King Lear, Eataly and President Obama

Yesterday, we joined our friends for King Lear at Chicago Pier's Shakespeare Theater.  It was a great performance--tragic as always.  Since we are all happily retired, we've changed our tickets to the
 1 p.m. performance and stay for the interesting and informative discussion afterwards.  Then, we go out for dinner to escape the rush hour traffic.  We also had to work around President Obama's motorcade.  Air Force One had to land at the Gary International Airport due to the on-going problems at Midway and O'Hare.  We were not furnished with the itinerary but thought the President would not be dining at Eataly--a place we've wanted to visit since it opened last year.

There are a number of dining opportunities at Eataly.  We decided to try Le Verdure and Il Pesce.

Both offer table service.  It was interesting to dine and watch shoppers.  There were a number of people wandering about sipping wine and beer while they shopped.

This delicious Italian bread arrived at our table accompanied by a very good olive oil.

Andrew and I shared an appetizer of frito misto. The broccoli, beets, green tomato, carrots and parsnips were lightly breaded and quickly deep fried.  It was delicious!  Our friends shared the same.
It was followed by very good shrimp in a marinara sauce for Jane and me.  Andrew and Jim had another seafood offering which I forgot to photograph.  We all gave the food a thumbs up.  The ambiance was interesting.  The noise level was high.

While I really wanted to try this balsamic vinegar, the price tag was a bit out of our price range!!

Our minds were boggled by the huge offering of cheeses!  Those hams were tempting but still hanging when we left.

I picked up a very good coffee to sip on the drive home.  We never saw the President or his motorcade and the traffic was with us both ways.  It was a very good day.