I’ll start with this – I LOVE Chicagoland (the term we use to capture the city proper as well as the outlying areas) – and no who knows me really well would have ever expected me to say something like that – EVER! I grew up in the South – from birth to 6th grade, I lived in North Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and Texas. My father was born in Mississippi, and I still have people there. My mother was born in Louisiana, and I still have people there. I’ve been a walking billboard for The University of Texas at Austin for over 4o years. I own a fair few pair of cowboy boots, and I’ll tell you with a straight face that I think they’re the most comfortable footwear you can find.
All that aside, I moved here 14 years ago after relocating – on average – every 3 years since 1984. I’ve put down roots for the first time in my life since leaving TX and I feel like I’ve gotten very lucky about where I landed. This town has everything you could ever hope for – the music, the arts, the sports, amazing architecture, a whole bunch of great people who are proud of their city and some truly amazing food. I’ve lived all over the US and in several foreign countries and I’ve never found a better food city – many that are every bit as good – but none better.
If you want to get a feel for the food scene here, watch “The Bear” on Hulu. My wife and I fell in love with the show from the very 1st episode and we’ve been huge fans ever since. So – when we were looking for an experience to share as part of our Anniversary celebration, we settled on the “Yes Chef” Food Tour. Can’t thank my wife enough for finding this cuz it turned out to be a great afternoon with perfect weather and amazing food!!
We started out at 11:00 AM and spent the next 4 hours visiting some pretty iconic Chicago culinary locations (all featured in the show) and sampling some pretty amazing cuisine. I’m dropping a gallery of some of the places we visited.
Any Chicagoan will know these places and if you’re in town – try to visit one or more. If I had to recommend just one – I’d tell you to go for the chocolate sundae at Margie’s – it’s all about the homemade fudge and you won’t find anything like it anywhere else – my promise! Having said that, you won’t go wrong with any of these places.