DeColores Burrito Joint (Midway Airport) - Chicago

 Breakfast/Brunch on our way home! 

 

Steak & Egg Burrito $9.99

Really good breakfast burrito! There were lots of strips of steak and there was a lot of cheese and egg. The salsa was also really nice. It also came with chips and guacamole!

The chips and guac were the perfect balance of salty and savoury together. 

Website: http://www.decolor.us

Pizzeria Due - Chicago

We decided to try the sister restaurant to Pizzeria Uno which is down the street from Uno. 

I had a lot of pizza over the last few days, so I decided to mix it up and get a pasta dish. 

Salad

This was my friend's salad and unfortunately it didn't really look appetizing. 

 

My cup of salad that came with my pasta 

I don't really know what happened to the croutons, but they were huge. 

Spaghetti and Meatballs with garlic bread

Everything was okay, but it wasn't really outstanding in any way. The tomato sauce was the same as the pizza sauce, which kinda makes sense (but was rather disappointing since I was hoping for more depth of flavour in a pasta dish). I probably wouldn't order pasta here again (and my friends said the pizza wasn't as good as Uno). 

Website: https://www.pizzeriaunodue.com

Lollapalooza

We had some struggles getting our wristbands and getting into Grant Park, but once we figured it out - it was all good! Time to check out the music, food and more!

We started Day 1 rather late, so we didn't eat at the Music Festival. 

Day 2

 

Lobster Corn Dogs

Pretty tasty! 

Day 3

We keep eating big meals before coming into the music festival which made it difficult to sample everything available here. On the plus side, we saved a lot more money considering how small the portions were at Lollapolooza (and any concert or event venue really). 

Deep dish pizza without the long wait! 

It was pretty saucy and definitely not as good as Uno.

Rainbow Cone! 

 

This was perfect on a hot day even though the portion was not like the picture at all. 

The ice cream was pretty good

  Day 4

 

Black and White Chocolate ice cream! 

Really yummy with a nice dark chocolate and white chocolate flavour. 

The food options at Lollapalooza were okay, but there wasn't as much variety as Coachella and there wasn't really anything I really wanted to try or eat that I couldn't eat in Chicago (like Broken English Taco Pub)

Shake Shack - Chicago

So excited there's a Shake Shack in Chicago! I loved it in NYC and knew we had to have it in Chicago (especially since it was in our River North neighbourhood). 

Shack Burger $5.39

I learned my lesson the hard way before - don't have more than one burger unless you're famished. It's so good, but it's really heavy and buttery. The burger was yummy, but I thought it tasted better in NYC.

Website: https://www.shakeshack.com

Al's Beef - Chicago

Another well-known Chicago Italian beef sandwich restaurant! 

There's some fierce competition in this section of River North with Portillo's across the street. Al's has that old school traditional sandwich shop feel. 

Italian Beef with sweet peppers $7.39

I asked for the sandwich to be dipped and it was, but it still felt dry with the doughy bread and slightly dried beef. It was good, but I think I liked Portillo's more. 

Website: http://www.alsbeef.com 

Cupitol Coffee and Eatery - Chicago

After the meal at Yolk, we walked by Cupitol Coffee and Eatery and I couldn't resist picking up a few of their mini tarts. 

 

Small pecan tart and key lime tart $2 each
The lime curd in the key lime tart was nice and the pecan tart was really good. 

Website: https://cupitol.com

Frontera Grill - Chicago

Chicago is such a foodie city! Everything is so yummy that it warrants a repeat visit. 

 Menu 

Chocolate Cappuccino $5.50

Our waiter recommended the chocolate cappuccino since we asked for caffeine recommendations. He said that their Mexican hot chocolate is really good and this was really yummy!

Enfrijolades

Tortillas with chorizo and scrambled eggs topped with a black bean sauce

The enfrijolades were very tasty. 

Pork Carnitas with black beans and guacamole

Everything on the plate was really tasty, but I felt like it was missing a tortilla or some kind of carb. 

Gunthorp Sausage and Eggs

Interesting presentation with food placed on top of the leaf. 

Website: http://www.rickbayless.com/restaurants/frontera-grill/

Broken English Taco Pub - Chicago

After a full day at Lollapalooza, we decided to grab something small on the way home for dinner. 

