“Flashes of white electric light as the sparks from the track illuminate the night, the rattle and roll of the train as it hops and bumps its way over the elevated sleepers.  The Hancock looms into view, the tall buildings illuminated in pink,  the brown line twists and turns its way south into the loop, gentle chatter from the train punctuated with the train announcer crisply designating our arrival at each station stop. Orange street and platform lights glow and fade as we pass down the line ever closer to the city downtown district, ding dong “doors closing”, as we reach the sky scrapers the echo of the train bounces back from the closely packed buildings creating a rush and roar of wind, the wheels whistle as they slide around the bends of the looping track”

Sometimes the journey is the best part of the memory, but not this time. I am STILL thinking of that beef soup.

Flashback –
Last night I headed down to the Blue Line Racine stop via the Brown to seek out some food truck action at Ethyl’s Beer & Wine Dive Truckin’  Thursday. At first sight as I squinted from the freeway overpass it all seemed a bit dark in the parking lot and I was not sure I was in the right place and almost turned back.

At this point I will sadly demonstrate both my US and Chicago culinary ignorance. Before this week I did not know who Stephanie Izard was (despite being an avid Top Chef fan – I did not arrive on these shores to see the earlier seasons), Only in my first 6 months in Chicago I had never heard of the Girl and the Goat either, and I had never been on Twitter. But thankfully due to my late foray into the twitter feed I found out about the truck meet, bought Stephanies Book “The Girl in the kitchen”, and tasted her fabulous soup.

Without much exaggeration it was the best soup I have ever tasted and I can still 1 day later taste it in my mind.

So was the trip worthwhile? well yes I bought the book (hoping to recreate the soup myself), subsequently booked a table at the restaurant, and will be searching online for Top Chef Season 4