Chicago tips

Chicago Tips Is On Vacation

needing a break

The truth is that chicagoTips has the luxury of taking a vacation when she needs one.  The catalyst for this particular trip is a surfeit of grayness and a general lack of sunshine which the husband of chicagoTips finds abominable.  His spouse is not far behind.

You may of course access the site but you won't find anything new and scintillating until about March 20.   See you then.

A Special Orchestra You Should Hear

current calendar, culture

On Thursday February 23, beginning at 8PM you will have the special opportunity to hear the Oistrach Symphony Orchestra at the DePaul University School of Music Concert Hall at 800 W. Belden.

The program includes Beethoven's Creatures of Prometheus Overature, Op 43, J.S. Bach's Keyboard Concerto #1 in D, BWV 1052 and Beethoven's Symphony #4 in Bb, Op 60.

The orchestra, partially composed of some DePaul School of Music students is directed by Mina Zikri, its Music Director who is a standing member of Daniel Barenboim's West Eastern Divan Orchestra.

Eteri Andjaparidze will be the soloist for the Bach Concerto.  She is an internationally recognized pianist and leads the Keyboard Department at DePaul where she is Associate Professor of Piano.  She is the founder and artistic Director of The United Sounds of America and AmerKlavier concert/colloquium series.

Cake Fantasies Fulfilled

food and drink   

Having a celebration and need something special?  Sweet thang on North Avenue east of Damen can make almost any kind of cake you can imagine become a reality.  I saw an "Eiffel Tower" recently in their window and just had to find out what was going on inside.

The pastry chef of this bakery cafe was trained in France in the fine traditions of patisserie so there's everything from a morning muffin to the most elaborate wedding cake available.  You can enjoy cappucino while you peruse their book of sample cake photos.  There are all kinds of cheesecakes:  fruit, chocolate chip, white chocolate raspberry, 21 different kinds of mousse, 11 varieties of tarts and themed children's cakes such as Enchanted Castle, Barbie and Thomas the Train from which to choose.

Wedding cakes, of course and "hobby" or "career" cakes too.  If you're a photographer, a pharmacist or a shoe salesperson there's a cake just for you and almost everyone else.  In addition to their sample photos they'll work with you on an original new idea.  Pictured here are a tiered cake with Asian motif, above, and an old style phonograph cake, below.

Also, there are brownies by the sheet, a variety of different cookies, quiches and quick breads too.

Stop by for a peek.  You're going to need one of these offerings one day soon.

Everything is made fresh daily of course and you must give them at least 48 hours notice when placing an order.  I suggest more if it's not in their regular repetoire.

Sweet thang is open Mondays-Thursdays 7AM-8PM, Fridays & Saturdays 7AM-10PM and Sundays from 8AM-8PM.  They're at 1921 W. North Av.  773.772.4269.  www.sweetthangcakes.com.

Walk Your Tired Feet Right Into Brooks

services       

Brooks Shoe Service in the loop is a world unto itself and it's hard to believe you won't need it now or sometime soon.

I have a friend who works nearby who had the droopiest shoe laces you can imagine so I suggested Brooks which has so many different sizes that they have an old computer generated chart posted on the wall (see below) that demystifies shoestring length by, if you can believe it,  number of eyelets!  I hadn't been to Brooks for a while but my friend found Mike Morelli the owner extremely dedicated.  He insisted on measuring the laces just to be sure they were right.   

Brooks has been in business for over 50 years and repairs, shoes, handbags, luggage (even metal!).  While I was there a number of fashionable looking women came in with challenges it might be impossible to remedy elsewhere.  One needed her elegant Chanel black and beige heels lowered a bit and another was dropping off a vintage alligator handbag for a new handle.

Classic Birkenstock shoes can be resoled here and a new footbed can also be provided so that one walks out with virtually new shoes.  Mike even told a customer about a place that will custom make Birkenstocks.

On the premises is a computerized machine that will prescribe a particular kind of orthotic based on a kind of blueprint of your foot and the pressure it exerts on the machine's platform.

The range of products for your shoes is truly amazing.  There are all kinds of shoe trees to keep your shoes shapely and bootshapers too;  even hooks with wooden handles to help pull on your cowboy boots.  There are creamy polishes in an array of colors, including, I'm guessing, hard to find silver and red.  There is salt stain remover, shoe stretch liquid and shoe stretch spray which is useful for both shoes and leather gloves.  Of course there's a range of shoehorns too.

I noted another hard to find item, men's stretch rubber overshoes for those rainy snowy days on closeout for $8.99.

Returning to laces:  there are dressy and casual ones and others for boots and athletic shoes in all the colors necessary.  The longest length I could find was 72 inches.

I asked Mike about his weirdest job which turned out to be repairing a patched and painted room divider in a classical style.  It lay unclaimed in the store for a number of years and finally a woman showed up who cleared up the mystery.  It had been a favorite of her now divorced husband and she apparently was letting Mike keep it for her as a kind of "ransom" for something she wanted herself.  She still comes in and she and Mike chuckle about the experience.

Brooks Shoe Service is in the Pittsfield Building at 55 E. Washington, Suite 335.  (Check out the wonderful, elaborate golden elevators in the lobby.)   Hours are  Monday-Friday  8-5:30 and Saturday 10-3.  They are closed on Saturdays in the summer.  312.372.2504.