Where better to begin a morning of touring the old neighborhood than the outsized parking lot of a tiny … wait, is this a Chinese restaurant or isn’t it? Because 63rd Fried Rice, our arranged meeting spot, still has an old sign up top that says Parisse’s Drive-In and boasts of copious Italian meats. So which is it?
“Parisse’s,” Ron Coomer says after steering into the lot in a black BMW 750i. “It’ll always be Parisse’s.”
It’s not Parisse’s anymore, but his point is well taken because 63rd Street and Melvina on the Southwest Side might as well be known as Coom’s Corner.