Chicago 21'

 Chicago Gourmet Trip (12 people)

Sept 24-27 (19K miles, direct flights) or $257

Hotel 

Waited for a "buy Hyatt points" promotion (got 25% off) so we got rooms for $162 each

A 7-day CTA pass is just $20 for transportation

https://www.transitchicago.com/assets/1/6/ctamap_Lsystem.png

From Airport take blue line to Washington Stop (State/Lake is another stop we can use that is close to our hotel)

Friday 

Xoco (mexican, we tried loaded guacamole, each kind of taco, hot chicken churro sandwich, Milanese sandwich, and dipped churros). 

Sightseeing: Du Sable bridge, Millennium park, Cloud Gate, Buckingham fountain, rose garden

Dinner: Lou Malnati’s (we put our name on the list and ate about 3 hours later).  We tried the 2 kinds of deep dish (The Lou, and Malnati Classic)

Dessert: Firecake donuts

Saturday

Breakfast at Lula Cafe (walk in only).  We tried the Chocolate banana bread, a blueberry Pecorino Danish, French toast with Peaches and Creme fraiche, and the Breakfast Sandwich (grape pesto, fontina, egg, on Focaccia), Buttermilk pancakes, Granola with Dates

EVERYTHING here was good, but our favs are in Bold.

Sightseeing: Navy Pier (Garrett's popcorn), quick stop at Eataly

3:30pm River architecture cruise 

Crown fountain at Millennium park

dinner at Gilt Bar (reservations made way in advance). We tried the pasta dishes, Pork tenderloin, Fried Chicken, Pot Pie, Beef Sandwich and Fries, Sourdough and Burrata appetizer, Carrot Cake with Salted Caramel Ice Cream.  EVERYTHING here was good, but our favs are in Bold.

Sunday

-Church at 9am (822 N clark street) 

-Brunch at 3 Arts Cafe (reservations made in advance).  We tried the Avocado toast, Bacon, Prosciutto and Cheese board, scrambled eggs.  The atmosphere and food were both beautiful (nothing extremely creative that blew us away).

bike to Lincoln park from the Navy Pier (using Divvy public bikes)

-Lunch at Portillo's (best sandwich was the Italian Beef & Sausage combo add sweet and hot peppers, cheese fries were a disappointment, Chocolate Cake shake was ok)

Sightseeing: walk down Magnificent mile, walked around the Chicago Tribune tower to see all the different brick additions from around the world, riverwalk

dinner at Girl and the Goat (reservations made way in advance)  We tried the Naan, sourdough, green beans, Elotes, Chicken thighs, Pork Shank, Shrimp salad, Short ribs, empanadas, Halibut,  Almond tart with apple compote.  EVERYTHING here was good (except the short ribs), but our favs are in Bold.

Dessert: ice cream at BomboBar (Coconut Toffee was the fav)

Monday

Batter and Berries For breakfast (join the waitlist online with yelp) we tried the lemon buttermilk pancakes, the blueberry lemon waffle, the French toast sampler (Carmel, lemon, strawberry, lemon), the breakfast wrap, the cheesy hash browns, bacon, Chicken and sweet potato waffle

Sightseeing: Lincoln Park Zoo, Willis Tower (wish we could have done some museums this day but most were closed Monday's)

Dinner: Deep dish pizza again (from Lou Malnati's and Gino East), and Stan's Donuts for Dessert (Biscoff  Pocket was the fav, also tried pistachio and blueberry cream cheese)