Piggin' Out

Have you been to The Purple Pig yet? The restaurant on Michigan Avenue that's been nearly impossible to get into since it was named one of the 10 Best Restaurants on 2010 by Bon Appetite Magazine. It's pretty awesome and totally worth the wait.

I've been a few times with different friends and it has never disappointed. The wine list is superb, but even that pales in comparison to the small plates.

It helps to be an adventurous eater when visiting to The Pig. One of my favorite things on the menu is the Pork Neck Bone Rillette & Mostrada. It's flavorful and creamy and very, very rich. A little goes a long way. Also try the Pork Fried Almonds; the Shaved Brussels Sprouts, Percorino Noce & Parmigiano Reggiano; the Braised Baby Artichokes; the Tuscan Kale & Romaine Cesar Salad with Hard Boiled Quail Egg; and don't forget the Deviled Egg with Arugula & Caper Berries!

The Purple Pig does not take reservations, but going for lunch or earlier in the evening helps with the wait. Stop by before a 7 p.m. movie, especially on a week night, and you should be seated in no time.

If you're too hungry to wait, enology, just across the street at the Hotel Intercontinental, offers a compelling wine list, yummy cheeses and some delicious chocolates.

Taking Flight

The BF's birthday is in early January. It's a bit of a double whammy for me. Just after Christmas/Chanukah I have to come up with a birthday gift. What's a girlfriend to do??

One thing I can bank on: something food-related will always score big points. The man loves food. All kinds of food. In all shapes and sizes. A while back, my friend Christina recommended Flight Chicago, a walking tour of three-to-four restaurants in one of Chicago's neighborhoods. She gave the flight as a gift to her parents, who are also adventurous foodies.

I chose Flight #004 for Z and me. The restaurants looked yummy and I knew Z hadn't been to any of them. We started at the Butcher and Larder at 1026 N. Milwaukee. A delicious charceuterie plate greeted us, complete with head cheese and chicken liver pate, Z's favorite!

Next, we walked just up Milwaukee to Frontier for an amazing oyster cooked like Oysters Rockefeller, a tasty dark beer, and a delicious rabbit-with-dumpling dish. Rabbit is a guilty pleasure of mine. Bunnies are so cute, but they are also tender and flavorful.


From the street, Frontier could pass for a sports bar. But don't let the TVs on the walls fool you. The food is a deliciously unique twist on comfort food. One of Frontier's hallmarks is its whole animal service. Order a pig for a table of friends and the fine chefs at Frontier will slow roast it to perfection. Super Bowl party, anyone??

After Frontier, we continued up Milwaukee, turning left on Division to The Bedford, a new restaurant in an old bank building. Check out the vault while you sip on cocktails concocted by the in-house mixologist. At The Bedford, we started with a pisco sour cocktail. Next came a deviled egg. My favorite dish of the day, and one of the best things I've eat at a restaurant in a while was the strip steak complete with celery root and fig gratin, trumpet mushrooms, roasted shallot marmalade, topped with blue cheese. I love blue cheese. Really love blue cheese. And this blue cheese had a way of bringing out all of the other flavors in the dish.


Before we moved on to Prasino, our final stop on the tour, we made a quick detour to Rite Liquors. Truthfully, I've been going to Rite Liquors for years as part of my friend Adam's "Slashie" birthday tour. (A slashie deserves its own blog post, so I'll save the explanation for another day.) Long story short, Rite is a dive bar of the ultimate form. It closes around 5 a.m., only to open again around 8 a.m. Regulars sit at the bar at all hours of the day and nite and can choose from a wide variety of Hostess confections to keep them sated while they sip on Coors Light and strawberry schnapps.

Just down Division from Rite Liquors, we made our final stop at Prasino. Prasino first opened in LaGrange and opened a second location in Wicker Park in August 2011. I love Prasino's commitment to environmentally friendly food and design. And that it serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. The dessert that concluded the tour was delicious; I can't wait to see what they do for breakfast!

Caffeine buzz

My sister visited me a couple of weekends ago. She lives on the East Coast and usually travels with a husband and a two-year-old. But on this particular weekend, I had her company to myself.

We packed in a week's worth of activities into just a couple of days, including dinner at Friend's Sushi in the Gold Coast, a visit to Saigon Sisters in the French Market (yeah, I might be an addict...), a Second City show, dinner at Chilam Balam, yoga at Exhale, brunch at Meli in River North and a visit to the Christmas tree at Macy's.


To fit all of this in and to stay awake for the late show at Second City, we started the weekend with a strong caffeine buzz at the Roasting Works Tour at Intelligentsia Coffee. The tour covers the history of coffee, coffee-growing regions, the smells associated with coffee and concludes with a take-home gift--a 1/2 pound bag of freshly-roasted Intelligentsia Coffee!!

I've taken the tour once before, about a year ago. My only complaint with the tour I took with my sister is that the guide turned the roasting machinery on while he was talking. Despite his headset, we found it difficult to hear.

This tour is offered twice on the first Saturday of every month. It books up several weeks in advance, so be sure to reserve your tickets as soon as you know you can go.

Lunching in the West Loop-ish area

Today my friend Devin, who has been hounding me about writing a blog since I first told him I was thinking about starting a blog, asked me for lunch recommendations in the Randolph/Halsted area. Devin, you have given me the perfect topic for my second blog post!

I consider myself an emerging foodie. I don't think I have the appetite to be a full-fledged foodie. Frankly, I still like to fit into my skinny jeans. But I enjoy and appreciate food. Even if that means sampling rather than devouring the foie gras in front of me.

In no particular order, here is where I would want to lunch in the West Loop/Fulton Market District area:

Blackbird. Always a classic. Delicious at lunch, too. Blackbird changes its menu from time-to-time, so there's always a new reason to go back.

Sepia. Another Michelin star winner. More affordable at lunch. It's truly one of my favorite restaurants in Chicago and I'm consistently amazed by how easy it is to get a reservation here. Now that I've let the cat out of the bag, go show them some love.

For a more casual option, try Haymarket.

Dragonfly Mandarin also has a lunch menu. A solid Chinese option if that's what you're in the mood for.
De Cero offers yummy tacos. And a lunch menu, but March-August only.

Saigon Sisters is ultra-yummy Vietnamese food. I don't recommend the pho, but the sandwiches are to die for. The Porky is my favorite. My boyfriend will walk half-a-mile from his office in the Loop in 20-degree weather to pick up a sandwich.

Saigon Sisters also has a location in the nearby French Market. Pick up a Vietnamese sandwich at Saigon Sisters or an artisan sandwich at Pastoral. Sinfully Healthy is my favorite. Don't forget to save room for dessert at the French Market. You'll find plenty of artisan candy makers and bakers, including Sweet Miss Givings. Try the red velvet cupcake. AH-MAZ-ING!! Sweet Miss Givings is a social enterprise bakery offering employment opportunities and training to needy Chicagoans.