Y’all wanted food, so here’s food! I wanted to wait a bit before posting another list (anyone want to tell me why 80% of my first few posts are lists), but don’t worry, a food favorites list is coming soon! Meanwhile, here’s some food highlights of my trip to Chicago during the summer of last year. I thought it was pretty fun to look back on the trip and reminisce about the times when going on planes was a fun excursion. Although short, this trip was one of the best that I’ve been on, and it was nice to explore a new city. It took a heck of a lot of brain power to remember all the things I ate (I only took pictures of the desserts HAH), but no more dawdling: here’s the food!
Disclaimer: there is no pizza in this post. My sincerest apologies.
August 30 - Dinner
A picture I told while walking along the river after dinner. If you learn anything from this post, it's that my camera roll only consists of landscapes + dessert.
Our first night in Chicago, we went to Shaw’s Crab House (the name says it all). I don’t remember exactly what we ordered (this will be a common theme for this post), but given that this is a seafood restaurant, this is a probable order of events: we got crab cakes and calamari to start; my dad ordered clam chowder; my parents split a seafood platter; my siblings and I got our respective seafood. I’m looking at the family picture we took there, and I’m seeing lobster tails and soft shell crab. I do remember liking the food, though. Oh, and you best believe we got some good freaking bread here. There was also this weird crunchy cracker thing which was interesting? But not bad. Also, since we were celebrating a birthday, we got two very delicious slices of cake! Actually, one slice was chocolate cake, and one slice was pie (I think).
August 31 - Breakfast
This morning, we just had standard hotel breakfast. My hotel brekkie essentials: potatoes and bagel + cream cheese. Always. We walked around the city a bit and then went to Stan’s Donuts and Coffee! On the left is What’s Black and White and Red All Over, a (veryyyy sweet) red velvet and Oreo cake donut, and on the right is Toffee Cake (another cake donut). Not pictured is a cinnamon sugar cake donut. Pretty good donuts; my choice was just a bit too sweet for my taste. I’m going to be straight up here though, cake donuts > fried donuts. If you’ve been to Duck Donuts before, you know what I’m talking about (please try the maple bacon donuts: they’re heaven).
August 31 - Lunch
For lunch, we went to LYFE Kitchen, which is a casual place that serves pretty healthy food (their name stands for Love Your Food Everyday, which is mad cute). I honestly have no recollection of what I got, but I know my whole family liked our food. Looking at their menu, here’s me trying to remember what everyone got: Thai Tofu Bowl (my mom?), Roasted Salmon & Ancient Grains Bowl (my dad?), Chicken Cashew Penne Bowl (my sister?), Turkey Havarti & Avo Sandwich (me?), and Soba Bowl (not on their online menu, but I feel like my brother got this).
August 31 - Dinner
More river views! We went on one of the boats in the bottom left corner for an architecture tour and I fell asleep OOPS. 50 before 50 cover pic was taken from that boat!
We got dinner with a friend at Sofi Restaurant, which is an Italian place. The bread here is top notch. I got pappardelle with duck, which I thought was pretty good. Our friend got pappardelle with short ribs, my sister got the Trofie Pesto, and my brother got the Maine Lobster Ravioli. For dessert, we got a little bit of ice cream.
September 1 - Breakfast
My favorite kind of bean: giant reflective metal ones!
Hotel brekkie!
September 1 - Lunch
UChicago campus! Man, imagine getting in here.
We originally wanted to get dim sum in Chinatown, but didn’t want to wait an hour, so instead we went to this other restaurant that I don’t remember and neither does my mom, so sorry? But, uh, good food if I do recall.
Update: my brother did some very impressive Google maps sleuthing and figured out that we went to Ken Kee Restaurant Hong Kong (not actually in Hong Kong)!
September 1 - Snack
After lunch, we went to walk around the UChicago campus (pictured in lunch section) and got some coffee at Plein Air Cafe & Eatery. Really cute cafe! I don’t like coffee, so I can’t really tell you anything else. After coffee, we went to 57th Street Books, which was one of the best parts of the trip; I think we spent at least an hour there, and it was like a bookish maze and all of the dreams I didn’t even know I had came true.
September 1 - Dinner
I have no clue what this body of water is.
Dinner for today was Mercadito, a Mexican restaurant! My parents went out to eat on their own, so my siblings and I decided to eat here since it was close to our hotel. I believe my sister and I shared some tacos (might’ve been pollo), which were alright. I also may not may not have died from spice overload (my weak taste buds are crying).
September 1 - Dessert
After dinner, my siblings and I walked for a hot minute over to Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams and proceeded to wait in the mile-long line out the door for our dessert. Well worth the wait, people. Their seating area was the cutest thing ever, and the whole place smelled like waffle cones. I got two scoops: the left is Gooey Butter Cake and the right is Salted Peanut Butter with Chocolate Flecks. MAN was this ice cream good. Would go back. FYI, the picture in the middle is true: you can’t buy me love but you can buy me ice cream (mint chip please). Also, if you live near me, WE HAVE A JENI’S WITHIN DRIVING DISTANCE LET’S ALL GO TOGETHER.
Thanks for reading everyone, and hope you enjoyed it!
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