Chicago Dining - The Signature Room

I recently wrapped up a weekend visit to Chicago with Sunday brunch at The Signature Room - located on the 95th floor of the John Hancock building.

This is a no frills, stick to the basics spread of food that is at best, average. We have all seen this layout hundreds of times - pastries and "bagels" followed by breakfast potatoes, sausage, bacon and eggs benedict in chaffing dishes, followed by (turn the corner) an omelet station and a raw bar (oysters, Alaskan crab claws, mussels and shrimp cocktail) followed by poached and smoked salmon (two different dishes). The other side of the room features a carving station (ham and sirloin) followed by a dessert station and then (down the ramp) a row of food leftover from the previous night's dinner service (lobster bisque, chicken Parmesan, steamed asparagus, rice pilaf, etc. - you get the idea) and finally, an un-inventive selection of fruits (the holy trinity of Board meeting breakfasts: sliced honeydew, cantaloupe and pineapple) and cheeses (mostly sliced cheddar, jack, mass produced blue, etc. - we're talking cheeses that arrive in plastic shrink wrap, not rolled in ash or grape leaves).

How on Earth did I select this as the keystone to cap off an otherwise amazing weekend of eating in Chicago? Two words: the view.

The Signature Room gets away with serving this college cafeteria quality brunch because the setting is completely breath-taking. From the 95th floor of the John Hancock building, you have a panoramic view of all of Chicago. On more than one occasion, people at our table set down their forks to go stare out the windows and take it all in.

And perhaps I am being unfairly harsh - it could have been worse (and I did manage to choke down everything on my plate - on all three passes of the buffet). For example, the eggs on the benedict were soft (a rarity in operations like this) and several of our party bravely partook in the raw oysters with no signs of food poisoning.

All-in, it is probably worth a trip. Even at nearly $60 per person, it is worth putting up with the lovely crowds that all-you-can-eat buffets tend to draw (yes sir, you did step on my wife's foot just before you elbowed me in the ribs in a dive to grab another fist-full of shrimp cocktail) in order to take in the scenery - or you can buy a ticket to the observatory and do your eating elsewhere.