Why is Chicago's beauty a secret few seem to know about? (Lincoln: crime, house)

[MoItaly]

I was looking at the LTH forum, and ended up clicking on a link to Anteprima in Andersonville.
I found, among other stuff on their menu:

orecchiette, spicy house made lamb sausage, bitter greens, chilis, pecorino 10 16
pappardelle, pancetta ragu 10 16

I saw another thread about how expensive is to live in Chicago and in particular when it comes to nightlife and dining out.

Are you kidding me? I pay more than that for a lousy Pasta Alfredo down here in So Fla.
"Pappardelle pancetta ragu"...I am almost getting emotional here...

I already know I am going to put up some weight during my vacation in Chicago.

It's funny that my buddies/co-workers ask me why I am going back to Chicago for a 7-day vacation. When I tell them “no, I don’t have family or friends in Chicago, I am just going to vacation” they look at me like I am nuts.

They probably think I exaggerate when I tell them about how great a time my wife and I had in Chicago, which is why we are going back.

Great museums.
Great Live music
Nightlife of any kind
Great food at great prices.

People who seem happy on the street when you ask them for direction or an advice on a place

Wonderful scenery in fall: my wife and I being from North-Eastern Italy miss the seasons here in Florida. A walk in Lincoln Park or on Armitage Rd in fall, stepping on yellow, red, orange leaves is memorable, the air is nice and cool, problem is...it works on my appetite!

Beautiful neighborhoods to walk in, discover.

Plenty of international “everything”: food, music, people, you name it.

Walking, Public transportation (well, for many in Florida is not really a plus but it is for me).

It seems to me that all people (from outside Chicago) know (or point out) about Chicago is the crime and the violence.

But at the end of a long day, sometimes I would love to have a place here in So Fla to go listen to real blues or real jazz (without that place being a super-expensive, fancy place where you pay just to be there and not for the quality of music/food/drinks), sipping on a single malt scotch and minding my own business or chatting with my wife or friends.

That’s why we are going back to Chicago on vacation: it doesn’t feel like a vacation, it’s a place where both my wife and I seem to immediately melt with the city.

My buddies take a 3 hours cruise to the Bahamas almost every year ans epdn a full week there. I go to Chicago, to each his own. They think I am nut, I think they are wasting their time, going back to a place where you visit nothing, and spend most of your time on a beach drinking.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind at all drinking and cooling off on the beach, but we have plenty of that in South Florida, we don’t need a cruise to be on the beach.

[linicx]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and Chicago is definately a vistor's paradise for all the reasons you mentioned and a few more.

We don't appreciate what we do not have until we do not have it.

[Aleking]

I have a few posts in the LTH Anteprima thread, the place is a gem.


EDIT: And yes, these types of forums in general atttract whiners.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by Aleking

I have a few posts in the LTH Anteprima thread, the place is a gem.


EDIT: And yes, these types of forums in general atttract whiners.

Yep, anonymous posters are prone to being whiney.

Oh, and Anteprima is wonderful!

[Alicia Bradley]

Um, mostly because the entertainment and media industries aren't centered there. But I've found 'awareness of Chicago's coolness' to be an extremely sensitive barometer of human coolness/"Is this a person I even want to invest five minutes talking to?" People who know nothing about Chicago ("oh, that's some mediocre city with crime") are usually the types who only know how to get from their homes to their workplaces (and sometimes don't even know the names of the streets in between); they also tend to shop at the types of stores I won't name for fear of offending someone.

And, yes, OP, lots of the people I've known who are totally uninhibited about praising Chicago have been Europeans. They're not stuck in the subconscious mindset of "That (praising Chicago) is not what people ('people' being Joe Averages, really) do" (just one of many cultural memes one absorbs being raised as a run-of-the-mill American citizen). Just a couple of examples off the top of my head: "New York is the only urban-type city worth visiting from halfway (or all the way) across the country. Chicago is NEVER one [even though first-time visitors are usually totally blown away by their first drive down Lake Shore and everything else unexpectedly superlative about the city]. LA is ok for the Universal Studios tour, but the traffic is bad, and I'd get sick of that 'Hollywood' lifestyle with all the surfing and tanning and stuff" .

[Drover]

Beauty of course is a subjective/personal matter. And good chunks of this city aren't much to look at. That aside, many coasties seem unwilling to entertain the possibility that any Midwestern city has anything worthwhile to offer.

[aragx6]

Sounds like you and the missus need to move up here ASAP!

[Alicia Bradley]

Originally Posted by Drover

Beauty of course is a subjective/personal matter. And good chunks of this city aren't much to look at. That aside, many coasties seem unwilling to entertain the possibility that any Midwestern city has anything worthwhile to offer.

Good chunks of most cities aren't much to look at.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by aragx6

Sounds like you and the missus need to move up here ASAP!

Heh -- one week in January might disabuse those poor Floridians of any thoughts that living here full-time is such a great idea.

[Gunner0325]

Originally Posted by Drover

Heh -- one week in January might disabuse those poor Floridians of any thoughts that living here full-time is such a great idea.

Haha! Or even this May ....