Junk Drawer Spirituality

Favorite Foods From Favorite Places: Chicago, IL

This is my final post on my favoite foods and restaurants in the places I've lived.  At this time, I'm living in the "Windy City" of Chicago, so this is the final leg of our tour.  Chicago is the epicenter of some really amazing food, but the thing abut a city like Chicago is there are so many amazing restaurants that cover such a broad swath of cuisine, it's impossible to say which is the best.  To do a post like this, you really have to stick with the stuff that makes Chicago different from other cities.

Chicago Style Pizza: We'll start with the most obvious.  Any visitor to Chicago wants to try the deep dish, Chicago-style pizza.  I didn't fully understand the deep dish pizza until I moved to Chicago, so if you live outside of the Chicago area, allow me to educate.  A classic Chicago-style pizza sits in about 3 inches of thick crust, loaded with about 2 inches of mozzarella cheese, with whichever meat or toppings you like baked into this layer of cheese.  On top of the cheese, you get about a half inch spread of pizza sauce.  It's not the type of sauce you'd get at a place like Pizza Hut.  In Chicago its more like a lumpy marinara with big chunks of plum tomatoes . . . more sweet than salty.

Favorite Foods From Favorite Places: Denver, CO

 I lived in Denver for 6 years between 2001 and 2007.  It was a fun stretch of my life.  I have alot of fond memories of my time in Denver, and there are some great restaurants and foods you need to try if you ever find your way to the mile high city.

Beaujo's Pizza: Beaujo's is a well known pizza joint in the Denver area which might have . . .

dare I say it? . . .

even better pizza than what I've tasted here in Chicago.  Blasphemy, I know.  Maybe it's the altitude.  Maybe it's the scenery.  But I think it might actually be really amazing pizza.

There are a few Beaujos restaurants in Denver, but if you really want the Beaujo's experience, you have to drive about 45 minutes to Idaho Springs to visit the original Beaujo's.  It's right off the highway in the path of skiers and snowboarders returning to Denver after skiing all day at the many resorts flanking I-70.  Resorts close at 4:30 PM, so by 6:00 on any given Saturday, hungry skiers swarm Idaho Springs demanding the "Mountain Pie," . . . a thick crusted mound of cheese, sauce, and meat.

Favorite Foods From Favorite Places: College Station, TX

I began this blog series last week on my favorite kinds of unique foods and restaurants that you can only get from certain places.  I think food speaks the language of local culture, and so I love learning about places by the tastes of their cuisine.  

Last week, we started in Amarillo, and now we move to College Station, TX.  It's the home of Texas A&M University, where I went to undergraduate school between 1996 and 2000 . . . Also known as 'Aggieland.'

My disclaimer before I post this entry is this: It has been 10 years since I have lived in College Station.  I graduated in the year 2000, so I know that restaurants change in quality, go out of business, and new joints spring up that take the place of the old ones.  I can only post based on my own experience at the time I lived there.  So if anything has changed, you have my sincere apology.

Glenn Beck, Social Justice, and Fear

Evangelical pastors and church leaders have been lighting up the blogosphere the last few of days over some comments FOX News' Glenn Beck made on his March 8th show.  Here's the quote: 

"I'm begging you, your right to religion and freedom to exercise religion and read all of the passages of the Bible as you want to read them and as your church wants to preach them...are going to come under the ropes in the next year. If it lasts that long it will be the next year. I beg you, look for the words 'social justice' or 'economic justice' on your church Web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words."

If you didn't catch it, Beck (it seems) just instructed his listeners to leave any church that starts talking about social justice.

Now, I could talk all about how theologically ridiculus and irresponsible this statement is.  I could talk about how concerned Jesus was for the poor (i.e., Lk. 4), and how the consistant witness in the New Testament expects the church and Christians to keep social justice a priority.

Favorite Foods From Favorite Places: Amarillo, TX

I'm now at a point in my life where I have lived in 4 different areas of the country for significant periods of time.  I grew up in Amarillo, TX, I spent four years in College Station, TX (that's about 500 miles from Amarillo, in case your wondering), six years in Denver, and now almost 3 years in Chicago.

I've discovered that every place has little idiosyncrasies to it's culture: the ways people talk, the ways they dress.  But one thing that has always helped me feel connected to a place is the local flavors, restaurants, and foods you can't find anywhere else.  I think people often underestimate how much the experience of a community is tied to their local food.  I love discovering that little place you can't find anywhere else, or that local flavor that won't show up in another part of the country.  When people visit me, I want to take them to places that are distinctly connected with the customs of my home.  And when I visit others, I'm looking for the same.  Through flavors, I get a taste for the way you live.

I remember interviewing for a job with a church in College Park, Maryland.  I spent a weekend with this church, getting to know their people and staff.  It was a great little church.  But there was one moment when we were going to get some lunch together and they asked me what I wanted.  I said, "Just take me to a place that's uniquely Maryland . . . Something I can't get anywhere else."  I figure EVERY town has a place like that.  But they looked at me with a puzzled look on their face.  "There's a Quiznos across the street," they said.

"No," I said.  "I mean a restaurant or food I can't get anywhere outside of College Park."

They seemed baffled.  "Well . . . there's a great place on the corner called Chipotle.  Ever been to one of those?"  They all agreed, "Yeah, I love Chipotle!"  There were approximately four Chipotle restaurant's within a mile of my Denver apartment, but I figured it was no use pressing the issue further.