I went to Chicago for a much needed visit. 
My friend's baby, Amara, is almost a teenager! She's 2... But she talks in full sentences. Like, "Can I hold you?" When she wants you to hold her. Too presh.
I had a list of people to visit and I'd like to say, I did pretty well for my short visit. I got there by noon (Emily said if I didn't, she'd murder me) after leaving DSM at 6:30 am. We had lunch and headed to our fav thrift store, Unique. When we got back we waited for Andy (Emily's husband) and Aunt Feather (the 3rd of our Three Musketeers) and ordered burritos as large as our heads.
We ordered 3 for the 4 of us, and ended up eating about 1...
On Tuesday I had plans for breakfast with Kelly, but she slept through her alarm, so I got my eyebrows waxed on the cheep at my favorite Chicago nail salon. My flesh colored eyebrows were so unruly that the lady gave me a super discount, gave me a card and told me to come back in 3 weeks. Thanks lady!
So I headed to Longman and Eagle, a trendy up-and-coming place in Logan Square with my friend Kaysie, where Kelly (her sister and my aforementioned breakfast date) came for a drink.
Longman and Eagle had a great feel and a full page of whiskey on their drink menu, but I had a few quams.
1. The tables were so close together that my ample rear end knocked over the hot sauce on the next table.
2. My chicken wasn't quite done, and the Chicago food scene is so pretentious I didn't want to say anything for fear that I just always overcook Chicken... After I left I came to my senses and realized a "rare" drumstick isn't ever trendy. Needless to say I didn't eat much of it.
3. The place was 1/2 empty and the lady wouldn't seat us because Kelly wasn't there yet, even though she had just jumped in the shower and wasn't going to be there for a while... I told the waitress Kelly ditched so she finally seated us, and then she looked annoyed when Kelly plopped down an hour later at the (empty) table next to us...
The things I LOVED about this place
1. The amaretto stone sour wasn't overly acidic, and it was perfect with an egg white.
2. The Gin Fizz I had changed my life
3. The soap in the ladies room smelled intoxicatingly pepperminty.
After lunch Kaysie and I stopped for some coffee at the Worm Hole, a super hipstery coffee shop in Wicker Park, and I dropped her off downtown at work.
I headed back to Wicker Park and hit all my favorite thrift stores and stumbled on some great finds. A few of my favorite shops were gone. :( But there were some new surprises that I would have checked out had I not been on a gently-used mission.
I met Emily, Heather and Andy back at home base and went to Caponies for yummy pizza. Em had a Groupon, and we chatted about the coupon mogul over dinner because miss Heather just got a full time job there after temping for months! woot! Ah 9-5 Mon-Fri... How I miss you...
After dinner I met up with Kaysie, Kelly, HapNerd, Joel (awesome friend from England who was in Chicago for a wedding and convinced me to visit while he was visiting) and some new friends
at... You guessed it... Longman and Eagle.
Wild Turkey Honey and fancy desserts welcomed me back to Chicago night life.
At midnight Kelly and her crew ditched out and Kaysie, Joel and I went to a few late night bars, one of which had applique pictures on the walls.
It was fun to see everyone in Chicago, and I was reminded why I loved living there. It also inspired me to make more of this CITY I live in right now! I can go to trendy dinner spots and drink Whiskey with the best of them, right here in Des Moines
From Yelp:
ReplyDeleteMoving next to my mother's choice, Fried Chicken, Waffles, Sweet Potato & Pork Belly Hash, Vermont Maple Syrup - let's just say the waffle was good and the hash was great while the chicken was...well...even a bit too undercooked for my tastes and damned near raw compared to my mother's preferences. Beginning first with the waffle - thicker than generally served with chicken but fluffy and full of yeasty vanilla tones that went great with the syrup. Next up, the hash - smoky and sweet, a touch of nutmeg and perfectly prepared. Finally, the chicken - great coating and crunch, but pink flesh and skin so fatty that it was actually wet - a disappointment that my mother (who "doesn't like to make a scene") refused to mention, but stated just last week was some of the worst fried chicken she has ever eaten.
I was right that they intended to cook it that way, and also right that it was gross.