Fabulous Weekend in Chicago - Short trip Report
Jun 13th, 2007 | 06:22 AM
#1
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Joined: Jan 2003
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Fabulous Weekend in Chicago - Short trip Report
A short but perfect weekend in chicago
It was an easy drive from St. Louis to Chicago except for the horrendous traffic jam we ended up in for an hour outsided the city. What did we expect? It was rush hour!
We checked into The Palmer House. I did not realize it was built in 1871. It of course retains much of its original glory and undergoig a multi million dollar renovation now until 2008. Many areas were boarded up but nicely! Our room was redone. It was nice but not more so than any other Hilton Hotel. The attention to detail was lacking and the workmanship was a bit sloppy. the shower was weak.
The concierge(s) were great!
Our friends who live there asked us to meet them for dinner ata restaurant called - Catch 35 located at 35 Wacker. It was a lively place with a good vibe! There was a large bar area with music. There was a wide selection of fish on the menu.
We shared a scallop dish and crab cakes for an appetizer. It was excellent. I had the Alaskan Halibut that was cooked to perfection with lovely vegetables! We shared a couple of good bottels of wine - don't recall the name though. Small selection. DH and I shared a piece of cheescake for desert. It was mediocre.
The next morning we walked to Lou Mitchell's for breakfast. What a fun place! You are served donut holes while you wait in line.
I had a superb ham, cheese, and spinach omelet. It was the lightest and fluffiest one I think I have ever had!! The melon was cold and sweet! The bakery goods were homemade and looked great too! I did not have any though. They serve you a little scoop of vanilla icecream afterwards!
We enjoyed a leisurely walk back to the Hotel but stopped off at some local bookstores first.
The skies were Windex blue and cool breezes made it a perfect day to attend the Chicago Blues Festival held at Grant Park which is practically out the door of the hotel.
But first we stopped at the new Millenium Park. This is a must do - It is a combination of architecture, monumental sculpture and landscape design. The interacive crown fountain Designed by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa is awesome!
There are dining options here too!
To be cont. shortly!
It was an easy drive from St. Louis to Chicago except for the horrendous traffic jam we ended up in for an hour outsided the city. What did we expect? It was rush hour!
We checked into The Palmer House. I did not realize it was built in 1871. It of course retains much of its original glory and undergoig a multi million dollar renovation now until 2008. Many areas were boarded up but nicely! Our room was redone. It was nice but not more so than any other Hilton Hotel. The attention to detail was lacking and the workmanship was a bit sloppy. the shower was weak.
The concierge(s) were great!
Our friends who live there asked us to meet them for dinner ata restaurant called - Catch 35 located at 35 Wacker. It was a lively place with a good vibe! There was a large bar area with music. There was a wide selection of fish on the menu.
We shared a scallop dish and crab cakes for an appetizer. It was excellent. I had the Alaskan Halibut that was cooked to perfection with lovely vegetables! We shared a couple of good bottels of wine - don't recall the name though. Small selection. DH and I shared a piece of cheescake for desert. It was mediocre.
The next morning we walked to Lou Mitchell's for breakfast. What a fun place! You are served donut holes while you wait in line.
I had a superb ham, cheese, and spinach omelet. It was the lightest and fluffiest one I think I have ever had!! The melon was cold and sweet! The bakery goods were homemade and looked great too! I did not have any though. They serve you a little scoop of vanilla icecream afterwards!
We enjoyed a leisurely walk back to the Hotel but stopped off at some local bookstores first.
The skies were Windex blue and cool breezes made it a perfect day to attend the Chicago Blues Festival held at Grant Park which is practically out the door of the hotel.
But first we stopped at the new Millenium Park. This is a must do - It is a combination of architecture, monumental sculpture and landscape design. The interacive crown fountain Designed by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa is awesome!
There are dining options here too!
To be cont. shortly!
Jun 13th, 2007 | 06:59 AM
#3
Joined: Nov 2006
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It sounds like you had a great time!
