Lost Restaurant of Chicago By Greg Borzo
on Lost Restaurant of Chicago
Restaurant of ChicagoWhat a trip down gustatory memory lane! Como Inn, Little
Bucharest, Lawrenz of Arabia, Ambria, the Golden Ox, on and on. Oh, how I miss them all, but at least I have the memories. I would love to see more photos in this book, but I guess some is better than none. Fun to read, and a good insight to how much has changed. This was a really fun way to trace the socioeconomic history of the city of Chicago. The food reflects the population and Chicago food is wild, diverse, and totally unique (just like its people!).
I appreciated two things in particular:
-The photography and attention to detail in relevant menu postings. Whenever a menu was shared, it was really well explored and annotated.
-There was a good amount of modern history and time dedicated to diverse ethnic communities in the city of Chicago. Novelty narratives of Chicago history tend to really pander to the rich and powerful movers and shakers of the 1920-1950s eras. This was not a whitewashed gangster history of Chicago cuisine, it pays attention to Polish, German, and Irish cuisine in the 19th century and Puerto Rican, Mexican, and Vietnamese food of the second half of the 20th century. It was more balanced than I'm used to seeing in lighter historical books.
Bucharest, Lawrenz of Arabia, Ambria, the Golden Ox, on and on. Oh, how I miss them all, but at least I have the memories. I would love to see more photos in this book, but I guess some is better than none. Fun to read, and a good insight to how much has changed. This was a really fun way to trace the socioeconomic history of the city of Chicago. The food reflects the population and Chicago food is wild, diverse, and totally unique (just like its people!).
I appreciated two things in particular:
-The photography and attention to detail in relevant menu postings. Whenever a menu was shared, it was really well explored and annotated.
-There was a good amount of modern history and time dedicated to diverse ethnic communities in the city of Chicago. Novelty narratives of Chicago history tend to really pander to the rich and powerful movers and shakers of the 1920-1950s eras. This was not a whitewashed gangster history of Chicago cuisine, it pays attention to Polish, German, and Irish cuisine in the 19th century and Puerto Rican, Mexican, and Vietnamese food of the second half of the 20th century. It was more balanced than I'm used to seeing in lighter historical books.
| Lost Restaurant of Chicago | |
| By | |
| Publication | 09 April 2025 |
| Number of Pages | 303 |
| Format Type | Kindle Edition |
Greg Borzo