November 7th weekend the hubs and I headed to Chicago for a quick 2 day trip. Why were we in Chicago?! We are always up for visiting new cities and embarking on new adventures so a few months ago when I got an airline email promoting $30 one way fares I scoped out what cities were on the list. Chicago ended up being the winner- and when I told people they were like it’s going to be so cold there but FYI the weather was a perfect 55-60 degrees- bright and sunny! So don’t let that stop you from taking advantage of good air fare deals.
Linking up for WIAW
Anyways we left Saturday evening and arrived in time for a late dinner- obviously when in Chicago you go deep dish! We walked from our airbnb to Lou Malnati’s. IT WAS SO DELICIOUS! Pat really wanted the Lou Malnati’s Classic (Made with Lou’s lean sausage, some extra cheese and vine-ripened tomato sauce on Buttercrust) so I agreed to eat the sausage pizza even though I don’t like sausage. Well I did on that pizza- it was seriously the best pizza I’ve ever had. We talked about either ordering the deep dish cookie dessert to share or walking over to a bar and grabbing a drink- cookie won and my only regret was not getting the large instead of the small.
Sunday morning we were up bright and early, thanks central time zone, so we relaxed for awhile before brunching at Yolk. I had a few people recommend Yolk and there was a branch walking distance from us, perfect. I got Caprese Benedict, Pat got sweet potato hash, and we split 1 piece of Red Velvet French Toast. My benedict was mediocre but that French toast was amazing.
After brunch we headed up to Wrigleyville to check out the stadium and local scene. The hubs was smart and sweet enough prior to our trip to locate a Steelers bar for me to watch my game in- Dark Horse. It was a pretty standard bar but cool to be surrounded by Steelers fans and having the fight songs played after touchtowns.
After a Steelers victory we ubered to Revolution Brewing which was a pretty sweet brewery with lots of awesome beers. But by then we were starving since we didn’t really eat lunch… so we went to check another food destination off our list- Kumas Burgers. This was an interesting scene and very smokey small room from the grill. Regardless- the burger was fantastic…. the restaurant had been on Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives, as well as a few other TV shows for having delicious burgers and it totally lived up to the hype. We split the Goatsnake burger which had herbed goat cheese, poblano corn relish, Cholula lemon vinaigrette, and buttermilk breaded frizzled onions. I know youre thinking- where are the vegetables today Jess!? And you’re right- it was not my healthiest day of eating but it was delicious and believe me when I say I paid for it later and would be incorporating healthier meals into our last day.
Monday morning we woke up early again but ate yogurt at the airbnb and got all packed up before venturing deep into the city. We checked out the infamous Bean which was extra cool because we were practically the only ones there. We walked around Millenium Park until I became hangry. Yogurt is just not enough food for me in the morning so around 9:30am we stopped at a Pret A. Manger for a delicious salad with greens, salmon, edamame, cabbage, and avocado. Perfection. I wish we had some of those in Philly.
Afterwards we were on to our next tourist stop- the Willis Tower. We were unsure if we wanted to spend $20 a person to ride an elevator but we caved and it was worth it! So many cool pictures and amazing views. The best part was the glass ledge built for tourists to take pictures on. Not going to lie- it was pretty scary if you looked down and are a baby like myself. Learning about the building was interesting too- just blows me away how big it is!
We stopped for a real lunch- a tiny deep dish pizza with salad (yay greens!) to split at Giordano’s. It wasn’t as good as Lou’s but to be fair it was premade. No time for freshly made when we had a architectural boat tour to catch. This was another must do people told me to check out while in the Windy City. It was a 90 minute boat cruise through the city talking about the buildings. It was interesting- for the first 45-60 minutes… then I got a little chilly and it wasn’t my favorite thing. But I do think it’s something unique to do in the area so I’m glad we did it.
After the tour we needed to head back to the airbnb to gather our belongings before an early dinner and evening flight. Of course we had to check out The Girl and the Goat. Probably the most famous restaurant in Chicago, its also another Top Chef winner and being the foodies we are we knew it was a must. We were lucky enough to get the table overlooking the kitchen/prep line so we had a front row view of everything they were making for us! This was really cool and since they weren’t too busy yet some of the staff even talked with us. We drafted (aka taking turns picking what we want) small plates to order… Pat chose goat Carpaccio and pig head while I stuck with sweet potato empanadas, escargot dumplings, and we agreed on the fifth to be calamari bruschetta. SO. MUCH. FOOD. Four plates would’ve been more than enough…. But we get over ambitious. I’m disappointed to say that Girl and the Goat didn’t live up to my super high expectations. It was good but nothing absolutely blew me away 🙁 Maybe we ordered wrong or maybe its overhyped. Oh well, it was still a good meal.
We took off for the airport after dinner for our evening flight. Got back to Philly after midnight, but it was a great and fun filled quick trip! Ever been to Chicago? Favorite thing to do or eat!?!
