I am a New Yorker who has recently moved to Chicago and my first question is why?!!! Why are there no good restaurants in this city?! Those of my friends who were not horrified at the thought of my move told me that they heard Chicago's culinary offerings were quite good. So, used to going out for lunch or dinner at least 4-5 times a week, I ventured out to the closest restaurant on my first day here. It happened to be Giordano's - "Chicago's world famous stuffed pizza" - a popular chain. Perhaps I was too hungry or too excited about a first day in a new city or too lazy to look for another place to eat... whatever it was, I can no longer pinpoint the reason why I did not run at the first sight of the place.
Chain restaurants are normally not on my list of possible dining options. Last time I set foot in a McDonald's was in college (and that only from peer pressure). I've never been to a Taco Bell, a White Castle or a Burger King. What possessed me to try out a pizza chain that day I cannot tell. Suffice it to say - never again! My first day in Chicago will forever go down in history as the day I had the worst pizza ever.
Now, several weeks later, thinking back on it, I should have known. First, the place didn't even smell of pizza. You know, that haunting, seductive pizza smell that is sometimes even better than the pizza itself. When you walk down a street and all of a sudden you catch a whiff of the gooey cheese, the aromatic tomato sauce baked into the irresistible crust... and do everything possible to resist elbowing yourself into the usually tiny pizzeria and grabbing a slice almost before it comes out of the oven. Nope - none of that.
This place had a smell of some cleaning liquid recently spilled, the view of an utterly generic suburban "eating establishment." The customers, all large, overweight, short and t-shirt wearing were hungrily devouring the humongous thick pies of whatever-it-was that they had perched up in front of them. After enjoying this scenery for over 40 minutes, we got our pie (veggie). I have not had a deep dish pizza before this day, but if this is supposed to be a representation of a deep dish pizza, I'll never eat it again. (Please someone tell me there is a better version somewhere!)
There was no sauce. The vegetables, in large unseemly chunks were piled high over an enormous amount of cheese sitting on top of a mushy thick parody of a crust. I can't even call it a crust - a spongy substance perhaps? Trying to be open minded, I ate one piece. That was as much as I could manage, and that after not having eaten for at least 8 hours. The remnants sat menacingly on the platter. I could not bring myself to bring the rest home even though I really dislike wasting food. B took the rest home and told me the next morning that the cold version was even worse than the hot.
I have not had a pizza in Chicago since. I'll write about my other encounters with Chicago cuisine in my next few posts.
Meanwhile, people, please, I beg you, tell me where the good places are!
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3 comments:
Wow you got alot of work to do if you think the move from NY to Chicago is going to be "dreadful". Where do you eat in Chicago? in the same neighborhood you and everyone else that moves here eats? tell me where to get good Mexican food in NY? tell me NY has better street food than Chicago? what their gross little dogs with sauerkraut? The fact of the matter is that if you didnt spend so much time reading the articles about whats "hot" and "in" then you may find something special (yes! in Chicago, who would of thought you can get good food in Chicago...really?)Seriously im curious as to where your eating in a city with as much to offer as NY. Sure theres a few things your beloved NY has that we dont but theres more stuff we have than they dont.
Are you kidding me?! Chicago street food is better than NY's? What planet do you live on? Where are the streets in Chicago that have retail space on the first floor that goes on for more than two blocks? I have not seen either a bagel cart, a falafel cart, a gyro cart or a hot dog stand for that matter since I got here and I've been all over the place - Lincoln Square, Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Gold Coast, Streeterville, River North, Loop, South Loop, Chinatown, Uptown, Wicker Park. I did not see one street cart in any of these. What - are these all the wrong neighborhoods? By all means, please tell me where the right ones are. And FYI - here's a rating of the top 20 NYC street carts and these are just the top 20 - out of thousands! http://nymag.com/restaurants/features/33527/ You must have been asleep walking through NYC when you were there. Your loss.
One thing Chicago is surely short on is true street food. The city (or maybe I should say the Mayor) is strongly against the general concept, and there are very few places where one can buy food from mobile vendors.
Of course, the sizeable exception to this rule is in Mexican neighborhoods, where you can often find elotes, tamales, fresh fruit and other stuff. The only vendor I particularly know to patronize is the fresh fruit cart at Clark and Pratt, but we certainly can't compare to NYC for cart-borne food sales.
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