As promised, I ate my way across Chicago and took lots of pictures. The South Bend part of the trip offered less gourmet options, but I've got a few highlights to share anyways.
 |
| Chicago Fire deep dish pizza |
We got to Chicago around lunchtime on Tuesday, and I was already hungry when we got off the plane. So we navigated two L trains and a few blocks with our suitcases, and made it to our hotel on the Magnificent Mile. Then we immediately set out to find some Chicago deep dish pizza (duh). Luckily, Gino's East was only a couple blocks away. We ordered the Chicago Fire pizza - patty-style sausage made extra spicy, with fire roasted red peppers and red onions. Now I'm not usually a fan of sausage on pizza, but this one was on The Best Thing I Ever Ate, and I am always a fan of anything "extra spicy." Plus Trevor loves sausage, so we went for it. And then we also ordered an antipasto salad because it turns out that deep dish pizza takes 45-50 minutes to make (I guess it makes sense when you think about it...), and I just couldn't wait that long. Again, not something I usually order at a restaurant because I can't get past the fact that it's basically some cold cuts and veggies thrown on a plate. But for some reason it sounded really good that day, and we went for it. And I'm glad, because the cold cuts and cheeses were awesome, and I loved the house dressing.
 |
| blurry picture of us @ Gino's East |
The pizza itself was delicious. Just the right amount of spicy, and the crust was awesome. However, I have to say that if I was crazing pizza, it just wouldn't fill that role. To me, it is a completely different meal. Don't get me wrong, it is wonderful in its own way (not trying to start a debate here), but when you have even one kind of pizza your whole life, they can't really be lumped into the same category.
After lunch, we did a boat tour of the river and lake. If you haven't been to Chicago and plan on going one day, I highly recommend this. We went with Wendella Boats and it was a great experience. It was a great tour of the architecture along the river, and then some amazing views of the skyline from the lake. And the best part was, we didn't get seasick! (I was more than a little nervous because we have both been known to puke through an entire boat ride.)
After the tour, we hit the first brewery on the list - Rock Bottom. As much as I love beer, this spot was my least favorite on our beer tour. The atmosphere wasn't my favorite, and I really only liked one of the six beers I tried. (Don't worry, a lot of the breweries have SAMPLER options - I didn't drink 6 full beers on the first stop :D)
 |
| I had to sneak a shot of all the charcoal grills lined up in the kitchen... |
After that stop, we headed straight across the street to the Weber Grill Restaurant. Now I didn't even know this place existed and it certainly wasn't on our list, but it smelled so good. And I thought the concept was fascinating - a fine dining atmosphere, but all the food is cooked on charcoal grills. And the food was almost as good as it smelled. I ordered a sampler platter (which will happen any time it is an option because ordering food is the one time in life I am completely and utterly indecisive and just can't commit). It consisted of beer can chicken tenders, ribs, grilled steak skewers, and barbecue shrimp. The ribs were amazing and I loved the beer can chicken. Trevor got a combo - brisket and Black Angus meatloaf. Best. Meatloaf. Ever. I don't even like meatloaf - one of the biggest challenges in our marriage - and I loved it. Even the cornbread was pretty good, and I went into it knowing I would be biased.
 |
| brioche french toast |
The next morning, my little bro drove up from Indiana and we planned to do some sightseeing. But first, I wanted to grab breakfast at this adorable little local place around the corner from the hotel, named just "Corner Bakery." Ok, if you know this place, you can start laughing at me now. Because it isn't local at all. In fact, we saw about 10 more locations in Chicago alone. It was a lot like a Panera, but I'm still not sorry we went because I tried the cinnamon swirled brioche french toast baked in vanilla custard. And it was pretty dang tasty for a quick service chain.
After breakfast, we headed to the SkyDeck at the [former] Sears Tower. Holy crap. Terrifying but pretty awesome once I inched out onto the glass. We took a trolley tour around town for a couple of hours before rushing to make our reservation for my most highly anticipated meal of the trip - lunch at the Frontera Grill - one of Rick Bayless' Mexican restaurants. Now we had to settle for lunch because dinner reservations have a three month waiting list and I only planned like two weeks ahead. But I was so excited because I have never eaten at the restaurant of a famous chef, and Mexican food is one of my favorites. We started with the just-made tortilla chips and two salsas - 1. three chile - cascabel, morito, guajillo 2. tomatillo with serrano and cilantro.
 |
| chips and two salsas - plus Marisol, the Goose Island beer made especial for Frontera |
I got overly excited and ordered three things. The first was the Jicama Street Snack - julienned jicama, cucumber, pineapple, fresh lime, and fresh guajillo chile. I always wanted to try jicama, but I was a little disappointed with this one. The chile just kind of overwhelmed everything else in the salad.
 |
| Jicama Street Snack |
 |
| Smoked Chicken Tamal |
 |
| Enchilada Potosinas |
 |
| Frontera Chili |
 |
| Queso Fundido |
 |
| Duck Carnitas Quesadillas |
 |
| Pastel de Tres Leches con Cacahuate y Uva |
That night, we decided to go a little less fancy and hit up the Navy Pier for some Chicago-style hot dogs. Again, not trying to hurt anybody's feelings, but I just couldn't go for the full Chicago dog - mustard, relish, onion, tomato, sport peppers, pickle (spear) and celery salt. I don't like mustard or tomatoes, and I figured it just wouldn't be the same thing if I left them off. So I decided to build my own dog - bad choice. It was gross. But Gregory did order the Chicago dog, so I at least got a picture of it.
 |
| Chicago Dog |
We also tried a free sample of the Chicago mix at Garrett's popcorn while we were at the pier - cheddar popcorn mixed with caramel corn. Yum!
On Thursday morning, we had breakfast at Wildberry Pancakes and Cafe. I had the Bliss Berry Crepes - oh my. Sweet crepes filled with wildberry mascarpone, fresh blackberries, strawberries, and blueberries, topped with vanilla cream anglaise and blackberry coulis. Wow. Trevor had the breakfast burrito - chorizo, roasted poblanos, chihuahua cheese, avocado, cilantro, and scrambled eggs - and it was pretty yummy too.
 |
| Bliss Berry Crepes |
 |
| Trev's Breakfast Burrito |
Oh and I conveniently forgot to mention that we passed a chocolate/candy shop on the way to breakfast and I got a milk chocolate mint meltaway, a dark chocolate CarMarsh - layers of caramel and marshmallow, and a dark chocolate raspberry truffle. But in my defense, I only ate one of them before breakfast! Hey, that's what vacation is for, right?
 |
| Fannie May Candies - Dark chocolate CarMarsh on the right |
Alright, well this post is already so long that some people have stopped reading, and I still have so many meals to describe, so I am just going to have to split this into parts. But I will be back soon to make your taste buds water some more!
No comments:
Post a Comment