Eat Here: Quartino

I just got back from a whirlwind weekend trip to the Windy City, where I was checked into the Trump Hotel Chicago, to check out the Trump lifestyle ahead of the January 31st opening of the Trump Hotel Toronto. (Hint: Cannot wait.) There was so much going on in Chicago this weekend. It happened to be the 20th annual Magnificent Mile Lights Festival on Saturday night, which starts the holiday season in earnest with a grand parade led by Grand Marshals Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse and thousands of their friends. It's the busiest weekend of the year in the city, and there were over a million people taking in the glittery parade and fireworks, a mass of humanity woven across bridges and through the streets while we took in the view from our plush chairs in the hotel's buzzy Rebar cocktail lounge while slinging back martinis and scarfing sushi. (Irony alert: This year's parade was sponsored by BMO Harris Bank, AKA, the Bank of Montreal.)

More on Trump later. For now, I'd like to talk about a delicious restaurant just a couple of blocks from the hotel, called Quartino. Man, was this place ever good. Though it's big and boisterous, chef John Coletta and crew still make everything in house, from the mozzarella to the sauces and sausages, salumi and pastas and desserts, and as a side note, their incongruous Sangria is killer.

They practically sent out the entire menu for our group to taste, from the amazing steamed clams in a pino grigo and red chili broth to sicilian caponata, roasted beet salad with ricotta salata and walnuts, to eggplant parmigiana, beef short ribs, crispy polenta fries, dates wrapped in pancetta, gnocchi with green beans and arugula pesto, skate wing with Brussels sprouts and pancetta, and a couple of signature pizzas including an impeccable thin-crust margherita.

And there wasn't a wrong answer in the bunch.

One slice will do, thank you

I was heading off to Chicago for a conference and asked for last-minute suggestions from my Facebook friends – stuff I could do late at night or during quickie breaks. There was talk of the Art Institute. Done! Millennium Park (loved it!) Taking in the lakefront, and the entire city from the 94^th floor of the Hancock Building -- and with Saturday night fireworks to boot – tell me, when’s the last time you were situated above fireworks?

We sucked and swirled at the oyster bar at Shaw’s Crab House and inhaled frisee salad Lyonnaise and moules frites at Brasserie Jo. In case you haven’t figured it out, I am absolutely coo-coo for Chicago. And yet, there was one misstep.

And I can’t say that I wasn’t warned.

Always out for new taste sensations, I simply had to try true deep dish Chicago style pizza while in the windy city. I won’t tell you where I ate it, but I will tell you that it was authentic, all-natural, and said to be one of the finest examples in town. I went for the basic cheese pie. Grease oozed out when I sliced into it (you must use a fork and knife to eat this stuff, no two ways about it.) I finished an entire slice and then I was done.

It would be the first – and last time I try deep-dish pizza.

Has anyone else out there tried it? And liked it? Really?