#143 Superdawg

There was a PBS program many years ago called A Hot Dog Program that I've watched every time its aired, and love. (Even though I don't really like hot dogs.) It was Food Paradise, and Diners, Drive ins, and Dives before Food Network existed for me, and I loved it.  It made one of my least favorite foods look totally irresistible, and even now, if I am anywhere in the vicinity of one of those joints, I try out their hot dog.  



All this to say, I was eating at Superdawg in Chicago regardless, and what a happy coincidence that it is on The List.

Their names are Maurie and Flaurie


Superdawg is an old-fashioned drive-in where car hops will deliver food to your car on a tray that attaches to the side.

 



We Ubered out to their original location, ordered at a window and ate at a picnic table.  






When you order a Superdawg, you get a contentedly lounging dog with Superfries snuggled around it.




I'll be honest, I pretty quickly took that pickle off, though!






The Superdawg was pretty good for a hot dot, I think I'd still rather have a ripper from Rutt's Hut.  And I definitley want to do a proper dog-off next time between Portillo's and Superdawg.  

But for good, nostaligic dawgs, and kitschy fun - I definitely recommend a stop at Superdawg!

#142 Arun's (Taste of Thai Town)

Y'all know I'm not above a little fudging on The List if the situation calls for it, and this was one of those times.  The actual List thing is Arun's, a super fancy, fine dining Thai restaurant with a really lousy website.  

Sidenote: it in 2017, how do you run a business without at least a moderately user friendly website.  How?!

Anyhow, in looking at the website, it seemed like you could only get a prix-fixe menu and there was a LOT of shellfish.  Since, that would literally kill me, epi-pen or not, I was not sure I'd be able to cross this place off The List.  However, in Googling around, I discovered that Arun (the owner and chef at Arun's, unsurprisingly) had open a slightly more casual restaurant called Taste of Thai Town.





The food was really, really good (especially the coconut ice cream), and the name was too punny not to go.











Our Lyft driver back into downtown had a lot of questions about how we found this restaurant because we were tourists purposefully going to a Thai place out in the 'burbs that he had never even heard of.  But he did say, he might have to try it now.

#141 Chicago Blues Scene

My original itinerary called for visiting three Blues Clubs, two after full days of site-seeing, and one for lunch.  Ultimately, though, we only made it to Kingston Mines.  (The other 2 were Buddy Guy's and House of Blues.)  

We hit up Kingston Mines after Hamilton, on a Friday night.  It was dark, it was loud, it was crowded, and it was Blues-y.  Anyone who knows me, knows why this ended up being our only stop on the Blues Tour.  

"Two pints of Sam Adams, but I'm workin' on three"

Kingston Mines has a kitchen, and I did eat some really good Mac 'n Cheese, since we hadn't had dinner yet.  But ultimately was too loud and crowded for me to really have any kind of fun at all.  I am not a club kinda girl.  That said, next time I'm in Chicago I really want to hit up House of Blues for dinner, and Buddy Guy's for a lunch show!

#140 Art Institute of Chicago

I've been dreaming of visiting the Art Institute ever since I first saw A Sunday on La Grande Jatte in a High School art history class.  It immediately took my breath away, and burrowed its way into my brain.  I was fascinated by the hours it took to construct such a large painting from so many tiny dots, how revolutionary the technique was at the time (and how reviled the Impressionist and Post-Impressionists were with the arty-farty folk of the time).

To actually see it in person...

This is the face of a person who is in disbelief that this is happening right now. Or the face of a person who always looks a little derpy in photos.


















Two sisters standing in front of Renoir's Two Sisters (On the Terrace)


What do I always say about ballerina's in art museums?  If it's a ballerina, it is almost always a Degas.


So, a quiz:
Is this a Degas?

Yes, it is a Degas.  (Little Dancer Aged Fourteen)

What about her?

Yes, she's Danseuse rose (Pink Dancer) by Edgar Degas.

And her?

Ballet Dancer on Stage by, you know it, Edgar Degas

How about these lovely ladies?


Green Dancers, Edgar Degas

And this trio of sculpures?





All by the multi-medium artist, Edgar Degas

And finally, Ballet Dancers?

No!  This is not a Degas....occasionally someone else paints ballet dancers.  This is actually by Henri Toulouse-Lautrec.

Much like with the Seurat at the top of the post, occasionally I turn around and run smack-dab into something that I've read about, or dreamed about, or admired my whole life.  And suddenly there it is, right in front of me.  For me, they are almost always in some way related to art - a painting, sculpture, building or monument, and they always take my breath away and bring tears to my eyes.  There are so many of these in world-class museums like the Art Institute.


Hopper's Nighthawks


Mary Cassatt's The Child's Bath

Whistler's Mothers was on special loan in the final days of her display.


And other's that I wasn't familiar with before my visit, but evoked emotion immediately:






I was highly suspicious of this cat.  Does it think it is next on the dead animal table, or was it the one who killed them all, and is just waiting for a chance to pounce!?












At of course, as iconic as any piece of art inside the walls, are the lions - standing guard outside.