Day 8: Little Italy

At the beginning of this project, when I had decided that one day I should go to Little Italy, I pictured an area of town very similar to the Little Italy in New York City:


This could not be further from the truth. Little Italy is basically one street in Chicago, Taylor Street, that happens to have a few Italian bakeries and restaurants. The reason it is called Little Italy is because of its history. When Italians first started to move to Chicago, they moved to Taylor Street. By 1927, most of the grocery stores and restaurants were owned by Italian immigrants. That is why so many of the stores in this area are Italian in theme. Actually, this is the neighborhood in which Jane Addams created Hull House:

Because of the area's primarily Italian history, the neighborhood does contain many Italian restaurants, although many are fancy and expensive, and are frequently described as "romantic." Since my usual date, Brad Pitt, was busy, I had no need to go to a "romantic" restaurant. So, instead, I took my mom and my sister out for pizza. Ha! I said that like I paid. We went to a place called Damenzo's Pizza located at 2324 W. Taylor Street:


To get to Damenzo's, the internet told me to take the number 12 bus from Halsted and Roosevelt to Taylor and Ogden and then walk to Damenzo's. But, since I believe myself to be more clever than a bus, my sister and I walked. My mom, the lazy bum that she is, drove.

The restaurant itself is kind of funny. The left half is the pizza place that we went to, but the right half is a Mexican restaurant owned by the same people. Damenzo's is a hole in the wall, but with a lot of heart. Our waitress got really excited when I started taking pictures and took me on a tour of the restaurant. There is an area where you can go up to a counter to order pizza to take home:


I don't know if you can see it in the picture, but the walls are bright green! If you choose to eat there, you sit in a different room with plain white walls and plastic chairs. The inside atmosphere is not the greatest, however, if you want to have a party at Damenzo's, there is a nice patio area:


But, you probably would not go to Damenzo's for the atmosphere; you would go for the pizza. And the pizza is very, very worth it. The waitstaff is very conscientious and very friendly, but once you order your food, it takes a while to arrive. But that is just because they make the pizza fresh in the restaurant. At some pizza places (and by pizza places, I mean Little Caesar's) there are pizzas sitting around in boxes under heat lamps. But at Damenzo's, the pizza tastes fresh because it is fresh:


It was absolutely delicious. We ordered half pepperoni and half cheese because they do not offer pineapple, garlic, goat cheese, lemon peels, plastic, or propane, which are my personal favorite toppings. The bread was very fresh and soft, and the cheese was very greasy and thick, which is my favorite type. All three of us ordered diet virgin cuba libres, but we were all disappointed that they were made with RC Cola, which is kind of gross. Our total bill was $25 for three people. Plus we took about a third of our pizza home for leftovers.

For dessert, we went to an Italian bakery called Ferrara's Pastries located at 2210 W. Taylor Street:


I could live in this bakery. They had brightly colored cakes and cookies and candy... I'm getting food-horny just thinking about it:

So many of the baked goods looked fantastic and colorful and inviting, but I went in with a plan to order a cannoli, so I did:


Cannolis originated in Sicily, although they are considered a general Italian pastry. The name cannoli means "little tube" in Italian, which is exactly what a cannoli is. It's a flaky pastry tube filled with a ricotta cheese, chocolate, vanilla, and other flavorings. Sometimes chefs will put chocolate chips in the filling to add a little bit of texture. The ends of the cannoli (the cheese part that spills out of the tube) are typically dipped in some sort of nut. In this case, the cannoli is covered in peanuts, but in many cannolis, pistachios are used:


The pistachios add color to the cannolis. As you can see in the picture above, sometimes maraschino cherries are placed in the filling to add even more color. Cannolis can be dusted with powdered sugar, granulated sugar, or even dipped in chocolate.

