Tut Tut: Eats near the Field Museum

At some point this summer, I imagine a number of people here are going to be heading to the Field to see the Tutankhamun exhibit.

Food in the museum is McDonald's, Corner Bakery and vending machines. But there's a better option just outside. If you're feeling peckish between galleries, get your hand stamped and go out the East Entrance. Between the Field and the Shedd Aquarium, you will find the outdoor Museum Campus Cafe, where you can get a snappy Chicago-style hot dog on a poppyseed bun with all the trimmings (you have to add the mustard and plain green relish yourself from packets) for $3.50, including a bag of chips. Nosh at an umbrella table amid pigeons, ducks and seagulls on the lawn.

The concession, apparently a branch of Phil Stefani Signature Restaurants, also sells indifferent bratwurst, a few types of chicken sandwiches and wraps, pizza slices, ice cream, etc.

Museum Campus Cafe
18th and Solidarity drives
Chicago
11 a.m.-5 p.m. daily

When we head to Museum Campus, we often eat at the "Galileo Cafe" which is inside the Adler, and was run by Food For Thought; the company that catered our wedding (very successfully, I might add)

It's almost never crowded, they have a fabulous view, and it's a nice walk as well - and the food is pretty good. They also serve the location at the Botanic Gardens, I believe. (Keep in mind we haven't gone for a couple of years)

I second the Galileo cafe recommendation. Victor and I ate there a few months ago and were very pleasantly surprised: a nice selection of grownup food, including very fresh, flavorful panini. Also, I would recommend the restaurant in the Shedd, if you're looking to get away from it all without leaving the museum campus. Beautiful views and nicely executed meals (burgers are particularly good, salads are fresh--really, I don't think I've had a bad-tasting dish there); very relaxing. Service can be very slow, though.

HI,

When I was a kid, there used to be a cafeteria at the Field with murals of dinosaurs surrounding us. We used to eat happily there.

The tip to check out the hot dog stand adjacent to the Field is a good one. The McDonald's at the Field charges a higher rate than what you would expect for the same in your local McD's. I also have a very silent protest against Corner Bakery taking up space in the major hall, so we never eat there. Corner Bakery belongs in the basement with all the other food concessions.

We exit often at Taylor St/Roosevelt Road, where a quick stop to Jim's Original and/or Maxwell St. Express for Polish sausages, hot dogs, fries and drinks is no big deal. We have actually taken our aromatic meal into the museum to their picnic area downstairs to have lunch before checking the sites. Sometimes we will go to a bakery in Chinatown for dim sum dumplings, bbq rolls and such to eat at the picnic area.

Whatever we do, we try not to eat from the museum concessions. Ditto at the Science and Industry who may not have a McDonalds though they do have a Pizza Hut. The Science and Industry has an employee lunch room with a microwave next to the public lunchroom. Depending on the employees sitting there, their reaction to using the microwave is indifference to what-are-you-doing-here. 90% it is indifference, so I heat up our stuff and go. This was especially usefull when my nieces were tiny kids who ate little bites, then two hours later wanted more. I used to carry an insulated bag nicknamed the 'Groovy Bag' with cool drinks and their leftover food.

Regards,

I actually really like the Corner Bakery in the Field -- though it's not usually a restaurant I would chose to eat in, it certainly beats the bad cafeteria food common to many museums. When my children were smaller it was a great treat to go there with another mom; we'd economize by bringing along peanut butter sandwiches for the kids, then we'd pick up some nice salads or sandwiches at Corner Bakery for ourselves, a couple of brownies, drinks all around, and everybody was happy. And, though I appreciate the criticism of gallery space being taken up, I like being part of the action while we eat -- we always grab one of the corner tables by the north stairway so that we can watch the people come and go, which I enjoy and always find a relaxing break in the midst of a museum adventure. By the way, though Tutmania is upon us, the new Evolving Planet exhibit (the redone dinosaur exhibit) is very well done, I think, and very up front with its insistance on the indisputable evidence of Darwin's theory.

if it's in the morning, one can grab a fancy schmancy breakfast @ Bongo room on Roosevelt and Wabash before hitting the museums...

