Needless to say we spent Thursday morning until Monday night pigging out on the best food, drinking amazing cocktails and beer and just having oodles of fun.
We did a lot so I'm going to get right to it...
Toast
This was just about the cutest eatery in the world... with lots of toasters on display and toast-related art everywhere.
We caught the tail-end of brunch on Thursday and enjoyed a varied selection of great food.
It was a HUGE portion and we all had to help Adam eat his delicious fluffy french toast. I have no idea how they make this, but its great and the thickest I've ever had. Apparently the mascarpone was out of this world, but I'll have to take Adam's word for it.
I ordered the Crabby Benedict ($13) but was surprised by how much fresh, real crab they used. It was a might portion that I could barely finish.
Eggs were runny and magnificent as was the fresh English Muffin that tasted homemade. Everything about this screamed BRUNCH!
Mark ordered the breakfast burrito, which was a flavored tortilla stuffed w/ scrambled eggs, chihuahua cheese, diced jalapeños, tomatoes, onions and cilantro, accompanied with their house salsa and sour cream. ($9)
You can't really see what's inside, but it was a massive burrito that even the hearty Mark had trouble finishing. Definitely worth every penny.
Danielle ordered the Crepe with apple, pear and brie with a drizzle of honey ($6). It looked so pretty, I wish I could have taken a bite!
Everyone raved about how good the brie was, again makes me jealous but I'm used to it by now. ::sigh::
Overall, Toast was fantastic with fresh, tasty food, a wide variety on their menu and great service. No wonder Danielle and Mark are regulars!
Handlebar (which I went to last time)
After a long, brutally hot day, we wanted something easy for dinner. We went back to Handlebar, which was good the last time I visited Chicago.
We started with some fried pickles, a new favorite of ours.
These were cornmeal battered with a side of home made vegan ranch dressing. However, I had NO idea this dressing was vegan until now. I totally missed out :(
I didn't want anything too heavy since we were going out drinking, so I opted for the fish tacos. There was a little too much red cabbage, but that's easily remedied by taking some off. The fish was really tasty and perfectly flacky. I wasn't feeling the vegetarian chili that it came with, but loved the black beans Adam got by accident with his dinner. I threw that on my tacos and went to town.
A super tasty dinner!
Danielle felt the same as me and ordered the Handlebar Salad, which has arugula, pears, walnuts and Parmesan with champagne honey mustard dressing. Ohhh so fancy!
She also ordered a side of the smoked Gouda mac n' cheese.
Apparently its out of this world, but super rich so Adam helped out the best he could. Needless to say I did not try this dish.
He was really surprised at how good it was. It was such a huge portion that he had trouble finishing his fish, let alone the massive sides that came with it.
Handlebar is the place for hungry people!
The next day we ate breakfast at home then went for a walk around downtown Chicago. After a while we were really hungry, but there are so few choices in the "Times Square" of Chicago near Michigan Ave. We decided to be true tourists and hit up P.F. Cheng's right off the main area.
It was nice and air conditioned, so a welcomed brake from the 90 degrees outside. It was HOT!
I had no idea what to expect... I don't normally eat in chain restaurants.
We did family style and ordered three main dishes as well as the Chicken Lettuce Wraps (which I apparently didn't take a photo of, but swore I did... strange). Here's what we got:
- Singapore Street Noodles: Shrimp, chicken, vegetables and rice noodles stir-fried in a curry sauce - this was okay. I didn't like the curry flavor on this. I like all the veggies and meat, but this was only good when mixed with the other food.
- Orange Peel Chicken: Tossed with a mild chili sauce and fresh orange peel - this was actually really tasty. The chicken was all white meat and perfectly cooked. It didn't taste like the orange peel chicken I get at a Chinese restaurant, but it was still good. It had a bit of a sweet and sour tang to it.
- Coconut Curry Vegetables: Stir-fried vegetables, crispy silken tofu and peanuts in a mild curry powder and coconut milk sauce - This was by far the best meal. Adam didn't like the tofu (which I thought was fantastic), but the sauce and veggies in this were unbelievable. We kept throwing this sauce on the noodles, which was so good. Definitely the best dish and of course Danielle picked this one out. She rocks!!! Always, always trust Danielle (especially with wine).
Later on, we ventured to the Signature Lounge on the 96th floor of the John Hancock Building, which is the perfect place to get a good view of Chicago. It's a wonderful place to sit back in awe of this great city and sip an overpriced beer or cocktail. You're paying for the view, so we don't care that everyday is $9 beer day. 
