If you like $600 rooms, $22 martinis, $12 beers, $4.59 gas, $7 waters, $19 hamburgers and $72/night parking, well then, welcome to Chicago!
International Manufacturing Technology Show
This is the largest automation show in the world, and attended it for years. All halls at McCormick Places are stuffed full of machine tools and other technologies including robots. That’s why I’m here.
I’m supporting a Kassow robot installed in a customer’s booth. It was brutal standing and greeting 8-hours a day, but when nighttime comes, I’m ready to explore.
Fulton Street Market
In the late 1800’s this area was a meat packing center. Names like Armour, Swift and Morris dominated until the 1920’s crash when many warehouses were shuttered.
Today, a renaissance has occurred. The area is now a hip corporate and entertainment center loaded with coffee houses, micro-breweries, restaurants, and Google, whose building dominates the district. So, here we go!
I hopped a cab at the hotel and my Ethiopian driver took us across the river to the market. He has been in the U.S. eight years, speaks very good English and became a citizen. His favorite Ethiopian dish is doro wat. It’s a spicey chicken-potato dish served with hard-boiled eggs. Daniel’s in Ligonier used to serve it, but sadly he’s now closed.
He dropped me at the district entrance, and after walking a few blocks, using another restaurant’s bathroom (Lyra’s is very good and packed as I wandered through), I found my quest!
Rose Mary
Chef Joe Flamm’s focus is on Balkan cuisine, and his menu offers many samplings of this grand Mediterranean fare. It has five sections: vegetables, pasta, risotto, fish and meat. What could be simpler if you understand Slavic. After much consternation I decided to start with borek soparnik. It was a delightful bundle of puff pastry stuffed with Swiss chard, parmigiano and mozzarella. That and a glass of Grasevina Krauthaker (Croatian white wine) made for an excellent start. The wine was so spectacular, I purchased a bottle.
Moving on, there are too many choices. Under pastas, the lamb ragu Mafaldine Abruzzi served with caciocavallo looked interesting as did the Skradin risotto. Skradin is a town in Croatia and famous for Skradinski Rizot – a risotto that incorporates veal rump and takes 12 hours to make!
Under meats, the cevapi looked intriguing. This is the national dish in Bosnia, Herzegovina and Serbia. Ground lamb skewers are served with lepinja (flat bread), ajvar (roasted red pepper sauce), kajmak (new cheese made from unpasteurized milk) and red onion.
Instead, I decided on the Peka-style baby octopus. Served with garlic potatoes and peppers, this dish was spot-on. The octopus was so tender, it literally fell apart. Excellence, indeed! I would go back in a heartbeat.
Purple Pig
I usually stay on Michigan Avenue, and The Purple Pig is right around the corner. That was my goal for the next night.
The pig is the brain-thrust of chef Jimmy Bannos, Jr. Since opening in 2009 is has been highly acclaimed by foodies.
The menu includes all things pig. There are too many items to list here but think braised pork tongue, almonds fried in pork fat, pork jowls, pig liver, pig tail terrine, crispy pig ears, etc.
On a previous visit I enjoyed the calamari salad. So, I looked for something different, and the bone morrow immediately caught my attention. Sure enough, the two large pieces of bone-halves were stuffed full of buttery morrow. Served with toast points, it was easy to spread, then you top it with some luscious parsley salad. Every bite was exquisite.
Then I went on the wild side and chose the squid ink pasta with shrimp and scallops. It was served with an excellent tomato sauce. It too was exceptional!
Chicago seems relatively safe downtown, but as I left the pig a parade of fancy cars and trucks displaying Mexico’s flag came roaring by. Not sure what that was all about, but the commotion quickly cleared the sidewalks.
Still, Chicago remains a very luscious location.
Gloss