Day 2 in Chicago - architecture, southern food and neighborhoods

Boy, what a busy day today! Though not all worked out as planned, we had an informative and interesting day. Started early with a meeting with the General Manager in the Saint Clair Hotel (to get to confirmed that this is a good deal for visitors in an exceptionally good location). Out we went then through River North and passing Wrigley Building (left photo) to the CAC, the Chicago Architectural Center, in a new location since we have visited last time. 

 

The CAC charges a stiff entrance fee now, but exhibitions are more extensive and informative, they show a film, and the great city modell, continuously added to, is still there. We were scheduled for a Modern Architecture Walking Tour (the CAC offers many different tours with an architectural focus), but, unfortunately it was cancelled because the docent became sick on short notice. 

 

 

Well, we made the best of it and took Uber to Wicker Park (right and below), another interesting neighborhood of Chicago, instead. Ragstock - vintage clothing - Myoptic Books or Reckless Records are long-time staples in this neighborhood. 

 

 

Afterwards we ubered to the north, to Andersonville - BTW: traffic is horrible all day in Chicago! This neighborhood is known for its Swedish roots, for historic architecture, and, an urban main street, Clark Street. As we got to know on our stroll later, it is very focused on "shopping local", there is a large network of local and independent businesses in the area. At the same time, it is home to one of Chicago’s largest LGBTQ+ populations and offers many great murals.

We had an opulent lunch in Andersonville at Chef Paul Fehribach's (German roots!) "Big Jones",. Since 2008 he introduces Chicagoans and visitors to Southern cuisine. Produce mostly comes from independent local farms and small producers and everything is made in-house. He is the author of two cook&culinary history books and he gave us  copies of his latest about "Midwestern Food" - dealing with all the different roots and specialities from all over the world.

He not only presented us his book, but regaled us with a lot of different dishes from his menu - catfish and crabcakes, gumbo and etouffé, shrimps & grits, chicken and cornbread, bisquits and pawpaw pie (a banana-like tropical fruit, indigenous to the continental U.S.) - super-delicious! The tastes of the dishes were exceptional, all of them different, spicy, many different facettes, meticulously prepared!

Cornbread with real corn + butter

Crabcakes

We were stuffed when we left the restaurant, a nap would have been appropriate, but,,, no rest for the wicked: First, we explored Andersonville some more and visited the last farmers' market of the season there. We noticed that it has much more to offer than we expected.

Continued to Wrigleyville, part of Lakeview, and, the neighborhood around famous Wrigley Field (the baseball stadium named for the chewing gum company)

 

Adjacent is former "Boystown", now "Northalsted" (for political correctness?!). Frankly, on first view Andersonville seems to be more of an LGBTQ+ neighborhood then Northalsted. Walked Belmont Ave, checked out another Ragstock and headed back to the hotel to catch up with work. Later, we walked over to  Crushed by Giants Brewery, in walking distance to the hotel.