Monday, December 10, 2012

Old memories: Chicago 2011

From a recent Chicago trip, this triggers an old post I found about a previous Chicago trip. Maybe if I liv in the current year, I could stop posting old memories ;). At least I don't think it's 2000 anymore, just 2010.
Anyways, enjoy!

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During August 19th - 21st, I went on a 'spontaneous' somewhat unplanned, weekend trip with one of my good friend. I felt the need for clarity and answers and obviously the home of deep-dish pizza and Dunkin' Donuts on every corner will suffice to that. Interestingly enough, it's a weekend I will never forget.

Keep in mind, my friend's parents are the traditional Chinese household with questions of "who, what, when, and where" so for me to find out three days before leaving to a city 600 miles away has got me happy like a fat kid got cake (and ice cream with caramel syrup topped with a strawberry and almond).

Day before the trip, fixed my car to ensure we can endure the 1200 total mile trip. Of course, my reliable, off-white Accord could handle two pretty ladies beautifully harmonizing to whatever 90s CD I had. We shipped out despite me getting only three hours of sleep (I always do this whenever I go on a vacation, it's fun to clean before I leave outta state - is that so wrong?!) and off into the East we go.



After 5 hours, we arrived to getting lost for another hour. Our first stop was Mitsuwa Market. Seriously, all we all had to was go straight and turn left. Instead we followed Google' direction of turn left and got to know Algonquin Rd for 10 miles. We arrived at the Marketplace and enjoyed a very satisfying meal (check out the Food Blog), then met another road friend - Golf Rd and ventured at Woodfield Mall.

Oh yeah... remember the lady who I thought was going to key my car? I get paranoid. Who wouldn't?! This lady with black aviators staring straight into my soul. She might as well bring me to the Shadow Games and take my well being! So the car was the next best thing.

After an indecisive shopping trip, we were all pretty quick on getting some dinner. Our host was at home and everyone went out to BBQ chicken. Met their friends from college. Awww how cute! *Ring Ring* that's me five to ten years from now, saying my favorite words to you, "let's date soon!" I don't care if it's been 38473294 years, I will find you and date we shall! We will most likely reminisce about the past and enjoy what is happening now over a cup of tea while eating the best spongecake sprinkled with chocolate shavings and strawberry topping (place TBD/TBF(to be found)).

The day we're sight seeing in Downtown Chicago, there's a gloomy overcast. Did that stop us and break our spirits? Hardly! First thing: FOOD! Cream puffs at Beard Papa's. Best morning meal evar! When we went to the Bean at Millenium Park, it was AWESOME! We didn't have a million people crowd around this shiny food-shape object - instead it was like a mini-photo shoot where we didn't have to rent the area for $096548.

Thankfully we're all in shape and walked around:
- Anthropologie store
- Millenium Park and the Buckingham Fountain
- Epic Burger
- Chicago Cultural Center
- Magnificent Mile
- Marilyn Monroe
- Chinatown (this we took the L-train)

Then... dusk hit~ Welcome to Wicker Park. Come dress for yourself and expect a night of good times! Honestly we had no idea on what to do and looked on yelp.com and ta-da! Found the Violet Hour. Loved it! It got to the point where I was too sleepy and my friend had to drive. Thank freakin' goodness she had a better sense of direction. As soon as we arrived back, I got the strength to walk into the house and KO onto the bed. I highly recommend you come here with the person you can have great conversations and who knows their way around the IL highways.

The next morning, we lazily woke up to an awesome note of 'food is in the fridge' type of thing. But instead we drove out to Le Peep and enjoyed a delicious meal. Also to learn that my phone might have possibly been stuck inside someone's house... But I got it before 1PM - our original time to leave. :)


What did I learn on this trip?
1. I have no sense of direction.
2. We suck at making decisions
3. A good conversation goes a long way
4. Ask directions. Then make sure you understand the directions.
5. Some things are worth waiting for - or getting lost for about an hour
6. MN's old 96.3 is Chicago's 96.3.
7. No pressure and let's take our time
8. MN needs a Mitsuwa Marketplace. C'mon let's get a CHINATOWN AT LEAST!
9. This foreign coin is not a dime = tolls will not accept.
10. It's time to let go, let loose and let the chips fall as they may

These are a lot of obvious learning experiences, but hey, I'm a bit slow and to fully embrace this is difficult for me. With all this adventure - not like I haven't had them before, I found a few random things about myself and my friend that we somewhat tested out. We didn't know what the heck will happen - she could hate me for all that mattered, but everything turned out really fun! The one trip where it felt like a vacation FOR ONCE.

