Chicago Chicago one heck of an eating town!

Boyfriend, his sister and I decided to head down to Chicago on New Year's Day to see some of his family. 


I was very prepared to also explore some eateries down in Chi-town, too. We ended up at four awesome places during our day-and-a-half stay. We even did the family get together and eat thing! Which is one of my favorite activities!


We had a fantastic meal at a Mexican place in the Pilsen neighborhood. I can't remember the name of it, and I should have written it down (Bad blogger Abby!) I had tacos al pastor (pork cooked with onions and spices - not for the kosher). I have had plenty of tacos from a variety of small, locally-owned restaurants, but these were ah-mazing. I think the combination of pork, spices, salsa and a little cilantro made these into my top three taco experiences.


After some catching up with cousin #1 at her house and a quick nap we headed out for some libations at one of her favorite little bars The Skylark (www.skylarkchicago.com). The drinks were reasonalby priced, as was the food - I had a big plate of mussels for only $8, BF had a proscuitto sandwich, and his sister had grilled calamari. This was not your typical bar food - although we did start our meal with tater tots. The specials at The Skylark are put together by their chef and I was very sad I didn't have enough room in my tummy, time, or money to eat my way through their whole special board.


For breakfast the next morning, we dined at Cafe Jumping Bean (cafejumpingbean.org). Best. Mexican. Hot. Chocolate. Ever. I had an everything bagel, Boyfriend had a delish focacia turkey sammie.

For that day's activity, boyfriend, his sis, and I went to the Garfield Park Conservatory, the second largest conservatory in the United States. Even though it got hit by a major hail storm in the spring and two of the rooms were completely closed, there were still loads of things to see. There was an entire room of ferns. Need I say more? No. I don’t. This isn’t a fern blog. Its a food blog. I’ll move on.

From Garfield Park we went to Fat Duck (www.duckfatgrill.com), a Tavern and Grill in Forest Park. We met other cousins of boyfriend (and his sister), and had a fabulous meal. I had the burger. Brie, bacon, and some of the best cooked ground beef EVERR! And of course fries, because its a natural combination. Fat duck has its name for a reason. It fries its potatoes in duck fat, which, according to the menu has low saturated fat and isn’t as bad as you would think. Also, those fries were DELICIOUS! They came with three dipping sauces: a really great pesto-y sauce, a horseradish aioli type sauce and a chipotle ketchup. All three were fabulous, but the pesto one was my favorite.

So, now we’re back from Chicago (and we’ve been back for awhile, its taken me a bit to post this) and I look forward to more trips. But I will be eating around Lansing in the near future, too, so stay tuned!