Meet Me In Chicago

Ever since our son Matt moved to Illinois for work a year and a half ago, we’ve been wanting to pay him and the city of Chicago a visit. Now, the boy doesn’t live in Chicago proper, his home is about an hour and a half west in a town which, by his account, is total dullsville. He took a couple days off to show us around town. I was concerned that it would be frozen tundra cold, as it right should be in February. The temperatures were in the forties and not a problem, the rain however, was another story.

First on the agenda was lunch, of course. Matt had visited this place before with friends and couldn’t wait to get back.

 

It was barely past eleven thirty when we arrived, so we roped dropped the place! Keep in mind, we’ve been up since four in the morning. The place was empty so I was able to get some glamour shots of the dining room.

When Matt said he wanted to take us to an authentic Dim Sum restaurant, I pictured a run down, cafeteria type establishment, churning out bamboo baskets of deliciousness for business lunch goers. This place was really lovely and refined. The best part was the open kitchen which ran the length of the dining room. We requested a table right by the glass.

Our first bite might have been my favorite. The flavors here were out of this world good!

As we ate we got to witness the chefs meticulously creating these dishes. Hand pulling noodles, filling and crimping dumplings and making paper thin wrappers for spring rolls. The did all this with such precision. I may have left a nose print on the glass.

Here’s a quick video of some of the action.

 

Next up were the soup dumplings. Matt talked about these as being is favorite dish here. I don’t remember what the fillings were, but I was surprised by the neon bright color of the dough.

There is a procedure required to eat these. They are filled with broth (hence the name) so one must manage to lift the dumpling with chopsticks, bite the tip off the top, suck out the liquid and pop the rest of the morsel in your gob. I watched an asian gentleman perform this dance with ease. This proved to be a bit more difficult for this lady. They were really fantastic and totally worth the trouble.

Our next dish was also a bit jarring when we lifted the lid. They looked a bit like extra-terrestrial eggs of some sort.

I’m really not sure what this clear wrapper was. The bite to it was slightly gelatinous and weird, and at the same time delightful! The filling was savory and so well balanced. It felt like we were eating something truly authentic. You surely can’t get these at the Happy Dragon down the street.

The next offering was a bit more traditional for the American palate, but again executed so well. The shrimp in these little crispy packages was so fresh and flavorful. Just perfect.

On to the entrées.  Yes, we’re still eating. Matt got noodles or Lamian, for his main dish. The noodles are nestled at the bottom of the bowl.

There was a woman making these noodles in the kitchen, but I would have had to step over someone else’s table to get a video. If you’d like to see the process, you can watch a video HERE.

Jeff and I shared a salmon dish. This was simple, straight forward and gorgeous.

We could have stayed there all afternoon sampling the entire menu, but alas, it was time to see more of this city. The rain began again in earnest. We hopped in a Lyft and headed to our next destination.

Now we’ll be taking in some culture. Chicago has a plethora of museums to visit. With limited time for touring, we decided on the most iconic, the Art Institute of Chicago.

Even if you’ve never been to Chicago, you’re probably familiar with this museum from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”. In fact you can take a self guided tour of all the sights from the movie if you’re so inclined.

 

In the past one was not allowed to take photos in museums, presumably because of the flash photography compromising the canvases. Now, with the iPhone cameras, that doesn’t seem to be an issue. Now it’s encouraged.

We had done a fair bit of touring and we were all starting to drag a bit. We stopped in the the museum cafe for an over priced cappuccino.

With a bit of a pick me up on board we moved on to the Modern and contemporary sections of the museum. Matt and I were a bit at loggerheads about the definition of each. I took to the internet to find out: “Modern art is that which was created sometime between the 1860s (some say the 1880s) and the late 1960s (some say only through the 1950s). Art made thereafter (e.g., conceptual, minimalist, postmodern, feminist) is considered contemporary.” 

I have to say that I’m am totally on board for modern art.

Contemporary art, not so much.

Matt was familiar with the artist, On Kawara. He told me that he painted one of these “Today Paintings” everyday (unless he didn’t) from 1966 until he died. He also did a project called “One Million Years” which consists of volumes of books listing every day from a million years back and them a million years forward. There are exhibitions wherein a man and a woman will sit in a glass room reading these dates for one hundred days. Is it art? Surely it is, but I guess I’m just a simple gal that enjoys a painting or statue much more. 

Up Next: We’ll checking out our digs for the next couple nights, but not before catching a little walk about between down pours!