Category Archives: 1) Home Turf

I have been to Chicago more times than I can count but never stayed in a hotel – thanks to an abundance of generous relatives who live in and around the city – until last Sunday night. A friend called at the last minute inviting me to join her in Chicago for a one-night trip after her son couldn’t join her as planned. She’d already paid for the hotel and the bus tickets.

We stayed at the Chicago Hilton across from Grant Park – a grand old hotel with an enormous lobby with a high vaulted ceiling, lots of marble columns, chandeliers, sweeping carpeted staircases, big ballrooms. There’s also a photo display of scenes from Obama’s victory night party taken in and around the hotel. Our room was comfortable, spacious and clean.  I slept surprisingly well, for a hotel stay. My friend found some sort of deal for $161 a night – about $100 off the regular price.

For dinner, we went to the new trendy The Girl and The Goat – opened by former Top Chef winner Stephanie (can’t remember her last name) on Randolph Street. Fun and good small plates. Next time I’ll try the meat entrees – this time I stuck with vegetarian because  my friend is a vegetarian and we shared plates. We had the chickpea fritters, cauliflower and squash ravioli plates – all very complicated, flavorful dishes, surprisingly large portions for two people. The chickpea fritters were our favorite – because they tasted nothing like what we thought chickpea fritters would taste like. Not heavy and gritty. Instead light and creamy – more like polenta. Place was loud and dark but we were at a table where we could see and hear each other for the most part. Our server seemed disappointed we ordered so little (plus one drink apiece.) Oh well.

We ate breakfast the next morning at an old coffee shop – the Artist’s Cafe – on Michigan Avenue that has a storied history (visited by many Balanchine, Baryshnikov etc.) not to mention great hashbrowns and attentive service. Then onto the explore the Art Institute, new wing and old, and Millennium Park and saunter along Michigan Avenue where we ended up eating at the FoodLife food court in Water Tower place which was surprisingly good- although had almost too many choices. You get a little plastic card when you arrive and use that to record what you’ve bought, then pay when you leave. Good system although you can lose track of how much you’ve spent. My friend and I ultimately ended up with soup – shrimp and lobster bisque for me; Mediterranean lentil for her. Both good. And I had a fresh squeezed orange juice and my friend had coffee-flavored gelato.

We bought sandwiches from Potbelly around the block from Michigan avenue near DePaul University’s downtown campus – surprisingly good low-mayo tuna sub that worked well to eat on the megabus back to Des Moines.