Which one place do you wish were open 24 hours a day?

I've got a few others that rank very highly on this wish list but if I had to choose only 1, I think mine would have to be TAC Quick. Of course, I know it's not going to happen but I've been surprised lately by how few eat-in places have kitchens that remain open past 10 pm. TAC has a large menu and great food that could easily and consistently satisfy a post-bar-hopping appetite. It also happens to be situated between the places I usually frequent and my home, which would make it ideal.

=R=

Hot Dougs.

expanded hours would really make it an easier get.

Plus some of his combinations sound like they would be even better after a day/evening of cocktails.

Along those same lines, I'd also like to see Sun Wah open 24/7...or at least a few hours past it's present 9:00 closing time.

I'm just about never out past 10PM, so my vote goes to Asado Coffee, which I have often wished were open when I wake up at dawn, when I need them most.

Kennyz wrote:I'm just about never out past 10PM, so my vote goes to Asado Coffee, which I have often wished were open when I wake up at dawn, when I need them most.

I'd be happy if they were just open at 7 - their posted opening time.

-Dan

Hoosier Mama. Wouldn't hurt if they moved to the Northside, either. If I'm awake at 4am, I want dessert!

The Hmart food court.

These days, I am both a morning and night person, but I'm with Kenny--more places open at dawn would probably be my preference. Good food is a fine reward for making it through the night.

Realistically, I would probably take advantage most of Hoosier Mama if it were open 24 hours a day because of its proximity to home and the fact that I already know I can (and have) enjoy (enjoyed) pie at any hour. But I would be very happy if any place with really "craveable" food near me, e.g. Tierra Caliente, Bari/D'Amatos, Habana Libre, Chickpea, were open earlier/later.

Man, this reminds me of a question I posted about 24 years ago on Chowhound asking about a place to get late night pie. Of course back then, there was nothing close to Hoosier Mama pies any time of day. But yeah, I often (still) find myself wanting pie or something of that ilk late at night. Bakeries seem to be an AM game, but it's in the PM that I often want a sweet--OK, I like my sweets in the AM too, but I want options.

The Thai thing is interesting, 'cause as Ronnie knows, a few weeks ago, I was struggling myself to find a late night Thai option.

Late-night pie is important - isn't there pie in Nighthawks? I can't tell from the online photos, but I've always mentally inserted it into the painting. If not, Hopper was just plain not thinking.

Pie being one of those things that keeps well, I'd settle for late-night Hoosier Mama pie elsewhere - but I haven't been thrilled with how the pies are kept or treated in other places (refrigerated in damp conditions, microwaved.)

Vital Information wrote:The Thai thing is interesting, 'cause as Ronnie knows, a few weeks ago, I was struggling myself to find a late night Thai option.

Yeah, that was the event that first got me started thinking about this. Living in the 'burbs, there's this illusion for me that everything in the city is open late but in reality, it just isn't true. Anyway, I've been doing more bar-hopping lately and have been thinking about the places I wish I had 24 hour access to. As for the early morning stuff, that certainly isn't an issue for me (I have 9-5 job 10 minutes from my house) but it's a great angle that I hadn't thought of at all.

=R=

The Depot American Diner. It's close to me. A meat loaf or pot roast sandwich would be incredible after a late night at the bars. And they have pie. (And donuts and bread pudding and cake)

What more could I ask for?

Mhays wrote:Late-night pie is important - isn't there pie in Nighthawks? I can't tell from the online photos, but I've always mentally inserted it into the painting. If not, Hopper was just plain not thinking.

There is no pie in Nighthawks, which is why it's such a desolate image.

That said, food-related details of famous paintings--imagined or actual--is one of my favorite topics. The detail I most love to talk about actually exists, but people are sometimes skeptical when they hear from me about it because of my...zeal.

It's a detail on the right edge of one of my most beloved paintings in a US collection. Pieter Bruegel's The Harvesters (1565) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is part of the artist's famous series of monumental landscapes showing different seasons of the year. Illustrated on this panel is a hillside field with peasants at different stages of harvesting wheat.



