Grace in Chicago, Day One: Dim Sum in Chinatown, Renegade Craft Fair, Quimby’s Bookstore, Drinks at Etta, Dinner at Piece, the Infinite Wrench

November 9, 2024

A big weekend, with lots of events – as Grace is visiting Chicago and spending two days hanging out with us. We picked her up from an early train ride in to Union Station and promptly went right into our very busy day.

Grace arrived mid-morning, and we headed over to Chinatown for some Dim Sum.

At Ming Hin, in new Chinatown. Grace hadn’t had Dim Sum before, so it was fun to introduce her to some of our favorites. She was open to trying out new stuff, and we had a nice assortment of sweet and savory plates.

Outside, looking at the various animals of the Chinese Zodiac, we stopped at Grace’s (Rooster).

Walking over to “old” Chinatown.

I lost track of what store we entered here. It was modern, a lot of bright colors. I saw some Disney characters on the wall, but all the items seemed to be popular characters that I absolutely did not recognize. Like, at all.

I’m usually ok with pop culture, even if I’m not immersed in it like the young kids are. But seriously, no clue. Cartoon cats that looked like rabbits? Cartoon rabbits that looked like cats? And there was a smattering of Peanuts related merchandise, in the midst of this place.

Walking back to the car, we stopped in at Taian Herbal Tea.

We happened to walk in while they were preparing some custom tea blends.

Fast forward a bit to the West Loop, where we returned to Morgan Manufacturing (we were here recently for the Chicago Artisan Market).

This time around, we were going to Renegade. It’s… well, it’s been a minute, since we last attended. My word, I’ve got some old links (see below) from back when Renegade was a small set of popup tents in Wicker Park (the literal Wicker Park).

Hard to believe this is the same event, as the ones I remember from nearly 19 years ago.

Several sets of very well made (and slightly creepy) mugs. And of course, Liz got one.

Grace and Liz, checking out some soaps.

Fast forward a bit more. After some decompression time in the afternoon, we left Hyde Park together and headed back north. On the way, we spotted a custom license plate that reminded us of Star Wars. Weird to imagine Yoda driving a Mazda.

On our way downtown, Grace asked me to take some photos of the city skyline.

The ramp here from 55 that feeds into 90/94 North is usually pretty packed with cars, and an annoying part of just making it into the city. But hearing Grace’s request, it reminded me how much I take for granted… and what Chicago must look like, to someone who is experiencing it on their own, anew, for the first time.

I felt like a tourist, sticking my phone out of the window into the rain, trying to get a photo of the skyline. And it actually felt quite fun.

Walking around in my old neighborhood, Wicker Park. Along North Avenue, I have no memory of what used to be in this stretch. I think there used to be some old (really old) 3 flats that got torn down here.

Inside Quimby’s.

At least some things never change.

We walked over to the big Barnes and Nobles at the tri-section, and explored around here as well.

For dinner, we were going to try a Ramen place (Grace mentioned she had never been to a proper ramen shop before). On arriving, we saw the inside was pretty sparse… and decided against going in. On a whim, we looked around and decided to try our luck at Piece (keep in mind this was around 6:30 PM on a Saturday).

We were told the wait was around 50 minutes, so we put our names in. Then decided to walk around some more. Eventually, we decided to roll the dice and stopped in at Etta.

They were pretty packed there, and we explained we were just wanting a quick drink, in and out. The floor manager and hostess were super nice and accommodating, and we got seated fairly quickly at the bar.

We got some drinks (Grace got a mocktail), and relaxed a little bit after a lot of walking. There may have been some sneaky switching of drinks during the course of our time here. But you didn’t hear that from me.

Our time here though was quite short-lived. Liz got a text that our table was ready, and it was far less than 50 minutes (more like 15-20). We scrambled a bit, and made our way back to Piece for dinner.

Inside, the place was impossibly loud. But we got seated amidst the hustle and bustle, and it felt nice to settle in after our time wandering the neighborhood.

Hard to believe Piece has been here for over twenty years (and that I had my 29th birthday party here). Oof.

After diner, we drove up to Andersonville, to catch a show. We had a bit more time to kill, so we grabbed a table at Lady Gregory’s for some coffee and dessert.

Walking in to see the Neo-Futurists.

Waiting in the waiting area.

Which, to be honest, was quite a cool waiting area.

The crowd, entering before the show.

Grace and Liz, pre-show.

I think we dropped Grace off at her hotel sometime around 12:30 AM. Not overly late, but pretty late for us. Quite the full day, as we more or less had events going since we picked Grace up at 10:30 this morning.