Christmas Eve - Chicago Style

On Christmas Eve, Stein and I met up with our friends Patty and Paul and Patty's parents for breakfast. We went to Nookie's, which I haven't been to in a long time. It used to be one of our late-night haunts, where inevitably our friend Erik would order a Monte Cristo sandwich. (Talk about a gut-bomb at 2 am!)


After breakfast, Stein and I had some time to kill before checking into our hotel. We decided on seeing the movie Charlie Wilson's War, with Tom Hanks. It was a great movie, particularly if you love Tom Hanks and love government-type movies. It was a great way to spend the afternoon.


We checked into our hotel, relaxed a little, and then walked around downtown. The streets were more crowded than we anticipated, and it was freezing! We wandered into a couple stores, where it was a nice break to get out of the cold. We always get Garrett's popcorn when we're downtown, but we also wanted some hot chocolate. I made the bad decision of getting the hot chocolate first.


If you've never heard of Garrett's, I'll tell you a bit about it. Garrett's popcorn has a couple locations downtown. Their location on Michigan Ave. is a small storefront shop with enough room for a double line of people, the counter, and the popcorn bins. Eventually crowds spill outside and down the sidewalk. People wait up to an hour or more to get this popcorn. So what's the deal with this popcorn? In my opinion, it is the best popcorn, hands down. They have a caramel/cheese popcorn mix that is their specialty. Yes, you read right. Caramel corn and cheese popcorn mixed together. I'm not normally a caramel corn person, but this is different. It's not sugary, it's buttery. So that, combined with the cheese popcorn just makes my mouth water. Oh, and the cheese popcorn? Your hands are orange for days from the cheese stuff.


After getting our hot chocolate from the Ghiradelli store, Stein and I went to Garrett's. We thought we were such experts. "The line isn't even outside!" we noted. What we didn't note was the hours of operation on the door. As we stood in line for about 20 minutes, we heard one of the employees shout, "WE ARE ALMOST OUT OF CARAMEL CORN. WE WILL NOT BE TAKING ANY MORE ORDERS UNTIL THE NEXT PEOPLE'S ORDERS ARE FILLED. WE CLOSE AT 4:00." After initial groans from all the customers in the store, everyone started planning. "We can get by with just cheese," a woman behind us said. "I guess butter popcorn is okay," we heard another person say. I told Stein that cheese would be okay with me too. It was only 3:30, so they should have enough by the time we got up there. As we waited longer in line, I started eyeing the people getting their orders filled and counted how many others were in front of us. "She ordered a whole gallon! She's taking all the popcorn!" Stein said. "Tackle her!" I half-joked that Stein could be like Seinfeld in the bread episode. Then we got the devastating news.


They were out of ALL popcorn. And to make matters worse, we were the next people in line to order.


Stein immediately walked out the door and started walking down the street. I got outside and just stood there in disbelief. No Garrett's popcorn. No buttery caramel and messy cheese. I was gypped. We walked back to the hotel with our heads down. Partially from the wind, and partially from our defeat.


That night, we went to the Drake hotel to have drinks before dinner. (The Drake is the "small" white building in the picture above). We stayed at the Drake a few years ago, and really liked how they decorate for Christmas. It's such a Chicago Landmark, and I love to go there. It's very elegant, and you can just picture all of the famous Chicagoans who have been there hobnobbing at various functions.


After drinks, we went up to Mia Francesca's for dinner. This small, busy Italian restaurant in Wrigleyville is one of our favorites. It's not pretentious like some stuffy Italian restaurants. It's bright, upbeat, and friendly. The tables are packed together, but you never feel crowded. We started off with some carpaccio as an appetizer, and I had a chicken dish and Stein had pork chops. We shared a chocolate cake for dessert that oozed in the middle. Everything was outstanding, including the wine. I tried to snap a picture discreetly without flash just to get an idea of how it is in there. It came out blurry, but you can see how close the tables are together, and also see the small bar (only about 8 bar stools).

The night was still young, so we went to meet our friends Sarah and Scott. They were eating dinner with their parents at a restaurant near our hotel, so we decided to join them. Unfortunately, they were still finishing eating when we got there, so Stein and I waited in the bar area. Well, the food coma hit us while we were waiting, and we had to get to bed. We said our goodbyes and walked back to the hotel.


We had a great day. Some things planned, some things spontaneous. What a fun way to spend Christmas Eve in the city I love.