My Weekend in New York

A big thank you to all of you who shared with me about what your relationship is like with your grandparents! Since I didn't have a reliable internet connection I couldn't respond, but I want you to know it was wonderful to read your comments!

I had such a great time in New York this weekend! It was really important to me to see my grandfather and I feel so lucky that I got to see him now, before his health deteriorates further. Unfortunately, he isn't doing too well. When I saw him in August he was still able to carry on a conversation,  but now he has difficulty finding words and what he does says doesn't make much sense. His doctors think he might have had a series of small strokes, but it is hard to tell. I'm pretty sure he knew who I was though and so it was wonderful to hear him say "good morning, darling" every day.

We spent most of the weekend around Bayside, which is part of Queens.

image via http://www.weichert.com/NY/Queens/

We arrived into town on Thursday afternoon and went to my aunt's house to say hi and have a quick catch up. My aunt, a clinical social worker, had some clients to see that evening so we got out of her way and met up with my cousins for dinner. Well, technically we saw my mom's cousin and her two kids. So, that makes them my cousins once removed? second cousins? Either way, it was really fun! I hadn't seen them since August and it was good to catch up. They are in their first year of college and sophomore year of high school, respectively, and it was fun to hear about their lives. They even taught me a cool new phone trick - bumping! Sounds dirty, right? But, its not. It is the new way to exchange phone numbers. You can literally just bump two phones together! I'm still amazed by this. Which, of course makes me feel old.

On Friday, everyone hung out at my aunt's house and then in the afternoon we went shopping. You know what else makes me feel old? I found some stuff at  J. Jill and Cold Water Creek that I really liked. Yes. Apparently, I dress like a sixty year old lady.

I got a cardigan, a striped boat neck tee, and a simple black dress from J. Jill and a printed cardigan from Cold Water Creek.   

After shopping, my aunt had a big surprise. She made reservations for us to eat at Peter Luger - one of the oldest and most respected steakhouses in New York! I do love me some steak and after doing some quick googling and reading the rave reviews my mouth was watering! The place has a real old school vibe to it and the menu features only the classics. We ordered so much food and ate until we felt like we were in danger of having to be rolled out of the restaurant. Neill snapped this picture of me right before we started eating. You can see the steak for four in the middle of the table as well as the german potatoes we ordered. We also got onion rings, creamed spinach, and a tomato and onion salad. 

Yummo! My family loves to eat and we spent most of dinner joking about what fabulous appetites we all have :) We washed the steak down with big spoonfuls of shlag, or whip cream. Here is my mom with the sundae we split.

You can bet we all went to bed very full that night! On Saturday, after hanging out with my grandfather in the morning, my aunt took Neill and I into Manhattan to see Avenue Q. Before the show, we got a chance to walk around a bit in the craziness that is times square. I love Chicago, but I've got to admit - New York has us trumped on this. We just don't have anything that compares.

Avenue Q was hilarious! Neill and I don't go out to see shows very often (like basically never), but we both had so much fun that we decided to try and catch more performances in Chicago. After heading back into the city we ordered a spinach and meatball pizza, played catch phrase, and all hung out until it was time for bed. 

And that pretty much brings us back to the present. Sunday morning consisted of one last bagel with cream cheese and lox and saying lots of goodbyes. Now, I'm safe and sound back in Chicago and luxuriating in being able to sprawl out on my own bed.

What was your weekend like? Have you ever been to New York? What was your favorite part of the city? Or, do you have another favorite city?

Viaggio

psss. I have a secret to tell you. Some Italian food is better than others. And Viaggo is some of the best. Like maybe they put crack in the sauce good. Like using my finger to get every last drop of sauce out of the take out container good. Like you should probably go eat there tomorrow good.

Neill and I had dinner at Viaggio on Friday night with three friends. We got a reservation for 8:00 and after a bit of a wait we were seated in their cozy dining room. I was a wee bit testy at first because as I've mentioned before, I really hate to wait. I'm kind of annoying like that. But, after a glass of wine and seeing the menu I was in a much better mood.

We ordered three appetizers for the table--the meatballs with romaine salad, stuffed artichokes, and fromage fritti. I know what you are thinking - any restaurant that offers a salad with meatballs is probably pretty freaking awesome. And you would be right. And lemme tell you. The Meatballs. Oh The Meatballs. They were ridiculously good.