After my cannoli, I was stuffed. But luckily, my sister does not like cannolis, which gives me the opportunity to tell you about Chicago's top Italian lemonade spot. It is called Mario's Italian Lemonade, and is located at 1068 W. Taylor Street:


It is structured like a lemonade stand that I set up when I was a kid. It has a giant sign above the counter that looks almost hand-made. But Mario's Italian Lemonade has been written up in many Chicago newspapers. They are busy throughout the entire day, and on especially hot days the line can be very long. But lines always seem to move quickly at Mario's. My sister ordered orange lemonade (orange-ade?):
The lemonade is always made from fresh fruit, which is very apparent with certain flavors. For example, in the orange-ade, you can clearly feel and taste the pulp. The man who was right in front of us in line ordered watermelon-ade, which had giant black seeds in it. The Italian lemonade cost only a dollar, and I thought it was delicious, but my sister got sick of it about halfway through.

Tomorrow I will be indisposed all day, but never fear, I will be back on Monday. However I do not know what I will be writing about. Perhaps I will be in Old Town on Monday. I guess it will be a surprise... Until next time, happy eating!

Day 2: Pilsen

Hola! That's Pilsen for "Hello." In case I have not made it painfully obvious, today's neighborhood was Pilsen. Pilsen is located on the lower-west side of Chicago, approximately one mile from my house. Due to the proximity of Pilsen to my "casa," and the fact that the "sol" was out, instead of taking the bus to Pilsen, I walked. This proved to be very interesting because the second I turned West onto 18th street, most of the stores and advertisments I saw were in Spanish. Even the ice cream cart pushed down 18th street was labeled "Helados." I have lived no more than a mile from Pilsen ever since sixth grade, and yet I have only ever been to Pilsen on middle school Spanish class trips. But I think I will start going more on my own now because Pilsen has a very interesting look. Pilsen is famous for its murals (one of which is depicted above). Many of them depict doctors and college graduates, and famous, strong, Mexican historical leaders. Others depict The Virgin, which is the typical religious symbol of Mexico:

Pilsen is also known for its many restaurants. One restaurant has been written up on Metromix.com, and in the Chicago Sun Times, and has been recommended to me by three different people independently of each other. This restaurant is called Nuevo Leon and it is located at 1515 W. 18th St:


Even the outside of the restaurant is very characteristic of the neighborhood. The bright colors and elaborate paintings are inescapable throughout Pilsen. The name "Nuevo Leon" comes from the name of a state located in northeastern Mexico. The restaurant is modeled after this state. The waitresses even wear a version of the traditional outfit from Nuevo Leon which looks something like this:

The waitresses in the restaurant wear something slightly different, although I now realize that I did not get a good picture of my waitress. I was seated in an area of the restaurant that was surrounded by murals. The wall in front of the bathrooms had a painting of two parrots:


And the wall across from where I was seated looked like this:

The ambiance was very nice, and the food was fantastic. Upon being seated, our waitress brought us a bowl of chips and two types of salsa. The first was just a standard pico de gallo, which was okay, but the second type was a different type of salsa that had a more roasted flavor. It was much spicier than the first type, and I preferred it. Then, they brought out a small appetizer. This appetizer changes from day to day, but today the appetizer was a meatball and a piece of potato in a green chile dressing. Please excuse the poor picture quality. By the time I had discovered the macro lens on my digital camera, my appetizer had been eaten:

In order to obtain some variety in the food ordered, I brought my dad with me. We ordered the "Nachos Dias" which was 6 mini-quesadillas covered in a red chile sauce with guacamole and sour cream on top:

Next, I ordered beef Enchiladas with red chile ancho sauce. This came with rice and beans.


My dad ordered the combination platter, which included one beef taco, one bean tostada, one tamale, and one cheese enchilada. He also ordered, for us to split, a chile relleno, which is a large pepper filled with cheese and spinach:

The total bill came out to $27 for two people, plus we brought a large plate of food home, because our eyes are significanty larger than our stomachs. Then, on the way home, I passed by a panderia, which is basically a pastry shop, where I bought a large cookie of which I forgot to take a picture. All in all, Pilsen is quite beautiful with an interesting history and a lot of delicious food.

Tomorrow I will be going to Greektown. I have no idea where to eat in Greektown, so PLEASE leave your suggestions. And my dad will not be free to keep me company while I eat tomorrow, so PLEASE eat with me.