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There would be no chance of a scoop of stracciatella at Frio Gelato on Clark Street (not that anyone would want it), or Wiener schnitzel at the Berghoff Cafe downtown.

[You could get frostbite in a matter of minutes. Here’s what to do.]

Commerce slowed throughout the Midwest but the frigid conditions were unlikely to exact a lingering economic toll. In a 2015 report, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago concluded that winter weather had “a significant, but short-lived effect on economic activity.”

But economists, the report suggested, have long struggled to pinpoint the financial consequences of events like this week’s polar vortex, especially because regional and national economies are shaped by so many factors.

Still, plenty of businesses were not running as usual on Wednesday, suggesting that locally felt consequences might not surface in long-range data. Even “Disney on Ice,” which was scheduled to run on Wednesday night at Chicago’s United Center, was canceled.

[Read more here about how the deep freeze is hitting the homeless.]

Through it all, some restaurants pressed on.

At Huck Finn, a diner on the Southwest Side, there were fewer patrons than usual, said Demetri Hiotis, the general manager. But the people who did come in were cheerful, almost exuberant.

“It’s like they’re living through some kind of weather history — everyone else stayed in, and we’re here doing our thing,” Mr. Hiotis said. “There’s a sense of pride. It’s 22 below but I still went to work, got my breakfast, got my coffee and doughnut.”