Obama-Mania: Tourism Business Booming in Obama's Chicago

Not only do tourists come by, but so do vendors hawking Obama gear -- such as one man seen walking into Coye's barber shop recently selling wood carvings engraved with the words, "Barack Obama and the Book," accompanied by a picture of the president-elect and the Holy Bible.

"Hats, pictures -- just everything you can think of, they try to sell," noted Coye.

Not far away, Obama's favorite bookstore, 57th Street Books, is another popular Hyde Park haunt.

Business also is booming at Obama's favorite neighborhood eateries, including the historic Valois Cafeteria.

"It's been good," said manager Tom Chronopoulos, estimating that "maybe 50" tourists come in every day.

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Visitors to Valois frequently ask for "The Obama Special" -- egg whites, bacon and hash browns -- which Obama still eats about five times a week, sending in an aide to pick up his breakfast at about 7:30 most mornings, according to Chronopoulos.

"He used to come, but he's been busy," noted Chronopoulos in the understatement of the century.

The day after Obama's election victory, Chronopoulos said the cafeteria offered Obama's typical breakfast to diners for free, with one exception: scrambled eggs instead of egg whites.

"A lot of people don't eat egg whites," he noted. "I remember one time he came in, just ordered his lunch, sat by himself, said 'hi' to people," Chronopoulos recalled about an Obama visit three years ago. "He seemed like a normal guy, just a regular Joe."

An autographed photo of the president-elect, along with a business card from his Senate office, now hangs on the back wall at the cafeteria.

"To Valois, Thanks for the great eats!" Obama signed it.

Just down the road a few blocks, another eatery makes a more blatant display of Obama's business. Medici on 57th hawks $18 t-shirts that read, "Obama Eats Here," and sells $35 cutting boards with the carved words, "I voted for Obama in 2008 -- Together we will change the world."

"We've sold over 1,000," said Medici's manager, Mattie Pool. "I just sold my last men's shirt."

"At least 25 people a day" come in asking for what Obama dines on, Pool said.

"I think some of it has to do with people being in his stomping grounds and coming in and wanting to know what he eats," she said. "But he's like everyone else. He mixes things up."

One of his favorites, along with the breakfast omelettes and bacon cheddar burgers, is the "Garbage Pizza," complete with pepperoni, sausage, Canadian bacon, ground beef, green peppers, mushrooms and onions.