Official A2K Gathering in Chicago, May 7th, 2006!

I've heard of it too, and always had the idea in mind that it was a heavy meat place. Had never looked it up before. More complex than I'd guessed. I saw it mentioned in the NYT article on, of all things, mutton, which is undergoing a slight renaissance in appreciation.

I'll go back and look at the Express to Go thing..

I see the Express To Go part is the only one open on Sunday. They have catering, but it looks like you can order and have it delivered, or pick the order up. Here's the menu..
(it's in Lincoln Park, which I think is nearby Sublime's).

http://www.charlietrotters.com/cmadocs/Menu%20-%20TTGX%20-%20Mar%202006.pdf


'Course I'm also interested in Thai food, etc.

I'd go to Chicago to visit Trotter's place. Another mentioned here already is Frontera Grill/Topolobampo (Rick Bayless). Rick reminds me of Pete Petersen of Tapawingo (http://www.tapawingo.net) in appearance, but the former is one of the most boring personalities ever to appear on Food Network.

Probably too expensive for the poorpuppy, johnboy. Osso and I will be eating hot dogs from a street vendor. But I did read through some of the Charlie Trotter's site and ran into the word "degustration." I have never seen that word before

Street food sounds good to me. As for nighttime dining, I am guessing I'll be a poopout, except maybe if Sat shows up and we hit Chinatown or a Vietnamese or Thai place - I hope to be up early each day checking out the city. Still thinking of the Millennial grill for breakfast one day.

Let's see what Sublime says, re ordering from Trotter's Express as one of our places for the get together at his place. He probably knows it and has opinions.

rjb, I'm really, really, looking forward to eating some Chicago hotdogs. I lived in Chicago a couple of times during my ten lifetime of 70 years, and remember those more than most of the meals (some fancy ones too) I've eaten in that town.

I hope all of you will visit Geno's and not get turned off by the decor. Some like it, some hate it, but the pizza is awesome.

If you have the time CI take a little road trip Northwest of Chicago to the town of Crystal Lake. On route 14 is a little dog shop called Tommy's

They have, by far, the best dogs in the tri-state area. 2 chicago style with fries for $3.50. You can't beat 'em.

I think I've posted this before, but here it is again: The Chicago Style Hot Dog

JP: I wish you had posted that information about three weeks ago when I was in Crystal Lake. But it's not a "short trip" from Chicago; more like an hour's drive through some pretty heavy expressway traffic.

RJB: I have never seen a street vendor in Chicago selling hot dogs. This ain't New York, remember.

I have seen one. Out on Navy Pier, a roach coach setup hawking Chicago style dogs.

But that wouldn't be a "street" vendor, now would it?

Who said he was vending "streets"? I thought the man sold hot dogs...

I don't know what the difference would be. One has a cart and one has a coach.

That's a nice confluence with Charlie Trotter's Express! (Open one day a week, that day is the day of the gathering...)

Serious debate going on about whether Chicago has street vendors selling hot dogs.

I have seen Hollywood movies about Chicago where the male and female leads are walking on a street and stop to buy a hot dog from a vendor. In reality there are none. Hollywood sometimes makes Chicago look like New York.

There was an action movie set in Chicago where you can see palm trees during a car chase. (Chicago has no palm trees either.)

Setting up a hot dog cart on Navy Pier is akin to setting one up on Main Street in Disneyland. It's not a true pushcart like one might find on the streets of New York, or like a Wuerstelstand that are everywhere in Vienna. It's part of the tourist attraction, like the Ferris wheel.

mmmmm, hot dogs. <planning lunch in Crystal Lake>

The most serious debates in Chicago involve food.



Some views of Chicago are over the top
Chicago Tribune (reg. req'd)
Published March 29, 2006

`There really are hills in Chicago," wrote Carol K.

She was responding to a recent column about the mountains looming outside an alleged Chicago airport in the new Fox sitcom "The Loop."

"When I lived in the Edgewater neighborhood," Carol K. continued, "I had a neighbor who one day became ill at work and took the `L' home. `I was so sick,' she said, `I could barely make it up the hill.'

"I must have looked confused because she explained that it was the hill between Broadway and Clark. I looked and sure enough there it was--a rise of a few feet over the half mile along Granville between Broadway and Clark.

"I later learned that Clark Street is one of the glacial ridges that run along the north side of town. And for all that time, I thought Chicago was flat. I just wasn't looking close enough."

Slopes in this city? Other readers also had curious tales. Here are a few more, slightly edited:

"Several decades ago, there was a mysterious ad campaign, `I will bring a mountain to Chicago,'" wrote Judith A. "My age cohort was agog with anticipation. It turned out to be merely an alleged mountain of flavor within (I think) Folger's Coffee. Perhaps this show is the fulfillment of that long-ago promise.

"P.S. If you rent the '50s turkey `The Beginning of the End' (Peter Graves saves Chicago from giant mutant grasshoppers attacking from Downstate), you will see what may be the same misplaced mountains in the background."

Giant mutant grasshoppers? Attacking from Downstate? Are you sure those weren't legislators?

"How you ever watched that putrid Fox offering long enough to notice the mountains must have taken the patience of a saint," wrote Larry G. "I could no longer give it my full attention after the lead character appeared to drive home to the barn at Lincoln Park's Farm in the Zoo."

Give the show some credit, Larry. At least the barn wasn't on a hill.

"I am all too familiar with the seeming inability of TV shows and movies set in Chicago to actually look, sound or feel like Chicago," fumed Steve P. "I cringe every time I watch `ER' and hear a character refer to a carbonated soft drink as `soda.' That show's been on the air for, what, 10 years now, and they still don't know that Chicagoans use the word `pop'?"

Pop? Really? I thought most bubbly drinks in Chicago were called "beer."

"Gosh, Mary," wrote Delia R., "where have you been? The mountains in `The Loop' are the same ones in `The Silence of the Lambs.' The feds flew right over them on their way to Calumet City!"

And from Kent K.: "It's obvious you have never enjoyed the breathtaking view of snow-covered Mt. Prospect at sunrise from the lofty Arlington Heights."

No, I haven't, Kent. I prefer the vistas from the Calumet Peaks.

This came from Mike K. in Springfield: "Your column, along with the recent death of Darren McGavin, reminded me of another geographical faux pas years ago, when McGavin played in the TV series "Kolchak: The Night Stalker.'

"Kolchak was a Chicago-based reporter who hunted down evil supernatural beings. The episode we all enjoyed down here began with the murder of a state legislator who drove his car over a cliff and into a ravine in Springfield.

"Cliff? Ravine? In Springfield? Now THAT would be supernatural."

Very strange, Mike. Did that legislator by any chance look like a giant mutant grasshopper?

"This reminds me of the first Halloween movie," wrote Mark J. "It took place in northern Illinois, if memory serves me, and all the leaves were on the trees on Oct. 31. That doesn't even happen in central Illinois where I live."

Leaves on Oct. 31? Why not? Some years, spring here doesn't start until July.

And a parting thought from Jim T.:

"It is so flat in Illinois that you can sit on your front porch and watch your dog run away for three days."

Next time your out there it is on south side of Route 14 west of Randall Road... it is worth the trip.

You're right about it being more like an hours drive. I lived in Dundee (south of Crystal Lake north of Elgin) for 20+ years and am still remembering the 30-45 minute drive that would get you right smack in the middle of the loop. Now, anything under an hour and a half these days is making pretty good time.