Windy City Vibes

When I visit a city, I often times want to go where the locals go and other times I feel the need to play the role of the tourist. Often times I find myself doing a little bit of both. That is just what I did in The Windy City.

The Arrival

Earlier this month, I took a trip back to Chicago. Although there for an annual conference (yes, another work trip), I had a little bit of free time to explore the city. They put us up at the Hilton Chicago which is across the street from Grant Park. This had us in a great location to get some obligatory tourist photos and check out some good eats.

I landed at Chicago Midway and remembered I had a few hours until my first event. My first order of business was to check into my room (duh! don’t want to haul bags everywhere) and check out Sawada Coffee. This place was recommended by Droolius and OdessaElaine (2 fellow ATL based traveling foodies) so it was top of my list.

I snagged a Lyft and made my way the 2 miles to Sawada Coffee off of N. Green Street. Just based on the ride through that area alone I could tell that this area had plenty of gems worth checking out. Not knowing what to expect walking into this industrial coffee shop, it turned out to be just my vibe!

To make what will be a long blog post not so long, Sawada is the first coffee shop in the U.S. by Hiroshi Sawada. It shares a large space with Green Street Smoked Meats. A bar lives in the middle of the space and there plenty of open seating. I ordered a matcha latte (which was delightful), sat down and jammed to the Erykah Badu tunes they were playing. Like I said… just my vibe. I could definitely see why this place is popular.

Touristy Things

I mentioned our hotel was across the Street from Grant Park. This is just a hop, skip and a jump away from Millenium Park, home of Gloud Gate aka The Bean. Naturally, I wanted to get an Instagrammable photo in front of this iconic Chicago sculpture. It was a Thursday morning so I was hoping there wouldn’t be much of a crowd. I was right- lucky me!

After taking a bunch of pictures, my colleague and I had the bright idea to visit the Skydeck Ledge at Willis Tower. I don’t know what we were thinking. I mean we are both afraid of heights. Actually she is afraid of heights, I think I have a fear of falling. That’s besides the point. The point is this was probably the worst idea we could have had.

When you get to the Willis Tower it is a quick 60 second elevator ride up to the 103rd floor. The views of the city and the lake were beautiful. You could see out of the windows at every angle walking towards The Ledge. I thought, “This won’t be so bad. We can do this.”

We stood in line and watched people of all ages effortlessly step onto The Ledge. They had 90 seconds to take whatever photos they liked. “If they can do it, so can I!” Wrong! Boy was I oh so wrong! We freaked out and surely provided a good laugh for those folks in line after us. Two grown ass women afraid to step onto 4.3 foot glass ledge. I made the mistake of looking down. It was all over from there. Needless to say, we did not get any good photos while up there. We sure as hell weren’t going to do it again. But, hey…. at least we can say we did it. Never again.

Foodie Things

When attending conferences it is normal to have breakfast and/or lunch as part of each day’s itinerary. In my case, we usually have evening receptions planned as well. At this particular annual meeting, I was able to try 2 restaurants on my list- Imperial Lamian and Little Goat Diner.

Imperial Lamian is a bit of an upscale spot serving modern Chinese cuisine. I came here with the intention of trying a “theatrical” dessert so many friends have raved about. It was lunch time and I couldn’t very well just eat dessert so I ordered with the Hainanese Chicken Lunch set. It came with 2 pieces of siu mai, chicken, rice, 3 sauces and roasted colorful cauliflower. The portion was hearty and I didn’t finish it. Not because it wasn’t delicious but I had to leave room for the dessert.

The dessert you have been waiting for me to tell you about is called the Lunar Blossom. It is pandan cake, almonds, white chocolate, dark chocolate ganache. The presentation of this dish is quite beautiful and impressive. I think the video below says it all. I would put this on your list if you are ever in Chicago.

I must confess…. I ended up at Little Goat Diner because Au Cheval had over a 2 hour wait! My colleagues we were tired and hungry. Waiting was not an option so we walked a few doors down to Little Goat. It’s an interesting place for sure- part diner, part bakery and coffee shop with a bar. The diner has an eclectic menu serving breakfast all day, sammies, salads, plates, soups, snacks and sweets.

Liking to try interesting menu items, I got their soup of the day- watermelon gazpacho with herbed goat cheese. Yum! This combo really worked. I have had the two as a salad and would never thought of pairing them in this way. Moving onto the entree. Grilled kalbi ribs on the menu and I was intrigued. What does a diner know about kalbi ribs? I had to try it to satisfy my curiosity. The ribs had This Little Goat Went to Hong Kong marinade, pea tips, sesame-soy vin, watermelon, and togarashi. The verdict? It was pretty good! For the price, I wish there was more to the dish to make it more of a meal. It was still tasty nonetheless.

The Departure

These trips can be quite exhausting. When it was time to head out I was ready to be home. Back at Chicago Midway, I had enough time for a quick before boarding my flight. I strolled into Reilly’s Daughter and after paying my check I was I hadn’t. Fish and chips for $17 isn’t bad especially for an airport. However, the food wasn’t the issue. Being hit with a check for over $70 for fish and chips and 2 glasses of wine was the problem (as was the mediocre service). They didn’t have prices on the drink menu but I have had drinks at enough airports to have a general idea of what the price would be. 2 glasses of Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc shouldn’t have been that much! After paying my bill, I was definitely eager to leave that airport and head home. Not before having them pour my wine into a to go cup so I could drink it on my walk to my gate (love airports where you can do that!).

Despite the bad taste Reilly’s Daughter left in my mouth during my final moments in the city, I really did have a great time during this visit to Chicago. I appreciate that I was able to see some more of what the city has to offer. Chicago has a lot of culture. I can see why folks love it there. It won’t be the last the city sees of me. The house music scene and more restaurants are on the top of my list for my next visit. If you have recommendations leave them in the comments below!