For the main course I ordered spaghetti carbonara and the people sitting to my right and left both ordered the rigatoni with sunday pork gravy. This is notable because I'm a big fan of stealing bites off other people's plates when they aren't looking. It was a win for me that night because both dishes were complete standouts. My carbonara was rich and a bit smokey and the rigatoni came with big hunks of tender slow cooked pork with a big ol' scoop of ricotta cheese on top.

Damn. It was bomb.

I wish I could tell you about dessert, but we skipped it with the plan to hit up Black Dog Gelato on the way home. Unfortunately, it was closed. But, no worries. We topped the night off with a 99 cent cone from McDonalds. ha. Aren't we classy?

Anyways, I really do think I need to try Viaggo again. By the end of the night we had gone through a few bottles of wine so I want to make sure the food is actually as good as I remember it. But mainly, I want to get my hands on some more of those meatballs.

Big Star

When Big Star opened up in the former Pontiac Cafe location there was buzz galore about their up-scale tacos, drink selection, and uber-hip crowd. So I did what I always do in situations like this--avoided the place like the plague.

Eventually the buzz simmered down and I felt it was safe to give it a try. I started out timidly, ordering tacos at their walk-up window. It was fun to step out from my usual order of steak tacos and I really liked the tacos al pastor, the tacos de panza, and the tinga de pollo.

image via chicago now

Then, the other night, I dove right into the snakes den and actually had dinner at Big Star with a friend . . . like in side sitting down and everything. And guess what?

image via rock n roll ghost

The space is really nice! I liked the lighting in there. I felt like it made everyone 5% more attractive. Plus, the food was even better eating it right when it was ready instead of bringing it home and I got to try one of their cocktails. I ordered a La Paloma (lunazul blanco, grapefruit, lime, mexican fresca) and it was delicious. ( I've got to be honest - I didn't even know what kind of liquor lunazul blanco was, but the description sounded yummo. I just looked it up and it is tequila.)  I really wanted to end the night with one of their mexican hot-chocolate, but somehow I was able to exert some ounce of self-control and walk away. But, you should get some if you go this winter because it is perfection.

 So, there you have it. My big review of Big Star. What do you think of the place?

J. Wellington's

Like every god-fearing, flag worshiping American I love love love a good hamburger. And in the summer, it is easy to get my fill of hamburgers (and pretty much all other grilled meats). We grill. Friend's grill. Everyone wants to get together and grill.

But, then the cold weather comes and the grilling stops and so we stop eating hamburgers. Yes yes we could make them on the stove, but we've tried that and have never been fully satisfied with the results. And while I'm sure there are some wonderful burger places out there, we haven't found them*!

Well, that is until last night.

J. Wellington's opened up in our neighborhood maybe six months ago. I thought the sign was kind of cheesy and we've pretty much avoided the place (except one day when I had a serious craving for a root beer float. it was delicious). After our dinner plans last night fell through and Neill had a serious case of hunger induced crankiness, we decided to give J. Wellington's a try. We ordered at the counter and then grabbed a seat to wait for our burgers. About ten minutes later someone delivered the meaty goodness to our table.

I did the "build your own" and added lettuce, tomato, a fried egg (because why the fuck not), and siracha may on the side. ooo and a pretzel role, which pretty much makes everything better. All in all, the burger gets two thumbs up. Not over cooked (thank god) and I liked the variety of toppings to choose from. Plus, the fries are delicious.

Did I mention that its also BYOB? Yeah. That's pretty fantastic. (although, this isn't really the place I'd hang out all night. Its more like a Jimmy Johns than a restaurant)

So now we have a burger place to go to all year round. Thank god for that.


*I do like Kuma's corner, but I'm not always up for the wait. Bin Wine Cafe also has a good burger, but for some reason I never think of going there. 

Il Bellagio

I'm probably a little biased because we originally went to CityPlace to eat at Legal Seafood and only ended up at Il Bellagio when we found out our original destination had closed down.

That being said, our experience at Il Bellagio was pretty decent. My risotto with shrimp was rich and creamy and my fiance's homemade Italian sausage was also very good. My grandfather ordered the linguine with clams and the number of canned clams in the sauce far outweighed the fresh clams that came with it, but it still had a lot of flavor.

