:hi: Please read the Thread on the Gathering VII @ the Top of the Forum and the Gathering Registration Thread! All Members of AU can PM each other but "Guests" Can't and they also cant see some of the Members only Threads and Posts! The "Official "Gathering days are Oct. 18-20 (Fri-Sunday) but some us will arrive on Thursday the 17th and some will stay to Mon the 21st but most will go home on Sun the 20th! We usually have around 40+, this is Gathering VII, it rotates between Zones and Cities Annually! So far its gone Chicago, LA,Boston, St. Louis, Seattle, Philadelphia and now Chicago again! Hope you can make some of it, some Locals just come for Day Activities like the Rail Rides and for the Beer Joints, er Restaurants! :giggle:Heart-Attack-on-a-Plate is always a good meal not to be missed, LOL.
Is there private messaging? I'd love to be notified of the Chicago meet - if I can make it, I will come.
Good to know about Beggar's Pizza!! I will pick some up for dinner on my August 27th trip from Chicago on the Southwest Chief that leaves at 3pm. Perfect!!!!If you don't care to walk for blocks, or pay for a cab ride from CUS, you're in luck. Local foodies or name-brand fans likely would look down their noses since they're a (UGH!) chain, but Beggar's Pizza serves the real-deal deep-dish style pie, by the slice or by the pie, and they're at 310 S ******* St, just outside the station near the corner of ******* and Jackson Blvd, about 3 doors away if you exit via the SW corner of the Big Atrium in the station. Pick up your pizza and re-enter the station, and it's still steaming hot if you take it back and eat it in the Metropolitan Lounge for instance. I heard about Beggar's from the cleaning staff in CUS. I figured they'd know where to go there, and they were right - cheese dripping off all edges of my slice, and that aroma driving everyone in the room NUTS. Oh my, but that's good pizza! And next door, too!
How would you compare that original Al's Italian Beef to the Al's Italian Beef right across ******* from CUS? If I go through Chicago early enough for Lou Mitchell's I go there, but if I come through in the late afternoon, I often go over to that Al's. It's darn good, is the original location better (aside from atmosphere)?Hi Peggy! I am a born and raised Chicagoan.
There are many different opinions on pizza here. But I say Lou Malnati's, 439 N. Wells, a 5 minute cab ride from the station. It's got the most Chicago atmosphere.
What time are you getting in? Do we have messaging? I'm fine with it if you want to message me about any info.
I have another idea for you. Italian Beef is actually a Chicago invention. If you have time to go to Taylor Street, The Italian neighborhood, it is a 5 or so minute cab ride from the station.
At Taylor Street:
Definitely go to Mario's Italian Lemonade if you go in the summer. Their Italian Ice has chunks of real fruit. My favorite is canteloupe or original lemon, but watermelon is good, too. Al's Italian Beef is pretty good, and they have some awesome pictures on the wall. Ex-Governer-who-is-now-in-jail-Blagojevich in a photo frame with bars. Signed pictures by the cast of Wizard of Oz from 1939, etc. They have Chicago Hot Dogs too. (Vienna beef, MaryAnn's Bakery poppy seed bun, mustard, sport peppers, tomato, bright green relish, celery salt, did I leave anything out?)
Portillo's has great Chicago Dogs too.
Junebug
Zephyr, I've never been to that one. Sure seems more convenient! The Taylor Street idea was strictly for the ambience.How would you compare that original Al's Italian Beef to the Al's Italian Beef right across ******* from CUS?Hi Peggy! I am a born and raised Chicagoan.
There are many different opinions on pizza here. But I say Lou Malnati's, 439 N. Wells, a 5 minute cab ride from the station. It's got the most Chicago atmosphere.
What time are you getting in? Do we have messaging? I'm fine with it if you want to message me about any info.
I have another idea for you. Italian Beef is actually a Chicago invention. If you have time to go to Taylor Street, The Italian neighborhood, it is a 5 or so minute cab ride from the station.
At Taylor Street:
Definitely go to Mario's Italian Lemonade if you go in the summer. Their Italian Ice has chunks of real fruit. My favorite is canteloupe or original lemon, but watermelon is good, too. Al's Italian Beef is pretty good, and they have some awesome pictures on the wall. Ex-Governer-who-is-now-in-jail-Blagojevich in a photo frame with bars. Signed pictures by the cast of Wizard of Oz from 1939, etc. They have Chicago Hot Dogs too. (Vienna beef, MaryAnn's Bakery poppy seed bun, mustard, sport peppers, tomato, bright green relish, celery salt, did I leave anything out?)
