Good morning to the first morning and second day in Chicago! My boyfriend and I wanted to check out a climbing gym before my other friends arrive so we walked over to the train station to take public transportation. On the way, we stopped by Royal Coffee.
BTW, I loveee the public transportation here! For $20/3 days or $28/7 days, you can buy a Ventra Card with unlimited rides by train and bus.
I got the Vanilla latte and my boyfriend got the Turkish Coffee. My vanilla latte was light and sweet. His turkish coffee was very thick and dark! I didn’t try it, but he showed me the sludge that was in the coffee and how you’re supposed to drink it slowly, pour it over to another cup, let it settle down..
Vanilla latte.
Turkish coffee. The little cookies were lightly sweet and crunchy, but I was too full from coffee to enjoy them.
We went to First Ascent to climb and I really wanted a tank top but they didn’t have any in my size! The gym was so nice! It was on the second floor of the building and had floor-to-ceiling windows all around so that you can climb and look out from any direction and get a beautiful view! It was just so beautiful. The bouldering area was all natural light! I wish I kept a picture of it. It was one of those moments where I was basking in the light, enjoying the present and forgetting to take a picture for the past.
After climbing for a few hours, we walked on over to Pecking Pig to get a few drinks.
Spritz N Gigglez. Luxardo Apertivo, grapefruit, sparking rose.
Warm Peckish Spent Grain Bread (Hewn Bakery) & Irish Butter. I really like this bread! It was served really warm and the bread was already melting. It was a good snack before we ate deep dish pizza!
After Brody and Marian arrived, we trained it over to Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria. THIS WAS THE BEST PIZZA EVER. I didn’t know that Lou Malnati was a chain pizza restaurant. I thought it was going to be a pizza take-out. But no, it’s a sit down.
The Malnati Chicago Class. Small. Made with Lou’s lean sausage, some extra cheese and vint-ripened tomato sauce on butter crust. We ordered a size small and each of us had a quarter of a pizza. The pizza was so thick! One quarter of a deep dish pizza was enough to make all of us full! The crust was so thick and crispy and crunch. The pizza was full of cheese. There were large pieces of sausage in there. The tomatoes were really fresh! Our waitress told us that the way to eat deep dish pizza was to eat with a knife and a fork. And so we did!
After eating pizza, we walked to Tiny Lounge across the street..
Tiny fries. Tamarind ketchup and garlic aioli sauce. If you check-in on Yelp, you get a free serving of tiny fries. They were nice and soft. The ketchup was good! The aioli sauce was creamy.
Cocoa-tini. Strong yet creamy and sweet.
whiskey sour. Old forester bourbon, lemon juice, simple, topped with egg white meringue.
where there’s smoke. 100% agave silver tequila, ramazzoti amaro, jalapeño tincture, orange juice, lemon juice, agave nectar. This was so good! It was tangy and sweet and sour. Of course, I feel like my boyfriend always orders the better drink.
tito’s hammock. Tito’s handmade vodka, lemon, cucumber, lemon juice, simple, topped with seltzer. Very light and refreshing.
Alright, after our drinks, we trained it down more south towards what used to be the best restaurant in the world… Our long awaited trip was planned around this reservation.
Alinea. It is currently still ranked Top 50 Best Restaurants. I’ve decided to dedicate a whole blog to this restaurant. It wasn’t about coming for a meal anymore, or to eat. It was about experiencing an experience. An experience full of surprises that captivated your senses, especially your nose and taste.
But here is a little sneak peak towards the end of our meal… 😉
This was the first time I traveled somewhere and didn’t have time to blog as each day went back. There were way too many things to do, too many things to eat, such good company. I have to wait until I come back to LA to do it and so each blog will be delayed…
