Chicago was my kind of town, plus you know Oprah! (♥)

My travel friend (peg-leg twin!) and I selected a new city to visit for this year’s Spring trip. Seemingly random maybe, but we wanted a place full of life, culture, sights, and noteworthy food ~ nom, nom, nom! And Chicago, that windy city on the shores of Lake Michigan, more than fit the bill.
We had a great trip, ate amazing food, saw beautiful sights, explored awesome places, and even learned a thing or two about the infamous gangster history of this sweet City.

Scroll on down to check out some of my favorite sights and highlights of the trip – ♥

~ The City ~

~ The view from inside the Hancock Building ~
You can see Navy Pier and the Michigan Lake shore – oooh, ahhh!

The Riverwalk, we took some time out to sit and take in the view. You know, with drinks.

The sun shining on Lake Michigan – view from Navy Pier – so pretty!

We stopped by Second City for some laughs…

~ Crain Communications Building ~
Better known as that building in Adventures of Babysitting – yass!


City Pretties ♥

~ The Sights ~ 

The Untouchable Tour – where we learned about the gangster history of Chicago, was a lot of fun! (Especially when being fired at by gangsters!)

The John Hancock Building – oh yeah, we went up – (scary ass elevator ride!)


Awesome sculpture tucked into so many corners of this city – so cool! (Click ’em)

~ Inside the Chicago Cultural Center ~
We added to the paper chain, attaching a note explaining what respect means to us ♥

~ The Navy Pier ~
Ms. M rode the Ferris Wheel, and I thought about it…Lol
Yeah we did the Amazing Funhouse Maze – what of it? It was pretty fun!
And, my NAME! (La Concina means ‘the kitchen’ – so, Alicia’s Kitchen I guess?)

~ Millennium Park ~
The Jay Pritzker Pavilion – by Frank Gehry (I studied him in school, yay!)
Day and night at Cloud Gate – a.k.a. The Bean
Crown Fountain – by Jaume Plensa, shows off some of Chicago’s citizens

What trip would be complete without a visit to this famous candy store?
Plus I learned what Lady O’s favorite candy is (not my favorite, boo!)

~ The Food ~

Now about pictures of food, look, I know they’ve been done – to death. And I certainly do not consider myself anything resembling one of those lovable, Instagraming, hipster foodies, but – but! One of the reasons we picked Chicago is because of the fantastic selection of foods (and pizza), and we wanted to eat it! So now that you understand, please enjoy these pictures of the some of the best meals we had in Chicago :::drools:::

Eleven City ~ so good, we ate here twice!

Carnivale ~ We found this place on a whim as we actually had reservations at another place for first night. Best switcheroo ever! And I totally can’t believe I forgot to take pictures of the food because this was hands down, my favorite meal of the trip. For starters we got the Smoked Trout Dip (holy sh*t, amaze-balls!), and the Baked Goat Cheese (no words for that amazingness). For our Entrees, Ms. M. got the Vegetarian Tacu Tacu, which was a lentil rice cake, green pea curry, and more. She loved it! I got the Nicaraguan-style churrasco, with valdeon blue cheese chimichurri. Insane.
The drinks there were fantastic, the decor perfect, and we even had some lovely ladies dancing for us as entertainment. I highly recommend this place – five stars fo’ sho’.

We ate breakfast here…twice. There was a wait both days, which is understandable, the food is legit for reals…

Had to do the famous Chicago dog and cheese fries at Portillo’s – I loved it!

 

We did dinner the second night at ’ema’ – a small plates dining experience. I think we got six little dishes, and it was a lot of food, but wow! 
We got the Avocado & Sweet Pea spread, Ms. M. got the Local Feta and Olives cold mezze – I tried the feta, it was beyond. Let’s see, we also got the Crispy Potatoes, Pan-Roasted Romanesque Cauliflower – cooked in honey, what?! – the Green Falafel, and Brussels Sprouts – in a sherry glaze. We ate well, very well. 😉

Last, but of course not least, we got our deep dish pizza on at Giordano’s – with some cheese wedges, and fresh bruschetta with warm mozzarella.

 

Well, that was Chicago in as brief a nutshell as I could get it. What a wonderful City. There are places I leave and think to myself, “Well, been here, done this, no need to ever come back. I didn’t leave Chicago feeling this way. I left wanting more – and that is cool. And I tell you what, for a big city – the people here were the NICEST people ever, seriously. I just wish Lady O still lived there – so I could have spent some time breathing in her essence. That sounds kinda creepy huh? Oh well, I mean it with love (I LOVE you Oprah!) That is all…
Thanks for checking out my post ♥

-xo