Though I'm not usually a breakfast person, your description of Lou Mitchell's makes me want to GO - but I'd have to try a baked good as well as the rest!
I've never been to Chicago, but it's on my list.
Why did you choose The Palmer House?
Sounds like you were generally non-plused here.
Glad you had fun and thanks for sharing!
Belle
Though I'm not usually a breakfast person, your description of Lou Mitchell's makes me want to GO - but I'd have to try a baked good as well as the rest!
I've never been to Chicago, but it's on my list.
Why did you choose The Palmer House?
Sounds like you were generally non-plused here.
Glad you had fun and thanks for sharing!
Belle
Jun 13th, 2007 | 07:15 AM
#5
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 16,253
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annesherrod, my FIL (long passed) did some of the plaster work and specialty trim in plaster at the Palmer House. It has been worked on numerous times. He had numerous circa 1970's Palmer House stories.
Waiting to hear about Blue Fest! Glad you had nice weather. That horrendous jam coming from your direction is only about 1/3rd as bad as going to IN and MI is. It's normal, all the time now, and not just rush hour.
Glad it was perfect.
Waiting to hear about Blue Fest! Glad you had nice weather. That horrendous jam coming from your direction is only about 1/3rd as bad as going to IN and MI is. It's normal, all the time now, and not just rush hour.
Glad it was perfect.
Jun 13th, 2007 | 08:42 AM
#6
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JJ5- The plaster work at The plamer House were gorgeous! I hope I captured some of the detailed beauty!!
Continued report:
After Millenium park we walked to Grant park for the 24th Annual Blues Festival. It is the largest free Blues Festival in the world by th way!
While I prefer jazz I loved the music! There were at least 6 stages set up throughout this huge park.
One stage was set up near a grove of trees and we sat under a tree in the cool breezes and listened to an amazing lady sing - I do not know the name of her band but we listened to the whole set - 2 hours.
We walked around and listened to snippets of other bands and had some Louisiana goodies to eat! We stuck to drinking diet cokes this early in the day. The crowd this time of day was rather light and the festival is SO well organized I thought.
Our concierge at our hotel set up a Architectural and historic boat tour for us at 5pm so we had to leave and walked to an area near the Navy Pier to catch the boat.
It was called Chicago Line cruises. I have done other river boar tours here and this by far was the best. We were told retired local professors of Architecture and history conduct these tours. We had a young man who recently graduated. He was fabulous and flawless.
He showed us renderings of a building that is going up soon that will be one of the tallest buildings in the world!!
It is money well spent. They served complimentary Starbicks coffee soda and cookies.
We raced back to the Hotel to get ready for dinner.
I made a big blunder in reservations...probably becasue I am always in a hurry!!!
I thought I made reservations at Alinea. I heard so many fabulous reviews on this board and elsewhere. I was surprized that it was so easy to get a reservation with 2 weeks notice. Oh, well... we lucked out!!!
It turns out I made the reservations at Aria instead. They sound a little bit the same!!
I was mad at myself for the error. I figured it out as I was going through my daytimer walking out the door.
We had a nice dinner at Aria. It is adjacent to the Fairmount Hotel. - sort of an Asian Fusion theme. There were few diners when we arrived so that scared us.
But, we had a nice time. The starter was Lobster Risotto. It was the best I ever had!!
I had a dish that was similar to a pad Thai. It was light and delicious ..made with chicken, shrimp and calamari.
DH had a steak. the cut was thin abd dry. He was not impressed. The chef sent us complimentary potato dishes - Au Gratin, Sweet potatoes puree and roasted fingerlings...it was very good but did not go very well with my dish.
I would reccomend it, but it was not the restaurant we thoght!!!!
We stopped for drinks at a lovely litte spot for which I do not have the name. WE also had a night cap in the Hotel lobby and admired the ceiling again!!
Our last day we had coffee at the hotel, retreived our car and drove to our friends house for brunch before heading back home.
We tried to eat outside but the cicadas were SOOOOO loud!!!
