Today in the Loop blog.

The Chicago Fire Department has pitched a long green tent on LaSalle Street, at the base of the LaSalle Bank Building, scene of a major fire on Monday. It’s a temporary lab of sorts, to investigate that fire. From the corner of LaSalle and Monroe, the tent was the only indication that something had happened. That, and the fact LaSalle Street was closed behind police barricades, with officers posted to deter the curious from getting too close to the building.

I’m curious, but only enough to peer over the barricades. They’ll be gone soon enough, and the fire damage way up the side of that fine old building ought to be more visible. Been in that place myself a number of times, especially to interview some of the bank’s execs, and once to oversee a photo shoot (exactly a year ago today; see the December 9, 2003 posting).

Mostly, though, I was out for a walk during lunchtime, since the temps weren’t that bad – upper 40s or even lower 50s – and the rain of the last few days had quit. You never know, this time of year, when the floor is going to drop out from under the temperatures. I never know, anyway, since I’m fairly casual about listening to weather reports.

The LaRouchies were out on Federal Plaza, bullhorning apathetic passersby. Actually, there seemed to be only about three devotees of the crackpot present, and the rant de jour was against the “privatization” of Social Security. Of course, I’m against that too, in as much as I understand the issue, but it doesn’t make me want to drop everything and follow LaRouche. Even a lunatic has his lucid moments.

Saw a new restaurant on Washington to investigate sometime: Polletto. It promises “World Chicken and Salad.” I’m not sure what “world chicken” would be. Chickens with passports? Chickens are citizens of the world, if only as protein slaves to homo sapiens, but I don’t think that’s what they have in mind. They probably don’t mean chicken imported from around the world, either; that would cut into the margins too much. Probably they buy wholesale 10 blocks west like every other Loop eatery. Maybe it’s a lot of different styles: chicken recipes from the four corners of the Earth. No, too much trouble, especially if this is a franchise I’ve never heard of. Probably it’s just something the owners thought sounding hip – we got cosmopolitan poultry, no backwater Tyson birds from Arkansas.