Signature Room

I attended a holiday party in the Signature Room and wasn't really impressed with the food or drinks. Or the crazy ear popping involved in rapidly going up 95 floors. But none of that mattered when we got to look out at this all night:

Please excuse the glare - the iPhone did it's best. As much as I hate total tourist traps... the view of Mag Mile from there was absolutely amazing. I love Chicago.

Graham Elliott

This weekend I had a mini family reunion with the women of my family. Everyone came in to Chicago so the pressure was on for me to pick good dining spots. Friday night we went to Hub51 which was dependably delicious, and I chose to go to Frontera Grill on Saturday. To make a very long and painful story short, two of Frontera's hostesses gave me horrible advice to just show up at 6pm for a table. When we did, the wait was three hours. Ten minutes after they opened, the wait was three hours. Okay, so that wasn't that short... anyways... my cousin had suggested Graham Elliot and low and behold they were able to seat the five us right away. They graciously and politely were able to accommodate us on a busy Saturday night. Take notes Frontera - I don't go around town saying you were my favorite restaurant and then come in to see a snotty, rude hostess look at me like I'm from Mars when I ask for a table.

Back to Graham Elliot! Interior was minimal but the organic tones and exposed brick walls paired well with natural decorations of bundled sticks and gourds. First up: cocktails. I'm usually one to experiment and try a few different varieties, but not when I encounter such a perfect cocktail. The "Blueberry Hill" includes Hendrick's gin, blueberry compote and a newcomer for me - creme de violette. I'm always a fan of blueberry, but this was unlike any blueberry concoction I've had before. My cousin Venessa was a big fan of the "London Calling" as well. Now for food. As a preview of the interesting and fun food to follow, GE started off with a bang serving us truffle oil-infused popcorn instead of the usual bread. This popcorn is legitimately addictive. When combined with the martinis, it is just lethal.

Even though I was tempted to do the tasting menu for $75 (NOT a bad deal at all once you taste this amazing food), I declined and ordered the sweet potato bisque. This was not your average soup. The bisque was poured table side over a big marshmallow, chipotle jam and corn nuts. Yep you read that right, corn nuts. The combination of creamy and crunchy was amazing. Next course: I split the scallops and the duck ravioli. The duck ravioli was great, but the scallops were to die for. As perfect as scallops can get in my opinion. But I did have one regret... my cousin Susan ordered the Wisconsin Cheddar Risotto and when it came out with Cheez-its on top, I immediately had to have a bite. Cheez-its? For all you Top Chef fans, it reminded me of the vending machine challenge - looks like snack food can truly be gourmet if you do it right.

And last but certainly not least, dessert. The "Caramel Heirloom Apple" was like a deconstructed apple pie with shortbread cookie, rings of apples, toasted nuts and caramel that combine to make the most delicious bite. I'm actually still thinking about how fresh and sweet that yummy dessert was. Finish it off with another Blueberry Hill and that was quite the delectable meal. I love food that isn't taken too seriously, and not only is Graham Elliot's food amazing, but it's clear he is having as much fun making it as we are eating it.

Cheddar Risotto - complete with Cheez-it garnish.

Better late than never...

I know I've only lived in Chicago for (almost) three years, but there are still so many staples that I have yet to discover. Finally able to cross one off this weekend.

Mon Ami Gabi is located in the historic Belden Stratford hotel and has established a very solid reputation around the city. I literally asked two of my favorite foodie gals and they both separately said Mon Ami Gabi was their favorite place in the city. So naturally when it came around for me to plan a date night, I knew I had to do it.

Things at Mon Ami Gabi did not start off so good. First of all, the room was very, very small and they were artfully squeezing as many people in as possible. Next, we arrived at 7:58 for our 8pm reservation and the hostess asked us if we would wait for a bit because our table won't be ready until "closer to 8." So like I suspected, the second we stepped out of the restaurant, they came looking for us. Last but not least, the place was so tightly packed that they had to move out the table for me to scoot in. Once I was sitting the waiter than signaled for Rob to scoot in next to me. When there is a perfectly good chair on the other side. Okay, okay, sorry to offend anyone, but am I the only one who still wants to be able to look her date in the eye during a meal? I constantly make fun of people who eat next to each other and hardly even eat, they just feed bites to each other, make out the entire time and make everyone around them lose their appetite. Sorry, but save the romance for after dinner. Thank you. So now here I am, elbow to elbow with my date. Ugh.

