If I blogged for 11 days I couldn't possibly cover all the restaurants, the convention, the hotel, the people, the airport, the fun, the police, the great city of Chicago, my Emerald! I couldn't begin to touch everything that was so incredibly awesome about my new adopted city of Chicago, which of course will have to include the city of Rosemont! Giordano's is one of the great stories that came out of this week's adventures in the Windy City.
I was asked by Dublin Dog to come to the H.H.Backer Show for the purpose of being a speaker/spokesperson. It was awesome. Faith and I stood around the booth for a while, then walked around the 3000+ booths to see everything and everyone we could possibly meet - I have the business cards and the blisters on my feet to prove it too. We met and talked with literally thousands of great people; publishers, manufacturers, boutique owners, buyers, and just people who exhibited their wares like Dublin Dog, who has the best line of collars on the market - seriously. We finally reached a point of near starvation so we waltzed ourselves over the red carpet area and over to the Crown Plaza to grab the car. We took painstaking decisions (Lenny and I, he was Faith's handler, and I'll blog about him tomorrow) to decide which restaurant we needed to visit "this time". We choose Italian food, then we narrowed it down to Giordano's upon another recommendation from a member of the fantastic staff at the Crown Plaza on River Road.
When we were walking into Giordano's it dawned on me that we had forgotten Faith's vest. I had no idea we had left it at the convention. We were dying of hunger, but we couldn't take her in without her therapy vest - or could we? Upon mentioning to the staff that we could order the food and wait outside, maybe taking the food to go -- we were inundated by "No, no, we know Faith!" She's been papers in Chicago, she's been on Oprah of course, and she's in Chicago. She's been in their hearts and lives for years and the staff made us a promise "Not to tell" but they they got on the phones taking pictures, calling friends, and family! Faith just has that effect on people and the people of Chicago are soooooo precious! So gracious was their hospitality, that they gave Faith a little extra cheese to deal with during dinner, and they brought her water in a real silver bowl. Can it get any better? YES!
We got our pizza hand tossed like everyone else, but we got to watch OUR pizza being tossed. It was photographed as all pizza should be, and then produced here for prosperity...I ate that pizza people! It was tooooo good, and I am so happy that I have photos to remember it by. You know I'm kidding, right? Anyway, the people in the restaurant were mainly from the center, the convention center, and we were completely taken by their love and gestures of giving as well. When I flew home I had to by a second piece of luggage to keep all of my presents and samples for Faith and Matrix....toys, food samples, clothes for both, and then the cards! I collected more than 700 cards, and that was from DOWNSTAIRS! I think I got another 200 from up stairs, but I could have filled up 40 business card books probably. There were so many people there - but I digress, this blog was about Giordano's.
I asked the staff to teach me to say their name correctly! I wanted to pronounce it with pride. I can do that now! I can! Just ask. When we left the restaurant we saw a dozen gray squirrels all wanting to get a better look at Faith. I could almost hear their little Italian voices discussing the great pieces of crusts being thrown out back for them, and then their discussion switched to the two-legged dog approaching them. Some stayed, some ran away, some sat up and barked back at her. It was memorialized in film, and in my heart. I can't wait to return with her on "Faith Day" in November. Giordano's is sooooo very cool! Seriously, and the pizza -- perfectly Chicago!
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