pastry643 wrote:I saw in your write-up that you called Burt's 2 weeks ahead of time. We are planning on eating there this coming Sunday. Do you think we will still be able to get our pizza order in?

You'll be fine. We've never called any earlier than the day before, sometimes same-day.

We are from Seattle. Please feel free to contact us if any of you are planning a trip west.

Here's our summary of the Battle of the Italian Beef Sandwiches:

http://www.thecookbookchronicles.com/blog/?p=1964

Just wanted to chime in with a hearty THANK-YOU to everyone who took the time to help us plan this trip. We wouldn't have been able to do it without you!

I've posted a few Chicago food posts on my blog this week (www.thecookbookchronicles.com) and we have much more to post.

Two things my husband and I kept remarking on while we were in Chicago: the locals are SO friendly. We met awesome people at Mado, standing in the line at Johnnie's, the owner (?) at Cemitas Puebla made us smile with his enthusiasm--really, what a great community you have! Also, we found the food prices extremely reasonable (less than $4 for a sandwich at Johnnie's? $9 for that enormous bowl of bacon-wrapped chorizo stuffed dates with homemade bread? $5 for a cone of fresh, spicy pork rinds? $17 for a fantastic squid/homemade blood sausage/radicchio/bacon trofie pasta? And $12 for cocktails of that quality at Violet Hour! I've paid $12 for far less exquisite cocktails in my time.) With the exception of Alinea--which we would gladly pay again, sometime in the future when our wallets have recovered--everything was quite inexpensive compared to Seattle prices. I would probably be at Avec 2x a week if I lived in Chicago.

We got fabulous weather in Chicago too. It was a trip to remember!