There's a little bit of pressure to do the Northwestern football trip right, you know.
This isn't West Lafayette, Ind., OK?
There's stuff to see and do and lots of parking jams to get into around Chicago.
So, of course, we had to take advantage of all of that.
Let's put it this way: More rain and rush-hour Friday afternoon traffic wasn't going to keep four Pennsylvania reporters from finding the suddenly legendary Cemitas Puebla restaurant for lunch downtown.
The restaurant's fame comes from an appearance on the popular Food Network program "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives," hosted by Guy Fieri.
Cemitas is a hole-in-the-wall sandwich shop with only seven or eight tables -- and just about the most simple, unique, authentic Mexican fare you can find.
The specialty is the cemita -- "sesame seed bread layered with avocado, choice of meat, adobo chipolte peppers, fresh Oaxacan cheese and papalo (a bitter herb)."
Your choice of pork chop, steak, ham, cow foot and pork.
And they're only $6.
We went with the marinated pork and onion cemita (Al Pastor) along with a large hibiscus juice and a chorizo and carne asada taco on the side.
(To do this justice, please You Tube cemitas puebla).
But the jist of it all is that owner Tony Anteliz still goes back to Puebla, Mexico every month to six weeks to buy the peppers and cheese and spices that make his sandwiches special.
Better yet?
Though Anteliz had the day off when we stopped in, another employee called him on the phone to give us directions on how to navigate rush hour back to our hotel.
"You guys are all the way from Pennsylvania? Are you rooting for the Phillies?"
I told him that a couple of guys in the car were.
"You tell them I'm rooting for the Phillies, too."
Nice guy. And a pretty good businessman.
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