Girl eats Chicago

Not only was I excited about the sightseeing in Chicago, I couldn't wait to try out the wonderful food.    I did a lot researching ahead of time and booked all of my dinner reservations 4 or 5 months in advanced because of the popularity.  Luckily I was able to add 3 more people to the reservations.

Before the delicious dinners I wanted to try some of that famous Chicago deep dish pizza.  From everything I read and all of the recommendations I had narrowed it down to three places: Giordano's, Gino's East, and Lou Malnati's.  When I checked into the hotel on Thursday my room wasn't ready so I figured it was a perfect opportunity to eat some pizza for lunch.  Lou Malnati's was the closest so I headed there.  I had the Malnati Chicago Classic and it was delicious!  Perfect fuel for sightseeing.

Partially eaten mole poblano enchiladas and some other food

Thursday night was the "Pawsta" party at Paws Chicago, so no big dinner plans that night but we had reservations for Frontera Grill for Friday night.  Frontera is owned by Rick Bayless, winner of Season 1 of Top Chef Masters and James Beard award winner.  The food at Frontera is Mexican style.  I was most excited about the ceviches and very happy I had people to share with so we could order more.  We had guacamole and chips, the trio of ceviches, scallops in aguachile verde, street food trio, tamales, mole poblano enchiladas, and maybe some sort of pork dish (I didn't take photos of the menu to help me remember).  Dessert was flan and some sort of pumpkin brioche thing.  Overall, the food was really good.  My least favorite dishes were the scallops in aguachile verde and the tamales.

Action shot of Garrett and the desserts

Saturday night I had to carb load and so I chose the more casual version of the Michelin star Italian restaurant Spiaggia, Cafe Spiaggia.  We started out with the cheese plate with honey followed by the arugula salad with pears, almonds, cow's milk mozzarella, and balsamic. Both were delicious!

Why get 3 when you can have 5?

The cheese was almost like burrata.

Next up was the pasta course.  Suzy had the ravioli while I had the bucatini with guanciale.  I really wanted the ravioli but I thought it would be too heavy.  I wasn't sure I would like the guanciale (cured pork cheeks) that was in my pasta, but it was delicious!

Butternut squash ravioli

Bucatini

Dessert was panna cotta and something else that I can't remember because I am getting old.  Both were good (I think), but didn't blow me away like the amazing tiramisu I had in Rome.  I just couldn't bring myself to order it here because I don't think it will measure up.

The grand finale of the trip was going to Girl and the Goat on Sunday night after I had finished the marathon.  I was definitely using this as motivation to complete the race and it was worth it (although I could have still eaten there like the other lazy people at my table)!  We really did save the best for last.

Girl and the Goat is owned by Stephanie Izard, winner of Season Four of Top Chef.  I really like her on her season (and apparently so did a majority of people because she won fan favorite).  I had heard about this restaurant for years and wanted to try it despite not being a big fan of goat.  Luckily everyone else that joined onto the trip was on board when they looked at the menu.

This place would really have been disappointing to come to alone because the style is small plates for sharing with others at the table and I would have only gotten to try a few things.   Plus the added bonus of some great company at dinner (although the were very useful during the marathon too, but more on that in my next post).

Garrett and Kristen

Suzy and I

For four of us we ordered 9 dishes and two desserts (and got a bonus dessert from our awesome waiter).  I am not always adventurous in what foods I will eat (not a fan of duck or goat), but decided I would try every dish we ordered.  All of the raw dishes came out as our first round of food.  The NY strip tartare was definitely my favorite with the goat carpaccio coming in a close second (surprisingly), with the hamachi my least favorite (also surprisingly because I love raw fish).

NY strip tartare

goat carpaccio

hamachi crudo

 Next up was the cooked meat and seafood dishes.  The goat empanadas and scallops with cubano pork and apple mojo were delicious (again surprised I liked a goat dish).  The duck tongue with tuna and black bean poke was not my favorite, but I didn't find it totally offensive (probably because of the tuna).

goat empanadas

scallops

duck tongue

The last round before dessert was all the veggies dishes.  We all felt the chickpea fritter was so so,  although the tomatillo-tomato jam the fritters were in was very good.  Everyone couldn't stop raving about how great the roasted cauliflower with pickled peppers, pine nuts and mint was.  The smokiness of the broccoli was too much for me but others liked it.  The rogue smokey bleu did help some with the smokiness of the broccoli.

chickpea fritter

roasted cauliflower

wood grilled broccoli

Finally the dessert course.  We only ordered two but the waiter brought me a special dessert for completing the marathon.  First up was the miso-butterscotch budino with bacon toffee, glazed pineapple, and candied cashews.  Delicious!  Next was the bittersweet chocolate with shitake-caramel gelato and toffee creme fraiche.  Also delicious!  Surprisingly my favorite dish was the one we didn't order: the pb&j.  It was salted peanut kulfi, concord grape granita, and brioche donuts.  For me it was a throwback to the last 5 months of training because I brought peanut butter and jelly sandwich to work every day as a snack before lunch (although this was MUCH better).

miso-butterscotch budino (l) and bittersweet chocolate (r)

I ran 26.2 mile and all I got was this (awesome) dessert

Overall, the best meal we had and Chicago and the best meal many of us have had in a long time.  On top of that, I have to say this is my favorite restaurant because of what happened after dinner:

Me to hostess: Where is the bathroom?
Hostess: There is a bathroom downstairs but if you can't go downstairs we have one on this floor.
Me: I can't go down stairs.

The hostess then escorted me to the employee bathroom and I then told her I loved her.

This place is a win!