A “Southern” Restaurant in Chicago?
Well one of the two weeks of my husbands two week Chicago business trip has slowly passed.
I can not wait for the next Friday to arrive so I can head to the airport and pick him up.
Last night though, while I was busy making King Cakes with my kids…..A typical “Southern” Mardi Gras is
right around the corner thing to do, my husband was being ushered by his employer to a “real” ….”Southern”
restaurant right there in the Chicago area. Chris went with an open mind. But…..being from South Louisiana
and being exposed to real Southern cooking your whole life, well.
I don’t think they want my husband to come back. Once they found out he was from LA. they begin asking his
opinion. It is very hard to trans plant regional food to another place. I went to a “Cajun” restaurant with a dear friend
of mine when I was visiting her in Dublin of all places. I love “Cajun” food just not the Irish version and I am Irish.
I would venture to guess that the Chicago deep dish 6-9″ wide pizza that Chicago is famous for that is a whopping 1-2″ thick
would loose something in translation if it traveled outside the boundaries of its birthplace.
That is the great thing about travel, I think, soaking in the local culture, finding out what they are great at.
What is that region or that people known for. Record it in your memory and take that with you.
That said, there are exceptions to that rule. When I lived in New York. I did find one or two Irish pubs,
thanks to my friend Orla that were very close to the ones she took me to in her home town of Dublin.
Now on to King Cake…..I did make King Cake yesterday. It was very hard taking photographs because my kids
are constantly pinching pieces. They have already finished off two cakes.