Well, having now been to the King Tut exhibit I can say that despite the usual indignities of such things (being herded like cattle, the Disneyland-like preshow, etc.) this is an exhibit you mustn't miss; seeing this quantity of exquisitely fine gold work close up does make you realize how the pharoahs, shining like the sun in colors the ordinary folk otherwise never saw at all, truly must have seemed like something divine.

They don't let you take pictures (thankfully, it would only move that much slower than it already does) inside the exhibit, so instead, here's a Tut Kleenex dispenser from the gift shop:



I have to think that this is someone's exquisitely grotesque joke about one partcular aspect of the mummification process, as recorded by Herodotus.

Afterwards we took the advice offered here and ate in Galileo's [sic] Cafe at the Adler Planetarium, which was, on the whole, perfectly decent, highly convenient, and slightly reminiscent of a bit the Usual Suspects did once on XRT about obsessive fans of airport food ("And in Atlanta there's a chicken salad sandwich that has a delicate hint of rosemary and juniper--" "--And it's just $18.75!") All in all, though you do pay a bit of a premium for it, it's a nice thing that food in such places has improved from the minimally functional to the actually recommendable.

I ate at Soundings today, the shedd's "nice" restaurant, and was much disappointed. For the amount of talk that Soundings has elicited among promoters, I expected a decent meal. Instead I got a boring wine list, a whored out menu with a serious identity crisis, beverage napkins as the table setting, 6 individual sized ketchups LEFT on the table between guests, lackluster service, soggy and bitter french fries and a sandwich that wasnt half bad. Be forewarned: It isnt great, but it is better than McDonalds. I really expected some good fish on the menu, once upon a time they ordered 50 lbs of chilean sea bass from me (isnt that on their black list??) so i KNOW they know what good fish is...somehow the farm raised striped bass and rainbow trout nuggets failed to excite me. This time of year i expected sustainable salmon, and probably halibut too...I wonder if they have moved away from fish as food because of the anthropomorphic nature of a museum? yum, lets eat the exhibits?? Who knows...but the special today was BBQ chicken sandwich...i cant even believe that. Honestly the sit-down mexican place at the brookfield zoo left a better impression.

My theory is that good food doesnt fly among the shedd's regular throng of visitors, and that soundings had to comply to survive...thats too bad, to say the least. At least North Pond is still supposed to be decent, i have worked with their ex-sous chefs a few times and have found them to be competent and creative cooks.

edit: I even excused the paper tablecloth covers at Soundings in this review, something I wouldnt excuse so easily elsewhere; why bother with a linen tablecloth if you are going to cover it with paper? Why not just cover the naked table with paper? Why not just leave the table naked? The answer, of course, is how many kids you see in and out over the course of a day...only excusable in a family friendly setting, which Soundings was. good for them.



Erik.

Erik,

How were the komodo dragons?

They're next on our museum list, I feel certain.

Faust is one FAT komodo dragon - definately worth seeing. one large tidal wave (as we had last year) could eliminate komodos from the earth. The sea dragons are worth seeing too, absolutely amazing critters.

I must admit that the draw to the Shedd for me is the trio of Cyclura nubila lewisi, commonly known as the cayman island blue iguana. In roughly 2002, the estimate of the wild population was about 1000, which is critically endangered. A subsequent census found barely 30 animals, total. There were many wet cheeks in the room when we heard those numbers, and it is only getting worse...fact is, the cayman islands are succombing to resorts and development, which will eventually make the functionally extinct blue iguanas, fully extinct. see them while you can.

This wednesday night is the CHS general meeting, i keep expecting to see you guys there. WWW.chicagoherp.org.

Erik.

There's also the soul food place down on Michigan...around 25th Street? I can't remember the name...anyone else?

crrush wrote:There's also the soul food place down on Michigan...around 25th Street? I can't remember the name...anyone else?

