By James Banakis

November 11^th, 2026

There’s something about a perfect spring day, and while it’s certainly loved and appreciated we tend to not really recognize its true worth. Why? Because it’s a harbinger of many more to come. Once it reveals itself, we come to expect its glory. In spring we’re impatient if a beautiful day is followed by a rainy day. When I was young, I was always refurbished by spring, and I still am, yet in a more thoughtful way. Each year spring feels further away than it once did once fall arrives. There is a fleeting nature to autumn. It’s the opposite of spring. It acts as a rare, peaceful, short-lived hiatus before winter. Because of this we savor it more sincerely.

This morning ushered in the second perfect autumn day this week. Three friends have called to ask if I was going to play golf. I will tomorrow, but today I took a walk. Walking in autumn always reminds me of crossing the campus on the way to class. I always get nostalgic and deeply introspective on a perfect autumn day.

John Keats celebrated this mood by addressing autumn as the “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness.” 

Those of you who play golf and tee off early on a fall morning know it’s usually 45 degrees and misty. By the third hole you peel off the first layer and put on your sunglasses. The high will reach 70. The next 12 holes are a magnificent throwback to summer. At hole 15 your jacket goes back on as the wind has shifted and the temperature has dropped back into the 40’s.  A perfect autumn day then is like thematic bookends, representing the perpetual cycle of life. You find yourself so grateful to have been part of that cycle. You hope you’re able to squeeze a few more rounds out of the proverbial toothpaste tube.

Spring is the season we most associate with falling in love. For me though, autumn has always been the season I’ve always felt most aware of being in love and being loved. For some unexplainable reason it’s the season I most associate with being married and nurturing children.  It’s the season I’ve always associated with being so happy to come together with family and old friends.

Speaking of old friends, it was in the autumn 3 years ago when my dear friend John Kass announced at dinner with a group of friends that he was bringing on a person to write restaurant reviews for John Kass News. I had just retired myself and unbeknownst to me he said it was going to be ME. Shocked I replied, “John if I write restaurant reviews, I’ll lose all the friends I have in the business. We all despise the bastards” John shrugged, took a bite of his spaghetti aglio e olio, and said, “Then write whatever you want, but write for me.” At the time I felt that he was trying to soften my transition of retiring, just acting as a good friend.

My plan was to write something about retirement and move on. Three years and many columns later it has been one of the privileges of my life to have shared my thoughts with this extraordinary community. I’ve told John and Betty that I didn’t understand how and why it happened.  It was almost spiritual, as if there was some power interceding.  I’ve come to understand that the power was the relatable talent and deep human understanding of John Kass.

For me writing one column a month was fun and stimulating. Writing 4 or 5 a week under a deadline must have been all consuming. John Kass is going to learn to appreciate moving on to his next chapter. Take it from this retired guy who keeps turning pages.

In a perfect world John would have become editor-in-chief at the Tribune. As things turned out he became an entrepreneur, another thing he was born to do.  I know many of you like me realize he wrote some of his best work answering only to his own conscience. He has enriched all our lives by letting us be part of his. That is what set him apart from all the rest. He will always be synonymous with Chicago,  its history and its newspapers. He is a generational talent.

Years ago, I was at a wedding, and someone came up to me and asked if I was John Kass. Flattered I answered no but we are brothers with different mothers. The woman walked away completely confused, but I perfectly defined the bond to myself.

Now as John Kass News is winding down, we’re all a little sad. I’ve discovered we all need to keep reinventing ourselves. This is our purpose, but we still hate to see things we love end. When they do we need to turn to the next chapter. It’s part of the adventure.

For years John has been for obvious reasons compared to Mike Royko. Royko had a wonderful sense of humor but rarely allowed us to see his personal side. The few times he did he was very good. I remember when the Daily News shut down in 1978, he wrote a final column.  Royko likened the newsroom and its readers to a sandlot baseball team being forced to break up as darkness fell. I think the ending to that column is how you the readers and I feel this autumn.

“C’mon. C’mon. Let’s play one more inning. One more time at bat. One more pitch. Just one? Stick around, guys. We can’t break up this team. It’s too much fun. But the sun always went down. And now it’s almost dark again.”

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Jimmy Banakis is a life-long restaurateur.  He was an honorary batboy for the White Sox in 1964. He attended Oak Park River Forest High School, Nebraska Wesleyan University, and Chicago-Kent Law School.  He claims the kitchen is the room he’s most comfortable in anywhere in the world. He published an extremely limited-edition family cookbook. He’s a father and grandfather, and lives in Downers Grove Il.