Covid Chronicles: Chapter 110: Dining Out in Chicago, Maskless

 Read chapter 109 here

Photo credit:  Trip Advisor

March 2, 2021

Chicago had recently relaxed some of its capacity limits. During the period of severest restrictions, many restaurants and bars temporarily closed their doors. (And boarded up their windows, as we frequently noticed during an extended walk around the Loop.) And now it seems, at least based on our brief experience, that businesses aren’t rushing to reopen. The only options we found to pass some time before dinner were a few fast-food and fast casual restaurants. 

Since we had been on our feet for the past four hours, we decided to take a pass and return to the hotel. 

“I could use a rest break anyway,” I announced, having been ‘denied’ by usual midday nap. 

I even dozed off for a bit, as did Julianna, who managed to curl up her 6-foot-tall frame into a ball on a small, upholstered chair. 

We arrived at the restaurant 15 minutes before our 8:15 reservation time and were seated immediately. (At the booth just to the left of the chairs in the photo at the top of this post.). The long, narrow dining space contained half the number of tables that had been set up in 2018. I remember feeling that we were almost elbow-to-elbow with the diners sitting at adjacent tables. The current arrangement conformed to social distancing guidelines. 

Feeling safe and not in any rush, we enjoyed a very leisurely, 2-hour dinner. For JoAnna and me, it was our first indoor dining experience since our visit to Deer Lodge last fall.