CHICAGO – Let us be clear about one thing from the start. Chicago, a city with an auspicious past and present of prestidigitation and legerdemain, has never before had a space for magic anything close to The Hand & The Eye.
And where else in town can you hear a line like “as the fork melts, the shrimp un-fries,” and then watch it happen?
I’ve already written about Broadway designer David Rockwell’s stunning interiors within creator Glen Tullman’s opulent, $50 million renovation of the McCormick Mansion on the corner of Ontario and Rush streets, most recently the home of Lawry’s Prime Rib, although you’d never know. Once you add a dress code that obligates humans to be dressed to the nines, the effect is akin to walking through a kind of “Eyes Wide Shut” dreamscape, if you will – a costly adult playground of bespoke cocktails (The Spade! The Diamond!) and fancy trickery with dinner on the side…