Slice of Life: Living Off The Land

A group of people sift through the leaves underneath a tree in a Chicago public park.  There are probably lots of things you can eat in the city's parks.  In New York, the city actually had tours that show you all the edible things in Central Park.  I don't know if there's a similar tour available in Chicago.



I also don't know what kind of nuts or fruits or berries they were gathering.  They didn't speak any English.  Here's a picture of the tree's fruit.  If you know what it is, post it in the comments section of this page, or in our Chicago discussion forum.

Gaylord Finally Opens

It's been one of the longest restaurant sagas we've seen in a while.  A year ago the Gaylord Indian restaurant moved to Walton Street from Clark Street, but only opened two weeks ago.

Gaylord got very good reviews at its old location, and something in the back of my mind tells me that the Chicago Tribune's Phil Vettel called it the best Indian food in Chicago; but I might be imagining that.

Either way, it picked up a subterranean space vacated by some random fashion boutique in early 2007 and put up a sign pledging to open in April of that year.  Well, that date came and went with no sign of construction.  Then at the very end of June a sign went up stating the place would open in June.  Nope.  Finally, right around the New Year, Gaylord opened its doors to an adoring public.  Or not.

The sad fact is that of the half dozen or so times we've walked by the place has been empty.  Just a bartender and maybe a maître'd waiting for someone... anyone... with a hankerin' for Indian food to come on down.

I don't like Indian food very much at all, and I've tried it everywhere from fancy American restaurants to London takeaways to open air restaurants in the Little India section of Singapore.  I've given it a shot, but it's not my cup of tea.

If you like Indian food, then do a good deed today and stop by Gaylord.  The last thing the Walton Street area needs is another vacant storefront.  And if the food is as good as it was at the old location, then you're in for a treat.

Metra Market Moving Forward

It's been decades since this was first proposed, but finally some dirt is turning with the Metra Market project.

This will take that bricked-up arcade beneath the Metra rail tracks north of the Ogilvie Transportation Center and turn it into a shopping and restaurant plaza.  Similar projects have been successful from Paris to Evanston, and with the recent spike in residential density in the West Loop it looks like this might actually happen this time.

The lead tenant is supposed to be a "French Market" (not sure if that's a brand or a description) which will be made up of a couple dozen specialty food vendors (cheeses, breads, etc...)  Boutique foods marts have increased in popularity in the last few years in the Loop are with the emergence of Fox & Obel, Pastoral, Lavazza, and others.   Hopefully they will do as well or better in the West Loop location.  However, what downtown really needs is a proper butcher shop.  Abe Froman would blanch at the current state of Chicago's retail meat scene.