Mother of Re-Invention

Neph turned 14 yesterday but is sick, so on Saturday we drove out to his house and dropped off his gift (a ramen-themed Mighty Wallet and $50 cash), then hiked Schiller Woods a little bit. It wasn't our plan to eat out but we caved to our impulses and stopped for brunch at Gene & Jude's. There was a line already when we showed up at 10:25 but it dissipated after they opened at 10:30, likely to resume later closer to lunch.

My hiking pants were splattered with a little mud, I was wearing a white t-shirt with a giant blue W on it, and my hair was frizzed up from the humidity. J looked like J. In other words, we looked schlubby. We fit right in as we got in line behind the dude in the Cubs fishing hat and vest. I mean, we ARE locals, but ever since our waitress at Girl & the Goat asked us where we were from, I've wondered if we look like tourists. But of course, Girl & the Goat is in the West Loop, and people in the West Loop look like people who are from, well, the West Loop. I only look like that when I'm giving a presentation or something and am forced to haul out a suit and perhaps apply lipstick. But for hot dogs we look fine. Gene & Jude's has a manual lever-operated fry cutter and they cut the fries in front of you. The only toppings are onion, mustard, and sport peppers. The kitchen floor is usually covered with smashed fries but we got there too early to see that - the floor was clean. There are no seats at the counters; you stand then leave.

We snuck in two packets of ketchup from the car's emergency stash to eat with our fries and made sure to wrap up the empty packets tightly in the garbage so that the evidence would not be discovered.

On Sunday we drove down to Jackson Park where I fumed at a gigantic church being build next to the Obama library (both under construction). The church looks like a North Korean Chicago Jail. It's hideous and offensive and the cherry blossoms bloomed in the shadow of that behemoth. It stuck up like a religious marble middle finger next to that lovely park, humble nearby homes, and relatively modest Obama library.

That said, the trees were beautiful (we saw no fewer than three influenzers taking photos), the Garden of the Phoenix was as pretty as always, then we got off the highway to hit up Jim's Original and Express Grill for the first time, to have brunch in our car. I went to Jim's, J went to Express Grill, and we both met in the car with our Maxwell Street Polishes. IMHO, the Polish is the better Chicago classic, far superior to the Chicago hot dog. I preferred Jim's starchy fries and Polish, J preferred Express Grill's darker smooth fries and spicier Polish (I think it has celery salt on it? not a fave). Funny how that worked out. We could just have easily have switched destinations. They do provide ketchup, mostly because they have burgers on the menu, I think.

On the way back, even though we absolutely did not need it, we hit one of my starred locations: Roeser's Bakery (est 1911). For years I have seen Roeser's boxes at work now and then. We picked up a guava and cheese coffeecake, a blueberry mini bundt cake, some mini frosted cakes, and a banana eclair type thing. The syrup soaked bundt was the biggest hit. I don't like the bakery as much as I like Jarosch but I like it a lot and it's closer. A friend insists that Central Continental is better than Jarosch - I MUST investigate this for science.

Eating salad today. Sounds boring but after a little too much indulgence, it's a welcome change.