I recently spent a few days in that metropolis of the Midwest, the "windy city", Chicago Illinois. I have been there many times before, and I do not enjoy the frigid days of mid winter, but this time the autumn weather was wonderful. We had blue skies and warm sunshine every day. The lakefront beaches were still populated with joggers, sunbathers, and folks tossing frisbees to their dogs. No one was swimming, as the waters of Lake Michigan are already quite cold, but not yet caked with the ice chunks that will come in January.
I had a chance to sample some of the Chicago cuisine. Steakhouses are the favorite Chicago fare. Once the center of the Midwestern meat packing industry, Chicago originally became famous for its production of beef, pork and other meat products. Good quality corn-fed Midwestern steak was long a specialty in Chicago restaurants. Today, steakhouses featuring quality prime steaks are numerous in the windy city. There are at least twenty or thirty top quality sreakhouses featuring high-quality prime beef in the downtown Chicago area. There are also hundreds of other restaurants featuring good quality but less expensive steaks.
For older folks that grew up in the USA when the original Saturday Night Live Comedy Hour featured the late John Belushi and Dan Akroyd in their ongoing skits about a Chicago diner with the Greek cooks who sold only "Cheezborgers, Koks and Cheeps", I can report that the original cheeseburger dive that it was based upon is still in existence. The Billy Goat Tavern is located in the dim recesses of lower Michigan Avenue under the steel ramps. It is down a set of steps in the basement, and it still features Cheeseburgers, Cokes and Chips. I can't say that the food is great, but the atmosphere is thick with the nostalgia created in the old days of SNL.
In the Gold Coast area just north of the river from downtown Chicago, the entertainment district features a lot of nightclubs, blues bars and restaurants. Here, you can find authentic purveyors of "Chicago Deep Dish Pizza". Pizzaria UNO, Pizzaria DUE, and Gino's East are all located within a few blocks of each other. They all feature delicious authentic versions of that famous deep dish pizza.
Across the street from Gino's East, Al's Italian Beef features another Chicao specialty. The Italian beef sandwich. Chipped roast beef is served on a roll with hot peppers and Italian sauce. If you get it "dipped", they submerge the entire sandwich in the beef juice and serve this somewhat sloppy but delicious concoction with plenty of napkins.
You have to leave the downtown area and take a bus or taxi to visit Hot Doug's emporium of encased meet. This hot dog and sausage shop features no less than 28 varieties of sausage on a bun. The best way to eat any of them is "Chicago Style" loaded with mustard, relish, pickles onions, tomatoes and hot peppers. It is worth the trip.