In the right background of the painting, a few women appear hunched over, picking up what seem to be gigantic apples. There is one woman at the right-most edge of the panel, who appears in profile, at the deepest point of her forward bend, with both hands on an apple. She, I believe, is one of the most absurdly dejected figures in the history of art largely because of the characteristic squatness and anonymity of Bruegel's figures and the scale of the fruit to which she seems almost enslaved. When I've had a bad day and feel utterly defeated, I want to say that I feel how this woman appears in Bruegel's work. I have yet to come across a reproduction of The Harvesters that includes this woman. Even the Met's own reproductions, online and in print, include her fellow apple-pickers but not her. Visit her If you're ever at the museum. She'll make you feel better about your life.

<end of tangent>

happy_stomach wrote:There is no pie in Nighthawks, which is why it's such a desolate image.

LOL! Banner Quote!

Mhays wrote:Hoosier Mama. Wouldn't hurt if they moved to the Northside, either. If I'm awake at 4am, I want dessert!

That was my first thought! Of course. Mr. Pie and our friends and I went out for a double birthday celebration Saturday and somebody -ahem- suggested we go out for pie after dinner. One of these friends had been dying to try HMPC but hadn't gotten out there yet, and he said later that pie was probably his favorite dessert. A perfect opportunity wasted!

Also, I'd like it if coffee shops were open past 9. Sometimes I need a pick-me-up before a midnight movie!

ronnie_suburban wrote:but I've been surprised lately by how few eat-in places have kitchens that remain open past 10 pm.

I'm lucky in that my favorite place stays open until 4am most nights, later on the weekend. 'Little' Three Happiness

ronnie_suburban wrote:I've been surprised lately by how few eat-in places have kitchens that remain open past 10 pm.

This is a bane of my existence. It got a lot worse after the smoking ban went into effect. Even the kitchens in bars tend to close by 10. Near the Theatre District, there are exactly two places you can eat after a weeknight show: Italian Village and Wollensky's Grill. (Maybe Petterino's, if the show is short and you move fast -- they close at 10:30.)

I know this is the City That Works, but does it have to go to bed so early?

The suburbs are even worse. I would be delighted if there were ANY 24-hour restaurants in my immediate neighborhood besides the Steak 'n Shake. Or even a 24-hour grocery store.

Hi,

I thought Meijer was your go-to 24-hour store. Has their hours changed?

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:I thought Meijer was your go-to 24-hour store. Has their hours changed?

The Rolling Meadows store is still open 24 hours, but it's more than 5 miles away, not right in the neighborhood. Also, Meijer is a major shopping endeavor -- it isn't the sort of place you go to just because you've run out of bread.

LAZ wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:I've been surprised lately by how few eat-in places have kitchens that remain open past 10 pm.

This is a bane of my existence. It got a lot worse after the smoking ban went into effect. Even the kitchens in bars tend to close by 10. Near the Theatre District, there are exactly two places you can eat after a weeknight show: Italian Village and Wollensky's Grill. (Maybe Petterino's, if the show is short and you move fast -- they close at 10:30.)

The Gage is open until 2am Tue-Fri, and 12am Sat, and pretty much equally near to the Theatre District. Pretty sure the kitchen is open that late, since their website lists 10pm as the close time for Sunday and Monday but notes that the bar remains open until 12am both nights (and 3am on Saturdays).

ucjames wrote:

LAZ wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:I've been surprised lately by how few eat-in places have kitchens that remain open past 10 pm.

This is a bane of my existence. It got a lot worse after the smoking ban went into effect. Even the kitchens in bars tend to close by 10. Near the Theatre District, there are exactly two places you can eat after a weeknight show: Italian Village and Wollensky's Grill. (Maybe Petterino's, if the show is short and you move fast -- they close at 10:30.)

The Gage is open until 2am Tue-Fri, and 12am Sat, and pretty much equally near to the Theatre District. Pretty sure the kitchen is open that late, since their website lists 10pm as the close time for Sunday and Monday but notes that the bar remains open until 12am both nights (and 3am on Saturdays).

I've gone to Mercat a la Planxa after shows at the Goodman. They serve dinner until 11pm during the week (just late enough to walk over there) and until midnight on Friday and Saturday.

Purple Pig's kitchen is also open until midnight during the week.

Purple Pig
500 North Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL 60611-3777
(312) 464-1744