Portillo's has great Chicago Dogs too.
Junebug
As a born and raised EYEtalian Chicagoan, I have to disagree.I agree that Lou Malnati makes Great Pizza but if you ask 100 Chicagoians(???) you will get 100 Answers as to who has "The Best" Pizza!Okay for the people that said Giordano's, my two cents is LOU MALNATI'S!!!! They have the best pan pizza, hands down, anywhere I have ever had it. Now thin crust, that's a different story.
Thin Crust Pizza is for New Yorkers and Tourists, it's not "Real" Pizza! :giggle: (make mine with Extra Sauce, Cheese and Meat! Stuff it Dino!
Warning - long, link heavy post aheadJoanieB knows what she is talking about!
That picture makes my mouth water. I still love pan pizza too.
Sorry to go off topic, but where are some places to get real thin cracker crust pizza, Italian Lemonade, and Italian Beef? Do we have to go all the way to Melrose Park, Stone Park, or Franklin Park?
I'm now thinking about the best sandwich store I've ever been to in my life in Chicago, Al & Joe's Deli in Franklin Park http://www.yelp.com/biz/al-and-joes-deli-franklin-park
Hungry for Italian!!!
That's hilarious - I used to take riding lessons at the Clark St. stables, part of the Equestrian Club at my H.S. - it was a real luxury but it sure was weird riding a horse inside a building in the middle of the city.This did spin into a restaurant thread, didn't it! I'm writing down all your suggestions, Joanie!
The #22 Clark Street! As a kid I took the #22 from Howard Street to the stables in Lincoln Park at Clark and Diversey! At one, you would see horses looking out the second floor window as you went down busy Clark Street.
Ahh, the old days when there were five livery stables and horses were ridden in Lincoln Park! We rode pinto ponies with buggies down Wells Street in Old Town, as well as cantering horses along the lakefront and in beautiful Lincoln Park. We would see the Hispanic men with their well trained horses practicing dancing and doing the trotting sideways down the trail.
I wonder if Ferrara's is the same family as the Ferrara Pan Candy Company that makes Lemonheads, Boston Baked Beans and Red Hots?
There's a Leona's near me on Sheridan Road--I am north. Go Cubs. White Sox are for da sout siders.
A small correction....dry is when they let most of the juice drip off of the meat before it's put on the roll, wet is when the beef is pulled out of the juice and put immediately on the roll, if you want it dipped you have to tell them - they'll dip your already wet sandwich into the juice (too sloppy and messy for me and the roll usually disintegrates too).Yup, and they'll ask if you want your beef "wet". That means they dip the entire sandwich back into the broth. I prefer it "dry", which means the beef is still drippy but my bun doesn't get quite as soggy. It's sooooooooo goooooood either way, though.
The Al's on Taylor has these long counters for you to lean on as you eat (so you don't make a mess). The atmosphere is awesome. Chicago is a GREAT city for food. We eat and eat and eat every time we visit (good thing it's also a walking city).
Ferrara's is the same family and you can always buy boxes of those candies in the bakery - they're near the register.This did spin into a restaurant thread, didn't it! I'm writing down all your suggestions, Joanie!
The #22 Clark Street! As a kid I took the #22 from Howard Street to the stables in Lincoln Park at Clark and Diversey! At one, you would see horses looking out the second floor window as you went down busy Clark Street.
Ahh, the old days when there were five livery stables and horses were ridden in Lincoln Park! We rode pinto ponies with buggies down Wells Street in Old Town, as well as cantering horses along the lakefront and in beautiful Lincoln Park. We would see the Hispanic men with their well trained horses practicing dancing and doing the trotting sideways down the trail.
I wonder if Ferrara's is the same family as the Ferrara Pan Candy Company that makes Lemonheads, Boston Baked Beans and Red Hots?
There's a Leona's near me on Sheridan Road--I am north. Go Cubs. White Sox are for da sout siders.
There are a few decent places right in the train station - Au Bon Pain and The Corner Bakery are two."The Italian Stance"...... I'll do that too!!And while we're on food..... I'll want to pick up some kind of breakfasty/pastry type thing to take back on the train with me to have for breakfast the next morning. Anything requiring refrigeration will be out, and it needs to be able to hang out in a ziploc baggy overnight with no major trauma caused by that....so any recommendations there will be happily accepted.
I just can't make myself pack granola bars for this. I just can't.
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