Pearl's Place
3901 S. Michigan
Chicago, IL
773-285-1700

We are heading down to see the Tut tomorrow. Can anyone advise about how long it is (with the audio tour) and how early you went prior to your ticket time? We have Will Call Tickets and I am bringing an elderly couple along and want to have things go as smoothly as possible.

Thanks in advance for the advice!

Kafein,

We had tickets for 10 a.m. on Memorial Day that I had received through the mail so we already had our tickets in hand and did not have to do Will Call. We arrived about 10 or 5 minutes before 10 and had to stand in line only about 5 minutes before being let in. We did not do the audio tour because we had the kiddies with us but I think we were out of there by 11 a.m. I think audio tour would take a little longer as it seems those folks were moving a little more slowly than we were. Hope this helps a little.

kafein wrote:We are heading down to see the Tut tomorrow. Can anyone advise about how long it is (with the audio tour) and how early you went prior to your ticket time? We have Will Call Tickets and I am bringing an elderly couple along and want to have things go as smoothly as possible.

The audio tour is 35 minutes total, not including the time for stopping and looking at things and moving from gallery to gallery. I think it's well worth the $6. Here's an excerpt from something I wrote elsewhere:

For the fullest experience of "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs," you will want to spend an extra $6 to rent the audio tour. It's the next-best thing to a privately conducted tour.

Through headphones, the slightly sibilant tones of Egyptian actor Omar Sharif pilot you through the galleries, with in-depth commentary on 20 of the items displayed, as well as remarks by Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities; National Geographic's Terry Garcia and exhibition curator David Silverman. Fascinating sidebars also explain ancient funereal rites and discuss details about Tut's tomb.

Although the exhibition has excellent, well-positioned signs describing what's displayed, it's sometimes difficult to see them in crowded galleries. The audio tour also provides much more detail than the brief placards.

With 20 numbered segments, the tour allows you to start, stop, and replay at any point, so you can explore the exhibit at your own pace. It is also available in a Spanish version narrated by Jorge Ramos.

The audio tour is included in the $50 admission fee should you sign up for one of the premium "Tut at Twilight" evenings on selected dates throughout the exhibition. These after-hours showings have limited admission for a less-crowded Tut experience, allowing closer looks at the artifacts.

Possibly the best souvenir of the show is the official companion book by Hawass, a lavish, coffee-table-sized volume filled with photographs of artifacts in the exhibition and elsewhere, historical images and scenes in the Valley of the Kings as well as engaging, lucid text about Tut, his life and times and the significance of the objects meant to carry him into the afterlife. The book, also called "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs," is $35 in the exhibition gift shop, or $49.95 together with a Sharif-narrated CD.

Of course, you could get a chocolate pharaoh's head instead.

Kafein, I attended a preview, so I can't answer your ticketing questions or comment on how it is under crowded conditions, but I will say, in reference to your elderly couple, that there benches throughout the exhibit so you can sit down, and you'll definitely want to take your time because there are lots of things worth looking at closely.

For example, the gold handle of an ostrich-feather fan that depicts a humorous hunting scene with Tut shooting at some rather cartoony ostriches while being chased by an animated ankh.

With allowances for the inevitable jam of visitors in the first Tut gallery, it takes about an hour to tour the exhibit fairly closely. This exhibit's designers got smart and placed all the object label copy both inside the cases (near the artifacts) AND on header panels at the case tops. This makes it really easy to read the copy, then find a break in the crowd to view objects up close.

I highly recommend visiting on weekday mornings. They are the least crowded times. Oh, and use the restroom BEFORE entering Evolving Planet. It's 27,000 square feet of gallery with only one way in and one way out. By opening up some lightwells and other redesigns, this gallery is substantially larger than Life Over Time was.

Now to keep this thread about food....The Kimodo dragon gets fed on Wednesdays. Call the Shedd for times. If you can stomach that sort of thing.

--Diannie