Chow Down Chicago: Good Eats from the Windy City

The pink high-rise Edgewater Beach Apartments on Sheridan Road near Bryn Mawr stand as a reminder of the similar-looking yellow Edgewater Beach Hotel structures that once stood nearby. During its heyday in the 1920s through the 1940s, the hotel was a popular spot with honeymooners and celebrities alike. The hotel featured a large private beach and seaplane service to downtown. You could also eat one heck of a salad there. Chef Arnold Shircliffe worked as the catering manager at the hotel. An extensive collection of his salad recipes, A Book of Salads: The Edgewater Beach Hotel Salad Book , was first published in 1926. It was known as “the bible of salad,” according to the Chicago Tribune archives. In this book, Shircliffe elevates salads into works of art. Presentation is key, as many of the recipes describe how to artfully arrange the ingredients on the plate. Many of the salads are topped with decorative rosettes of cream cheese and other garnishes. Many also include unexpected