Chicago is probably my most favorite city...EVER! I'm so glad that my husband enjoys it as well. We try to go to Chicago at least once a year. There is so much to do and so many places to eat at that I don't think I will ever get bored of spending time there! We headed there a few weekends ago...just the 2 of us! The kids stayed in Nashville/Lebanon with Brent's parents for 2 days and my parents for 2 days. We love having family close by and are really appreciative that they offered to keep our kiddos while we were out of town. We left Thursday morning( August 14 ) around 10:45am and got to Chi-town around 12. Gotta love the hourish flight!
First stop after checking into the hotel, Big Bowl! It's a yummy asian place that we love to grab lunch at. The entire front of the restaurant is open so we had to grab a spot out front by the street. Pretty much every restaurant there has patio seating/is open to the outside. I love that!
After lunch, we walked to the river and did a bit of shopping. We headed back tot he hotel to rest our feet and then got ready for dinner. We had reservations at RPM. I was pretty excited to try it out and so was Brent. He loves Italian food. It was less than great! First off, the restaurant itself is boring inside...white walls with hardly anything on them, white tables, and dark ceilings. The tables are squished too close together. I literally had to squeeze everything in as I was sliding by a girl to get into my seat....and I'm not a big girl! Ok fine, let's eat! I was sure the food would be delicious. It sounded good! No. I got the kale and spinach salad to start with. It was heavy on the spinach, very light on the kale. I would have preferred it to be the other way around. Brent got the crispy ravioli. It was more like a soft tiny ball of dough filled with italian cheese and some sort of meat. He liked them. I did not. It wasn't crispy and it wasn't your typical ravioli. I really love crispy ravioli too. For our entrees: Brent got the spaghetti and meatball. It was decent. Wasn't amazing. I like Macaroni Grills much better. Ouch! I got the prosciutto tortelloni. It was the tiniest portion I have ever been served. I feed my almost 3 year old more food than was on my plate! I am a grown girl and like food! I just kind of stared at it and wondered if they had accidentally given me the wrong plate of food. It was just ok. We actually left the restaurant hungry!!! When we got back to the hotel, we ordered a pizza! I would NOT recommend going to RPM to anyone. There is a truly AMAZING Italian restaurant in the city and I'll get to that in a moment!
Friday morning we slept in! I couldn't tell you the last time I slept till 9:00am or didn't get woken up by a baby! It was wonderful! After grabbing some breakfast at Starbucks, we decided to walk over to the bean and sit there while we ate.
I could sit and stare at that thing for a while. It's just so cool. And it's a great people watching spot. We started walking toward the art museum and decided to hike it over to the Willis Tower and go up to the Sky Deck. It had only opened about an hour prior to us heading over there so I was hoping for a short line. Well, it could have been longer but it definitely wasn't short! We stuck it out anyways! When we were getting close to the ticket counter, we totally forgot that we could have gotten a city pass to jump to the front of the line. I don't know how much those are but they are worth the price for sure. From the time we got in line to the time we got up to the deck, I think it was about an hour and 10-15 minutes. But it was worth the wait! You could see for miles and miles! The deck is on the top floor of the Willlis Tower which is 1,353 feet up in the air. We really waited that long so that we could go out on the Ledge! It's a glass box that extends about 4 feet out from the tower. So all that separates you from the ground is a piece of glass!!
There's a side view of one of the ledges!
And here we are...
It was kind of freaky but totally awesome! If you are afraid of heights, this is not for you!! Looking out wasn't so bad but my heart rate picked up a few beats when I looked down! So glad we went up there!All the "walls" on that floor are windows. So no matter where you are standing, you can see a long long way.
When we left, it was around 1 or 2 so we grabbed an Uber over to Tavern on Rush for a late lunch. It was yummy as always. I got the Bellevue salad. It had shrimp and avocado plus other yummy stuff. Brent got the veggie burger. After lunch, we hit up some shops and bought some things. Thank you Nordstrom Rack for having my favorite jeans (Joes) on sale for 40 bucks!! Couldn't pass that up. *side note: locals, did you know a Nordstrom Rack is opening up in Brentwood in October?!?! You're welcome :) After some light shopping, we headed down to the lake and walked around for a bit before going back to the hotel and getting ready for dinner.
Got this top at Norstrom Rack too!
We headed to Old Town for some sushi!
Kamehachi is my fav sushi restaurant in the Windy City! We sat outside of course and noshed on gyoza( pork potstickers ), seaweed salad( I couldn't get Brent to try it! ), and lots of sushi and noodles! LOVE sushi! Needless to say, this night's dinner was far better than the night before.
We explored Old Town for a bit before calling it a night. ( look above Brent's head: it's a giant ice cream sandwich pillow! haha. It was in a shop that was filled with funny things. )
Saturday morning we mixed it up and had Einstein Bagels for breakfast. We did some shopping and then headed to the Lincoln Park Zoo. We wanted to be back down to the lake around 2 for the air show. The Lincoln Park Zoo is free which is pretty cool.
