As the winter holidays approached I realized my family
needed to find some new traditions for our first Christmas in Chicago. I didn’t
want to cook. Hassling with the rest of the family over making dinner didn’t
seem like much fun either. And after many years of hosting Christmas parties at
our previous home I didn’t want to socialize.
I finally hit upon the idea of buying bakery goods to eat. I
searched online through reviews of different neighborhoods. Since I needed to
cover both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day I wanted to find somewhere with a
range of food options. Bridgeport seemed the most promising.
Describing the neighborhood as a "port" seems accurate, as the area is a crossroads of cultures. Originally settled by enclaves of
European immigrants, it continues to attract blue collar Mexicans and Chinese.
Restaurants in the neighborhood reflect the broad range of ethnic communities
past and present.
Planning ahead I found some of the bakeries would be closed
on Christmas Eve and others would only be available for pickups. I placed our
order for steak and ale pies from a highly rated British shop. When we arrived
at midday I was able to add a side of Scotch eggs. They also had saffron and
currant St. Lucia buns we ate for Christmas breakfast. Everything was
delicious.
After retrieving our order, we started walking the
neighborhood. I originally had the idea we would round the entire place and end
up on the northern side, then head to Chinatown for lunch. I was far too
ambitious. Instead, we landed midway at a local family diner.
Since moving to Chicago I’ve had a fascination with monte
cristo sandwiches. I don’t recall ever eating them previously. They
feature ham and cheese grilled between French bread. Some restaurants will add
extra bread in the middle, top with powdered sugar, or even serve with syrup.
This sandwich was basic and heavy on the ham instead of the bread. Still quite enjoyable.
Afterwards, we still needed Christmas dinner. Searching we
found gigantic chocolate chip cookies with chocolate chunks the size of
miniature candy bars, but still no meal. Finally, we happened upon an open panaderia—Mexican
bakery. I inspected the cases of baked goods like empanadas and bolillos. No luck.
Before leaving I approached the counter in the back. Behind
the server I noticed a stack of corn husks. Could it be?
I asked if they had
tamales I could buy. She replied they had both red and green in chicken and
pork, which were ridiculously inexpensive. Coming from Albuquerque chicken
tamales seem wrong. I couldn’t do it. We got the pork. We were delighted to have fresh tamales for Christmas dinner. My only regret is we didn’t buy more dozens
to freeze at home.
