Big Shoulder Bravura!

Monday, December 14, 2009 by Jason Oliver Nixon.

When I am feeling a special case of the mean reds, there’s only one solution: I zip out of town (aka New York City) and lap up a long weekend in my other most favorite city in America.

Drumroll, please.

No, it’s not Miami.

And though I adore Los Angeles, that’s not my metropolis of choice.

Washington, D.C.? Wrong.

So where do I hang my hat on these soul-satisfying sojourns?

Chicago. Yes, Chicago.

And how, and how!

Yes, the city of big shoulders (to reference poet Carl Sandburg) is where it is. In the summer, certainly! The museums, the architectural tours, the beach. And, surprise!, the winter, too. I simply bundle up and stop in and often for fortification at the Billy Goat Tavern.

More on my favorite Chicago sites and sounds in another blog—or perhaps the March issue of Delta Sky—but here’s a little nugget of newfangled newness from that so-called Second City to whet the appetite.

To wit, The Wit.

Yes, The Wit, which is a delicious new hostelry perfectly situated within The Loop and only steps from the glories of Millennium Park and the shopping along State Street (the former Marshall Field’s, for instance). The Wit is all glass and contemporary chic with modern furnishings and easy-breezy style (I adored the soundtrack of birds chirping in the hallways). In warmer weather, the hotel’s 7,000-square-foot Roof is THE place to be, a glamorous aerie upon which to take in the sumptuous views while sipping a Londoner in Bangkok (fabulous name, n’est-ce pas?), Beefeater gin punched up with basil and fresh mango, and nibbling such yummies as charred Fiorello peppers and grilled skirt steak lavished with piquant salsa verde.

Nothing fussy at The Wit. Only fun and frisky, and that’s how I like it.

Check it out.