Rate-A-Restaurant #350: Frango Cafe (Chicago)

Restaurant: Frango Cafe

Location: 111 N State Street (Chicago)



Type of restaurant: Sandwiches/Ice Cream



We stipulated: A friend suggested that during our time in Chicago we visit the Frango Cafe at the State Street Macy's (R.I.P. Marshall Fields) to get a taste of the Frango mint ice cream.

They stipulated: This is one of the few, if any, retailers that sell Frango ice cream. Per Metromix: "Chicago shopping devotees who remember Marshall Field's Crystal Palace gleefully recall an old-fashioned ice-cream parlor and soda fountain that provided frosty shopping respite. The Crystal Palace may be history, but its heart is alive in the Frango Cafe, a restaurant and ice-cream counter that shares the seventh floor at Macy's with the Seven on State food court and the Walnut Room. The enclosed seating area allows a bit more room to spread out than the food court. The shakes and sundaes are still on the menu, along with a selection of salads and sandwiches."



What we ordered: Ice cream cones, of course! (Small $1.95, Large $2.95).



High point:  When they ran out of ice cream before my sister could get a cone, they offered her a slice of Frango pie ($5.95 value) for free.

Low point:  Limited hours. We had visited Macy's a few days earlier to try the Frango ice cream, but we were there too late in the afternoon.

Overall impression: Still not ready to forgive Macy's for eliminating iconic brands like Marshall Field's. But the Frango mint ice cream helps. Now, if they would only make it available in more spots!

Will we return: Absolutely.

Adidas' Epic Lakers T-Shirt Fail

Above, here's a Macy's ad in today's Los Angeles Times "NBA Finals" special section, advertising several "official merchandise" 2010 NBA Champions shirts from Adidas.

But look closer. I wonder how many prints of this shirt were manufactured:



You see what I'm talking about, right?



Ladies and Gentlemen, your "Los Angleles Lakers."

Dreaming of a Downtown Target

(Flickr pic by Tortuga One.)

Following the news that Macy's is shutting down its downtown Los Angeles location at the 7+Fig shopping center (its other downtown location, at Macy's Plaza, will remain open), let the speculation begin on how 7+Fig might fill that 120,000 square foot space.

Blogdowntown's Eric talked to a rep from 7+Fig owner Brookfield Properties, which is looking to fill both that space and another 80,000 square foot space vacated in 1997 by Bullock's. The 7+Fig Macy's was actually a Robinsons-May until Macy's owner Federated bought the May Co. in 2006; it was only a matter of time that the location shut down, as the Macy's Plaza location was close by.

Blogdowntown says Brookfield hopes to combine the two spaces and attract a new retailer downtown; Eric suggests one sure to get downtown residents excited: Target.