Eataly impressions??? (Chicago, Elmwood Park, Rosemont: apartments, condos, homes)

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by williepotatoes

Rosemont is one strange land mass, where 4000 people live in a section kind of roped off from public intrusion. The town is home to hotels, hi-rises, convention centers, stadiums and pricy restaurants amongst other developments. Those must be the rewards for having a long standing, imperial mayor who essentially ran all Leyden township like old boss Daley did Chicago.

Might be interesting stuart another thread on that assertion -- http://precinctmaps.com/maps/cook/Leyden_E2010_C.pdf

[williepotatoes]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Might be interesting stuart another thread on that assertion -- http://precinctmaps.com/maps/cook/Leyden_E2010_C.pdf

Old news, the GOP has been shrinking in Leyden since the 90s. Big influx of Latinos and the passing of the WWII generation means minority party status now. Boss Stephens mayored there for about fifty years and his money helped keep a lot of other mayors and their precinct captains buzzing. At the end he had to partner up with the 36th ward regular Dems to sustain his influence, but that wasn't anything new to him because he was never a serious partisan anyway. Rosemont businesses and developers were apparently very generous towards his political friends.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by emathias

The wait at the pasta and pizza restaurant was 90 minutes last night, and their text-message notification system wasn't working very well. I ate there and had pappardelle with a mushroom ragu, which is one of my favorite dishes, something I make at home fairly often. Personally, I've had much better elsewhere. For example, when Ceres' Table has pappardelle on the menu it's simply divine. Even what I make at home is much better. What they had at Eataly was kind of gummy and the pasta was described by the server as "silky," which good pappardelle is, but in reality it was thick and clumpy. I wouldn't order it again, and kind of regretted ordering it to begin with. My dining companion had some paccheri with seafood. The seafood was good, but the pasta seemed unrefined. We didn't try the pizza, but the pizzas on the tables near us looked very good. For a bottle of water, a ginger ale, a glass of wine that was good and two entrees that were, in my opinion, disappointing, I think $72 (including tax and tip) seems a little steep.

I found the layout a bit confusing, personally. For example, it was difficult to see menus at the various restaurants, and it wasn't always clear whether seating at the various bars was seat-yourself or organized through the nearest host station. There is a lot of great food, though, and the staff was helpful and friendly. I would also have liked to see more baskets for carrying around items for purchase.

Just found out Ceres Table is temporarily closed and is in the process of relocating.

[Chicago60614]

Originally Posted by marothisu

I wonder if Chicago has ever tried to, or will try to, annex Rosemont..probably wouldn't work but it would be interesting to know if they've ever tried.

No, Rosemont specifically exists because it's not in the city. It was formed by someone who wanted to bring all the office/theatre/arena/corporate/convention/hotel/shopping, etc. to the area and NOT be in the city and not have to deal with the city.

It's a no NIMBY, virtually no taxes and no red tape area set up so a businessman could be in the urban area and do what he wanted without dealing with any local municipality. He IS his own local municipality.

it's too bad Chicago couldn't have just set aside an area like that at transportation crossings and right by O'hare to develop what went up in Rosemont while keeping the city's fingers out of it. It might be suburban and annoying to some - but Rosemont brings in a TON of cash.

[Chicago60614]

I went there for lunch, I liked it a lot - although it was PACKED. The layout is a bit crowded, but I loved the sheer amount of food you could buy (not just to eat there, but the packaged grocery food that was very high quality and Italian). Tons of dining options, lots of meats and cheese, there were butcher and seafood stands to take fresh food home with you, mountains of wine, people drinking wine everywhere.

I'll certainly be back.

[edsg25]

thanks for the recommendations, everyone. i guess we'll just go down to see eataly but skip the restaurants since they'll be crowded. i'll often instead for more traditional sunday morning food: deli. we plan to go to 11th City Dinner's new Lincoln Park location. we'd been to the original in the south loop a number of times but would like to try the new place. for a mix of dinner and deli food, the place is hard to beat.

[Aleking]

If you're into real deal italian home cooking, Eataly will have specialty ingredients you will have a hard time finding anywhere else in the city (including JP Graziano). I'll probably visist a couple times a year just for this.

Will probably skip all the restaurants.

[jwaiter]

Originally Posted by williepotatoes

The town is home to hotels, hi-rises, convention centers, stadiums and pricy restaurants amongst other developments. ...

Office buildings also, I worked in one for a few years late 90's.

[It'sAutomatic]

I went in there today. We didn't know what the hell was going on anywhere, saw the prices on one of the menus, and left. Good luck finding any of the "restaurants", all I saw were mini-kitchens scattered all over the second floor with no signage and 2-3 awkwardly located seating areas. Definitely the kind of place that expects you to adapt to it. I really don't think there's much substance there vs. pure hype designed to empty your wallets.

Heaven on Seven across the corner has AWESOME etouffee.

[Aleking]

Originally Posted by It'sAutomatic

I went in there today. We didn't know what the hell was going on anywhere, saw the prices on one of the menus, and left. Good luck finding any of the "restaurants", all I saw were mini-kitchens scattered all over the second floor with no signage and 2-3 awkwardly located seating areas. Definitely the kind of place that expects you to adapt to it. I really don't think there's much substance there vs. pure hype designed to empty your wallets.

Heaven on Seven across the corner has AWESOME etouffee.

lol...place sucks