Quintessentially Chicago

This morning was a rude surprise. I agreed to help a friend out as a pace group leader in a 10 mile training program so I dressed in my winter running gear and went out to run with a group of other crazy people. It was 25 degrees and cloudy with a wind chill of sub-frigid at the lakefront. We only ran 4 miles this morning and it took me 1 1/2 miles to get my blood pumping hard enough to feel my fingers. Next Saturday is officially in the month of March so let us hope that those March warmup trends take effect.

The clouds went away sometime in the middle of the day and the sun was a spirit raiser at least. Looking out the windows on the 14th floor the ice on the lake has done something very odd today. It appears as if there are millions of little white corpuscles within the concrete barrier across the way. Maybe they're icepuscles, the vital defense system of Lake Michigan. Who knows? Anyway the slanting afternoon sunlight is yielding shadows of the high rises along Lake Shore Drive. Tis a lovely sight.

Babs and I are tired of the stay in because it's really cold out and are considering a trip to the Saloon a couple of blocks away for steaks. We're not usually big carnivore types, but occasionally a person just needs the traditional big hunk of meat for dinner. In Chicago there a few things that I can think of that are quintessentially part of the real Chicago experience and a good steak is one of them.

Having deep dish pizza is a real Chicago experience. It is true that you can get it almost anywhere these days, but it was invented here for goodness sakes. We have more varieties of deep dish than a dog has fleas. If you want the real experience, go to Unos. They invented it after all. Wanta be a tourist. Wait 30-40 minutes with drinks so you can experience this. It's worth it.

Going to Second City is another of the gotta do it, for the Chicago experience places to go. There is improv based theater in a great many cities these days, but it was Second City that put improv on the map. It was Second City alumni that put Saturday Night Live on the TV map. As I recall from doing classes and children's shows there, the place smells like stale beer, but it's all a part of the ambience. It's the home of the best comedy theater anywhere, period. It's real Chicago.

When it comes to sports, there are the Bears at Soldier Field (Many locals will tell you it's Soldiers Field, plural). The tickets are God awful expensive and hard to get. There are the Bulls, and I went to see Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen when they played here in the Threepeat years. The Blackhawks? I'm sorry. I grew up in the South and games played on ice skates I just don't get. If I wanted Canadian games I'd move to Montreal. The Chicago White Sox? Please. The real deal in baseball, no matter where you come from is experienced at Wrigley Field. This is Chicago sports. The intimacy of the stadium, the ivy on the walls, the bleacher bums, the people on the roofs across the street from the stadium watching the game. This is an experience only to be had in Chicago. No domes. No jumbotrons. Just baseball.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the July 3rd fireworks at Grant Park. If you're not from Chicago, your probable reaction to the last statement is "Don't you mean July 4th?" As a matter of fact I don't. In Chicago there is a tradition. On July 3rd the Grant Park symphony plays endless Souza and other assorted American composers and then when the sun goes down, the band strikes up The 1812 Overture and the fireworks go off over the lake, perfectly timed so that when the orchestra goes boom the fireworks go boom. Over a million people converge on the park for the experience. Leaving and going home can be a chore, but it's part of the real Chicago experience. Oh, and what about July 4th? The park is given over on that day to famous rock bands who give free concerts. Ho hum. Just another day in the city.

Anyway, this little tour of quintessentially Chicago experiences started with steaks. There are any number of steak houses in the city of Chicago. A lot of them are very good, but then so are steak houses in any number of cities all across America. What's so Chicago about the steak experience? I have to remind you that this is the city of Ditka and Butkus, and a lot of real down to earth hard-working folks of many sorts. This is "The City That Works." Chicago is a large city with a population measured in the millions, and we have all that that brings. You can get fusion cuisine, Italian cuisine (Northern and Southern), French cuisine, Thai, Chinese, Mexican, Middle Eastern, and Sushi. One of my faves is Ron of Japan. I like to think that someone will one day put in a restaurant next door called Bob of Korea. When you examine the character of the city, though, a kick ass steak joint is what sums up the character of the place.

Sometimes you just have to have a steak. Think I'll celebrate the city that I live in and have one tonight. Have a great Saturday.