I cannot wait to return. We may go back to the jazz Festival in Saptmeber!
Continued report:
After Millenium park we walked to Grant park for the 24th Annual Blues Festival. It is the largest free Blues Festival in the world by th way!
While I prefer jazz I loved the music! There were at least 6 stages set up throughout this huge park.
One stage was set up near a grove of trees and we sat under a tree in the cool breezes and listened to an amazing lady sing - I do not know the name of her band but we listened to the whole set - 2 hours.
We walked around and listened to snippets of other bands and had some Louisiana goodies to eat! We stuck to drinking diet cokes this early in the day. The crowd this time of day was rather light and the festival is SO well organized I thought.
Our concierge at our hotel set up a Architectural and historic boat tour for us at 5pm so we had to leave and walked to an area near the Navy Pier to catch the boat.
It was called Chicago Line cruises. I have done other river boar tours here and this by far was the best. We were told retired local professors of Architecture and history conduct these tours. We had a young man who recently graduated. He was fabulous and flawless.
He showed us renderings of a building that is going up soon that will be one of the tallest buildings in the world!!
It is money well spent. They served complimentary Starbicks coffee soda and cookies.
We raced back to the Hotel to get ready for dinner.
I made a big blunder in reservations...probably becasue I am always in a hurry!!!
I thought I made reservations at Alinea. I heard so many fabulous reviews on this board and elsewhere. I was surprized that it was so easy to get a reservation with 2 weeks notice. Oh, well... we lucked out!!!
It turns out I made the reservations at Aria instead. They sound a little bit the same!!
I was mad at myself for the error. I figured it out as I was going through my daytimer walking out the door.
We had a nice dinner at Aria. It is adjacent to the Fairmount Hotel. - sort of an Asian Fusion theme. There were few diners when we arrived so that scared us.
But, we had a nice time. The starter was Lobster Risotto. It was the best I ever had!!
I had a dish that was similar to a pad Thai. It was light and delicious ..made with chicken, shrimp and calamari.
DH had a steak. the cut was thin abd dry. He was not impressed. The chef sent us complimentary potato dishes - Au Gratin, Sweet potatoes puree and roasted fingerlings...it was very good but did not go very well with my dish.
I would reccomend it, but it was not the restaurant we thoght!!!!
We stopped for drinks at a lovely litte spot for which I do not have the name. WE also had a night cap in the Hotel lobby and admired the ceiling again!!
Our last day we had coffee at the hotel, retreived our car and drove to our friends house for brunch before heading back home.
We tried to eat outside but the cicadas were SOOOOO loud!!!
I cannot wait to return. We may go back to the jazz Festival in Saptmeber!
Jun 13th, 2007 | 10:01 AM
#7
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 1,569
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Annesherrod, glad you had a great time. I always enjoyed staying at the Palmer House before I moved to Chicago. However, the building you stayed in isn't the one that opened in 1871. The first Palmer House opened Sptember 26, 1871 and, with most other buildings in Chicago, burned to the ground during the Great Fire on October 9, 1871.
The replacement opened in 1875 and the current incarnation was built on the same site between 1924 and 1927. It was built in stages so the hotel could remain open during construction.
The replacement opened in 1875 and the current incarnation was built on the same site between 1924 and 1927. It was built in stages so the hotel could remain open during construction.
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Jun 13th, 2007 | 10:18 AM
#9
Joined: Apr 2004
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If you come back to the jazz fest, annesherrod, and if I'm not in MI (I'll try not to be)- let me know. My guy is a boomer who hates rock n roll and loves jazz. Figure that!!
Anyway, I might get him to down for that and we could say hi.
Field Museum has Darwin's books/papers memorabilia opening in July until end of Dec. so I might go down in Sept and stay a day or two, as well.
Anyway, I might get him to down for that and we could say hi.
Field Museum has Darwin's books/papers memorabilia opening in July until end of Dec. so I might go down in Sept and stay a day or two, as well.
