I’ll admit – I was one of the ones kicking and screaming about the recent transition of Chicago’s historic Marshall Field’s on State Street into a Macy’s store.  However, I’m pleased to say that Macy’s has kept many of the best features of this downtown institution.  The public spaces are still heavily decorated for the holidays, as shown below.  Even more importantly, visitors can still enjoy a delicious brunch, lunch, or dinner at the seventh floor Walnut Room.

The Walnut Room is lovely year round, and certainly more peaceful during the spring, summer, and fall.  However, it is most known for its massive Christmas trees, each year’s with a different theme.  Over the years we have eaten under  Pinocchio tree, a Martha Stewart tree, and a Swarovski crystal tree.  The tree can be viewed from a platform on the store’s top floor or from most points inside the Walnut Room.

This year’s tree is simple, with primarily silver ornaments.  Unlike in past years, the base is bare – no presents – with words projected from above.  I think the one nearest to us said “Peace.”  Here are a couple of photos:

  The dining room itself gets very crowded.  We made a last-minute decision to eat dinner here, and were shocked to find there was no wait at 5:30 p.m. on a Friday night.  I vividly remember spending several Saturday mornings during my childhood enduring three hour waits with a pager, so I would highly recommend an early weeknight dinner as an alternative to this scene.  If you do want to do the brunch, arrive early!

We were quite lucky and ended up sitting at that vacant table right next to the tree in the photo above.  It was a great seat, except for the mysteriously unaccompanied kids at the table next to us who kept bumping my mom’s chair.  I think they were just overly excited.  There is a sugar plum fairy of sorts who comes around and sprays glitter on the kids, and she was causing general hysteria among the little ones.   

The food at The Walnut Room is pretty darn delicious.  We eat here a couple of times each year and have never had a bad meal, but we definitely have some favorite items which we tend to order.

Mrs. Herring’s Chicken Pot Pie is The Walnut Room’s most famous and longstanding menu item.  With good reason – it’s fabulous!  The pastry is much more lighter and flakier than one usually finds in a meat pie, making it a fine choice for a nosh in the middle of a shopping marathon.   

While there are many tempting salads to choose from at The Walnut Room, my personal favorite menu item is the Peach Nest, pictured above.  This dish includes some of the finest chicken salad I’ve ever had, its flavor heightened by the bed of onion straws underneath.  It also comes with peaches, grapes, strawberries, and three different types of bread with a dollop of strawberry cream cheese.  I love this dish for brunch, lunch, or dinner.

Finally, no trip to this State Street establishment is complete without a piece of its signature dessert, Frango Mint Pie.  This is basically a very strongly flavored ice cream pie with a crumbly graham cracker crust.  It’s worth the ice cream headache it brings!

The Walnut Room tree went up shortly after Thanksgiving and should remain up until after New Year’s.  If you’ve never checked out this Chicago holiday favorite, make some time to pop in and enjoy the tree, the lights, and possibly a delicious meal.