Chicago Eats

About a month and a half ago my husband and I took a trip to Chicago. We ate, drank, and were merry. I planned to do one post about the whole experience however that would be quite a long post so I decided to break it up into 2. One featuring eats and the other will be general things we did and saw.

First up, food. We stayed downtown with no particular plan. We pretty much winged it when it. I’m so happy we did. We stumbled into some awesome places that we probably would have missed if we would have gone with an agenda.

I’d read a post from Windy City Wardrobe where she laid out some places to visit in Chicago. One place that grabbed my attention was Doughnut Vault. I love a good simple glazed doughnut. After reading her post and perusing some photos I was determined to make time in my schedule to grab a doughnut. LORD HELP ME! Thank God I don’t live in Chicago. I would be at Doughnut Vault at least 3 times per week.

I’d read that the place was small but it was much smaller than I had imagined. The woman who greeted us was very nice. By the time we’d arrived they only had select doughnuts available. Just a bit of info, Doughnut Vault bakes their doughnuts daily. Once they’re out, they’re out. So get there early!

I went with the vanilla bean glazed doughnut. It may be the best damn doughnut I’ve ever had. I need to revisit Duck Donuts but mmmmmmm, I’m feeling like Vault is better.

After we left Doughnut Vault, the hubby and I went in search of a local coffee shop and found Bow Truss Coffee Roasters. Nice sized place around the corner from Doughnut Vault. The decor was so cute. I loved the simplicity of the overall aesthetic with quirks thrown in here and there. For example, there was a net hanging up behind the register filled with trunks and luggage. Hidden in all of that was working speakers from which the owner played music. Very chill place. Loved it!

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I cannot remember which day. Either Friday or Saturday we visited the aquarium. After working up an appetite I was starving and began to get hangry. We Googled some place (that I cannot remember the name of) hailed a cab and got on our way. The issue was there was more than one location. I told the cabbie one location but James (the hubby) had the other location in his GPS.

After realizing the mixup, we decided to hop out of the cab and just find something close. That was the best decision. Right across the street from where we hopped out was a place called Brightwok Kitchen. From the outside it looked kind of small and a little shabby. But when we walked in we were greeted with cleanliness, bright lights, modern design, and friendly staff.

 

Brightwok Kitchen is a counter-serve Asian hub with tons of dairy-free stir-fries & salad options. It’s basically a create your own bowl kind of place.

Saturday evening we had a hankering for tacos. Why? No clue. After some quick Googling (what did people do before smartphones LOL!) we found a place really close by that had great reviews. We checked out some photos. The place looked right up our alley. So off we went.

Seoul Taco was freaking fabulous! The vibe was very 90s hip hop. The music was very 90s hip hop. The staff was super chill and even recommended a blues club up the street. The guy behind the register let us try a few of the menu items just so we could be sure we liked them before placing an order. Which if you think about it is very smart. Letting customers sample stuff before buying has to cut back on food waste right? Especially in a smaller establishment. Which would in turn cut expenses and save the owner money.

Any whoddle, we placed our order and grabbed a table in the back. I ordered Kimchi fried rice. James got tofu tacos with the tofu fried hard. I totally forgot to snap photos of the food, I was hungry ya’ll.

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The last and final stop on our Chicago eats tour was a place that’d we found on day 1 but it was closed. We could not leave Chicago without trying something from Da Lobsta. Da Lobsta is one of those hole in the wall looking joints with bangin’ ass food. We were literally on our way out of the city and decided to stop at the last minute. I was on car duty while James ran in and grabbed our food.

I got a Chicago style shrimp roll. Oh, God! It was soooooo good! The shrimp melted in my mouth, the bun was toasted to perfection. The guy who was there (I’m assuming it was the owner) threw in a small container of lobster bisque once he found out we were from out of town. I am very picky about lobster bisque. VERY PICKY. To be honest, I didn’t expect much especially since I’ve had pretty terrible lobster bisque from pretty high end restaurants. Whelp, you can’t judge a book by its cover. I killed that container of lobster bisque!

I didn’t think to take a photo until I was halfway through my roll.

I don’t know what I’m going to do the next time I visit the Windy City. All of these places were so delicious. I already want to revisit them all. I won’t have time to try anything new.

I’m so glad I don’t live there. I don’t know how healthy I would be able to eat with such delectable food at every turn.