Leisure

Lawn Service

The Five Best Picnic Baskets in Town

Packing a picnic for a lovely date in the park: that’s easy. Maybe too easy. Maybe it’s a trap. Perhaps you’ll pick the wrong cheese. The wrong egg salad. Or worse... forget to pack the butler. Hmm. Better play it safe and let these kind people do it for you.

FOR THE SOUTHERN COMFORTER

Wishbone

The Basket: A Southern feast of buttermilk fried chicken, crab cakes and chicken-fried steak.
The Rendezvous Point: Grant Park Music Festival in Millennium Park. Because there’s nothing like licking your fingers while listening to classical music to keep you from feeling too hoity-toity about yourself.

FOR THE GOOD CAPTAINS

Falafill

The Basket: A Mediterranean box teeming with falafel wraps, plus side salads, pita bread and baklava.
The Rendezvous Point: Your boat, as long as it’s docked in Belmont Harbor. Yes, they make water deliveries. And yes, this works best if you actually have a boat.

FOR THE “LITTLE HELP HERE” PICNICKER

Waldorf Astoria in the Park

The Basket: Sandwiches, cheese, stemware, a Waldorf Astoria picnic blanket and, naturally, a butler to carry it all for you.
The Rendezvous Point: Anywhere you damn well please. Your picnic butler will already have the whole thing laid out, including the champagne. You figured out this wasn’t a game long ago.

FOR THE CONCERTGOER

Pastoral in the French Market

The Basket: “The Grand Picnic” full of artfully arranged Midwestern cheeses, Italian meats, chocolate truffles and crusty loaves of bread.
The Rendezvous Point: Start at the Chicago French Market at Ogilvie. Hop the Metra to Ravinia before decamping on the lawn for the best-tasting Willie Nelson/Alison Krauss double bill ever.

FOR THE LAWN-BASED LOBSTERMAN

Fairmont Chef in the Park Experience

The Basket: Well, here “basket” means a chef, a server and a table. Hope you’re cool with that.
The Rendezvous Point: Start with a drink at Fairmont, then head to the Pritzker Pavilion lawn where your chef and server await. You’ll recognize them by the telltale lobster tempura, soft-shell crab and funny white hat.