Chicago
Headed out to Chicago for a personal business trip. It was a quick in and out type of affair but I was able to stay at The Tremont Hotel. Unfortunately for me, Chicago weather decided to turn on the full charm in my brief stay. There was a wind storm when my United flight was landing at the airport which made it turbulent at the end. I believe it also caused delays in and out of O'hare Airport.
The wind storm made the day pleasant if you were walking around the streets of Chicago. It was a very balmy 65 degrees when I popped out of the L train (CTA). By the way, there is a handy smartphone/tablet application which I used to navigate the L trains. The weather was only for the day as the temps dropped fairly quickly once the sun set and it started drizzling. The next day, the high was 38 degrees with chance of snow flurries. Talk about mercurial weather. I was not sure what I would find at The Tremont given the various online reviews. It was so mixed. I did find the hotel a European style so the rooms are not overly large. The hotel's age does show but it was clean and the location was ideal. It was also the cheapest rate I could find in the immediate area between the Starwood and Hilton portfolios. The noise insulation is low from neighboring rooms. So don't go crazy in the room, I was able to hear my neighbor rummage in their closet for their clothes. Ditka's is the hotel restaurant and I dined there for dinner.
I have always been a fan of Ditka's. I was not super hungry since I ate on the plane. I was able to split the meal with a friend. I ordered the soup of the day which was chili. I shared the spinach salad, filet mignon, jalapeno hash browns and banana cream pie. If one was to eat this meal, your outlay would have been under $90 including tax and tip. The chili was a little salty but the hot rolls helped stave some of it off. The spinach bacon apple salad combination was perfect. I also enjoyed the filet, I actually preferred the filet topped with horseradish than the bernaise sauce. The hash was excellent, nice kick to it. The bananca cream pie was good, it has a graham cracker crust and the drizzle of chocolate and caramel sauces complemented the pie slice well.
The next morning, I did check out the continental breakfast the restaurant provides for the hotel. Luckily, the hotel was doing a game promotion and I was able to get the continental breakfast comped. It is your typical cold continental breakfast selection. If you were looking for something quick to eat, it isn't a bad option but I wouldn't pay for it.
At the end of the day, I was running to the airport. Well, the L train was and I became concerned when I had 35 minutes left and was still four stops away. Not knowing that I could actually still make it to the gate, I called the United Customer Service folks and was able to get rebooked for the later flight. So here I was all set to just wait it out at the airport but I actually made it to the gate with 15 minutes before the flight was taking off! Luckily, the airport wasn't that busy AND I was able to blow by security in minutes because of my membership at TSA Pre-Check program. I've just begun to enjoy the benefits of this program but I was saved from an extra 90 minutes of wait time when the scanner identified me as a member. I have not had it consistently work at every airport I've been since registering so I was super glad that it did on this trip. :)
The wind storm made the day pleasant if you were walking around the streets of Chicago. It was a very balmy 65 degrees when I popped out of the L train (CTA). By the way, there is a handy smartphone/tablet application which I used to navigate the L trains. The weather was only for the day as the temps dropped fairly quickly once the sun set and it started drizzling. The next day, the high was 38 degrees with chance of snow flurries. Talk about mercurial weather. I was not sure what I would find at The Tremont given the various online reviews. It was so mixed. I did find the hotel a European style so the rooms are not overly large. The hotel's age does show but it was clean and the location was ideal. It was also the cheapest rate I could find in the immediate area between the Starwood and Hilton portfolios. The noise insulation is low from neighboring rooms. So don't go crazy in the room, I was able to hear my neighbor rummage in their closet for their clothes. Ditka's is the hotel restaurant and I dined there for dinner.
 |
| Soup and salad - chili and spinach salad |
 |
| 2-way filet mignon and jalapeno hash brown side |
 |
| banana cream pie |
The next morning, I did check out the continental breakfast the restaurant provides for the hotel. Luckily, the hotel was doing a game promotion and I was able to get the continental breakfast comped. It is your typical cold continental breakfast selection. If you were looking for something quick to eat, it isn't a bad option but I wouldn't pay for it.
At the end of the day, I was running to the airport. Well, the L train was and I became concerned when I had 35 minutes left and was still four stops away. Not knowing that I could actually still make it to the gate, I called the United Customer Service folks and was able to get rebooked for the later flight. So here I was all set to just wait it out at the airport but I actually made it to the gate with 15 minutes before the flight was taking off! Luckily, the airport wasn't that busy AND I was able to blow by security in minutes because of my membership at TSA Pre-Check program. I've just begun to enjoy the benefits of this program but I was saved from an extra 90 minutes of wait time when the scanner identified me as a member. I have not had it consistently work at every airport I've been since registering so I was super glad that it did on this trip. :)
Comments
Tvls Travels