A World in Our Own Backyard

I have been to a lot of unique place to eat before in my life and I have tried a lot of different kinds of food. I have tried everything that has ever been put in front of me; from raw filet minion that was pounded out to a thin slice and covered with a different blend of oils and spices to deep fried Oreos that are gooey on the inside to squid that is cut freshly right in front on me and grilled almost instantly in a Chinese market. Even with all of these crazy explorations of food I have found that one experience out does the rest. My trip to Chicago is unmatched by any other food memory that I have ever had. From the Chinese market to the great experience of a traditional meal from a culture halfway around the world there is nothing close to a trip like I had the summer of my sophomore year.

Whether you enjoy the city lights at night or musicals in huge theaters or just the excitement of shopping till you drop, Chicago has it all. My family tries to take a trip for a weekend every summer to some place we have never been before that is in the country. My sophomore year we decided to pack our bags and take a short trip to Chicago. Even though it is less than eight hours away it feels like a whole new world. There is always a long car ride with me and my brother fighting over where to sleep or not having enough room or about when we are going to stop to use the bathroom again. When we arrived at the hotel the first thing we both started to beg for was food. My mother, who has always loved to try new things, plans out where we should go to eat, picking little places that only locals usually know about and are extremely hard to find. The first place we ventured to was a little Chinese restaurant that was in the middle of Chinatown. The line to get a seat was long but we waited it out because my mother said it was a very good to try new things. When you first entered the restaurant seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary from the usual Chinese diner, but the tradition was definitely apparent when the host asked us to remove our shoes while entering. We were then seated in a little booth with a curtain on the outside so each table was secluded from everyone else in the restaurant. The waiters would come and serve you the food on real china plates so you had to be very careful to not break anything. They served us in shifts starting with rice and soup then the meat dishes like Mongolian beef on skews with an open flame to cook the beef to the perfect temperature of your desire. The main course was then served to you with many different sauces to dip the meat in. The desert was a little disappointing as it was only small Chinese doughnuts which are similar to round rolls you find at typical Chinese restaurants usually served with powdered sugar or apple butter. Once we finished the meal we went to see what the rest of Chinatown had to offer.

We came across a small market place right outside Chinatown that was considered a fresh market by many standards. We walked into the first store we saw and discovered that this place was anything but an ordinary market. There was no fruit or vegetables only meat and it was live meat. There was a pin to my right that contained around six chickens that were completely oblivious to the hanging roasted chicken above them. To my left was fish laid out on ice cut fresh just that day. A little bit farther back were tanks containing: fish, lobster, crab, and squid. There were about three men working there and a small boy running around grabbing “items” for customers. The place was filled with people shouting what they wanted and pushing their way through to the checkout counter. Needless to say this was a rare experience for me and my family. After we observed our surrounds we started to pay more attention to how the orders were processed. I caught a glimpse of a business man in a suit ordering a chicken. The boy ran to pin grab a chicken by the neck and brought to an older gentlemen behind a counter. The older gentlemen then chopped off the head of the animal and passed it down the line to a middle aged man. That man then beat the body of the chicken twice on either side against a wooden board since to bird did not die from beheading. It was then submerged into a vat of some sort of thick liquid and later pulled out featherless and lifeless. The suited man then paid for the dead carcass and went on his way. After that experience I decided I wanted an animal of my own to be prepared and eaten. I asked a man behind the counter if he could cook a squid for me to eat there. He said, in very poor English, that it would not be a problem since they had a grill and deep fryer behind the counter. So I ordered some calamari, which is squid that has been grilled with some oil and usually lemon juice or other spice. The chef pulled the squid out of the tank and chopped off its head then proceeded to throw the tentacles on the grill and add olive oil. After simmering the meat for a few minutes he scooped them up, added some spice and tossed them into a paper bag for me to eat like popcorn. My mom and dad paid for my entertainment and meal. Then we left the market and made our way back to the hotel.

The adventure from that experience has left an impression on mind still today. Even though it felt like I was a world away though I was merely down the street from one of the most modern cities of today. This one unique experience just goes to show how we can still find excitement in our own “backyards”. So next time you travel to Chicago or any other large city try and find your own little adventure just down the street. Whether it’s fine dining or something a little more lively every place has an exciting and food entertaining right around the corner.