in NYC which my dad and I visited in March this year. Even though the admission price was identical, visitors see way more (famous) art in MoMA than in The Art Institute of Chicago. Still, the museum in Chicago was great because of itswide and open rooms in which the art was displayed compared to NYC’s overcrowded display areas (I am referring to both, people and art).
We met the others then at the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch which was good (even though service in the almost empty restaurant was terrible).
We spent the afternoon shopping in Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s (without success though) and soon enough we all met again in the hotel bar for pre dinner drinks.
Dinner was at the Grad Lux Cafe which offered something for every one – Mediterranean, Mexican, Asian cuisine, steak and fish. Hence I’d say food was good but not extraordinary but it was served rather quickly and service was very attentive as well as charming (in case anyone wants to know 😉 ) I had salmon prepared in three different ways: one with almonds and ginger, one soy glazed, and one horseradish crusted.
We ended day two with another round of blues music and I had a great time talking with one of the Americans about my upcoming West coast road trip.

On my final day in Chicago it was still quite cold (47F) but at least it was sunny and so we could do the Wendella architecture river cruise. I guess when walking through the city everyone realizes what extraordinary skyscrapers form the Chicago skyline. And during this 75 min boat tour even more beautiful buildings with their characteristics were pointed out to us. The skyline is amazing and despite my limited interest in architecture I really enjoyed the tour and was glad to be seeing all those buildings and listen to the reasons behind their designs.

And this was the end of my short trip to Chicago as I had to go to the airport right after the cuise to catch one more time my flight to NYC.
Why “one more time” you ask? Well, even though I have two more trips in mind which I might want to do but they are not booked yet so there is a chance that this was the last time for my flying into NYC.