The AA cutoff is at 8:00 PM. Your flight is at 8:09 PM. The 8:00 PM cutoff is deliberate and catering is handled based on scheduled departure.

As others note, ORD has tons of really good food options. Many far better than anything AA would provide by way of dinner anyway.

It got really tiresome when the UA folks blamed Smisek for every minor thing and the same with the DL-NW tieup. Neither UA nor DL provide late night domestic F meals and it's not surprising that AA doesn't. It's a pity, but it's not surprising.

Folks want cheap F tickets with free UG's more than they want the 2 meals which would be served on a typical overseas flight of this length.