FlyGirl

You can visit Fort Dearborn, where the city of Chicago really began, on your way to buy candy at Fannie May’s. The only thing left of the place are markers set into the concrete along Wacker Drive. What is interesting is that the old Fort Dearborn spans what is now Michigan Avenue, not Dearborn Avenue.

Let’s be frank: the Moon Tower Inn is a dump. There is just no nice way to say it. It really, really is a dump. Because the fact is, it is an understated hip 20-something hang-out. It doesn’t really need to be anything but a dump.

They have no set hours, but simply operate “til we run out of food or if it’s too late to sell beer.” And if you blink when you are driving down the street, you might miss it. And you might miss it anyway because it doesn’t have a sign except for the number of its street address, so you can be all over the Moon Tower Inn without knowing you are there.

Its best features include a covered patio, a dried-up fountain for ambience,and cold-ass beer. Honest to gosh — that’s how they advertise it.

Their food choices are kind of limited, also, but unusual. They offer hot dogs — all served on soft pretzel buns — with unusual fillings like wild boar or other wild game, barbeque, and vegan sausage topped with craft mustard, pickled okra, jalapenos, artisan cheeses, and other delicacies.

The place is mainly outdoors and offers horseshoes and other distractions. And because it is so near the University of Houston, its clientele consists almost entirely of 20-somethings. And me.

But, dump or whatever, they have to be doing something right because they will be featured on a new TV show lined up for the fall called "America’s Best Bites (http://www.eadolife.com/2011/07/20/restaurants/moon-tower-inn-out-dogs-everyone-else-according-to-americas-best-bites/).

While you’re there, don’t forget to try something they call a Secret Sammich, which isn’t really one sandwich, but whatever sandwich they decide to concoct topped with their secret sauce.

John Wilkes Booth supposedly cased out Ford’s Theater on the night he shot Abraham Lincoln and then went next door to the Star Tavern to drink and work up his courage. I don’t know the address of this building, but on Google maps, it is marked as the house where Lincoln died, which is inaccurate. The Petersen boarding house, where Lincoln died, is across 10th Street NW from the theater, not next door to it. There’s not much to see here except a diarama that spells out JWB’s actions that night.