Visiting Chicago

Don't know how much time you have to 'kill' while the wife is in her classes but Festool HQ in Lebanon, IN is not that far away is it? Looks like about 150 miles and a 2.5 hour drive.

Don't know what traffic is like in the area but it looks like you could easily get there and back in a day and have a few hours to see and smell the new tools and maybe take a tour.
 
That's a nice thought, but a 2.5 hour drive is a bit too far for me especially since we're not getting a rental car.
 
Thanks again for all the great suggestions for Chicago.  I'm back now and just getting caught back up with everything.  We bought the CityPass since it seemed like the cheapest way.  We ended up going the following places:

  • Lou Malnati's (we just shared a personal pizza for 1 because we didn't want to get too stuffed eating a pizza.  My wife didn't like how hard the crust was.  We definitely prefer NY thin crust style pizza)
  • Museum of Science and Technology (there was free admission on Sunday so we took advantage of the deal.  This was a very cool Museum - I didn't know the submarine was real at first.)
  • Gyu-Kaku (Japanese BBQ - we prefer Korean BBQ, but it was fun to try)
  • Chinatown (doesn't really compare to Chinatown in SFO or NYC, but the restaurant we went to for dim sum was completely full at like 10:30am.  We were shocked that it was that crowded.  Dim sum was pretty good too)
  • Adler Planetarium (not really that much to see here.  We did the night sky show where they showed us some things you can see in the night sky)
  • Field Museum (I really enjoyed the different tree displays showing what the bark, leaves, and grain looks like)
  • Shedd Aquarium (pretty small aquarium.  The beluga whales were very friendly and they did have a lot of fish to see.)
  • Eataly (cool place, I have never seen that many italian products in one place before.  The food we ordered in the seafood restaurant was also good, albeit expensive)
  • Dapper Donut
  • Willis Tower (I guess we kinda went in the off season which is a good thing because I had feared a 2 hour wait.  It was very fast to get up to the top and also to the Skydeck itself.)
  • Gold Coast Hot Dogs (pretty good dogs, literally like 1 or 2 blocks from our hotel so it was super convenient and cheap.  We got a steamed and a charred dog.  Surprisingly I think I slightly preferred the charred dog)
  • Millennium Park
  • Frontera Grill (good service but we found the dishes to be a little bit salty.)
  • Wildberry Pancakes and Cafe (of the 3 breakfasts I had by myself, this was the best one)
  • International Museum of Surgical Science (neat little museum and I have nothing to do with the healthcare profession)
  • Chicago History Museum (Tthere was an interesting exhibit on the MLK and the Jazz exhibit was also cool)
  • Navy Pier (pretty underwhelming.  We didn't end up going on the Ferris wheel - my wife thought it was a waste of money)
  • 360 Chicago (we went when there was very poor visibility, at least it was quick getting up to the top.  They were playing the Modern Marvels episode on the John Hancock building, which I found to be absolutely fascinating)
  • Sushi-San (pricey, but some of the best sushi that I've had outside of Japan)
  • Three Dots and Dash (very cool speakeasy/polynesian type of place.)
  • Palmer House (brownie was pretty good - hotel was a mess because of the hotel worker strike)
  • Eggsperience
  • Beginning of Route 66 Sign
  • Art Institute of Chicago (I had no idea the famous American Gothic painting was here.  That was really cool to see.  I got there right when it opened so it wasn't too crowded.  The Thorne Miniature Rooms was really cool also.)
  • Ramen-San (not bad, the ramen broth was on the salty side)
  • Lincoln Park Zoo (small zoo, but it was also very empty so it almost felt like we had the whole place to ourselves.  Seemed like the animals knew when we walked up to each exhibit as they almost always made an appearance for us to see them.)
  • The Berghoff (very good food and reasonable prices - I'd say the best meal and value of the whole trip)
  • Yolk!
  • Pritzker Military Museum and Library (more library than museum, but I mainly went to kill some time as it was my last morning there)
 
Wow...busy guy. Maybe you should change your name from GoingMyWay to GoingAllDayEveryDay. [big grin]

Curious, did the Gold Coast Hot Dogs have this green relish on them?[attachimg=1]

Nice to hear about the Eataly thing. [smile]

I notice you mention that a lot of the meals were salty, what kind of salt do you cook with at home?  I switched from regular table salt to Kosher salt about 20 years ago and much prefer cooking with that. I also notice that when we go out for dinner some of the meals seem on the salty side.

I recently started trying sea salt and we'll see where that goes...it is expensive though.
 

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Cheese said:
Wow...busy guy. Maybe you should change your name from GoingMyWay to GoingAllDayEveryDay. [big grin]

Nice to hear about the Eataly thing. [smile]

I notice you mention that a lot of the meals were salty, what kind of salt do you cook with at home?  I switched from regular table salt to Kosher salt about 20 years ago and much prefer cooking with that. I also notice that when we go out for dinner some of the meals seem on the salty side.

