Chicago MMXII

wow, knowing that intersection, how does that even happen?!

i want to eat something but nothing as filling as the leftover chili i brought for lunch today. what should i eat that is like a little snack and is delicious and i can buy downtown?

orange
apple
yogurt
granola

or put them all together and embrace the maddness

If I stayed in a cheap hotel near the Jarvis stop in Rogers Park, how many of you would say "That's close enough"?

Close enough to what?

to ChicagILXoans

That's by MEEEEEEE

(and no one else) but if you like quiet lakeside relaxation and easy access to red line and bus (but about 45 min from downtown on a good day) it is the place for u

Lucky you! Anyway trip is still 50/50, might be around July 4.

I would not be hitting downtown as much as Big Chicks, and I guess venturing to the South Side for baseball as the Cubs aren't home that week.

well then it's a fine place to stay and sox stadium is long commute, but def possible from there. i used to work right off that stop, just get a lot of reading done on the train.

or people watching, if that's your thing

also hella nursing homes

and a frank lloyd wright house!

I said almost the exact thing LL did so, yeah. The one thing I said that she didn't is that Big Chick's is 8 stops south of Jarvis, and many of those are close together so it's a quick ride.

20 min max, cheap cab too

Mostly I've learned lately that north side is LL territory, step off if you don't respect

far north
other chilxors hold down the near north and north-west territories

how many people visit or live in chicago and never see this mural?
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5453/6913233760_cc3a214851.jpg
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5071/6913235804_6418a21c3e.jpg

Jarvis is about 6 blocks from another good gay bar, The Glenwood, which is at Morse. (probably good, i've only been there once, but it had a definite Big Chicks kind of easy-going vibe)

A, is that mural near Morse?

no, it's by the lake -- they redo it every year and this year's theme was "dreams", hence michael steele and his one giant eye urging us to "have a dream"
it's right by where we're going to picnic on sat if the rain holds off!

I remember seeing paintings the last time I was there.

On July 19th, 2009.

http://www.runningahead.com/logs/fa1b77092a6c411d9cf176c5b405142e/workouts/74201314af734bbeb2981d61654fd807/map

they change every year, but there's always a mural there

also not esp my thing, but RP is home to the Leather Archives.

oh yeah, there's that museum over by the produce market!

Rogers Park is awesome and I wish it were convenient for me to live there or in Edgewater.

I was really misled by RP, as it's a lot less segregated than the rest of the city!

So is Edgewater.

I hung out in Rogers Park a fair amount a decade ago, when I lived in Andersonville/Edgewater and worked in Evanston. I don't get there as often these days, but because I've never lived south of Irving Park in the past 11 years -- and also because I have a car -- it's never seemed crazy far away to me.

Actually, that reminds me, there's a bar I've been wanting to check out at Clark and Devon: Norse Bar. (Speaking of leather, I think it must be across the street from Touche.)

devon hardware is across from touche -- there are a few new places on the other side of devon though?

Yeah, I guess it is.

Norse Bar, eh? Is there a Norwegian aspect to it?

Yelp pictures show they have TVs hanging over all the tables. I really hate that. I am not opposed to TVs in bars (although I do like when bars don't have TVs) but having one hanging there in your face is unpleasant. It's like those dumb TVs in the back of taxis.

Wait not all of them. Just over the tables in the back, and then over the bar. Nevermind.

The barbecue place on Lincoln that I can never remember the name of has TVs at all the tables. And the server we had didn't know how to turn it off.

Barn & Company.

Doesn't look Norwegian, which is not a deal breaker for me but would likely make R irrationally angry & refuse to go there.

I get it confused with Barrelhouse Flat. Flats. Whatever. I know BhF is the cocktail bar on Lincoln, but when I try to think of Barn & Company, all I can think of is the other name.

Dan let me know when you want to go and I'll get there first and put tiny Norwegian flags on all the tables.

If they carry Haandbryggeriet it's on, though.

xps :)

Or Nøgne ø I suppose.

Norse Bar, eh? Is there a Norwegian aspect to it?

Not at all. I read an interview with the dudes who own it, and they admitted the name was basically arbitrary.

I'm interested in it b/c it's supposed to be a low-key neighborhoodie place that a) has moderately priced good beer and b) games of both the board and video variety.

Come on, Dan, let's get 'em

http://wordspy.com/graphics/torch-and-pitchfork.jpg

I'm genetically Orcadian/Norwegian so I feel comfortable joining R's pitchfork brigade.

But I'd like to stop in for a few beers before we burn it down.

I'm American, I will try all the bars.

I'll go anywhere within walking distance.

At dinner tonight I told R about Norse Bar and my assessment and she was more amiable to the concept than I had imagined. She liked the idea of little Norwegian flags put up everywhere ahead of time, though.

btw we went to Little Bucharest which was very good, if slightly slow/awkward service