Tag: Al's Italian Beef

Travels With Charlie Day #5? “Should We Stay In Chicago”

by reissmd, posted in Chicago

Last night it took a very long time to exit the parking lot at White Sox stadium aka Guaranteed Rate Stadium (Do you really think that should be the name of a stadium?). When we finally got back to the hotel it was late resulting in another sleep-in day this morning. When we finally got going we decided to skip breakfast and go straight to lunch. My friend Mike has repeatedly recommended we go to Al’s Italian Beef. I rarely eat beef but I didn’t think I could face Mike when I got home if I didn’t give it a try.

The trio getting ready to eat at Al’s Italian Beef.

Mike said I should order the beef and sausage combo with sweet peppers. Before getting our food I had to use the bathroom where I saw some interesting signs. See below.

Since this place was near Wrigley Field I assume they were referring to baseball
Bathroom archery?
Definitely a Los Angeles County Health Department “A” rating for cleanliness.

Outside the bathroom, I saw pictures of a number of celebrities who have dined at Al’s. This picture made me think Al is not a boxing fan or just not a great speller.

Sugar Ray Lenord?

I ordered the beef and sausage combo with sweet peppers as recommended by my Chicago food expert. See below.

Al’s Beef and Sausage Combo with Sweet Peppers. It was good but I would not go out of my way for it.

After lunch, we headed to Wrigley Field for a tour. We gave Charlie a number of choices of things to do today and Wrigley was his selection without hesitation.

In front of Wrigley with Charlie’s newly purchased Chicago Cubs hat. Hey! I thought you said you were a San Francisco Giants fan?

The tour was great. It lasted about 90 minutes and we got to see all sorts of aspects of the park. We sat in the prime seats and the bleachers. We were able to see the visiting team’s clubhouse and sit in the Cub’s dugout. Our guide told us all sorts of interesting information about the stadium, the Cubs, and the history of baseball in Chicago. But the main thing that made this a perfect outing is what Charlie said upon leaving, “Sitting in the visiting team’s clubhouse at Wrigley Field was the highlight of my summer”. Did you hear that Charlie’s Mom and Dad? Did I mention, that Grandpa is immature?

For dinner, I was lobbying to go to a Chicago landmark called the Wiener’s Circle. The place is famous for its hot dogs but is actually more famous for the attitude displayed by its employees. Rude is putting it mildly. This video convinced me that maybe we should save this for a trip when we are in Chicago without a 10-year-old.

We opted for a quiet meal at the hotel instead.

This will be the last post for this trip. I really enjoyed our “Travels With Charlie”. He is a very good travel partner. Patrice is pretty good too. Chicago is a great city but the weather is not to my liking. If asked would I ever want to live here, the sign below should give you the answer to that question.

As Randy Newman put it, “I Love L.A”