Conde Nast Traveler Feature on Ethnic Chicago

There is a long article in this month's Conde Nast Traveller by Susan Hack which includes a lot of interesting stuff, including an account of a tour with Evelyn Thompson the woman that does Chicago ethnic grocery tours.

Here's a link to the article:
http://www.concierge.com/cntraveler/art ... geNumber=1

Places mentioned:
Tito's Tacos
Maxwell St Market
Svea
Ericksons
Healthy Food Lithuanian
Berghoff
Alinea
Irazu
Ba Le
Middle Eastern Bakery
La Unica
Ambala
The Afghan Restaurant
Everest
Szalas
Georgian Argo Bakery
Shui Wah
Reza's
Aruns
The Winds Cafe (!!!)
Bombon

Pretty impressive list....

That is quite a list, I'll have to check it out.

One question though - What ethnic category does Alinea fall into?

Man, was that all over the place, or what? What the heck were Moto, Alinea, and Everest doing in there - and the inclusion of Berghoff as the representative of German cuisine in Chicago was just plain lazy. More than a touch condescending, and very disappointing.

Seth:

Thanks for calling this to our attention. I skimmed through the article and...

sundevilpeg wrote:Man, was that all over the place, or what? What the heck were Moto, Alinea, and Everest doing in there - and the inclusion of Berghoff as the representative of German cuisine in Chicago was just plain lazy. More than a touch condescending, and very disappointing.

... have to agree with Sundevilpeg about the inclusion of Berghoff here... Typically enough, at least one of the 'German' items they served to the author, Hack, was less than good...

Also weird was the reference to Pilsen as an old German neighbourhood... Some Germans lived there and some of the ethnic non-Germans who lived there probably spoke German to some degree, to be sure, but let's face it, Pilsen was the Czech neighbourhood... that's why it was named after a Czech city (yes, back in the 19th and early 20th century, a Czech city with a German-speaking (bourgeois) element, but I doubt Hack was thinking about that)...

In fairness, though, I think Alinea and Moto (and also Charlie Trotters) are mentioned as contrast to the ethnic places that are the real focus of the piece.

I was struck by the absence of any mention of things Italian (or did I just miss it? -- I don't think that's the case, though, as Seth's list of places mentioned in the article doesn't include any Itaian restaurants or stores). Of course, complete coverage of all ethnic groups was not possible, but failure to even mention the substantial Italian ethnic element in Chicago's history seems to be a real gap in the argument she's trying to make.

Sort of interesting... but strange...*

Antonius

* Where is Arty Johnson these days?

Thanks much for the link! I thought the article was very interesting. I find that many people surprisingly still think of Chicago as a midwestern, beef-only destination and I thought the writer did a good job in the article of debunking that belief.