Il Bellagio has standard Italian food. Nothing was stand out, but it certainly was good. I would eat here again if I happened to be at CityPlace for dinner - but I wouldn't go to CityPlace just to eat here.

Paradiso Restaurant

This is one of my grandfather's favorite restaurants and he has been coming here for years. Decades probably. So, whenever I visit him he always wants to go here. And I happily oblige :) I've never had a bad meal here and the ambiance is beautiful. It is definitely more fancy (and expensive!) than I do on my own, but its always a treat when we come here. On my last visit here I noticed a lot of people ordering the salt crusted fish and so I hope to try that on my next visit. My only complaint is that the whole table felt the dessert we ordered (pear tart) did not live up to our expectations. But, I would still recommend this restaurant to people for a special occasion!

Prime Catch

After another visit to Prime Catch I knew I had to revise my previous review. I must have been having a bad day or something, because I've completely changed my mind about Prime Catch. We came for dinner this time, not for lunch, and the food was excellent. I had Chilean sea bass on a shrimp cake in sweet corn chowder and it was delicious. like for real delicious. Everyone at the table loved their dishes and they all looked beautiful.

So here is the deal. The food is very good and it is worth coming to Prime Catch, even if you don't get a table outside. I wasn't as impressed with my lunch experience at Prime Catch, but dinner was wonderful.

I stand corrected.

Bin Wine Care

This is more of a "Yay! I'm a fan . . I think". I feel Bin Wine Cafe deserves another trip before I make my final final judgment. Some thoughts:

Showed up unannounced with a group of 7ish around 7 on a Saturday night with no reservations. After some hemming and hawing and waiting at the bar, they graciously sat us.

Menu is surprisingly small and clustered in two price categories. On the low end, there are hamburgers (11) and pizza (11 or 12). On the high end, there were entrees for 20ish. I wasn't feeling either and so I got olives (5), a beet salad (8), and the tempura green beans. The serving of olives was extremely generous and the beet salad was delicious. The tempura green beans were snooze. Tasted my fiance's burger - it was wonderful. (Note to self: go back to bin on a tuesday for 5 dollar hamburgers).

Atmosphere was warm and jovial. I'd really like to go back with a smaller group and eat a full dinner. I have a feeling I'll really enjoy it :)

NYC Bagel Deli

I can't believe I haven't reviewed NYC Bagel Deli yet! I've been coming here for years and I've always enjoyed my food. As others have mentioned, its a small but cheerful place. I wouldn't plan on eating there, unless you are ready to shoot daggers at people to hurry them out of their table. But, i would plan on ordering a humongous lox sandwich. I usually eat half for lunch and the other half for breakfast or lunch the next day. As others have mentioned, it isn't the cheapest place on the planet but the benefit definitely outweighs the cost IMO. Plus, having a chance to ring the big bell on the way out is worth a dollar alone :)

Ethiopian Diamond

I've always heard that Ethiopian Diamond was the best place to go for Ethiopian food in Chicago, but I always dismissed it. Well here I am publicly admitting that I was remiss. A professor took our (small) class out to lunch here the other day and I was blown away by the food. We  asked the waiter to put the platters together for us and he did a wonderful job. I wish I could tell you the name of the out of this world lamb dish we had because I think it is the best thing I've tasted in a long time.

This place is the bomb. Comfortable atmosphere. Friendly service. Huge portions. Big taste. Small price.

Maggiano's LIttle Italy

One of my classmates organized a group of us to go to Maggiano's for their family style meals last night. I'll admit I was skeptical. When I think Maggiano's, I think of the awkward bat mitzvah parties I attended when I was in 7th grade. What can I say? It was the spot to be. Anyways, since I like to think that I've made it past my 7th grade years I wasn't really sure about going here for dinner. After i got over myself, I was pleasantly surprised!

We got the classic family size meal (about 30 a person), which means we got to pick two appetizers, two salads, two pastas, two entrees, and two desserts for the table. The food is supposed to be never ending, but we didnt get to test that out because all of us were so stuffed we barely finished what was on the table. I'd have to agree with Nik B that there is nothing extraordinary about the food. It's all good and deliciously rich, but it isn't special. (side note: Not to beat down on classic american italian dishes, but I'm not really sure lasagna or baked ziti can ever really be special unless its coming out of your grandma's oven.)  My favorites of the evening were the chopped salad, fried calamari and the gnocchi.

