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2004-08-28: Chicago Eatathon
Posted by extramsg on Wednesday, September 15, 2004 @ 15:24:41 PDT
Contributed by extramsg
This trip began like most of my trips: a half-assed attempt to kill as many birds with one stone as possible. A friend from college announced that he'd be in Chicago for an academic conference. He'd be staying with a second friend from college. A third friend from college decided he was going to join them. All of us worked on the same alternative paper and I was the only missing piece of the reunion. The third friend, in the mean-time, ate at Trio and loved it. I must go, he told me. Then I discovered the Maxwell Street Market, a flea market with a concentration of Mexican street food difficult to find elsewhere in the US. That was the straw that broke the cheap bastard's back, and I gave in.
Photo Album
But then it unravelled. Trio's chef, Greg Achatz, would be leaving to open his own restaurant. The second friend accepted a job in Phoenix. My cousin would be getting married the weekend that I was supposed to be in Chicago. Ugh. I hadn't bought the tickets yet. Should I just forget about it? One integral piece of the reunion had already bowed out. If I was to go to my cousin's wedding, I couldn't stay through Sunday with my friends and go to the market. I'd already eaten at many of the top restaurants in town and was excited to try something as different as Trio. Maybe I should just forget about it. But if that was the case, I wouldn't be writing this. Nope, instead of giving up, I decided to -- well, to use a phrase very appropriate for Chicago -- go whole hog.
I would spend an entire week in Chicago, arriving the previous weekend so that I could visit the Maxwell Street Market. We'd eat at the chef's table at Charlie Trotter's. I wouldn't be able to stay with my Phoenix-bound friend, but at $30/day, the hostel in the loop was a steal. I'd focus on my favorite ethnic cuisines, all of which Chicago was known for: Mexican, Thai, and Indian. Plus, whatever else sounded good. I'd have seven days.
Looking back, seven days sounded like so much more than it was. I was lucky to have people from Chowhound, eGullet, and LTHForum eat with me and generously show me around. After the first day, I had toured the two major Mexican neighborhoods, Pilsen and Little Village, plus explored the Maxwell Street Market. I was beginning to think that I was going to have a lot of time to kill. After the locals started showing me around, my thought was: how am I going to see it all?
Over the next week or so, I'll be publishing several blog entries that cover the highlights. I took over 1,000 photos and I'll be publishing many of those, too. Some are already in the photo albums. I hope it's useful, managable, and interesting.
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