Cap Cod Room Fish, Drake Hotel Chicago 1945

PRINT WILL NOT INCLUDE WATERMARK. This witty image gives new meaning to the phrase 'drinks like a fish'. The illustration of two fish and a bottle of wine was on the back page of a menu dated 1945 at the Cape Cod Room in the Drake Hotel, generally acknowledged at the time to be Chicago’s finest seafood restaurant. The fine dining restaurant opened during the 1933 Century of Progress Exposition and endured for an astonishing 83 years, closing on New Year’s Eve in 2016. The restaurant, shuttered due to renovations in the hotel, was filled with history. Marilyn Monroe and Joe di Maggio were among the countless people to carve their initials on the bar shortly after getting married in 1954. Actresses Sophia Loren and Elizabeth Taylor requested table 4 each time they visited – separately – and Oprah had table 32 and Michael Jordan had table 40. Actors Henry Fonda and Mickey Rooney were among the guests as well as former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. President Ronald Reagan and Aretha Franklin would dine in the Captain’s Quarters, a secluded area a few steps away from the main dining room. Front of house in the dining room decorated like a New England Inn was led by the legendary Irish-born maitre’d Patrick Bredin who enjoyed a 40-year-career there. One of the Cape Cod Room’s specialties was Bookbinder soup made with red snapper instead of snapping turtle. The Drake Hotel, still one of Chicago’s finest hotels, has preserved the wooden bar with all the signatures.  Gallery quality Giclée print on natural white, matte, 100% cotton rag, acid and lignin free archival paper using Epson archival inks. Custom printed with border for matting and framing. Each order includes a print of the interior menu. All printed in USA.