151 Michigan AvenueChicago is known for so many things. Pizza. Hot Dogs. Popcorn.
Popcorn? Yeah. Popcorn.
We had a fantastic day in Chicago with a friend of J’s who just moved to the city. We spent some time at the Crown Fountain in Millennium Park. We played in the Slide Crater at Maggie Daley Park. We went to see the “Big Fountain” as L called Buckingham Fountain on our way in to town. All in all, we spent almost six hours in the city.
Early in the day, I spotted a Garrett Popcorn Shop across the street from J’s friend’s apartment. We passed it a couple times on our way to and from the apartment throughout the day, but I was waiting until it was time to go before grabbing some delicious popcorn to take with us.
Garrett Popcorn Shops has stores all over Chicago. On Michigan Avenue alone there are five shops in the downtown area. There are ten total shops from about Water Tower Place down through the Museum Campus.
The Michigan Avenue shop we stopped at is the one between Lake and Randolph Streets in The Loop in the Millennium Park Plaza building. It sits right next to a Lids store in the middle of the block which is just north of Millennium Park in part of the city’s busiest area.
J and I were both pretty excited about stopping for popcorn. J’s friend had never heard of the place before and was a little more skeptical. Whenever I travel to Chicago without her, I always try to find a Garrett and bring her home a Garrett Mix for a treat.
The Garrett Popcorn Shops are all pretty small. There is no sitting area inside. It’s just a serious stanchions forming a line that snakes through the small shop. At the front of the line are big glass bins full of all that glorious popcorn. One employee fills up bags and tosses them down to another at the till.
J loves the Garrett Mix. Outside of Chicago, you usually find imitations labeled as Chicago Mix. It’s a combination of CheeseCorn and CaramelCrisp. The combination gives you a good sweet and savory combo with some crunch from the Caramel Corn. I got her a large bag and it didn’t last very long. The kids both helped her with the CheeseCorn part of the bag so it went a little faster than usual.
I like to keep things much simpler. I always order the Buttery Popcorn. Whatever they use to season the popcorn they really lay on thick. It’s not a greasy buttery like movie theater popcorn. It’s more of a powdery butter that coats each kernel. It really is something unique to Garrett and it’s what makes the popcorn so delicious.
The two large bags of popcorn and a bottle Coke cost just a little under $18. It’s an expensive treat but it’s one that is so worth the price. There are imitators all over the country that try to duplicate what Garrett Popcorn Shops do. Some do a really good job, but the original is a craveable snack that I just can’t pass up any time I walk by a shop.
