patrick.net

Okay. Well, I haven't seen much of Chicago, but my impression is it's the Orlando of the North. Very wide and low, lots of corporate places.

It looks like any of the more popular Pizzerias mostly became franchises, I tried to disprove my initial impression.

Deep Dish Pizza is Tomato Cake, which explains why Midwesterners model their Tomato Cakes after Chicago. Dry as a bone, no olive oil, Betty Crocker type flour, none of the bubbles in the crust which is required for real pizza. I guess Grandma Olsen and Aunt Brunhilda doesn't keep much Olive Oil in the house.

Correct:


HOWEVER, the thin crust, while not up to NY-NJ Standard, is good, particularly the Cheese-Tomato part. The square shape is wrong. Possibly second-best in the world, although Boston Italian is also excellent (really it's not any different than NY-NJ other than you have to watch the many college places which are cutting the price to serve students, but those are readily apparent from the menu)

AND, the Polish food, the perogies/blintzes, potato pancakes/latkes, pickles, kielbasas, etc. was EXCELLENT.

Chinatown was also great

I didn't make it much beyond the South Loop area, but it was very corporate with a "rehabbed downtown" with mostly chain eateries and a few Yuppie Sushi places.

It is, however, very clean.

Again, Chicago reminded me mostly of Orlando, Car Friendly, long walks, minimal retail/restaurant walkable locations and those mostly corporate. Between Mercy Hospital and the Marriott there was only a McDonalds, Starbucks, and generic hotel bar/restaurants.

My recommendation would be to imitate San Antonio's riverwalk along the Lake, and/or forcibly lower the rents to the many abandoned storefronts between the Convention/Hotel Area and China Town along Michigan Avenue.