Own a Piece of a Chicago Icon - Everything Must Go at the Pump Room

By Anthony Todd in Food on Feb 18, 2011 4:20PM

The Pump Room, a Chicago icon and celebrity hot spot since 1938, is being sold off, piece by piece. The famous restaurant, founded by Ernest Byfield, hosted the likes of Frank Sinatra, Natalie Wood, Paul Newman, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. It has been in financial trouble for quite a while - a result of declining glitz and food quality. The Ambassador East, the restaurant's hotel parent, was purchased in 2010, and there was for some time talk of reviving the Pump Room to its former glory. But yesterday, the Tribune announced that the entire restaurant and hotel was being broken up and sold - from the tissue holders to the barstools. The only bright side? You can go buy a piece for yourself.

We first visited the Pump Room when we were a very young child, and have fond memories of dressing up for an "elegant" meal there. It was the kind of place with discreet phones at the tables, old European waiters and solid, if undistinguished food. The picture is from one of the best books in our collection - the "Ford Treasury of Favorite Recipes from Famous Eating Places," a combination guide book and (sort of) cookbook from 1950. In this national guide, only four Chicago restaurants were mentioned. The last surviving restaurant was the Pump Room.

The guide tells us that reservations are necessesary, and that dinner is served to 2 AM - people knew how to live in 1950! If you got too drunk or found a companion at the bar, "overnight accomodations" were available at the hotel. The included recipe, reprinted below, sounds (honestly) very strange, but is definitely a piece of mid-century Culinary Americana.

Giant Hawaiian Pineapple
From the Pump Room

1/4 fresh pineapple
6 to 8 shrimp OR 1/2 pound lobster meat
Olives
Cherries

With a sharp knife, cut the meat from the pineapple in 1 piece. Slice vertically into 1/2 strips. Replace every other strip. Fill in the space with lobster or shrimp as desired. Garnish along the top with pieces of olives and cherries. Chill in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before serving. Serves 1.

From today at 10, the sale will run for 12 days. Monday-Saturday from 10 AM to 6 PM, and Sunday 12 AM to 5 PM. Everything must go, and things are priced to move. If you get anything good, please tell us. We'll be heading to the sale today.

The Pump Room is (was) located at 1301 North State Parkway.