Even though the food wasn't super special, it was nice to get to try so many different dishes and  to be able to eat family style with a group of people. Plus the service was good and the atmosphere was perfect for a celebratory group.

With some beer and two bottles of wine, at the end of the night the bill came to about 50 bucks per person. Not cheap. Not outrageous. It felt just right.

Mexique

While my rave review of brunch at Mexique still stands, I was seriously underwhelmed by their dinner service. Honestly, problems started days before we even had our meal - with our reservations. We called on a Tuesday for Saturday reservations and they said the ONLY time they could seat our party of 5 was at 5:00 o'clock. Um. Okay. My mom really wanted her sister to try the place so she took it. The problem? The restaurant was still half empty when we left.

Anyways, we were all very excited to try the food after our great experience and brunch and after reading all of the wonderful reviews on yelp. And don't get me wrong, the food was okay. But, it was just okay.

In general, I found the appetizers to be much more exciting than the entrees. We tried the trio of sopes, the french onion soup, the ceviche, and the chicken tinga. The ceviche and the onion soup were both good, but the chicken came out a bit cold. The trio of sopes was presented beautifully and was delicious. While the appetizers had lots of flavor, I found the entrees to be bland. I had the asada and my steak was flavorless and cold, the pork roast was overpowered by the sweet potato mash, and the tilapia was also bland. I will say, however, my fiance's chicken dish was very flavorful and I would recommend it.

We also had dessert. We tried the creme brulee (good), the apple tart, (yum), and the guac cream. My aunt really loved the guacamole cream, but it tasted too much like straight avocado for my sugar loving taste buds.

Anyways, if you're still with me - mazel. The moral of the story: eat here for brunch. eat somewhere else for dinner.

Fogo de Chao

Fogo de Chao never disappoints. They have mastered the dynamic combination of classy ambiance, attentive service, and mouthwatering meat. I should say though, it isn't only the meat that is out of this world. I love the mashed potatoes and plantains that get constantly refreshed at your table and the cheeses and what not at the salad bar. The only downside I see to Fogo de Chao is that you can only eat so much. After a while, all the red meat goes to your head so while you want to keep going, you just can't.

Tweet

I don't know why everyone is raving about their damn fruit cups as if you go out to brunch to eat a dainty portion of fruit. riiiiight. the main delicious highlights are the larger than life servings, complimentary slivers of coffee cake on the table, strong coffee, and CRUNCHY BUTTERY OMG HASH BROWNS. And you know what?? you get toast AND hash browns AND bacon with your eggs. none of this either or bull shit.

Next time I go, I won't be tempted by the lox and cream cheese scramble and I'll order what I really want - the quiche. a friend at the table got it and boy was that a huge platter of food.

The only downside? Toast has spoiled all brunches for me and I can't help thinking the food just wasn't as good.

Vines On Clark

This place is an a-ok spot to to come for dinner on a friday when you are living on a graduate student budget. Their pizzas are actually pretty tasty and they make them square so the seem just a tiny bit hip. I'd particularly recommend the artichoke and goat cheese pizza. One down side is that they have premade topping combos and I'm not sure if you can switch things around or create your own. So this may not be the place to go if you just want slice of za with pepperoni. They also had 5 dollar effen black cherry vodka and 3 dollar coors.

Like I said - this place is just a ok. Big. Cavernous. Low on atmosphere. But 6 dollar pizzas? That's a winning deal. if only I hadn't spent all the money I saved and then some on cabs getting there and back . .

The Bagle Restaurant and Deli (At Old Orchard Mall)

The bagel just feels like home. Sure, maybe sometimes it takes way too long to get that soda you ordered, but how can you complain when you can munch on all the pickles you want? Plus, they have my go to jewish deli sandwich - corned beef with chopped liver. nom nom nom. and man do they pile that meet high.

Forget about going shopping and trying to squeeze into those skinny jeans - have a big old comforting meal at the deli instead! And even though you will be super stuffed, buy some cool tasty treats on the way out. Try the chocolate covered pretzel sticks and marshmallows. You can eat them on the way home and thank me later :)

Sher-A-Punjab Indian Restaurant

My fiance swears by this place so I've been here a few times. Last night we were craving some deliciousness, so we made the drive up north to Devon Ave. As we were walking to Sher-A-Punjab I saw all these other fantastic buffet places and I felt they were calling to me. But no....Sher-A-Punjab it is.

