When the routine of eating out in restaurants in Chicago gets too oppressive, I like to travel to foreign countries to eat in their restaurants, as a change of pace. While in Copenhagen last fall, we of course went to Restaurant Schønnemann, for their lunch smørrebrød, or open faced sandwiches, the Danish national dish (and if you suspect I'm digging the three Os with a slash through them in the previous, you're right. Pronounced "ihh," more less, standing alone the Ø means "island" in Danish).
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| Herring with elderberries. |
It was hard not to think that Restaurant Schønnemann is how the Berghoff might still be, had it not gone out of business in 2006 (what? You're fooled by the Faux Berghoff still in operation on Adams Street? I'd say it's a pale imitation, but can't, because I never stepped foot back in the restaurant again after they closed with great fanfare,only to open up a few months later, never admitting that the entire deception committed against their loyal customers was a base strategum to fire their union wait staff).
Don't trust me — I'm obviously emotional on the subject. Others have visited, and report it is ... not the same. David Anthony Witter, in his essential book, "Oldest Chicago" ends a discussion of the oldest restaurant in the city — Daley's at 809 E. 63rd, founded in 1892. — with this note:
Many may comment that the Berghoff Restaurant is missing from this book. In fact, the idea for this book was partially inspired by the extensive media coverage and local attention the closing of the Berghoff received. However I, like many Chicagoans, believe the Berghoff's current incarnation is so different from the original that [it] is not the same establishment.
Amen. Back to Restaurant Schønnemann. The place had a feature which, in a lifetime of eating out at restaurants from Taipei to Santiago, I've never seen before. A little quarter door, so that when the place gets jammed with happy eaters and drinkers, they can let a little ventilation in without simply propping the door open and admitting the Danish cold. I thought it quite clever. Or cute anyway, which might be even better.
Pieces like today's are terrific. Your photography is outstanding. Curious as to your process. Do use a notebook constantly or do you just make mental notes and transcribe them later. And how do you remain attentive in table conversations when you are focused on stuff you want to glean for a column?
ReplyDeleteThanks. Though the photos today seem kinda pedestrian to me. I do carry a notebook, sometimes. Though I wasn't really thinking of a column at this lunch. Just decided to post the pictures with a little commentary. I remember the waiter pushing the schnapps because I'm a recovering alcoholic and such things tend to stick in our minds.
DeleteWhen I was a kid (late 1950s) my family would come to Chicago once a year. Stay at the Palmer House. Breakfast at Henrici's, shop State Street, lunch at the Berghoff, see a road show movie, and dinner at George Diamond's. Saw the Black Horse Revue at Medinah Temple. Coming to Chicago, riding the Rock Island Rocket (when it was an actual passenger train) was such a treat.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you; haven't been to Berghoff's since the sacking of its longtime employees. More recently, George Kyros, Daley's long-time owner and wonderful human being, passed in 2022 at age 96. He had taken over from his father, who bought Daley's from the founder in 1918. There's a quick history lesson on the restaurant's website
ReplyDelete"they closed with great fanfare,only to open up a few months later"
ReplyDeleteHere in Iowa City (the Athens of the Middlewest, cough, cough)
we had the same thing happen.
This place was no Berghoff, but it did have its charm.
"We're closing, boo hoo, come one last time and have our special food specials (sic), buy a comparative mug, and t-shirt, and whatever.
A few months later, it reopened, and no one said a word;
Save me because I was pissed.