David Hagerty on Dining Out, Chicago Style

DEBORAH CROMBIE: If there is anything I love more than mysteries, it's mysteries that introduce me to food and restaurants! Make that food and restaurants in places I'd like to visit, or know better. Now, thanks to author David Hagerty, I've got a visit to Chicago on my sometime-in-the-future travel agenda.

Here's David Hagerty to tell us about his new novel, THEY TELL ME YOU ARE WICKED, and about DINING OUT, CHICAGO STYLE:

Every author has written a scene in a restaurant. A character’s choice of food or drink should tell the reader something. Is he a scotch man or a beer guy? Does she prefer sushi or salad?

Plus, food gives your characters something to do—a drink to lift, bread to chew on—and it adds ambiance, even sensuality. You can describe the tastes and smells and even the textures, enlivening an otherwise mundane conversation.

For my mystery series, I like to use real places, including restaurants. Whether it’s high brow hofbrau or high cal hot dogs, real places give fiction authenticity, the sense that locals will know you’re one of them.

My hero, Duncan Cochrane, made his fortune in meat processing, so he can't resist a good hot dog, Chicago style, which is to say "drug through the garden,” with every condiment imaginable, except ketchup. 

He also has a weakness for Italian beef, which is one of my fetishes as well. For those who don't know it (and only locals do), it's a bit like a Philly cheesesteak, except instead of the cheese, it's layered with grilled onions, green papers and a light sauce. My favorite purveyor was Al's, who had a stand next to my high school, where I stopped everyday on the way home.

In the first book in the series, They Tell Me You Are Wicked, Duncan decides he’s tired of the slaughterhouse and tries his hand at politics. He quickly learns it's every bit as bloody. Yet it allowed me to introduce a whole other style of dining, the kind of locales that lend themselves to backroom deals and tense negotiations. For those, I sought out diners, bars, and private rooms.

Naturally, I research these spots before I wrote about them. These aren't the ones that get written up in Chicago magazine or win James Beard awards. They're the kind where you can get a table without a reservation, but you can't escape without reliving some civic history.

Some of my favorites, all of which I’ve used in my work, are:

•              the Billy Goat Tavern, which was once parodied by Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi on Saturday Night Live with "Cheeseburga, Cheeseburga, Cheeseburga"

•              Manny's Deli, a high end diner that's a favorite hangout for local politicians

•              John Barleycorn, a reputed speakeasy

•              The Berghoff, which holds the first liquor license issued following Prohibition

•              Walker Bros. on the North Shore, famous for its German and apple cinnamon pancakes

•              The Walnut Room at Marshall Field’s (now Macy’s), with its signature chicken pot pie

 

Like most writers, I adhere to the maxim that if your characters love their meal, you can use a real place, but if someone dies there, make it up. So far no one has objected, but none of my characters has come down with food poisoning either.  

What about you? If you were to write a scene in a restaurant, which one would you choose, and why?

If you’d like a free ebook of They Tell Me You Are Wicked, sign up for my newsletter and I’ll send you a copy. I promise not to spam you or sell your name. Instead, once a month, you’ll get an update on my work. Go to my website https://davidhagerty.net or shoot me an email at davidhagertyauthor@gmail.com.

DEBS: I agree with David about using restaurants in books! I'll use real restaurants in a positive way, but I'd never commit a fictional murder in a real place. I love David's tidbits about these Chicago locals.

READERS, do you enjoy reading about real restaurants in novels? Any favorites?

 

David Hagerty is the author of the Duncan Cochrane mystery series, which chronicles crime and dirty politics in Chicago during his childhood. Real events inspired all four novels, including the murder of a politician’s daughter six weeks before election day (They Tell Me You Are Wicked), a series of sniper killings in the city’s most notorious housing project (They Tell Me You Are Crooked), the Tylenol poisonings (They Tell Me You Are Brutal), and the false convictions of ten men on Illinois’ death row (They Tell Me You Are Cunning). Like all his books, David is inspired by efforts to right criminal injustice.