Itinerary:
Friday: Arrived in Arlington Heights, IL
Mitsuwa Market
Woodfield Mall
BBQ Chicken

Saturday:
Downtown Chicago
- Block 37
- Marilyn Monroe
- The place with the Bean
- Buckingham Fountain
- Epic Burger
- Chicago Cultural Center
- Magnificent Mile
Chinatown
Wicker Park

Sunday: Eat at Le Peeps

Check out her Facebook for any picture reference, if you're friends with her :)
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Sunday, December 2, 2012

Old memories: Chicago Food 2011


This is such an old entry.
It was my adventure to Chicago two years ago and loved it!
Nice to reminisce right?
Nancy's Nom-y Adventures


Chicago for the weekend
Yay for food adventures!
Gabutto Burger
Mitsuwa Market
100 E. Algonquin Rd.

Arlington Heights, IL 60005
OPEN almost Everyday: 11am - 7pm
(bit later on weekends)
Phone: 847.472.8855
Right off the bat, I have a bias love for Gabutto Burger. These are Japanese burgers located in the food court at the Mitsuwa Market in Arlington Heights, IL. The burger features an Asian glaze that is definitely different from an American burger - even the weird ones. It's sweet with a touch of "yeah, I'm different, but I'm perfect with this meat!" 

Anyways, what I had was the "curry curry" sandwich - chicken wrapped in a pita with lettuce, tomato, and topped with curry sauce. DE-LIC-OUS! It has a curry taste though not too spicy. It looked healthy, but eating it made it seem like it wasn't. Did I care? Hardly! My friend and I ate in silence as she had her pork burger with the buns made out of RICE! +5 Creative points! 



The fries were normal (think Micky D fries, without the deliciousness) - nothing too special except for the variety of spices you can shower on - ranch, wasabi, original, sour cream & more. Another plus to the meal was the Seagram Ginger Ale. I love love love ginger ale (for once I can drink it outside of airline flights!) and for it to be Seagram (no offense Canada Dry) made my taste buds danced with glee every time I inhaled those bubbles. Can you feel my satisfaction?





Only thing that bothered me was the food tax - 10.75%?! Food robbery right? And the order took about 10-15 minutes and not too many people ordered, but it was well worth the wait.
Overall all, my friend and I were satisfied. It was a good amount of food despite its spendy tax rate. I highly recommend you try this place and its awesome diversity of burgers.
9/10 noms
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re Leaf
Mitsuwa Market
100 E. Algonquin Rd.
Arlington Heights, IL 60005


Most bias entry about food ever.
I LOVE green tea soft serve ice cream.
It is sweeter than the average ice cream, but it's SO GOOD! Think green tea cake sprinkled with sugar. I would think it's because my body lack sugar, but I have eaten here on numerous occasions and LOVE LOVE LOVE it.

My dream:
To own a soft serve ice cream machine

Oh yeah. It's love!
My friend had the mango ice cream with green tea smoothie and that was an interesting mix. It was very sweet (mango ice cream) mixed with a sweet green tea smoothie mix. If you're not adventurous and a sugar lover, would not recommend this for you. Also it's cash only so don't max your credit cards on this!

Overall, if you love sweets and matcha (green tea). This is the place for you. A lot of love for the matcha parfait - which I have YET to try! There may be other delicious green tea soft serve places, but I'll stick with this.
10/10 noms
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BBQ Chicken


932 West Algonguin Road

Arlington Heights, IL 600005

Open: Mon-Sat 11:30am-11:30pm

Phone: (847)557-7272

Move over KFC, I found a new love for fried chicken & it's with olive oil and totally out of the norm flavors! Right in Arlington Heights, IL, BBQ chicken doesn't mean bar-be-que chicken, instead it's Best of the Best Quality chicken... CLEVER right?!






We came in, got seated with a smile. The lady was super friendly and patient. When we saw the menu, my friend and I couldn't decide what to eat. A common dilemma if you're a foodie. But going with our guts, we picked the garlic chicken. Food came out in a timely manner and we prepared to dig in!

