Chris Miksanek: A Chicagoan's Guide to the Med
City
By
Chris Miksanek
©2007 Chris Miksanek
It was published in the August 11, 2007 Rochester Post Bulletin.
Chris Miksanek: A Chicagoan's Guide to the Med City
|
Discovering 'Sweet Home
Chicago' in Rochester
By Chris Miksanek
Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN
To recent Chicago arrivals: Welcome. Buongiorno. Witamy serdecznie. And in the
native tongue of our fathers, "Let's play two."
Rochester is a place where people from as far south as Tinley Park or as far
north as Waukegan who've never been down to Maxwell Street at 3 a.m. to buy a
polish and then gone back at 7 a.m. to buy a dozen pairs of dress socks and a
waffle iron can proudly call themselves a Chicagoan.
It wasn't all that long ago that this Chi-Town native found himself a stranger
in this land where Spam is haute cuisine, goose poop is art and it's never
"cooler by the lake."
You'll need some help getting acclimated. That's where I come in. Here, that's
called being "Minnesota nice." Back home it was "not minding your own business."
History
Like Chicago, Rochester grew up around a lake -- Silver Lake to be exact, a jut
in the Zumbro River that's reminiscent of the Marquette Park lagoon, only
without the sensory delight of coming across a dead body while wading barefoot.
It owes much of its fame to William and Charles, two brothers revered worldwide
much like our own Joliet Jake and Elwood.
Leisure
Newcomers commonly complain that Rochester lacks the cultural and entertainment
opportunities to which they're accustomed. While it's true that there is no
24-hour bowling or 16-inch softball in this town, anyone who says there is
nothing to do has never experienced the adrenaline rush from an afternoon of
sorting coat hangers at the thrift store.
Shopping opportunities abound. There's a decent mall and even a "Miracle Mile"
(don't get too excited). If that's not enough, the drive to MOA is still quicker
than from Elk Grove Village to Water Tower Place.
Hankering for some art? There's always something thought-provoking at the art
center, and Zoran Mojsilov's "Meteor" at RCTC -- though not quite on par with
Anish Kapoor's "Bean" -- still keeps a lot of passersby scratching their heads
in admiration.
And for everyone who subscribes to the Harry Caray philosophy that "You can't
beat fun at the old ballpark," we present the Rochester Honkers, or as I like to
call them, "better than nothing."
Hungry yet? In your bouts of homesickness, comfort foods help you to cope. Pizza lovers can find solace in frozen Home Run Inn pizza carried by most of the grocers in town. Though it loses something in the trip from Piotrowski Park, the sausage is better than the typical Kram-Mar's Delicious Mystery Appetizer you get with frozen pizza. Hy-Vee Barlow also carries Connie's, and you can frequently find Uno's at Aldi and Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart also carries Eli's cheesecake and Papa Charlie's Italian Beef. Jays, the "pip of a chip!" that you can't stop eating, can often be found at Big Lots or The Dollar Tree, where, on a lucky day, you might also come across Maurice Lenell cookies. Close your eyes while you savor the Schnitzel-on-a-stick occasionally found at Gold Rush Days, and you'll swear you're at Berghoff's. OK, that may be a bit of an Ubertreibung. And finally, a real Chicago hot dog is now available in this town. Local vendors have seen mixed success, probably because of loose adherence to authenticity. Thankfully, former Chicagoan Ira Becker's new downtown Chocolate Twist offers a bona fide Vienna Beef Chicago hot dog. So there you are, not that far from home, after all, in a town where the climate's similar, but the people are much more polite. Although you may find yourself something of a curiosity for setting out the kitchen chairs to protect the area you just shoveled, they won't make fun of you for mispronouncing "crappie," gagging on lutefisk, or thinking that Garrison Keillor talks too slow. It's your new home. And you're very welcome here. You got a problem with that? Chris Miksanek was born in Chicago a coupla-two-tree decades ago and migrated to Rochester in 1995.
|
|
All material presented here is Copyright 2007
Chris Miksanek
Last updated: August 11, 2007