The Death of Chicago Death Food

I'm prolific today, I know.

This article on new restrictive Chicago ordinances was out on my Yahoo news source today.

Aside from the fact it quotes Mayor Daley as "angry" - what an odd characterization! Surely they must be engaging in hyperbole! It brings up some very unusual city ordinance under review or in place.

Though the article aptly points out that Chicago is increasingly a city of Starbucks rather than Steel Mills, I wonder if that observation has been made by anyone who has actually left Chicago and done a comparison to other metropolitan areas. While yes Chicago has been LA'ed and NYC'ed to death in recent years, one only needs to bum around Midway Airport or the extended suburbs to see ye olde Chicago is alive and artery clogged.

When you fly into Midway airport - Chicago's southside airport - there's an advertisement for a restaurant that you can see from the air. It simply says, in bold red letters:

BEEF

That is all it says. And this sign is not uncommon. It can be found in the posher North suburbs and though I avoid it at all costs, supect it's on the west side as well. Sure you'll see a variation. It might say "POLISH" or "RED HOTS" but it's none the less some form of meat. The disturbing thing about that article is that these Beef/Polish/Hot Dog joints are the last place you can go before getting an angioplasty. I personally love it. There is no such thing in Orlando for the most part, some place so sinfully greasy that it's possible the deep fried Pizza Puff you're eating was cooked in the very same grease that fried up your Grandfather's pork patty when he was your age!

Every restaurant has neutered and altered their cooking ingredients so that food is certainly better for you but doesn't taste any where near as gratifying. By outlawing or regulating this, it will put to death the true irreverance and spirit of the Chicago fast food joint. And frankly, compared even to the substantially less cosmo Orlando, Chicago is not at any real risk - when one considers its four corners - of becoming a sea of green tea frappucino posers that would require any sense of urgency to legislate cooking oil.

Then again, it is VERY Chicago to even think you can and should legislate such a thing.

On a minor note, the outlawing of Foie Gras for its inhumane production is rather hypocritical given Chicago is America's slaughterhouse and a major statistical contributor to the national murder rate.

I agree with the tape that runs out of Daley's mouth at every press conference: "Get a life."

I like that it refers to Alderman Natarus also. What a crumudgeon. I remember when he left a message on Matt's answering machine. He drolled, "This is Burton Natarus... The alderman..."

OK, I'm going to go watch a movie and/or go to bed now. I think I've met my goal to do something other than navel gaze.

9:26PM Addendum: Just got my monthly HeartCenterOnline newsletter. Bahahah!