Hey, Chicago DUers....!

[Robb]

Halp me! :)

So my mother-in-law's 60th b-day is arriving soon, and our plan was to recreate the foods of her youth -- red hots and zit cake, to begin with. Two questions for you folks:

1) Who makes the best red hots (who also ships them), and

2) What else should I fit into the Chicago culinary experience for her? :shrug:

[terrya]

1. Deep Dish Chicago Pizza, my friend!

Gino's here in Chicago makes the BEST Deep Dish Chicago Style Pizza. Period. That's a Chicago culinary MUST.

Terry

[Ellen Forradalom]

8. You MEANT to say Pizzeria Due, pal

;-)

[Padraig18]

2. Brach's Red hots, and...

...Gino's! Maybe Shaw's Crab house, too! :)

[returnable]

3. Buona Beef!

It's what's for dinner!

[LincolnMcGrath]

4. Charlie Trotter’s

Call first




Charlie Trotter’s
816 W. Armitage
Chicago, IL 60614
[phone]

[Robb]

6. Yeah, but

...I've got to bring it to her here, at 8,000 feet. :)

Man, I'd love to go to Trotter's....

[chiburb]

5. One stop shopping right here!

Click on the link for "to go" ordering of the BEST of Chicago foods:

Portillo's "Vienna" hot dogs.

Lou Malnatti's deep dish pizza.

Buona Italian Beef.

Enjoy!

http://www.kingkold.com/enter.htm

[prolesunited]

7. I'm a Chicago DUer

but what is "zit cake"? I've lived in this area all of my life. What am I missing?

[LincolnMcGrath]

9. Thanks I was afraid to

ask

[Robb]

10. Probably not "Chicago" so much as

"From her youth"; zit cake is this monstrously rich brownie-cum-layer cake thing.

Man, I knew DU would come through on this! Thanks everybody!

How can anyone not donate to help keep this afloat? :shrug:

[Ellen Forradalom]

12. Yeah, what is 'zit cake'?

I'm also a Chicagoan, and utterly baffled.

[JewelDigger]

11. If you want to 'recreate foods of her youth'

it would be helpful to know what area of Chicago she grew up in and what's her ethnic origin. Back then there were (and to some extent still is) pockets of Italian, Polish, Slovak, German, etc.

I know of a few places you can get some things still. Also, back then (when she was a youth) there were 'Prince Castles' and 'Cock Robins' with little square scoops of ice cream on your cone. They also had REAL malted milk shakes called 'One in a Millions'.

While some of the suggestions here are well meaning, Charlie Trotter's, Buona Beef, etc. didn't exist in the 40's, 50's and 60's so it really wouldn't satisfy the stated requirement of 'foods from her youth'.