What's more Chicago than a salad with onion rings?
I know you're thinking, "Deep dish pizza. " Or "a hot dog with relish and onions and mustard and all that other stuff Chicago dogs are supposed to come with."
But that's Cliche Chicago, the food stuffs that once represented the city and to some still do. Even an idol of granite is worn away by excessive worship. Every time I hear a radio commercial for a bank trying to pander to the locals by invoking either deep dish pizza or Chicago dogs, those icons seem a little more dubious, inauthentic, corrupted.
I'm the least coppish, most unhockeylike person imaginable. But even I take on a certain swagger ambling into The Palace. Of course, the welcoming presence of George helps a lot—George Lemperis, the owner, whose cousins bought what was then a 19-stool Skid Row diner in 1955. George makes intense, almost feverish eye contact—really, it's like he's about to punch you in the face—then offer a firm handshake as if we were sealing a real estate transaction.
"I'm meeting so-and-so's guy," I drawl, naming a Chicago politician.
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The picture of the salad: you have to look twice to spot the lettuce. Gotta be somewhat less healthy than your standard side salad.
ReplyDeletejohn
Neil, careful, pal! You're starting to get a bit 'Royconian'! Hanging at the 'Palace Grill'? Great piece on 'The Palace!' George is a real, Chicago-character, in a non-gentrfied kind of way? A survivor of Chicago's 'greasy-spoon', cafe hey-day with a great breakfast menu for cops, firemen, hockey-players, and MaGaffer's alike, even Chicago newspaper men! Try the bacon, (or ham) egg and 'cheeser' on french bread and hash browns!
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