And boy was it.

I filled my plate, sat, down, and took spoonful after spoonful of deliciousness. Sopping up all the curry with the naan. I didn't try any of the tandoori chicken, but my fiance ate it all! I might have filled my plate more than once, but we don't have to go into that here :)

Oh, and I had the little dessert balls to top everything off. Honestly, I've got no idea what these are. They taste like donutholes that have been soaking in a honey mixture. Texturally, they are mushy and wet. Taste wise? Sweet tooth heaven.

Sher-A-Punjab is definitely worth trying. If you don't like it, no biggie. You'll only be out 10 bucks. But if you do like it, nom nom nom nom. You have so much to gain! (in pounds that is)

La Cocina de Frida

So I pretty much love mexican food. And I pretty much believe that it is hard to go wrong with mexican food. I'll take la pasadita late on a saturday night or el tapatio for dinner. Its all deliciously wonderful. and this probably biases my review...so I thought I should be upfront about that.

My mom wanted to take my out to celebrate my first week of graduate school and we decided to check out La Cocina de Frida. She has been here a bunch but I'd never been. It has been on my radar for a while, but I just never had a reason to travel so far up north for food. Now that I'm going to Loyola, it is much more convenient :) Anyways...thats just the back story that you probably don't care a whole lot about. Let me get down to the nitty gritty.

+We ordered the nachos w/ chorizo on an indulgent whim. While we immediately regretted the order, I actually enjoyed them the most. I don't know if it was just because I was ravished, but the sinfully delicious combo of sour cream, guac, chorizo, chips, etc was just excellent. Very balanced. I wanted to dive right in.

+The margaritas. We were told that they don't use a mix, so we each ordered one. I'm not a huge margarita drinker and so the drink seemed particularly strong to me when they first arrived, but I persevered :) By the time the glass was have empty, I was very content with my drink.

+The main dishes. Plantain enchiladas with mole sauce? omg. yes please. Delicious. My mom ordered a chicken dish in a peanut sauce which was ... just not what my mom thought it was going to be. My mom mentioned this to the server (in response to being asked if she wanted to take home her leftovers), and they took it off the bill! We were both really surprised and thought that was extremely generous of them.

+Only flan for desert. I was going to order it, but I had already maxed out so I had to pass.

+Service. i could see where people thought it was a bit slow....but for some reason it wasn't bothering me that night.

Toast Two

nom nom nom nom

I must have been very very very good lately, because this morning I found myself in breakfast heaven.

I've wanted to try Toast for a while now (okay...probably a few years) and this weekend was the perfect opportunity. Scared of the tremendous wait, our party of three decided to try and beet the brunch rush. 10 am must be the sweet spot, because there were empty tables when we arrived and we were seated right away. By 10:30, people were lining up outside. Suckers.

I checked out the Yelp reviews before going (naturally) and  I was tempted to take Jessica B's advice and order the two eggs so I could try a little bit of everything. But, I could not fool myself . . . .I was there to dive head first into a big luscious gooey buttery fabulous stack of pancakes. And that was exactly what I did. I ran a train on those pine nut and mascarpone pancakes with lavender sprinkled on top. IN YOUR FACE.   These pancakes were so good that at dinner time I was kicking myself for not taking my left overs home. Seriously.

I will be back.

Caro Mio

Once again, Yelp has pointed me in the right direction. I wanted to find a restaurant near my friend's house that we could easily walk to  . . . not always an easy task around those parts. So, of course, I went to Yelp and found Caro Mio. I'm pretty sure everyone that night was glad we decided to give Caro Mio a try despite its unassuming location :)

I'm not sure if I can add anything to the reviews that hasn't already been said . . .
+Big delicious portions (the food definitely isn't cheap, but you get a lot for the price!)
+BYOB and no corkage fee
+really cute, small, independent restaurant

We went on a Wednesday night and it was pretty busy. Apparently it was only *us* who had never heard of it!

I'm definitely going to suggest hitting this place up again. And when we do, I'm ordering the creamy pesto sauce . . . with some pasta. YUMMO.