We ordered some drinks and some desserts. I got the White and Dark Chocolate Mousse Cake with mixed berry coulis, which was really amazing. I didn't expect this place to have any good food since they suck at drinks. What a nice surprise!
Danielle and Mark ordered the Nutella Bread Pudding with caramel sauce and toasted hazelnuts. Although it doesn't look that appetizing, it was actually really good. It was a warm cake with an ooegy gooey center.
We had the best seat in the house and saw an electrical storm in the distance over Lake Michigan. A magical second night in this grand city!
Afterwards we were hanging out at a few cool bars in Wicker Park, when the Tamales guy showed up selling his oh-so-delicious fare. I ordered a bag and we pigged out on fresh, hot, chicken tamales. The perfect drunk food... it was so good we were licking our fingers as we made a mess everywhere! The following day we hit up an amazing brunch place and enjoyed oodles of organic beef.
Flying Saucer is just about the cutest, coziest diner in Humboldt Park offering fresh, organic fare with a bit of a Southern Comfort style to it.
Danielle, although disappointed that they didn't offer the special she fell in love with during a previous visit, went for the organic sirloin steak and eggs ($12.25), which included an organic heartland farms sirloin steak served with two eggs , toast and one side. It was a really nice sized steak that was just too damn hard to finish. It was a might meal for the price!
I was a real pig and went for something I don't usually eat since I could and I'm on vacation therefore calories and dairy restrictions don't count.
Yup, this (above) is chicken fried steak with sausage gravy, a homemade buttermilk biscuit and two eggs over medium with a side of home fries. I ate all I could eat and there was still half of my food on the plate. I tried though, oh how I tried to finish this beautiful dish.
I love sausage gravy and yes I am very aware of how dangerous this is for me to eat. I DON'T CARE - it's freaking delicious! Although I didn't get hives since I was really careful about not eating all the gravy, just enough to add some flavor to the fried goodness of the steak. If only I could transport this place back home... yes, that would be very nice indeed!
Adam got the avocado on the side for me since he's not a fan. I loves it!
They looked really good, but the whole cheese and sour cream would have killed me. Plus I was dealing with my own artery clogging goodness.
I love that we all got steak for brunch. We're all fairly healthy people, some more than others in our group - you guys know who you are - so it was a real treat having steak and knowing that it was organic so they tasted extra good from happy cows. I mean, I know they're not happy cause they're dead, but I'm a carnivore girl, and do my best to eat meat that's sustainable and humanely raised. I do what I can, and just think how the world would be if everyone did that too... happy cows = happy people = happy world. Yup... this is how I rationalize it. Now off to other foods...
We were so full for so long that we had a late dinner at a really cute sushi place, Butterfly. Oddly enough we were all craving sushi since we visited the Shedd Aquarium on Thursday... we're so barbaric! On a side note, the Shedd Aquarium was awesome and totally loved the Jellies exhibit, so check it out!
Butterfly is BYOB, so we went across the street and bought a lovely bottle of white wine for me and Danielle to share, the boys opted for some fancy beer. I, of course, let Danielle pick the wine since I officially SUCK at wine selection. She picked a real winner if you ask me.
We started with the seaweed salad ($4.50) and edamame ($4). The seaweed salad had a touch of citrous flavor to it, but couldn't figure out why it was SO amazing. Best I ever had.
We also ordered the Shrimp Pot-stickers ($5.50), which were really good. It's a shame it only came with 5, which is the usual amount, but they tasted so good I could have eaten these all myself.
Me and dumplings make a happy couple, so much so I'll probably turn into a dumpling when I get older. Yum!
Above is an order of the small assorted sashimi ($17) which included salmon, tuna and yellowtail. Fresh and delicious!
Since Danielle and Mark tried pretty much all their special Maki Rolls, we let them decide what was best for the table.
We're glad they did cause they picked the best rolls ever!
The one on the left is the Ninja Maki, Snow crab meat, asparagus, avacoda wrapped with seared super white tuna, wasabi n black tobiko, scallions n spicy-honey mayo. It was by far the best roll I've ever had in my life. I don't think sushi rolls will ever be the same after this. Seriously, it was that good. Light and sweet with a hint of honey. The crab was so delicate and blended perfectly with the crunch of the asparagus.
The roll in the middle is the Sunset Maki, shrimp tempura, cucumber, mayo wrapped with salmon and mango. It was the second best roll since the mango made it fun and sweet. I also love salmon so it was a super win for me.
The roll on the right is the Red Dragon Maki, spicy shrimp, cucumber wrapped with tuna and avocado. On its own, this roll is great, but next to these other rolls it wasn't as good in comparison. I liked it, but the others were just too good!
