I intended to attack Chicago Girl v. Food style…although that is pretty much how I attack every meal placed before me, but never mind that. I had watched Adam eat himself silly on Travel Channel’s Man v. Food here and planned to do much the same.
Besides, with less than 24 hours to spend in such a vast city, what more could we really do besides spend our time eating? And of course visiting the giant silver bean in Millennium Park.
After a grueling 11 hour drive plus a border crossing from Toronto into Michigan, we finally arrived in Chicago just as the sun was setting. What a beautiful city! We watched as joggers and bikers traveled along the water’s edge while an array of yachts bobbed gently behind them. The buildings in the downtown area are a perfect combination of old and modern giving the city a cool and unique feel. I discovered this quickly because we drove around in five circles up and down one way streets trying to find a parking space close enough to Gino’s East! We certainly weren’t wasting any time, the famous Chicago deep dish pizza place was destination #1 on the Girl v. Food tour.
We arrived to meet two huge lines outside of the pizza joint. I suddenly felt like I was lining up to get into a club. There was a “bouncer” of sorts managing the lines and taking names. I asked him what the separate lines were for to be sure we were in the correct one, to which he replied, “One line is regular and one line is V.I.P.” V.I.P.?! Yes, V.I.P. Evidently, some hotels in the area have hook ups for their guests to be “on the list.” This must be some dang good pizza.
Forty-five minutes later we are seated only to be informed that it would be another forty-five minutes before our long awaited pizza was ready. Good thing we weren’t starving! We chose the meaty-legend (pepperoni, bacon, Canadian bacon, and Italian sausage) deep dish pizza without much hesitation because you just can’t go wrong with all that meat, right?
My first bite was…well…meaty. It took a while before I actually tasted dough (which was by far the best part of the pizza) and it just didn’t dazzle me. No offense Chi-Towners. I don’t know if it was because there was too much meat on the pizza, too much hype surrounding the pizza, or just the simple fact that I am a New York pizza girl at heart. Either way, I have to give it to New York when it comes to pizza.
The eating spree continued with lunch at Al’s Italian Beef. Yum, yum, yum. Thank you Al. When they ask whether you want your sandwich dipped, your answer should be an emphatic yes, because all the juicy goodness is in the dip! A banana chocolate chip ice cream from Mitchell’s Ice Cream Parlor capped off the tour and our stay in Chicago had come to an end.
There is still so much more to see and eat in this cool city, but for this episode of Girl v. Food, girl won! Then again, food doesn’t conquer me all that often.
