This has been by far the longest day of my life and now we
are heading in the opposite direction from where we want to go all so we can go
to “the Chop.” http://www.chicagochophouse.com/
Even though it was because the other employees wanted to let me experience my
first meal from the Number One Steakhouse in America—at least according to the
Delta’s in flight magazine—I wasn’t too upset about it, trying to roll with the
punches. It was light when we left South
Bend so I got to get a good look around—the thing I remember the very most are
the black squirrels I saw running around everywhere. And these weren’t just any black squirrels…
they were HUGE!
I believe we drove past Notre Dame—which is one of my
favorite places because of one of my favorite movies (Rudy), go fighting Irish! Alright, so I don’t really follow them, but I
really do love the movie Rudy and for that Notre Dame will always have a
special place in my heart. The drive to
Chicago felt long but it was all so new and exciting that I just took it all
in.
We did drive through South Chicago on our way into the
City. For somebody who had never really
been to a good sized city (at least without others from my family) it was a
HUGE change for me. I had heard about
all the “scary” things that happen in South Chicago and even though we only
drove through on the freeway I felt a foreboding sense of doom—thinking maybe I
was driving into my demise. This little
kid from a small suburb outside of Salt Lake City was headed into the Concrete
Jungle… and I was excited!
We had to drive right to the Chop because our reservation
was close and we didn’t want to lose our place.
We found the exit right off the freeway, which was actually the block
over from Ontario Street (Ohio Street).
After driving a few blocks we saw the general area where the chop should
be—there was a big Rain Forest Café we turned left at and then parked in an
empty lot about ½ block away from the Chop (which is now a very tall building).
I remember being slightly nervous and afraid as we walked
the short distance to the hotel, but again was very excited. When we entered the restaurant I felt like I
had taken a step back through a time warp to another time. For any of you out there that have been to
the chop you’ll know what I mean. The
best I can describe it is as though you were walking into an old Mafia Movie
and were waiting for all the big crime bosses to come in and mow the place down
at any minute.
As we walked up to the Greeter table the gentleman there
looked at me and said: “I’m sorry, but we don’t allow guests in without wearing
a collared shirt.” I made the quick look
around and noticed that there was at least one other gentleman in the bar area
that didn’t have a collared shirt on—he did however look very successful and
was with what looked like a very powerful group of friends. And here I was looking all of 18 years old (I
was 24 at the time) and probably was just a punk. We were about ready to leave when another
gentleman came by and said: “don’t worry sir we have a shirt you can borrow for
tonight.
I accepted and we were led to the 3rd floor to
our table. The whole place had the feel
of a mafia hangout—not in a bad way but in a very HOLY CRAP what am I getting
myself into kind of way. We were seated
and I went to grab the menu—seeing what I was reaching for Dustin quickly
grabbed the menu and said: “oh no, no, no… you won’t be needing a menu
tonight.” Not 2 more minutes had passed
when the waiter came and asked for our drink but Dustin said: “Oh… we’re ready
to order.” “OK” the waiter said
incredulously, what would you like.
Without looking at the menu Dustin quickly said “we’ll have
2 of your Charred 24 ounce bone in rib-eye steak cooked medium rare.” Dustin did let me choose my side and I
quickly jumped on French Fries—an inkling into why I’m where I am today, FULL
OF CANDIDA! We ordered soda (which I’m
sure the waiter as surprised at—hoping we would order some wine or beer) and
then we anxiously awaited our order.
Dustin could not stop talking up the experience (he being here just one
other time before now and so a bit of a newbie like me).
I don’t think he worried at all about talking it up and he
really did not do it justice. This was
my first taste at what would soon make me a bit of a steak-house snob. As a little side note to this experience it
wasn’t too much later that I was on a flight to Tucson Arizona from SLC and was
seated next to a gentleman who also said he loved a good steakhouse. I was excited to learn about anything Tucson
had to offer.
He was all sorts of excited to give me the name of a great
place in Tucson, and I was very excited to have a place to eat while in Tucson,
because—as far as steakhouses go—there was really nothing there that I was
aware of. I was just thinking of pulling
a pen out of my bag when he said: “Now it’s no Sizzler… but it’s good!” I have been a huge Sizzler fan and still
enjoyed sizzler, but as far as I was concerned it was no steak house! I was now use to places like the chop, Ruths’
Chris, Bob’s steak and chop in Dallas Texas and Bone’s in Atlanta Georgia. This is why I was now a steakhouse snob—but
not at this point on my first trip to the chop!
Our salads came along with our bread and drinks and we
snacked while we waited for the real deal, the main course, the reason we were
there. As soon as one dish was taken our
waiter would take out a little knife and clean off the table cloth with it
(making sure to keep all the crumbs off the table). This was the first time I had experienced
something like this at a restaurant and I enjoyed every minute of it! The waiter came and cleared our salad plates
and then did the quick swish swish swish with the knife (man he was fast!) just
before the server brought our main dish!
Dustin DID NOT disappoint and neither did the Chop (to this
day I have never had a bad meal at the chop and I have been there—in all—about
5 or 6 times over the years, although it has been about 6-7 years since I have
been there. I enjoyed every bit of that
tender rib-eye steak and ate it clear to the bone! Even the fries were tastier here than I
remember at any other restaurant I had ever been to. I felt stuffed but honestly felt like I could
down a whole other steak without batting an eye.
As our server brought over the dessert tray (I hadn’t ever
really been to many places with a true dessert tray either) I eyed the 6 layer
German chocolate cake and just could not resist! I ordered that bad boy and downed every bit,
darn near wanting to lick my plate clean, like I was in a Chuck-O-Rama
restaurant or something, but thought better when I noticed all the people
(employees) staring in my direction.
Even the bathrooms in this place were unlike anything I had
ever seen—the toilet had a little mechanism on it that would pull a new plastic
cover over the seat before you sat down to do your business—everything about
this new world was something I liked and I knew I was never going to feel the
same! As we were leaving the chop they
wanted to sell me the shirt but when I asked how much it was they said--$25.00…
to which I responded: “but it’s used?!”
I don’ t think they liked my answer much—I should have just gone for it
because when I came back the next time their prices had gone up and I didn’t
end up getting it anyway.
I left that restaurant feeling like I had arrived. A bill came that was more than I had ever
seen a meal for 2 people cost and I didn’t have to pay a dime of it—even later
I would pay and get reimbursed for my expenses.
I survived my experience at the chop and could not be happier—I was well
on my way to becoming a weekly (even bi-weekly) steak connoisseur!
Dustin decided to take me by the sears tower (can’t remember
what it’s called now) but you know the building… the one they show in Ferris
Bueller’s Day off that they all go to the top of and stare down at the city. Nothing was open at this point, it was pretty
dark but there was still something special about this place—it was quickly
becoming my favorite place! We drove on
the Lake Shore Drive, which followed Lake Michigan and saw the pier, which is a
huge tourist destination.
Dustin must have been feeling adventurous because he decided
he wanted to try to find an entrance to the freeway by heading south on Lake
Shore—it didn’t take long before we were well out of the city and we were still
not on the freeway—we were really now in South Chicago. I was trying to act as the navigator—had the
dome light on and the map out (days before GPS was standard issue in
rentals). Dustin finally looked at me
and said: “Put that map away and turn off the light!” I guess he didn’t want to look like we didn’t
know where we were going as we were driving through what was obviously not a
very nice neighborhood.
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