2012-11-05

Chicago - Off The Eaten Track Part 3

Do you like eating? I like eating. And odds are, some of the foods you grew up enjoying aren't the same in other parts of the country. Heck, they may not even exist at all. Everywhere has their own styles of foods and drinks. Styles that are unique to your region, and which may even be world famous. Or local secrets. Lobster rolls. Cheesestake. BBQ. All good food that sections of the country take pride in.

Chicago has it's famous foods. Chicago style pizza. Chicago hotdogs. Ribs. And if you're in town for a while, here's the stuff you should try.

BBQ RIBS

Chicago-Style-Ribs

Chicago ribs are pork ribs.  (I'm a beef rib man, myself.)  There are a lot of good places to get ribs.  Some of the big boys are Carson's & Robinson's.  There are also little guys like Smokin' Woody's or Fat Willy's.  But for my taste, nothing beats Twin Anchors.

The ribs are good.  Maybe not the best in town, but pretty dang tasty, but the atmosphere… Oh, the atmosphere…

The place joint is in the heart of the Old Town neighborhood.  It was a favorite of Mr. Frank Sinatra his-own-self.  And he's even on the well stocked jukebox, but as is emblazoned on all the staff's shirts, "Positively No Dancing."  The bar up front is about as large as the back dining area.  Did you see "The Dark Knight"?  That scene where Two Face confronts the crooked cop in the bar?  Twin Anchors.  Did you see "Return to Me" with David Duchovny and Minnie Driver?  Much of it was shot at Twin Anchors.

A rib joint.  But so much more than just a rib joint.

Burritos

Chicago-Style-Burritos-02

Chicago's after bar food is definitely burritos.  Don't ask me to explain it, it just is.  Especially in Lincoln Park.  Which is a fun place to go out drinking for the 20 something to 30ish crowd.  And my favorites there La Bamba ("Burritos as big as your head.") and Taco and Burrito Palace #2.  (Because you just don't want a corporate Chipotle late at night.)

Chicago-Style-Burritos-03 Chicago-Style-Burritos-01

There's not really anything "Chicago Style" about them.  La Bamba is good enough that I eat there once a month or so for lunch.  And for the vegetarians, the cheese quesadillas are pretty good.


What's the "after bar" food in your area?  Some places it's pizza.  Others get breakfast.  What do you do?

4 comments:

Padded Cell Princess said...

Oh dang, these posts keep kicking up my saliva production! YUM!
The typical thing to eat over here after a night of drinking is a kebab...and I don't mean meat and veg on a stick and bbq'd. There is a beyond nasty, unnatural, large tubular shape of 'meat' that rotates on a vertical spike. I can't even look at this atrocity when I walk by kebab shops as they are usually oozing some sort of fat that looks more like it's infected but people like the shavings of this meat on a flat bread with a bit of veg and sometimes a mint mayo...bleck!!! I never remember seeing these in WA which I don't consider to be a bad thing!

Cora said...

I still can't get over the utter lack of drive thru coffee stands here in Chicago. Weird, weird, weird. Not that has anything to do with this post, but it just popped into my head.

Oh, and the next time Mom is in town, we must (MUST) take her to Twin Anchors.

Dr Zibbs said...

Yes! And pork ribs are the only way to go.

Scope said...

P.C. Princess - I think we would call those "gyros". You can find them around in a lot of Greek places around here. It's not insanely popular here, but they are around.

Cora - Yeah, there's that one Dunkin Donuts drive thru on Western, but that's all I can think of.

Zibbs - I do love be a slab of beef ribs, too.