It's really nice and has lots of animals that our Nashville Zoo doesn't have. Polar bears, rhinos, and lions to name a few. After the zoo, we headed back to our neck of the woods, grabbed some food and headed over to the lake to eat and watch the air show. The tricks those planes can do are crazy! I think at one point one of the Blue Angels was flying upside down and going backwards?! I might be wrong on the backwards part but it was definitely flying upside down!
After the air show we walked around Michigan Ave for a bit before getting ready to go stuff our faces with the best Italian food in the city!
Grabbed this shirt at Anthro to wear out that night.
We headed to Quartino. It is REAL Italian food. And really really delicious. We started with Salumeria Tasting which means we got to pick 2 meats, 2 cheeses, 2 types of olives, and 2 veggies( we got the beets and the artichoke salad ).
This was a delicious spread!
For our entrees we both got pasta. It is homemade right there in the restaurant. I got orecchiette with fennel and sausage ragu and Brent got the cavatelli and penne. We finished off the meal with tiramisu and hot italian donuts with dark chocolate and honey for dipping!
Sunday morning we got up and it was chilly! I was glad that I packed a sweatshirt! We headed over to the Doughnut Vault to give those doughnuts a try! I'm going to go out on a limb and say these were the best doughnuts that I have ever had!! There is apparently always a line and once they sell out, they close for the day. We got there about an hour after they had opened and there was a line about 15-20 deep. It moved quickly because there were only a few things to choose from and you can buy coffee but that's it! It's a cute little hole in the wall( literally ). You walk in the door, turn to your left, and order right there. When we got up to the counter to order, about half of the doughnuts were gone. We chose 2 old fashioned, one vanilla bean glazed, and one chocolate glazed doughnut. Not only were these the best doughnuts I had ever tasted but they were the biggest ones I had ever seen!
See, it was almost as big as my face! When we left, the line had grown. How much would it stink to be that person that waited for awhile and they were all out when you got up to the counter?! haha. We kind of browsed through a few more stores on Michigan Ave before we headed to the airport to come home. It was a fabulous 4 days in a city we love!
Friday morning we slept in! I couldn't tell you the last time I slept till 9:00am or didn't get woken up by a baby! It was wonderful! After grabbing some breakfast at Starbucks, we decided to walk over to the bean and sit there while we ate.
I could sit and stare at that thing for a while. It's just so cool. And it's a great people watching spot. We started walking toward the art museum and decided to hike it over to the Willis Tower and go up to the Sky Deck. It had only opened about an hour prior to us heading over there so I was hoping for a short line. Well, it could have been longer but it definitely wasn't short! We stuck it out anyways! When we were getting close to the ticket counter, we totally forgot that we could have gotten a city pass to jump to the front of the line. I don't know how much those are but they are worth the price for sure. From the time we got in line to the time we got up to the deck, I think it was about an hour and 10-15 minutes. But it was worth the wait! You could see for miles and miles! The deck is on the top floor of the Willlis Tower which is 1,353 feet up in the air. We really waited that long so that we could go out on the Ledge! It's a glass box that extends about 4 feet out from the tower. So all that separates you from the ground is a piece of glass!!
And here we are...
When we left, it was around 1 or 2 so we grabbed an Uber over to Tavern on Rush for a late lunch. It was yummy as always. I got the Bellevue salad. It had shrimp and avocado plus other yummy stuff. Brent got the veggie burger. After lunch, we hit up some shops and bought some things. Thank you Nordstrom Rack for having my favorite jeans (Joes) on sale for 40 bucks!! Couldn't pass that up. *side note: locals, did you know a Nordstrom Rack is opening up in Brentwood in October?!?! You're welcome :) After some light shopping, we headed down to the lake and walked around for a bit before going back to the hotel and getting ready for dinner.
We headed to Old Town for some sushi!
Kamehachi is my fav sushi restaurant in the Windy City! We sat outside of course and noshed on gyoza( pork potstickers ), seaweed salad( I couldn't get Brent to try it! ), and lots of sushi and noodles! LOVE sushi! Needless to say, this night's dinner was far better than the night before.
Saturday morning we mixed it up and had Einstein Bagels for breakfast. We did some shopping and then headed to the Lincoln Park Zoo. We wanted to be back down to the lake around 2 for the air show. The Lincoln Park Zoo is free which is pretty cool.
It's really nice and has lots of animals that our Nashville Zoo doesn't have. Polar bears, rhinos, and lions to name a few. After the zoo, we headed back to our neck of the woods, grabbed some food and headed over to the lake to eat and watch the air show. The tricks those planes can do are crazy! I think at one point one of the Blue Angels was flying upside down and going backwards?! I might be wrong on the backwards part but it was definitely flying upside down!
We headed to Quartino. It is REAL Italian food. And really really delicious. We started with Salumeria Tasting which means we got to pick 2 meats, 2 cheeses, 2 types of olives, and 2 veggies( we got the beets and the artichoke salad ).
For our entrees we both got pasta. It is homemade right there in the restaurant. I got orecchiette with fennel and sausage ragu and Brent got the cavatelli and penne. We finished off the meal with tiramisu and hot italian donuts with dark chocolate and honey for dipping!
I love vacations that include great food! I've never been to Chicago, but was just talking about how i would love to go.
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