Chicago Weekend - Part 2

On Saturday we got up and Adriane and Chad had a delicious breakfast cooking for us.  They turned me on to something I've never had before, but now need to get.  Chad made my egg in chili oil.  It added a bit of spice and it was so good.  I'm going to have to find me some of that!

After breakfast they took us on a tour of the house, which is pretty darn amazing.  It's right in the city and had a lot of space.  It's really pretty and they have it well decorated.  It's a very nice house!

Adriane and Chad went off and did their own thing (celebrating their anniversary) and Janet stayed and watched Charlie.  Dad, Connor and I decided to take a walk and see some local flair.

Connor and I sitting on an interesting bench

We stopped in some stores along the way.  Then we realized we were really close to Wrigley Field.  You see, the Cardinals were playing the Cubs this weekend and we were going to the game on Sunday... but we decided to go and check out the stadium on Saturday.  So we walked on over there.  It was really neat seeing all the Cardinals fans around.

Coming up on Wrigley Field

Dad in front of Wrigley

We walked all the way around the stadium to get the full effect.

View of the roof top bleachers

Dad made us pose in front of the Harry Caray Statue

 

We got to see all the Cubbies flair!

Cubs hat on Taco Bell sign - thought it was fun!

Afterwards we headed back towards Adriane and Chad's but first stopped to get some lunch at Schoolyard Tavern.  Where we sat outside, had some drinks and some good food.

Guac and Hummus

We also had a jalapeno pretzel that had cheese in the center and to dip... it was sooooo delicious and we had some great boneless wings as well.

We headed back to Adriane and Chad's where soon we got ready for our fancy dinner.  We all got dressed up and got a taxi and headed to the restaurant.

We went to Balena.  It's one of the better places to go, and I didn't realize this at the time, but kind of harder to get a reservation for.  It was sooo delicious.  I even had a fancy adult beverage...



It was Strawberry No1

Although you might not care, here's what we had for dinner - we got a bunch of different things and shared them all:

1. Oven Roasted Shishito Peppers, Tuna Conserva, Lemon - it felt like it was going to taste odd together, but it was really a great flavor combination.  The peppers aren't real spicy for the record.
2. Tuscan Kale "Caesar Salad", Tomato, Sardines, Croutons - it was really good but kale is weird haha.
3. Spicy Pepperoni, Mozzarella, Tomato Pizza - totally good!
4. Rigatoni, Pork Ragu, Porcini Mushrooms - this was probably my favorite thing we had... so good and rich tasting.  Felt very home style to me!
5. Gunthorp Farms Salt and Pepper Chicken Thighs, Spicy Romaneco, Anchovy - very good, very well cooked.
6. Whole grilled Rushing Waters Trout, Pickled Sour Cherries, Pistachios, Plums - I'm not a big fish fan, but this was so good.  Melt in your mouth good... salty and yummy!
7. Side:  Sweet Onion Gratinato, White Wing, Cream, Grana Padano - it looked super cheesy and creamy, but tasted pretty oniony... it wasn't my favorite, but I'm not huge on onions.

Overall the meal was great and the company was great and everything was great.

We were going to get dessert somewhere else, but just didn't end up doing that... which was fine b/c I was quite full from all that food!!

We went back to the house and watched a movie (The Station Keeper I believe is what it was called)  Overall it was a wonderful day!!