The garlic chicken was taaaaastyyyyyyy! Crunch, munch, and more crunch! Its crispy outsides was flakey and delicious! That hint of garlic and a juicy pieces got me going Mmm Mmm CHICKEN! I recommend this from the usual Church's, KFC, Popeye's, etc because they have all sorts of other flavors to try out.!
8/10 noms
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     Beard Papa's Cream Puffs_
108 N State St
(between Washington St & Court Pl)
Chicago, IL 60602

Love their cream puffs! It's located in some kind of mall thing... with several floors to stores such as Zara, Anthropologie, Akira, and more. But point aside, we rushed into this delicious hut and ordered a 6 pack of puffs - saved $2 w00t! The total was about $13 for 6 puffs. You can upgrade to buying a dozen and save a few more dollars. Not bad... it's about $3 for a puff, but it's perfectly filling (for a normal person...).


They had various fillings and types of puff pastries. The cream is ACTUALLY creamy. Not entirely like pudding thick mixture, but PUFFY AND WITH SUBSTANCE! They had flavors such as strawberry and cream (my FAVE) and green tea (it varies) also vanilla, chocolate and ice cream (for $1.50 extra). Different shells include eclairs, doughnuts, and regular shells (with or without chocolate cover or cookie cover). The choices are endless! (not really... I'm not gonna figure out the math combination for this). I absolutely adore the strawberry cream because there was actual strawberries in the cream! Please try it if you are a strawberry lover. 



Definitely an enjoyable treat. If you feel like you want someone to give you a high five, get a puff today! It will not only give you a high five, but hug and tell you, "You are the best so you deserve the best".

10/10 noms
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Epic Burger 


517 South State Street Chicago, IL 60605 
Phone: 312-913-1373 
M - Th: 11A - 10P 
F - Sa: 11A - 11P 
Su: 11A - 9P
Yes, "Epic" is a pert bold term to use and I gotta say their burgers were an epic win! I got an egg with my order - no tomato. I could have had a turkey, portabella (veggie), or chicken burger - it's hitting a diverse audience at least. The fries were the cut with the size bigger than BK's - anyone had fries from Annie's Parlour-dinkytown? Yeah it's like that! And tasty! Runs a tad bit expensive for some burgers, but I'd say it's normal in Chicago. It was pretty fulfilling so becareful  to not hit a food coma!

The Milk and Honey shake is pretty ... interesting... It was drinking milk... and honey with nut pieces. If I was a cow, I'd say that's delicious - I don't mean it as an insult. It's still somewhat good, but not for my taste. I preferred their thick heaven-like smoothie. Creamy and constant fruit seeds in every sip. It seems healthy considering they use fruit pieces, but it was amplified by a lot of sugary goodness. I could eat the thing with a spoon.

This is the place to stop by for lunch or a bite to eat before adventuring out to the Magnificent Mile. If you happen to pass by its many locations, stop by! It doesn't hurt to try a different burger.


Random note: Organic Ketchup. Who knew it existed?!
7.5/10 noms
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Saint Alps
2131 S Archer Ave
Chicago, IL 60686
A little known bubble tea place located in Chinatown - right across from the zodiac statues. A friend recommended we try this place - comparable to Joy Yee's bubble tea since all his friends liked it. Excited, we looked through their interesting list of bubble teas such as 'frothy tea with pearls, coffee with pearls, matcha, and more' though a lot of them sold-out.
I was in a green tea mood so I ordered green tea with milk and pearls priced at around $4.85 for a large with pearls. Normal price right? And a taste of my cold treat made it worth it to take the L-Train for 25 minutes to get this drink of goodness! My only problem was that they needed a bigger size. It is quite tasty. The pearls were a little smaller than the usual Tea Garden ones, BUT they definitely added some flavoring in the bubbles!
I wished they had a shake of green tea, but it was all out (MATCHA WAS ALL OUT T_T). Other than that, I still have yet to try the jellies, other flavors, and everything!

This is the kinda place you can relax with your friends and great for groups. We went on a Sunday afternoon and it was very chill. Though it sucks that card charges are for $10+ otherwise, it's cash. I recommend you come here every time you're in Chicago Chinatown!
8/10 noms
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Violet Hour
1520 Damen St.
Chicago, Illinois 60622
Sunday - Friday: 6pm - 2am
Saturday: 6pm - 3am 

I arrived here with my friend and we were curious to see what made this place have 900+ reviews with 4 stars from yelp.com. We drove past the place since it was just a pink wall with a black painting on it & a line of people. Okay? It's just a wall and people waiting, we'll see if it's worth it. After parking and walking around for about 20 minutes, we still find that there's a line to this place. Conformed? Yes. We waited in line... patiently waited... looking at this wall with barely a door (c'mon it's blended in the wall! not even a door handle) on it. But people of all sorts - bachelorettes, couples, single folks still waited.
 Hello wall. You're awfully pink! Stop being so shy!
Finally after about 15 minutes of waiting and uttering "This place better be worth it!" we were let into the place. Hoorah! Luckily with the two of us there, we were seated immediately. Take into consideration that there was ALSO a line inside this wall. We would have still waited because it was worth it!

