All in Good Taste

As part of my whirlwind day yesterday, as noted here earlier, I made a slight detour to head over to a little restaurant called Taste Chicago, which is in North Hollywood in the San Fernando Valley  (Slight digression:  years ago, a guy I knew came up with one of my favorite lines.  He said he didn't like to go to the Valley because he didn't think God's fingers reached that far.)

Taste Chicago is far from high end, or even middle-end.  It’s got about a dozen tables, and you go up to the country to order and pick-up your food.  It’s most notable for being owned by the actor Joe Mantegna and his wife, and the place is decked out in Chicago sports memorabilia, and focused on Chicago foods.  Vienna hot dogs with poppy seed buns, Italian beef sandwiches, and the beloved deep-dish pizza, so difficult to find in Los Angeles, that sort of thing.  I've only had the pizza -- if I'm going to make that trek, and not often, I want to get something that's especially hard to get here. The pizza probably would be mid-range back in Chicago, but it's perfectly tasty, and the place is nice and fun,  For all the memorbilia of Chicago teams, it's the Cubs material that leaps out, since Mantagna is an esspecially big Cubs fan.  (He's been the "guest conductor" at Wrigley Field to lead the crord  at least once every season for years.  

So, I get to the place, park in their little lot and see this.  God love ‘em –

The Cubs flag to the left aside, as even many non-sports fan have probably seen by now, that's a replica of the banner the Cubs fly over Wrigley Field after every game the Cubs won   For many decades, it didn't get flown a whole lot.

By the way, inside, among all the memorabilia, there's one item that problably doesn't get much attention in the small, wood-paneled building.  Just one more piece on wall -- but it may be the most valuable thing in the whol place.

Among all those signature are four players who are now in the Baseball Hall of Fame -- Ernie Banks, Ferguson Jenkins, Billy Williams and Ron Santo.  That there is one rare home plate.