Thursday, November 1, 2007

Just Tell Them George Sent You...Part 1

When my husband told me he was going to Chicago for work I was just a little jealous. Then he told me that he had a two room suite at the Chicago Fairmont and that I should come along. Perfect! 4 days of relaxing in a nice hotel, some shopping, sight seeing and lot of good food. Well, let me tell you, things aren't always what they seem. What I found out later was that my husband's meetings were actually being held in our room, hence the suite and that his co-worker was also sharing the room. All of a sudden that 2 room suite seemed awfully small. I also found out that they would be working long hours and I would be spending a lot of time alone and away from the room. My only saving grace was the food. Chicago is known for good food and I was determined to have my fill. As an experienced "Food Hunter" I had a list of places I wanted to try. Of course that too was turned upside down once we arrived in the windy city. It started on our first night. Dinner needed to be close to the hotel since the guys needed to start working right away. Needless to say I was a little disappointed that we could not go to the pizza place I had planned to try. So I asked at the hotel for a recommendation. They directed us to a place called Pizano's just a few blocks away. It was good pizza with a slightly buttery crust. Different than anything I've had before. The best part of the night was meeting George, who I think was the owner. We got to talking about food with him and he wrote us up a list of his favorite places to try. He made sure to add that if we had any trouble getting into these places we should "tell them George sent you" Sounded to me like George might have some "connections." The next morning, with the list from George in hand, I started my Chicago adventure. I headed north on Michigan Ave. going in and out of stores to keep warm (or at least that's what I told my husband). I made my way by lunch time to L'Appetito. George was right this place was a gem. There was a deli counter with Italian meats and cheese, a hot food counter with pizza's and pasta and a bakery counter with tons of Italian pastries and cookies. There was just so much I wanted to try. I knew the moment I walked into the shop that I would be coming back often over the next few days...and I did. By the end of my trip I had tried the pizza, several different antipasti (I loved the tortellini salad) and sandwiches, several kinds of cookies (my favorite were the iced lemon) and a piece of cannoli cake. I also ended up buying a few pounds of Tuscan salami and some Parma Cotto which I haven't been able to find in Phoenix. This was definitely the winner on George's list. TO BE CONTINUED......

1 comment:

  1. You need to post George's list. :)
    And man, that pizza looks good.

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