Brace Yourself: A New York Times Article About Chicago We Actually Love
By Lisa White in Arts & Entertainment on Jan 2, 2014 8:00PM
A new year is all about turning over a new leaf. So possibly 2014 is the year we stop locking horns with the New York Times and their many takes on Chicago. If their 36-hour travel piece published Wednesday sets the tone for the year, we’re off to a great start.
Written by former resident Freda Moon, the piece shows a nice balance of what travelers and locals alike enjoy about Chicago and her obvious love of our city shines through.
Who would have thought, a former resident would offer up a well crafted eclectic list?
Moon packs a lot into her 36-hour itinerary, criss-crossing around the city and giving travelers a taste of neighborhoods away from the hotels downtown. She even offers up a few selections south of Roosevelt Road, including a favorite of ours, Maria’s Packaged Goods and Community Bar. Like any true Chicagoan she suggests grabbing a drink at Signature Lounge if your tourist heart is set on going up in a high building while visiting city, a place we’ve been sending folks for years if they want a great view without a high admission price.
Some of our favorite local spots to drink and eat make the list; Revolution, Au Cheval (one of our top picks for burgers in the city), Bang Bang, Bow Truss, Map Room and Fat Rice amongst many other wonderful options. For cultural affairs Moon suggests stopping by the always free and interesting events at the Chicago Cultural Center or catching a show at Constellation, a newer space from Mike Reed that we’ve enjoyed getting to know this year. And then she shouts out Paper Machete, a true Chicago series that we have loved for years. By the time she suggests heading to Maxwell Street Market for tacos before record shopping at Logan Hardware and Dusty Groove we either want to date Moon or be her best friend. She sounds like one kick ass Chicagoan.
Sure, someone will call foul on not covering enough corners of the city or missing something special, but we think Moon really showed a variety of the things many Chicagoans do on the weekend around the city, making it easy for a traveler to fit right in with the locals. We might still force our friends visiting to try Malort or wait in line for encased meat, but we’re proud of the way our city shines on the pages of the New York Times this time around.