We recognized Broken English Taco Pub from their food stall at Lollapalooza and decided to stop in for some late night tacos. 

 

12 tacos for $38 seemed like a good deal to the four of us.

Taco platter

I got a carne asada and a pescado del dia - steak and fish. The tacos were good (and probably better than what we could have gotten in Grant Park and for less money). We snacked and had some drinks on the patio (which was nice). The service was a little slow, but we got home early enough to get lots of sleep for the next day. 

Website: http://www.tacopub.com

Yolk (Streeterville) - Chicago

I told my friends that we had to eat at Yolk since I had such a great experience last time I was in Chicago. We got there around mid-morning and found out there was about a 45 minute wait, so we went to explore the Navy Pier area while we were waiting (because Yolk is always worth the wait).

 

Yummy menu options!

Pot Roast Benny
The pot roast was tender and the eggs were poached perfectly.


Chicken and Waffles $13.94
I was a little puzzled by the chicken at first because it wasn't quite fried and the skin wasn't crispy either. The mushroom gravy was really good though and the waffle was good. A very hearty breakfast.


Yolk Berry Bliss and Pancakes

We were a little surprised by the portion sizes here, but figured it might be American portion sizes.

Overall: Service was great and the food was delicious and good value for money. We left happy customers.

Website: https://www.eatyolk.com

Stan's Donuts & Coffee (Mag Mile) - Chicago

We stumbled upon Stan's Donuts & Coffee on our way to brunch at Yolk's Streeterville location. The signs were pretty colourful and the donut display was amazing!

 

I couldn't resist getting the pistachio donut (and my friend got the pistachio and lemon donut). $2.60

Pistachio donut and Pistachio lemon donut

The pistachio donut had a vanilla donut and it was nice and fluffy with a great pistachio glaze. The lemon donut was a little firmer and fatter and something about the balance of the donut was off. I much preferred the pistachio vanilla donut. A nice treat on our way to brunch!

Website: http://www.stansdonutschicago.com

Pizzeria Uno - Chicago

After a full day at Lollapalooza, we decided to grab another Chicago staple: Deep Dish Pizza at Pizzeria Uno's!

 

Numero Uno Deep Dish Pizza!

We got a medium for a group of 4 girls and didn't even finish it. We had to take home pizza for the next day. The pizza was delicious! It had just the right amount of sauce, toppings, crust and it didn't fall apart like the last deep dish pizza I had in Chicago at Gino's. I was much happier with this experience! The pizza at Uno's was everything I expected deep dish pizza to taste like - thick crust, sauce and toppings all baked with lots of cheese. Yum!

Website: https://www.unos.com

Portillo's Hot Dogs - Chicago

We were staying in the River North area and decided to take a look around to find Chicago's famous Italian beef sandwiches. We saw Portillo's open and decided to grab a quick meal before heading over to Grant Park for Lollapalooza. 

So Classically American!

Italian Beef Sandwich with Sweet Peppers $5.85 + $0.60 for peppers
This was delicious! The sandwich bun was soggy with au jus; the beef was tender, juicy and so flavourful and the peppers were the perfect sweet accompaniment to the whole thing (even if the peppers were an additional cost - they were worth it). So good! It was a great way to start off our long day at Lollapalooza.

Website: https://www.portillos.com/index.html

The Cheesecake Factory - Chicago

We arrived in a foggy Chicago and one of the first things we wanted to hit up was The Cheesecake Factory!

 

All those lovely cheesecakes just waiting to be eaten!

 

Menu

Sweet Corn Tamale Cakes

This appetizer was a meal and it was really good!

Factory combination with Steak Diane and Shrimp Scampi and a pasta substitution. $22.50
I was really torn between pasta and steak here - so I went for both and I'm super happy I did. The pasta was perfect for absorbing the extra sauce from the shrimp scampi.

Macaroni and Cheese Burger
This was all that we expected and more - so much gooey cheese!


Chris' Outrageous Cheesecake $7.95
Chocolate cake, brownie, toasted coconut-pecan frosting and chocolate chip coconut cheesecake.
It was super rich and very coconut-y - which is amazing if you love coconut. It was really good, but way too heavy as a dessert after steak and pasta. Still awesome the next day!

Website: https://www.thecheesecakefactory.com