pass the dressing

I’ve just returned from an amazing weekend in what probably is the only other American city I could live.

CHICAGO!

Ant had a medical conference and I tagged along.  And because it’s us, you know there are a lot of pictures, specifically selfies.

After a majorly delayed flight, an unexpected layover in Cincinnati (thanks Delta for introducing me to Doubletree Cincinnati Airport), and a 4:30 AM wakeup call, I made it to the Windy City on Saturday morning.  The best thing about the whole debacle was seeing the Forever Heather store at CVG.  Of course, it was closed.

Chicago Eats:

I have a few friends out mid-West and apparently they hate my diet plans.

First up was a lovely dinner with Vic and her roomie at the famous Little Goat on Randolph.  The area is so cute and there was an awesome food fest going on at the same time.  Little Goat is owned by Stephanie Izard of Top Chef fame.  It’s comfort food with a focus on interesting meats and high quality ingredients.  I had the kilgus goat patty melt and the French Intervention, which was a really good spicy margarita.  We split fries.

Later in the weekend, I met up with JA for Chicago’s Greek version of Chipotle at Covo.  This place is awesome and I told one of the staff that they need to open an NYC outpost.  I ordered the Lamb/Beef salad with a variety of toppings and had two glasses of wine.

Ant and I also got fat together had some great meals too.  We headed back to Randolph in search of brunch during one of his breaks.  We didn’t have any specific restaurant in mind, but I ran into a law school buddy eating at Little Goat.  She suggested Nellcôte.  Thanks Pascale!  What a gem.

Nellcôte is such a gorgeous space.  We dined al fresco, but the interior is simply stunning.  The staff was fantastic and friendly as well.  Food, unfortunately, was just fine.  I ordered the trout salad (trout was out and they subbed smoked salmon) and thought it was tasty, but not uber impressive.  Ant had egg whites and what could be impressive about egg whites?  I don’t fault the chef; I just think we ordered boring dishes.  Next time I am back in Chicago, I  will definitely be back to try more complicated dishes.  I drank We split a bottle of Cremant and Anthony told me he would never day drink with me again.

We also met up with some of Ant’s colleagues for a late dinner at Catch 35.  Honestly, it was a glorified Red Lobster.  My shrimp cocktail was chewy and lacked flavor.  And the risotto bed that held my scallops was just plain bad.  Womp.  Sorry but not recommended.

After that dinner, we headed back to our hotel and made a beeline for the Big Bar, the Hyatt’s hotel bar that serves “BIG” drinks aka fishbowls.  Classy.  I skipped and instead had 3 spicy margs.  I probably should just have had the Big Gulp.

Breakfast was also had at Wildberry near Millennium Park.  The cinnamon roll pancakes were real deal.

Finally, the Internets helped me find some fun food haunts.  Fab lady Sierra told me that Do-Rite Donuts were a must.  I picked up a Cinnamon Crunch, an Old-Fashioned, and a Double Chocolate for Ant and I to share.  He tried to reject them, but his inner fatboy came out.  My fave was the cinnamon.  Chocolate was-gasp-too damn much.

I also got a Chowhound rec for Coco Pazza Cafe.  Again, however, the pattern of awesome service and mediocre food continued.  My beet salad was overdressed and the beets were overcooked.  I also ordered an appetizer portion of lasagna, which was inconsistently flavored.  Like some bites were good and some were not.  Odd.

Chicago Style:

I fancied myself pretty fashionable on my trip.  Daisy at the Threading Station gave me a great blowout before I left because I didn’t want to carry product and check my bag (my hair routine is intense).  That mess stayed and got even better with time throughout the entire trip!

For my ‘fits, I chose a neutral color palette of black, navy, white, and tan so that I could easily alternate (and therefore bring less) jewelry and footwear.

My desire to travel light didn’t stop me from stopping into Nordstrom Rack and picking up a few essentials (insert sarcasm), including expensive, but amazing Tod’s sunglasses (this goes against my very being because I lose/break sunglasses all the time), a Tibi shift, Pedro Garcia wedges, and a few delicates.

Chicago Sights:

I didn’t do too much tourist stuff this time around, but we did make it over to Millennium Park for a few pics.

I also visited the most beautiful Walgreens ever!  Not necessarily a Chicago must do, but you should probably check it out.  They have a wine, cheese, and humidor section.  It was so clean and organized and huge!  Wowzers!

The rest of my snaps are just from wandering around town.  Fun times.

Shoutouts to my awesome friends (Vic, JA, Pascale) for taking time out of their busy schedules to see me/point me in the right direction.  Thank you to JA for inspiring me a bit to just do it.  And for making me realize that I have been writing this blog for nearly 9 months and am still a fatty.  I need to get moving (in so many ways)!  Thanks to Ant for including me on this fun weekend.  I know you are going to do great things.

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What is your favorite U.S. city to visit?  Would you ever move there?  Why or why not?