I recently started trying sea salt and we'll see where that goes...it is expensive though.
Click to expand...

    I have been to Eataly in NYC. I didn't realize that it was a chain. Cool place , lots of good stuff.

    I have been using sea salt for years now. General purpose , run of the mill sea salt should be obtainable at a pretty low price unless shopping for particular type , style etc. What I get for cooking is only a few dollars a pound.  What I like about it is that it has a a more salty taste in proportion to the  "burning" effect of regular salt. More mellow.

Seth
 
Cheese said:
Wow...busy guy. Maybe you should change your name from GoingMyWay to GoingAllDayEveryDay. [big grin]

Curious, did the Gold Coast Hot Dogs have this green relish on them?[attachimg=1]

Nice to hear about the Eataly thing. [smile]

I notice you mention that a lot of the meals were salty, what kind of salt do you cook with at home?  I switched from regular table salt to Kosher salt about 20 years ago and much prefer cooking with that. I also notice that when we go out for dinner some of the meals seem on the salty side.

I recently started trying sea salt and we'll see where that goes...it is expensive though.
Click to expand...
LOL - I like to hit a lot of places in a hurry.  I'm always in a hurry, even when we're not even sure where we are going.  I also don't spend a lot of time reading every exhibit.

It sure did.  It's a little hard to see in this photo.

[attachimg=1]

I thought that neon green relish was a requirement for a Chicago Dog.  I also got the impression that most places that serve Chicago Style Dogs use the Vienna brand of products - if that's the case there likely isn't that much of a difference between hot dog places if they're all using the same product.

I opted to not take my GoPro since it would be extra weight and items to carry.  I just used my phone to take pictures.  I took a bunch of pictures of everything - too many to post here.  I could post some selective ones, if anyone wanted to see anything in particular (not likely anyone is really interested in my trip or my mediocre photography).  I am planning on posting some of the pictures from Eately in the What's Cooking thread since that was specifically talked about.

We use regular Morton's table salt (we alternate between iodized and non iodized), Morton's kosher salt, and Maldon's Sea Salt.  Just this past week we tried the smoked Maldon's Sea Salt.  The Maldons is really only supposed to be used as a "finishing salt" but we often use it as you'd use regular salt in terms of general seasoning.

It's kind of funny - a lot of times I'm complaining about foods being underseasoned.  On this particular trip we seemed to encounter a lot of salty food.  I was really complaining in the airport lounge that everything there was salty - the soups, the olives, the 2 different snack mixes.  I really try to restrict my liquid intake when I'm about to get on a plane so salty foods that will make me thirst is the last thing that I need.

SRSemenza said:
    I have been to Eataly in NYC. I didn't realize that it was a chain. Cool place , lots of good stuff.

    I have been using sea salt for years now. General purpose , run of the mill sea salt should be obtainable at a pretty low price unless shopping for particular type , style etc. What I get for cooking is only a few dollars a pound.  What I like about it is that it has a a more salty taste in proportion to the  "burning" effect of regular salt. More mellow.

Seth
Click to expand...

I just looked it up.  Looks like there are locations in LA, Chicago, NYC (2 locations), Boston, and soon Vegas. They're all over the place!

I don't necessarily notice much of a difference in taste of the salt.  As I mentioned, we alternate between iodized and non iodized salt.  I think a lot of people don't like the iodized version because of the flavor it can impart.  I haven't noticed any off taste.
 

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SRSemenza said:
I have been to Eataly in NYC. I didn't realize that it was a chain. Cool place , lots of good stuff.

I have been using sea salt for years now. General purpose , run of the mill sea salt should be obtainable at a pretty low price unless shopping for particular type , style etc. What I get for cooking is only a few dollars a pound.  What I like about it is that it has a a more salty taste in proportion to the  "burning" effect of regular salt. More mellow.
Click to expand...

Five of them (Eataly) if I remember correctly.

Or local store only carries Baleine and Maldon. The blue version is very fine like regular table salt and the red version is very coarse like rock salt. After 20 years I'm so used to seasoning with Kosher salt that neither one of the Baleine products worked for me, you know a pinch here a pinch there. [attachimg=1]

That's when I tried Maldon which is closer in consistency to Kosher salt. The local store sells Maldon for 8 oz @ $9. That's $18 per pound...that's Copper River salmon territory.  [eek]
 

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Wow I never thought about variances between 2 different brands of kosher salt. We've only used Morton's, but it seems like most every other recipe has Diamond kosher salt in mind when they write the recipe.

I wonder if we should buy some Diamond kosher salt for comparison.

I also didn't know that kosher salt was a misnomer. I always assumed it was kosher given its name.
 
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