FROZEN NOSTALGIA

Late last week my parents asked if the three of us wanted to go to Chicago to go to the Berghoff before it closed. The Berghoff is a Chicago institution, a German restaurant that has been around since 1898, and it is now in its very last days - it closes on Feb. 28. I hadn't been there in almost 15 years but when I was young and we had family come in from out of town we would inevitably go down to Chicago and do the Sears Tower or the Museum of Science and Industry and we would go and eat at the Berghoff. It was always a treat - they had great homemade root beer and creamed spinach and great multi-grain bread and apple strudel for dessert. So naturally I was up for trying to go one last time, especially since Jill and Grant had never been there.

Our plan was to get there for a late lunch, figuring the line wouldn't be too bad (and I wanted to get to the sale at the comics shop before we left). We arrived in Chicago a little bit after 2:00 and by the time we parked and walked the couple blocks to the restaurant it was close to 2:30. There was a line. Now that wouldn't have been so bad but for the fact it was about 3 degrees. Still, we settled in and the line was moving fairly quickly. Jill and Grant made liberal use of the Walgreen's across the street to stay warm and at one point the three of us hit a nearby Starbucks for hot chocolate. It didn't take terribly long for us to get close to the door; however, the security came out and said it would be about an hour and forty minutes before the line moved again. Yeah right, we thought. An hour later in the freezing cold we were started to believe him. After some debate, I was sent to locate another possible eating place - my parents had just about had enough. I wandered around and didn't find anything suitable until maybe 10 minutes into my sojourn (into the wind!). I headed back to report and saw my parents waving across the street to Jill and Grant - someone had come out and said everyone would be inside in 5 minutes and seated within 20. It took closer to 15 to get in but then maybe 10 minutes to get seated. By this time our late lunch had turned into an early dinner but we were inside and on our way to warming up.

And here's the good news - the food was just as good as I remembered. We ordered a grilled marinated portabello for an appetizer and I had a bite of my dad's creamed herring appetizer. For dinner I had wiener schnitzel, German fried potatoes, and their fabulous creamed spinach. Dessert was apple strudel of course. And I washed it all down with two mugs of the best root beer ever.

We were insane for doing that in single digit weather but I know I'll never forget the last time I got to eat at the Berghoff. It was worth it.