At Play got a bad case of Olympic fever, examining a phenomenon called “Office Olympics” by getting the cast of NBC-TV’s “The Office” to explain it to us and by profiling two local companies that actually hosted one of those Paperclip Pentathlons. It sure beat flying to Torino–or are we back to calling it Turin?
Our Ellen, always the shopping maven, not only uncovered a new favorite source for the vintage jewelry she craves (read about The Antique and Resale Shoppe on our shopping page), but also a special place that will fix it when it breaks or the stones fall out. Bill Semmens will make your vintage jewelry look like new in his tiny shop in Suite 435 of the Pittsfield Building (55 E. Washington St.; 312-782-7810).
Ellen braved hordes of teenage girls and their moms (and occasionally dads) to take us behind the scenes at the area’s pre-eminent prom dress store, Peaches (5915 S. Archer Ave.; 877-97-DRESS) at prime prom shopping season, which, by the way, will resume in January.
And Ellen’s unrelenting search for cool crisp sheets like grandma’s came up with two winners and now we can barely drag her out of bed. After weeks of “testing,” she now snoozes on the 250 thread-count all-cotton in white from The Company Store (thecompanystore.com). Or for bigger spenders, there’s the white 500 thread-count “PerfectCale” (thomasleeltd.com). She gets paid to shop. She gets paid to nap. Where do we sign up?
We persuaded five of our colleagues to try $5 haircuts, and to date, only two of them have left the company!
Our ever-ravenous Phil spent so much time dining out that his wife is starting to suspect he doesn’t like her cooking! (Just kidding!) He says his favorite new restaurant is Copperblue (580 E. Illinois St.; 312-527-1200), and that’s saying something in a year that had such great new restaurants as Quartino (626 N. State St.; 312-698-5000), del Toro (1520 N. Damen Ave.; 773-252-1500), Schwa (1466 N. Ashland Ave.; 773-252-1466–the best restaurant that you can’t get into, Phil says), Sola (3868 N. Lincoln Ave.; 773-327-3868), David Burke’s Primehouse (616 N. Rush St.; 312-660-6000), May Street Market (1132 W. Grand Ave.; 312-421-5547), DeLaCosta (465 E. Illinois St.; 312-464-1700) and Niche (14 S. Third St., Geneva; 630-262-1000).
It wasn’t all sit-down dining, though. Phil was part of At Play teams that rated pot stickers (the surprise winner: Won Kow, 2237 S. Wentworth Ave.; 312-842-7500), tacos and fried chicken (more on those winners later) as well as surveys that involved munching at counters, alongside commuter rail stations and inside Phil’s minivan.
But the one food that had the whole city in a stir was something called foie gras, which became a headline food because (and only because) the Chicago City Council decided that we’re not allowed to eat it anymore! As a result, some restaurants predictably defied the ban, suburban restaurants touted the stuff and people who’d never tasted foie gras decided to give it a try. The sponsor of the ban, Ald. Joe Moore (49th), may have unwittingly bagged more ducks than Elmer Fudd ever dreamed of.
Our budget was kind of thin when Spring Break rolled around, so rather than take an exotic vacation, we showed you how to re-create the same experience while wandering around Downers Grove or Schaumburg.
Barbara, our intrepid outdoorswoman, had lots of fun tapping her own maple tree and boiling the sap into syrup, though her Le Creuset saucepan never recovered. She sure regretted not having a longer talk first with the maple syrup experts at the North Park Village Nature Center (312-744-5472) or the River Trail Nature Center (847-824-8360).
Barbara also took up winter bicycle commuting, which was kind of odd for a person who wears sweaters indoors in August. But she had guidance from the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation (312-427-3325, www.biketraffic.org) and Chicago Bike Winter (www.bikewinter.org). And she liked being car-free so much that she took public transportation to the Sand Ridge Nature Center in south suburban South Holland. She got the route from “Ten City Escapes: Easy day trips on public transportation to nearby forest preserves” (www.fotp.org). She found the hiking delightful, both through the woods and back to the bus stop.
Kevin, as usual, spent most of his time eating–and writing about it. There were his expeditions to three casino buffets in three days. (His favorite? Village Square Buffet at Horseshoe Hammond, 777 Casino Center Drive, Hammond, Ind.; 866-711-7463.) And there were the six fried chicken shops he hit in six hours before naming Harold’s Chicken Shack (with nearly 70 locations citywide) as the top pick. Kevin’s father taught him a few things about dim sum etiquette at Phoenix (2131 S. Archer Ave.; 312-328-0848), and he followed four kids whose gastronomic palate put his to shame. He still cries about that from time to time.
