What's My Niche, Anyway?: Night Two, Chicago

Well, Susan and I arrived in the Windy City yesterday morning after an uneventful flight from Charleston via Charlotte. And we've been eating, of course! We are staying at the Hyatt Regency downtown, and we are right across the street from the Chicago River. So yesterday after check-in we decided to explore the Riverwalk. We walked out to the marina just off Lake Michigan, and let me tell you, it was HOT! So after investigating the lake and taking a few photos, we came back along the Riverwalk and stopped at a little outdoor restaurant, Cyrano's Wine Bar. Decent place to eat, and the atmosphere was wonderful... right on the river, with folks traveling by on their boats and with the water taxis and river tour boats crusing by. Susan had a vegetarian omelet and I had a burger. The food was good, and we were able to relax a little bit. So a bit later we went exploring and ran across the new statue of Marilyn Monroe outside the Chicago Tribune building.

And then we discovered a place called The Purple Pig and decided to have dinner there. I just can't remember everything we got, but the food and wine were excellent. I had chicken thigh kabobs with fried smashed potatoes and tzatziki sauce. Excellent.

So today, while Susan was in meetings all day, I walked down the lakefront to the Field Museum of Natural History and spent most of the day there going through the exhibits. It's a huge place, and well worth a visit if you're in the area. After walking back to the Riverwalk, I hit Cyrano's again, this time for a Chicago-style hot dog.

Tasty, but nothing spectacular. The service on Monday wasn't nearly as good, and that kinda ruined the lunch for me.

So, after Susan got out of her meetings, we decided to hike over to the Fulton Market area, a walk of about a mile and a half, to check out Publican. Daughter Maya had said we should try Blackbird in Fulton Market, but that was beyond our budget. Publican is Blackbird's sister restaurant, and we were pleased with the offerings. The plates are meant to be shared, so we decided to have two vegetable plates and two fish plates, along with a bottle of Picras Negras, an organic Torrontes from Argentina.Very nice wine.

We started the meal with a Market Salad.

Nice selection of greens with pecorino cheese, faro, quinoa, and raspberries. Very tasty. We then sampled the fried walleye with arugula, fried onions, fried cauliflower, and believe it or not, fried lemon! All on a coarse mustard sauce. Wonderful blend of tastes.

Next plate out was soft-shelled crab from Maryland.

Not the best... there was a bit too much flour taste in on the crab. The English pea puree was very tasty, and the sauteed onion added a nice zest to the dish.

The last plate we sampled was a salad of trumpet mushrooms from California and summer squash.

The 'shrooms and veggies were served in thin slices with a vinaigrette which had a little too much freshly ground pepper. But the blend of flavors was superb, and the fungi were extremely tender and very, very good.

We were taking pictures all through the meal. The place was very energetic, and the sound level was sometimes near deafening.

dining area

kitchen

However, the food was well worth the hike in the record Chicago heat. Our sever, Matt, comped us with a couple after-dinner "digestifs"... Susan received a creamy limoncello, and I got something I can only describe as highly complex, delicious, and extremely alcoholic!