Coach's Corner. in Chicago - Mike Ditka's restaurant - Brief Article

Travel America, Sept, 2001

In the "Magnificent Mile" shopping district of Chicago's North Michigan Avenue, sports fans flock to Mike Ditka's, a theme restaurant that mirrors the larger-than-life personality of the former Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints football coach. Trophies, autographed game balls, photos, and other memorabilia tempt diners to get up and look around. One display spotlights the Green Bay Packers; others focus on baseball and hockey.

Signature dishes include Da Pork Chop, a 20-ounce double-cut chop served with warm cinnamon apples and green-peppercorn/roasted garlic au jus, and the bourbon maple-glazed Training Table Pot Roast on smashed potatoes. The hefty hamburgers and lobster-crawfish bisque also win raves.

Dinner plates, and even the butter pats, bear the caricature of Ditka, now a CBS-TV sportscaster. Reflecting his penchant for cigars, the Chocolate Cigar is a cigar-shaped pastry with chocolate mousse filling inside a thin layer of chocolate cake coated in chocolate and dusted at the tip with crushed almonds (resembling ash). Contact: Mike Ditka's (TravelAmerica Magazine), 100 E. Chestnut St., Chicago, IL 60611; (312) 587-8989. The Tremont Hotel is next door. Other Ditka restaurants are in New Orleans and Naples, Florida.