The kind gentleman seated us at the bar. The whole place screamed "elegance" without any screaming. Calm music plays in the background. Candle lit. Sophisication was in the air. Could it be any classier? We were in awe and disbelief that a wall had hid such a gem! As we sat down, the bartender gave us the menu. $12 for cocktails with categories from Tequilia, Rum, and more. There wasn't much for food, but we were curious to try a drink. Mine was "Rhymes with Orange". It was a good drink despite its hefty price tag.





We had such a wonderful time talking and laughing, that we found amusement in our snobby but friendly bartender. He knew his stuff though. Actually tried the drink, added whatever was needed to make it taste good and even had the right kind of ice! I had a sphere of ice and my friend had this rectangular ice and it retained its ever still form down to the last sip.



In the end, it was worth the wait. I had to have some faith that the place was good and I'm glad we stuck with our guts. I highly recommend you come here. It's the dream lounge you see in the movies except this is real and you can make it happen!

9/10 noms
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Blue Line Cafe


1548 North Damen

Chicago, Illinois 60622
 M - Th: 5P - 2A
F: 11A - 2A
Sa: 9A - 3A
Su: 9A - 2A




Along Damen St, located near Wicker Park, was this Cafe with an outside sign stating, "Kitchen open till 1AM" - awesome considering most kitchens closes at 11PM in MN. After our adventures at Violet Hour, it was most appropriate to find food.



In the moment of quick decisions, I ordered the reuben sandwich with garlic fries. Can't go wrong with a reuben right? Good choice! The toast was a little crisp for my taste, but it meshed well with the creamy insides of the prime rib and coleslaw.

Right from their menu:
"Slow roasted Prime Rib topped with pepper jack cheese, coleslaw and an ancho-chipotle mayo on grilled marbled rye. 9"
(as a note, it is a FULL sandwich - at least I remember to take a picture)
It's pretty normal for a reuben. I love the touch of coleslaw and ancho-chipotle mayo! Yum! The fries were garlicy and worked well with the sandwich, like a leaf to a tree.The service is so kind and sweet. Felt like Minnesota. When we left, the bartender and waitress told us to have a good night and come back again. And really with service and courtesy like that, I will be back when I have another Wicker Park adventure!
7/10 noms 
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Le Peep


 10 E. Northwest Hwy.
Mt Prospect, IL 60056
Phone: 847-797-9990


Let's take a walk to a place, where we can sit down and slow down time. Le Peep gives me that hometown feel of a nostalgic breakfast restaurant that the family would go to every Sunday. My friend and I were quickly greeted with prompt service and a smile (YAY :D)
My friend picked some delicious choices for a Sunday feast brunch - it's like she looked at the menu and knew! The ever smiley waiter greeted us at a good time and even suggested something to drink.
Waiter: Hello ladies! What can I get you to drink? Start off with some coffee or strawberry orange jui-
Me: YES! I'll take that!
Waiter: What size? Small or large?
Me: (large large large large!) oh.... how big are each of them?
Waiter: A small is the size of the water cups and the large is twice that size
Me: (A large is too small! T_T) I'll take the large!


The Strawberry OJ was simply YUM! It had the strawberry seed thing giving it the texture of "this is a healthy drink" ! A bit steep for $4 a cup, but my goodness, it was yummy! You know how people splurge on clothes ONCE-IN-A-WHILE? Do that to this OJ!

After ordering our food, everything quickly arrived in about 10 minutes or so and thus the start of a silent brunch. Yes, the food was so good, our tongue danced with the mixed flavor of spinich, gouda and crepe, while saving room for a stuffed french toast - cheesecake filled!
I love their service! It's always a nice gesture for the manager to ask how our meal is... but the best part was that the manager actually cleared our plates from the table for us! Who said managers are there to look pretty and 'supervise'?! This one knows how to run a business considering the staff seems to work fabulously like a family and service was just so quick and pleasant. I felt like the waiter wasn't injected with a forcibly happy botox serum for once and they seem geninuely smiley. 

I couldn't love anything better than great service and food! Highly recommend you nom into this. So much more on the menu... too bad we couldn't order it all.
8/10 noms

 XOXO


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