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Where To Go For Lunch Today Without Going Outside

Photo: Wikipedia

We were talking with Serious Eats editor Nick Kindelsperger about this just the other day— long ago, on especially cold days, we would wander the Loop’s underground Pedway looking for lunch that didn’t require going outside. And, not to get into five miles uphill in the snow both ways stories for you young whippersnappers here, but the pickings then were really pathetic— the big excitement was the time we discovered the Loop actually had a Hardee’s, hidden subterraneanly in the food court of what was then First Chicago. We don’t think anything on Serious Eats’ list of Pedway eats existed then, so the fact that you can now use the Pedway to eat at everything from Hannah’s Bretzel to Tortas Frontera (where the Hardee’s used to be) is, let’s just say, proof that you kids got it easy now, harrumph. Check your underground dining options out, and be sure to note if you walk through our favorite part of the Pedway— the suddenly diagonal ramp connection between the Thompson Center and the City/County Building, the result of some serious miscalculation between the crews digging from either side. Hey, it isn’t a Chicago public works project if you don’t get a chance to do it at least twice on the taxpayer’s dime. [SE Chicago]

Where To Go For Lunch Today Without Going Outside