Day Four: Museum of Contemporary Art, Portillo's, Old Town (Ristorante Dinotto), Second City

On our fourth day in Chicago, we decided to go the Museum of Contemporary Art to see their new exhibit featuring the work of graphic novelist and cartoonist Daniel Clowes (of Ghost World fame).

We got a relatively early start to the day as breakfast was leftover bread and cheese and coffee in the room.

When we got to the museum (about fifteen minutes before the doors opened), I almost wished that we hadn't already had breakfast, as there was a farmers' market going on and among the fruits and vegetable vendors were people selling crepes and tamales and such.



This was the outermost edge of the market. The giant head (part of an installation by Amanda Ross-Ho called THE CHARACTER AND SHAPE OF ILLUMINATED THINGS) sits just in front of the steps leading up to the museum's main entrance.

However, by idly walking through the market (because I didn't want to stand in line at the doors until the museum opened), we unexpectedly ended up at the sneaky-sneaky entrance around the corner. We were the only people to use that entrance and as a result we didn't have to wait a single minute in line.

I didn't take many photos inside the museum, but I did stop to take this photo of children participating in one of the exhibits (perhaps the "Homebodies" exhibit?). I didn't see an explanation or directions for what was going on, but they all seemed to know that they were supposed to take a balloon and a bell. While they batted the balloons around, they would also (somewhat inadvertently) ring the bells For the duration of our visit, the museum was filled with the sound of ringing bells.

This was the only photo I got of the Clowes exhibit, an inked-in page from Ghost World. It was an interesting exhibit, although a bit reading intensive, which meant long periods of standing in front of pages hung just slightly too low for me. (That didn't make The Back happy.) But there were also lots of places to sit and peruse Clowes's graphic novels, a number of which had been left lying about.

This balloon head under a mattress was also from the Homebodies exhibit.

Intriguing.

We wandered the museum and saw the Clowes, the Homebodies exhibit, a three-room installation by Chicago artist Gaylen Gerber, and a photography exhibit called Think First, Shoot Later.

We had a caffeine break in the small cafe (Puck's Cafe--yes, a Wolfgang Puck joint) and then checked out the two-story gift shop.

By then we were ready for lunch.

Lunch was Chicago-style hot dogs, onion rings, and french fries at the relatively decent tourist trap, Portillo's.  It was loud and busy and the hot dogs were pretty good.

From there we headed back to the hotel to rest awhile before heading out the door again. We had tickets to The Second City mainstage show "Let Them Eat Chaos" and we wanted to have dinner beforehand in the Old Town neighborhood near the theater.

We took the El to Old Town and picked a place called Ristorante Dinotto. We arrived early enough to get around not having made a reservation and snagged a tiny two-top near the door. Dinner was a quick couple glasses of wine, a caprese salad, fritto misto, penne porcini, and a chicken dish from the daily specials. For dessert Dave had a cannoli. How was it? Well, our waiter--what was his name? Dimitrio?--was good.

We arrived at the theater just before the doors opened and, since seating is on a first-come-first-served basis, our seats were close to the stage.

How close?

Thisclose. (Those are Dave's knees pushed up against the stage.)

From my seat I could reach out and touch the edge of the stage. Yup. Close.

What can I say about the show? It was funny and we enjoyed it. The performance was a mix of pre-written sketches and audience-led improv. There were six performers total and although all were good, two of them were very, very good--good enough that I wouldn't be surprised to see them go on to bigger and better things in the way that other Second City performers like Tina Fey or John Belushi did.

Second City was definitely worth the money (about $60 for two tickets, purchased online) and something I'd do again--if I ever make it back to Chicago.

And this was my Chicago souvenir (unintended, the result of ordering a large diet Pepsi instead of a small).