Lunchtime in downtown Chicago

Visiting Chicago often puts me in a rather historical mood, sometimes a very nostalgic mood. But nostalgia wasn't really the right word today because it implies a sense of longing or at least very fond remembrance of a certain place or event. I didn't feel that way this hot and humid morning as I set out for State Street to do an errand at Macy's, once known as the upscale Marshall Field & Company department store. I was feeling more like a cultural explorer, not longing to relieve an experience, but rather to see how things might be different.

Department stores have passed their heyday--that I knew--and I wondered what I might find there. A teenager when my family moved back to Chicago, I was excited then to learn that I could visit Field's on my own. It seemed like a kind of shopper's Disneyland, with special chocolates made on site (Frango mints) and beautiful packaging on anything you bought. I don't think I bought much in those early days, however, as I didn't have any money to speak of--and I was not brought up among "ladies who lunched" from plates and tea cups on white tablecloths. This was the era of the "tea room", an innovation Field's added to early 20th century department store culture. Apparently, according to Wikipedia, it was unladylike for ladies to eat in public in the late 19th century--a problem for tired shoppers. One day a young clerk shared her chicken pot pie lunch with a customer, and the idea of selling lunch or tea in a posh atmosphere was born.

Though I dressed casually most of the time, like all 60s teens, I absorbed the idea that going to Field's was something you dressed up for--an outing, not an errand. No doubt I got this from my Aunt Steph, who cut a fine figure in heels and a good dress, which I'm sure she wore on all downtown excursions, day or eve. Did I ever have an elegant lunch in the tearoom at Field's? I'm not sure. My memories of the place center on the huge multi-story Christmas tree placed in the atrium every holiday season and the animated window displays that brought thousands downtown in frigid December temperatures. Somewhere I have a picture of myself, dressed in my best coat, walking down State Street with an old boyfriend, having just admired the displays.

I wondered what the tearoom would look like today, so many years later. Field's is now Macy's, and the tearoom is called the Walnut Room, aiming its publicity at theater goers looking for dinner after the show. You can still get chicken pot pie and expect to pay a tab ranging from $11 to $30. It has a lunch service, though, and on this Tuesday morning, around 11:30, I decided to take the elevator to the 7th floor to see what might be happening in the Walnut Room. Here's what I saw:

Wanting to avoid crowds? This clearly is the place to go. Things were no busier at the food court at the other end of the floor. There were a number of food choices here, but perhaps it was still too early or people didn't know it was here or didn't want to take time to wait for the elevator or take the squeaky escalator to the 7th floor.

I didn't stay to see if things picked up later during lunch time. With another errand to do down the street, I took the elevator down and headed toward Wabash Street. Feeling hungry,  I stopped at the Protein Bar near Madison and Wabash. It was doing a booming business. Here's the view from outdoors.

I went in and ordered a spinach parmesan and pesto bowl, after checking the menu on the wall,  which told me the nutritional content and ingredients. I paid $7, and lunch was in my hands just 10 minutes later. Self-service on drinks and plastic ware, plain tables, no tablecloths. Some customers sat at small tables lining busy Wabash Street and others, at tables or a counter facing the street. Some were alone or with their phones, others with friends. Lunch lasted as long as their lunch breaks allowed. Somewhat less than an hour for most it seemed, myself included. I enjoyed this tasty lunch and went on my way. I was tempted to stop in at The Goddess and the Baker next door, with a table of croissants in easy view and a line stretching to the door. An employee moved down the line taking orders, and I resolutely moved on.

Both Field's and the Protein Bar seemed to typify so many of the changes that have happened in the way we eat, from the service to the setting to the food itself. Perhaps more people eat out as well. Were the workers at Field's back in the 60s munching their homemade sandwiches in the employee cafeteria while shoppers filled the Tea Room? Of course, the Walnut Room and the Protein Bar are not the only two ways of eating in Chicago.  I passed many food trucks, and outdoor restaurant patios, and the wonderful Toni's pastry shop on Washington (my destination). I wondered if we could generalize that our food choices have greatly expanded while the lunch hour has gone the way of Field's animated Christmas display.