Category Archives: Chicago
CloverEats: dinner and a show at Lincolnshire’s King’s Wharf
My family often visits the Marriott resort at Lincolnshire to see their musicals, especially around the holidays. King’s Wharf is located conveniently in the same building, and so we’ve been there many times over the years. One season, they had an amazing honey butter served with their bread; I keep hoping they bring it back, but so far it’s all just been plain. In terms of shows, the tap-dancing is always quite impressive and very energetic. Check them out on Yelp!
CloverEats: Lake Forest’s Caputo Cheese Market!
The Caputo Cheese Market has a huge selection of cheeses and meats. They also have a small deli inside, where you can get a huge variety of sandwiches. Fred somehow broke three sets of silverware while attempting to eat his sandwich with a plastic fork and knife. They have outdoor seating in addition to a few tables inside, and is a lovely spot for lunch! Check them out on Yelp!
CloverCelebrates: New Year’s at Chicago’s Wildberry
After an awesome night out on the town, we all woke up starving. I had never been to Wildberry at the Prudential Building, though I’ve passed by it several times before. I now know that I’ve been missing out on delicious brunch this whole time I’ve lived in Chicagoland!
Unfortunately, since it was brunch on New Year’s, we had to wait over an hour before our party of ten got seated. However, as soon as our drink, the Wildberry Orange Juice, came, I knew everything would be worth the wait! The fresh squeezed house juice had not only orange, but also hints of strawberry and grapefruit. It was delicious!
I always like to start off brunch with something savory, here, we got the Los Altos Benedict, which was spicy with chipotle hollandaise, red peppers, and chorizo. It was the most unique eggs benedict I’ve ever had, and was delicious. Even the ketchup for the hash browns tasted more flavorful than other restaurants’.
We also got lots of sweet dishes! Since the restaurant is named Wildberry, we went for berry-based pancakes and crepes, although there was a very tempting Red Velvet Pancake. Everything was delicious, and we left stuffed. Though initially slow, Wildberry’s waiters were very nice, splitting the bill into ten separate individual checks. I think this might even top Walker Brothers as my new favorite brunch location. What a great way to start off the new year! Check out Wildberry on Yelp or their official website!
CloverEats: fluffy ricotta pancakes at Chicago’s Stax
Flowers at our table!
We stayed with Shravan over break, and got the chance to check out some more Chicago restaurants! Stax was bright and warm, and cute flowers greeted us at our table as we ran in from the slushy rain.
Ricotta strawberry pancakes!
I got ricotta strawberry pancakes, and though you couldn’t taste the ricotta, it definitely lent itself to a fluffier texture than normal pancakes. The preserves were sweet, and the syrup was hot. Yum.
Chicken sandwich and fries!
Shravan’s chicken sandwich came with a cute side of fries, complete with deep frier container!
Eggs benedict and parmesan potatoes!
Fred’s eggs and potatoes looked good to me, but apparently, they still weren’t as good as Aut Bar’s.
Check them out on Yelp or their official website!
Snapshot! The Last Lecture at Chicago’s The Cubby Bear.
The line to get in.
Imagine the hectic week before college graduation: you have been slaving away for four years, whiplashed back and forth by the whims of professors, studying nonstop if not for class than for some test or another. Finally, you’re about to graduate. Here’s a shot of the line outside the Wrigleyville bar, The Cubby Bear, for Northwestern’s Last Lecture series.
Packed inside as well.
I think we were more hungry than anything else, so we grabbed a few snacks while listening to the legendary Professor talk to us about growing up and becoming great. Then we left and went to watch “Tree of Life,” but that’s a story for another day.
CloverCooks: Korean Barbeque at Chicago’s San Soo Gab San
Tiny parking lot and small sign.
I’ve always been a huge fan of Korean Barbeque, and one of my all-time favorite restaurants for it is the amazing San Soo Gab San, a tiny little spec in north Chicago. It’s a little difficult to get to from Evanston without a car (one has to take either two buses or a train and a taxi), but somehow I’ve ended up there more times than any other Korean Barbeque location. This time, I went with Joe and Xuan from lab, for one last delicious meal before leaving Chicago.
So many banchan!
San Soo Gab San offers the most banchan, side dishes, that I’ve ever seen a Korean Barbeque place offer. There’s a huge wide array of dishes, with everything from potato salad to moo kimchi. The menu also offers a wide array of non-BBQ foods, including amazing naemyung and sushi.
From raw...
San Soo Gab San uses good, old fashioned charcoal grills that are carried, flaming, to tableside. The coal crackles and sparks and the meat sizzles. It is the most delicious way to cook kalbi!
...to cooked!
This is one of the places I will miss most about Chicago! In the meanwhile, check it out on Yelp!
CloverEats! Italian at Northbrook’s Francesco’s Hole in the Wall
The door has a cute brick design.
Some restaurants are called “Hole in the Wall” in order to facilitate a cute, homey image of themselves. Other restaurants are called “Hole in the Wall” because that’s exactly what they are. Francesco’s is the latter – despite being open for many years now, the restaurant remains a single room, and its parking lot is always packed.
Pre-Facebook "wall photos."
My parents and I waited about half an hour for a table, sipping our drinks in the hallway while perusing the family photos lining the walls.
Hand-written menu.
Interesting wall decorations; crowded.
The single room was packed with noise. Instead of menus, there was a board on one of the walls, with the day’s specials handwritten. Now starving, we dove right in and started eating. The Osso Buccho was highly recommended on Yelp, as was the Lobster Ravioli, and so that’s what we got. Our waitress was friendly, and convinced us to get a salad as well, which was simple but quite nice.
The simple but fresh salad our waitress talked us into getting.
So tender! Fall-off-the-bone tender!
Pasta!
Ravioli!
And dessert!
CloverEats! delicious pressed sandwiches at Chicago’s “Cafecito”
Whilst searching for a small, casual restaurant suitable to host Martin’s surprise birthday at, I found Cafecito, a cute restaurant with rave reviews by Yelpers.
Unique drinks!
It was a great place for our group to enjoy a quick bite before heading over to Dave and Busters, and the sandwiches were both delicious and cheap!
Wrapped sandwich!
I didn’t try the namesake cafecito, because by that time it was too late for any kind of caffeine, but the Pavo sandwich was amazing! Everything was also really cheap!
Omnom!
Official website; YELP (over 300 reviews!).
Snapshot: CloverEats! at Chicago’s “India House”
We left Howl at the Moon to get a full meal, and walked around the block to India House. No one was too hungry, so we mainly filled up on naan.
Delicious and warm!
The two dishes we split among six of us were quite delicious, and there were hot towels at the end of the meal. Our waiter seemed a little irritated, but that’s pretty understandable considering how little food we ordered. Nevertheless, the restaurant continued to refill our naan, water glasses, and was in general quite courteous.
Yum! I'd definitely come back for a full meal sometime.
Snapshot: CloverListens! at Chicago’s “Howl to the Moon”
Yuxi won a free party at this piano bar, so we all headed down into the Loop for some drinks, piano, and a free buffet! The buffet didn’t have too much, but the drinks were only $1 for us, and the piano was very different from anything I’ve seen before. Apparently, people ‘duel’ at the two opposing pianos!
Crowded.
It was pretty crowded, but the man on the piano was playing/singing Lady Gaga, and the atmosphere was buzzing. We kept trying to ask for Vitamin C’s “Graduation” to be played, and eventually they compromised with “Celebration.” There were a lot of people celebrating birthdays, getting married, anniversaries, etc. Seems like a nice place for a group celebration!
Piano!