Now on to better news: the food was amazing. House wine was inexpensive and surprisingly good. Escargot was great. Rob's peppercorn steak was amazing, and topped only by the giant heaving pile of yummy steak frites. NOTE: I ate the frites all by myself - he did NOT feed them to me. Even though it probably would have been easier since he kept elbowing me throughout the meal. Anyways... I had ahi tuna that was served with heavenly potatoes and spinach. For dessert we picked a trio of ice cream stuffed profiteroles. Looked and tasted great, but so difficult to cut and eat that when we were finished you would have thought we tied our hands behind our back and went to town.

It's tough for me to call this an absolute win because most of these kinks I'd expect out of a newer restaurant. But despite a couple initial strikes against it, Mon Ami saved itself in the end with delicious food.

The Belden-Stratford Hotel houses Mon Ami Gabi as well as fellow Lettuce Entertain You restaurant L20. Going to have to wait for quite the special occasion before trying that one out!

Jury's Out for Japonais

Rob's cousin was in town this weekend and for her upcoming birthday she decided she wanted to go to Japonais for dinner. I've been before for drinks and knew the interior was spectacular, but was hesitant about the food. We've all had bad experiences where the place looks amazing, but the food is a dud. Well... I wouldn't classify Japonais as a dud, but I won't be rushing back anytime soon. First of all, our service was incredibly slow. Our waitress only came to our table about every 15 minutes if she wasn't serving food. The entire meal took three hours! We started with "The Rock" - an extremely hot rock that you personally cook finely sliced beef on. We thought it was a pretty cool presentation, and the meat was great, but none of us could quite shake the fact the entire place smelled like hot meaty rock for the rest of the evening. We opted for one roll and then ordered two entrees to save a little money. The price of one roll was about the same as a large salmon or chicken dish - so I definitely recommend heading straight to entrees. The entrees were good, not great, but came in large portions. One big disappointment for me were the martinis. Everyone raves about them, but when I order a martini, I expect to have some taste of alcohol. The martinis were only filled to about 3/4 of the small martini glass and honestly tasted non-alcoholic. There was so much mixer and so little vodka, it made me quite upset that I spent $13 and was basically served a shot of juice.

All in all, the ambiance is great, the interior is truly beautiful, but I would only suggest this one if you have a lot of money to spare. And if you don't, hopefully you'll have ordered enough $13 juice martinis that you won't care when the bill comes.

West Loop Outing Day 1

It's been quite a while since my last post. Just switched over to a new job. Which in turn means a new neighborhood of restaurants to explore! My new neighborhood: West Loop.

Day One: Sushi at Meiji
Beautiful sushi restaurant on Randolph. Was slightly concerning that it was near empty at lunchtime, but we ventured in anyways. Rolls were delicious - not a huge selection but they were very inventive combinations. Moderate to high price for the sushi, but not surprising considering most of the restaurants in the West Loop are higher end. I'm interested to see if the after work and evening crowds are more plentiful - has really good potential!

Sunday Sunda

So after my last failed attempt going to a restaurant right after it opened, I decided to wait a while to try Sunda, a new-asian cuisine spot from the Rockit Ranch family. We went at 8 on a Sunday night and unfortunately, but not surprisingly, they told us there was an hour wait. We had a great drink at the bar and once seated, our waitress was very sharp and we were served quickly. The interior was beautiful inside, but we were very distracted at how loud it was inside. Sunda was not even packed and it was almost impossible to hear our waitress talk. Besides the bad acoustics, our whole table found it a tad overpriced for the quality. I hadn't heard anything amazing about the food to begin with, so despite semi-low expectations, I did think the beef lo mein and sushi were pretty good. So bottom line, if you are looking for ambiance and a great interior (and can look over basic asian food with a little flair), it would be a decent dinner choice.

TRU-ly Excited!

Just made reservations for Tru for my dad's 60th birthday bash, a restaurant I've been longing to go to since I moved here! Tru gets consistently amazing reviews as one of the best restaurants in Chicago, not to mention Rick Tramonto is a god in Chicago and the restaurant was featured on Top Chef. To top it all off, they have an original Warhol Marilyn (see below) in the dining room. So far, the review will be phenomenal. Stay tuned!