This was the year that Eric, the techno-geek of the family, was finally seduced by an iPod. The new nano (Apple retail store, 679 N. Michigan Ave.; 312-981-4104, apple.com) beguiled him with its slimmed-down, scratch-resistant form. When matched with running shoes and a kit that plays his pre-chosen music on his iPod while he runs NikeTown (669 N. Michigan Ave.; 312-642-6363, nike.com), the nano made him smile. Also earning smiles were the freewheeling Nintendo Wii video game system (at larger retailers), and the elegant Sonos ZonePlayer 80 wireless music system (800-680-2345, sonos.com).
Glenn chased down free Wi-Fi in Chicago–much to the pleasure of the neighbors; at least he wasn’t stealing service from them anymore. And, he hung out with valets in the West Loop, ate butter-covered steak sandwiches at Merichka’s (604 Theodore St., Crest Hill; 815-723-9371) and drove along the Illinois & Michigan Canal, documenting the changing leaves. But hanging out at hotels was the most fun. It gave our Glenn a chance to meet and write about characters like John Dowd, the concierge at the Drake (140 E. Walton Pl.; 312-787-2200), who can get anything for a guest, as long as it’s legal and within reason, and Rabbi Yaakov Eisenbach, the keeper of all things kosher at the Westin Chicago North Shore (601 N. Milwaukee Ave., Wheeling; 847-777-6500).
Monica’s year sounds like an elaborate fraternity hazing. Long known for eating food that nobody else will touch–and then telling us all about it in great detail–she tasted brains, blood sausage, fried worms and rattlesnake (rattlesnake doesn’t sound so bad, but predictably, that’s the one Monica liked least). And in our ongoing look at spa treatments, guess who signed up for the “sweet cheeks facial” to perk up the cheeks that aren’t on her face? Monica had more naked fun at Paradise Sauna (2912 W. Montrose Ave.; 773-588-3304), where she paid a lady in a black bra and briefs to scrub the dirt off her body for $30. In an unrelated episode (we promise!), she weighed the pros and cons of eating a foot-long hot dog made of Kobe beef (save your dough). More appetizing was her road trip with Judy and Phil (and lots of preliminary tasters) to locate Chicagoland’s best steak taco, which the trio finally tracked down at Tio Luis (3856 S. Archer Ave.; 773-843-0098).
Naturally, after all this chowing, Monica needed to visit the gym, where she found the Forza sword-fighting class at Equinox (equinoxfitness.com) to be an exciting way to slice off the pounds. She’s also vowed to start eating more home-cooked meals, which was made much easier with her visits to meal prep kitchens including Dinner By Design (dinnerbydesignkitchen.com) and the sustainably stocked Mindful Meals (mindfulmealskitchen.com).
Newly single Monica–she’s OK and the whole At Play family is being very supportive–teamed with Glenn to search for places to troll for dates, including a steamy singles cooking class partiesthatcook.com that featured a cozy dinner with eight strangers (four men and four women) who met at 8 p.m. for food and flirtation.
Trine had an especially tough year. Her job forced her to model Oscars-worthy, $185,000 diamond earrings at Van Cleef & Arpels (636 N. Michigan Ave.; 312-944-8988, www.vancleef-arpels.com) and then she had to write about it. Too bad the store didn’t let her keep them. She also had some of the best handmade noodles of her life at Katy’s Dumpling House (665 N. Cass Ave., Westmont; 630-323-9393). Sometimes she wakes up dreaming about the sweet and savory Szechwan cold noodles. Trine also occasionally craves the cheeseburger topped with gyros meat called the Niki Special from Chuck Wagon (1120 Central Ave., Wilmette; 847-256-0120). Just greasy enough. Just salty enough. Strangely addictive.
Trine spent part of the year with food pornographers. Don’t worry–she wasn’t doing anything obscene, just hanging out with folks who love to photograph their food, at home and in restaurants. It’s a trend you can check out at blogs like Chicagoan Dominic Armato’s excellent one (www.skilletdoux.com).
She also had fun previewing “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs” at The Field Museum (1400 S. Lake Shore Drive; 312-922-9410, www.fieldmuseum.org), with the exhibit’s boisterous creator, Zahi Hawass, secretary general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities. She’s hoping to visit one more time, before the exhibition leaves for good on Jan. 1.
And we’re not finished! In the coming weeks, we’ll give you more dating ideas and tips, more places to eat and more things to do. And Ellen can’t wait to take her new credit card out for a spin.
Neither can we.
Love,
At Play
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Go back and read all these original stories at chicagotribune.com/holidayletter
