What a cold weekend it was in Chicago!! Although productive....wasn't exactly my cup of tea waking up to -3 degrees. Hyatt downtown was very fast in valeting the Jeep to us in the morning, so for that we thank them.
Started off at Walter Payton's Roundhouse Complex http://www.walterpaytonsroundhouse.com just a little outside of Chicago in Aurora, which for those of you who have been you'll know what I'm talking about when I say it was amazing.
It's an old roundhouse from 1856 where they used to pull the trains into and repair them before sending them back out. It's a round building with stalls that eventually was no longer in use and was partially torn down and crumbling. In 1995 while Payton was still alive, he and investors decided to put a whole complex into this building including a restaurant, bar, cognac bar, comedy club, banquet hall, micro brewery, gift shop, Payton's personal museum (which was terrific) and an outdoor area in the center of the building with a gazebo and bar where outdoor concerts can be held. Portion sizes are humongous and pretty inexpensive. Their Payton Pilsner Light tastes like Bud Light if you like micro brews. So, with the combination of history and all of the updates this was definitely a great experience.
Next we headed back toward Chicago and stopped near Oakbrook Terrace at Harry Caray's http://www.harrycarays.com and then Mike Ditka's Steakhouse 2 http://www.mikeditkaschicago.com . They're nice, but just in the bottom of buildings....probably used more by the corporate people who work there.
When we got back to the Hyatt we decided to call it a night because it was so cold outside that we couldn't walk anywhere, which was unfortunate considering how close we were to everything.
The next day we did some drive-by's on a few restaurants that happened to be closed on Sunday....Ditka's downtown on Chestnut & One Sixty Blue (Michael Jordan's New Restaurant/Lounge)....you'll need reservations for the restaurants, but there is a bar/lounge area where you can walk in and it's first come first serve. http://www.onesixtyblue.com/default.htm
We stopped by a couple of other places RL, Ralph Lauren's Restaurant http://rlrestaurant.polo.com , and Twin Anchor's which was the site of the movie "Return to Me" and also had served many, many, many celebrities....Cool place...check it out here http://www.twinanchorsribs.com/celebrity_friends.php
Then for lunch we decided on Piece Brewery and Pizzeria in downtown Chicago. http://www.piecechicago.com/ One of it's investors is Rick Nielson, Cheap Trick's guitar player.....the guy with 5 or 6 guitars made into one. It was a neat trendy area with no place to park, though. The building used to be a roofing company and they turned it into a great bar for watching sports....we watched part of the AFC playoff game there and had no trouble viewing them. We ordered a large pizza thinking we would take some pieces back home with us and couldn't believe the humongous size of the pizza.....just keep that in mind when you order one. There are windows on the roof that open up when it's warm out and some memorabilia adorn the walls and also pictures of Rick Nielson. Was a neat place that was moderately priced.
After that we decided to take the trek back home to a much warmer climate.... 12 degrees.
Check out our website for pictures and further information and events. http://www.HeadlinerDiners.com
Thanks, Matt & Shannon