We did our best to finish this massive quantity of deliciousness. I think only one of the Red Dragon pieces was left.
Truly fresh, good and well-priced sushi and the BYOB make this place even kinder on the wallet.
That night, we went out pretty hard and needed a quick bite to eat to hold us over until we enjoyed the great culinary experience of our lives, the Girl and the Goat, which we were hitting up on Sunday night.
The boys stayed in to sleep and work, so Danielle and I hit up Milk and Honey Cafe for what should have been a quick brunch. However, the way they're set up tends to take longer than if you had table service. You essentially wait in a long ass line to order food at a counter. While waiting, a very nice woman will give you a number for a table that you then give to the counter when you order, so the runners know where to bring your food. So everyone just stands in a long line for 20 minutes while people order... its really annoying. 
I (above) ordered the crabcake sandwich, which came with homemade potato chips. It was really amazing. with HUGE crabcakes on the softest french bread and a tangy tarter sauce. I never should have ordered something so large since I tried to finish it and we were supposed to get ready and eat in just a couple of hours. Oops!
Danielle ordered the salad special which had arugula, watermelon, pine nuts and feta and some grilled bread. It looked light and tasty, perfect for a hot day and in anticipation for the feast that was before us.
Danielle needed something a little heavier to accompany the salad and ordered the vegetable strata, which she said was delicious. It did look really good with lots of lovely layers of veggies and cheese.I also ordered a strawberry frosted cookie, which wasn't as good as I hoped it would be. I wanted something really soft and chewy, but it was hard cookies with some super sweet frosting in the middle... not the great thing I've ever eaten.
After brunch, we did a little shopping at Penelope's, my fave store in Chicago, and got ready for "the" dinner of a lifetime. I'll be writing a separate blog post just on that - so stayed tuned.
We went straight to Map Room after our epic dinner. Adam has been wanting to hit this place up for some time since its considered one of the best beer bars in American.One thing I don't really talk about in this blog is my love for good beer. Adam and I have even ventured to Belgium just to drink some of the best beers in the world.
Needless to say we like our beers large and in charge. Westmalle is one of the best out there and recommend trying it and enjoying this fabulous trappist beer. Map Room has a great selection of imported and domestic beer. I love me a place where I can try something new and expand my palette. We had such a great time here and stayed until closing. So check it out if you're in the area.
We weren't feeling so hot in the morning, for obvious reasons, but wanted to take advantage of the ONE nice day we had while in Chicago to check out the beach. So we picked up some sandwiches at Jimmy John's, Chicago's better version of Subway, and ate on the beach. I don't like crappy sandwiches since I grew up in NYC the home of awesome delis (Katz's) and even bodegas that can make a mean sandwich 24 hours a day on the cheap ($3.50, yes I'm spoiled on cheap food). But Jimmy John's was actually really tasty. I liked their bread and the put more meat and fun veggies to spice things up. I ate the entire sandwich, surprisingly! |
| Adam gives Jimmy John's a thumbs up! |
They also have really good potato chips to go with it. Not the cheapest sandwich but perfect for the beach and a hot day when your head may or may not be pounding from the night before.
Sadly, our last meal in Chicago was the least exciting for me, since it was the deep dish pizza Adam just HAD to get. I promised I would tag along and try a bite.
We passed The Art of Pizza on the way to the beach, so figured it was fate and checked it out on the way home.
Adam's lovely friend recommended this place from when she lived in Chicago. Turns out that when you go there, you can get pizza by the slice, which was awesome for me since I didn't have to order a slice myself. It was a Monday and the place was super slow, so the pizza looks like it may have been sitting there for a bit. Our big mistake was not ordering a fresh pie, which would have been amazing, or as Danielle would put it - "hot and melty!" This place had great reviews and funky decor, so we'll have to go there more prepared next time.
The slices weren't hot and so you didn't get that gooey factor with the cheese that is so essential.Next time we're doing the whole pie and going to town with the toppings.
I had a happy little garden salad which was a bargain at only $4.50 and it was gigantic...
Sorry Chicago, didn't have time to really enjoy some deep dish in all its glory. We were rushing to get home to pack and hit up the airport, so pizza by the slice was all we could do. Just got us curious for a fresh pie which we'll definitely eat the next we go.
So that was our gluttonous adventure together in Chicago. I always eat well with my food friends, leaving me hungry for more.
Thank you Danielle and Mark for being the greatest of hosts while we were visiting. Adam and I had an amazing time and can't wait to visit again. I already have a list of places to take you guys when you visit. So come hungry!
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