Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
Jess, DFenster, Matt and I visited Chicago, myself for the first time. And I have to say, it's not as bad as I had feared.
My basic impression of Chicago is, that it would be 10x better with half the people in it. It was simply way too crowded for my tastes.
But on to the good bits. For lunch we took 'the L' to the Belmont station. The area around the Belmont stop on the red line was your basic 'alternative youth area' (quoth the
Jess). Fairly similar to U City/the loop in StL, basically lots of shops of interest to young 20-somethings, good (and cheap) ethnic food, and interesting people. After that, and a quick walk around the area, we headed back to the station and hopped back on the train to get downtown. There was a
free jazz festival near the lake, though we spent most of the time there looking at some of the excellent artwork on for sale.
Then a quick mile or so of walking to the
Navy Pier. Not much there, some rides, some bars, perhaps a restaurant or two. Maybe my feet were just getting sore by this point, but I didn't see much in the place.
After that, a quick bus and train ride got us to the 'Magnificent Mile'. I'd never been in a
Tiffany and Co. before, and neither had Matt, so we elected to go in and look around. Beautiful stuff, I especially enjoyed seeing their silver work. Very nice. And very expensive. As for the rest of The Mile, the less said the better.
Then we walked to
Fogo de Chao. Meat. That's all you need to know.
But before you get to the meat, you must negotiate the salad bar. Yes, must. Fresh mozzarella, a 50 lb wheel of parmesan, fresh refrigerator pickles, smoked salmon, and fresh young hearts of palm await you there, along with many, many, many other things. It's almost worth the (not insignificant) price of admission just for the salad bar.
And back to the meat. The best meat that I have ever had. Perfectly seasoned and cooked. When one of the servers approaches with a big piece of spitted beast and a saber to cut it up with, and asks you a question, the first answer you give is 'Yes'. If they happen to ask you another question, your answer should be 'Rare', or perhaps 'Medium Rare'. Nothing is more done than Medium, and they look at you funny if you order that.
The service at
Fogo de Chao is psychic. Not 15 seconds went by during the entire meal when someone didn't look over to see if we were ok. Water was refilled when half empty. The plates of sides (fried polenta, garlic mashed potatos, and fried bananas) were never allowed to become empty. The hot rolls on the table were replaced after 10 minutes because they were no longer hot. Simply put, I cannot imagine that the service could have been any better. Every possible effort was put forth to ensure the best possible dining experience.
Matt sprang for the wine. It wasn't cheap, and I can't tell you what it was because he still has the label, but it was outstanding. It was perfect with the mounds and mounds of perfectly cooked lamb chops, beef filet, and various sirloins that we consumed. It also went marvelously with the cheese on the salad bar.
I am now going to cease talking about that meal, as I am making myself hungry.
Post-gorging, we all waddled, rolled, or hopped to the nearest L station, and got back to the station near our hotel. Then proceeded to wait for about 45 minutes for the hotel shuttle. We had given the hotel shuttle about 30 minutes worth of heads up on our way to the station, but 2 phone calls later, he eventually showed up and drove us back to the hotel (about 5 miles with minimal traffic).
The short version is, the food was awesome, some of the shops were awesome. There were too many people, and that particular Holiday Inn sucks. I don't expect much in the way of service at hotels, especially when I'm staying at the employee rate. But frankly, this was subpar for some of the real dives I've stayed in.
Overall, I shall at some point return to Chicago. For more
Fogo de Chao. That's really my only motivation.
As for today, I've got new shoes (good, since you could see my socks through the bottoms of the old ones as of today), I've discovered a YMCA about a half a mile from the apartment, I've looked over a local dealership for deals on used cars (and found none), and finally I've found the
local botanical gardens. It's not
MoBot, but there's no way I could have expected that. It's still a nice place to sit around and relax with some trees, plants, and a tiny bit of wildlife.
Overall, not a bad weekend.