Chicago

May 29-31, 1998


Hotel: The Whitehall.

They lost the Wildings' van again this year. This got us a free cab ride to Wrigley. Our rooms were at the front of the hotel. This is to be avoided. A bell hop at the Four Seasons across the street hails cabs with a whistle.

Restaurant Itinerary:

Friday

Kiki's Bistro. We all went to Kiki's this year for Friday lunch. I had the duck confit. Dave had the spring lamb stew.

L'Olive. A small Morrocan place under the el tracks on North Sheridan Road. Brought in beer and cheap wine from the package store across the street. We had a lamb couscous, grilled spinach, and a phyllo thing filled with meat. We stayed late talking to the owner/chef. Lin took some pictures.

Saturday

Nick's Fishmarket. The Russinoffs ate lunch at Nick's, where they consumed various species of raw oysters and a Maryland crab cake. Meanwhile the Wildings and Beviers caught a game at Wrigley, where they lunched on hot dogs and beer.

Mia Francesca. We hiked and cabbed our way around the North side, evaluating restaurants until we settled on Mia Francesca. Couldn't get in til late, which was a good sign. We sat at a round table in the middle of a warm, noisy restaurant. We ordered several appetizers, a pasta course, two or three entrées, and a couple desserts. The waiter seemed impressed, commenting on our ordering "in the Italian style."

Sunday

Al's #1 Roast Beef. A majority voted to forgo lunch before departure. The Russinoffs announced that they would stay an extra day, since Dave had managed to get a ticket for Game 7 of the Bulls-Pacers Eastern Conference finals. Dave reports that he grabbed a roast beef sandwich after the rest of us left.

Johnny Rocket's. Sunday night after the game, Lin and Dave had take-out from Johnny Rocket’s in the hotel room. "It was pretty bad."

Byron's (Yum Yum's). Since Al's and Johnny Rocket's got a mention, we might as well include Byron's. The Beviers stayed in town an extra couple of days to visit relatives in the suburbs. They came back into the city Sunday evening, however, to go to Wrigley. Byron's is the fast food institution just outside the front gate down the third base side. They serve hot dogs, brats, Polish sausage, burgers, Italian beef.

 

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