Chicago

Having planned this trip with the FC girls way back in January, I wasn't too excited about going on the day we left. I was busy at work and tired in general. Getting to Chicago was a pain. I've never had problems with AA before but they failed me this time. 3 hours late getting into Chicago. Sadly, that ruined our Thursday night plans. We checked into the Courtyard Marriott and went to bed. The hotel was nothing special but it was near most restaurants and attractions at a very affordable price.
The next morning we woke up and had breakfast at La Creperie. After breakfast, we walked down Magnificent Mile and saw what the city had to offer. After an hour of walking, we had lunch at Vong Thai Kitchen. Following lunch was a tour of the John Hancock Observatory. It had a good view but nothing special. Here's Yvo and I falling out. We went back to the hotel to rest /change and then it was dinner at Marche. I know we're pigs. =D After dinner, we went to check out the blues scene that Chicago is famous for. Went to both Blue Chicagos. The first one was a bit boring. Didn't like the bar stools and couldn't get into the band. I enjoyed the second location. We sat in a booth and listened to a fun performer. Too bad we were all so tired.

The next day, we started the morning with brunch at Orange. After getting stuffed, we went to play some Whirlyball! Whirlyball is a game like lacrosse except you're in bumper cars and you get to ram into your opponents. It was a lot of fun. I ended up driving into the wall a few times. The car didn't have a steering wheel, just a handle and it would accelerate even when I took my foot off the pedal. Fun Fun Fun! The Whirlyball complex also had pool tables and arcade games. The arcade games were so cheap! Pump was only 25 cents a game! It's at least a dollar in NYC. After an exciting game, the five of us went to calm down at the Art Institute of Chicago. It wasn't as interesting as I had hoped. The girls made it more fun by playing some games and engaging in shadow puppets. Next door to the museum was Millennium Park. The park was beautiful- much better than Central Park. They also had interesting art pieces including "The Bean". We spent a good deal of time taking pictures of our reflections in the Bean. Headed back to the hotel after the park to get ready for dinner at Moto. Since we got the 10 course tasting menu, dinner was about 2.5-3 hours long. Though stuffed, we decided to check out Hot Chocolate for dessert. Hot Chocolate wasn't anything special but at least it got us to Wicker Park, where we had planned to club that night. We ended up playing drinking games at Nick's Beer Garden. Nick's was alright but I was appalled that they didn't have Hoegaarden.

On the very last day of our trip, we went to check out the Navy Pier. It's a fun, family oriented place. We went on the Ferris Wheel and did a Funhouse Maze. Tried some Macadamian nut popcorn featured on Food Network and walked around. It was a good place to chill since it was raining. Afterwards, we had our final meal at Big Bowl before we ran for the plane. Silly us, the plane was delayed for 3.5 hours. Thank goodness Shirley got us on the first flight out, which was still delayed by 3 hours but it put us in a better position in NYC. Overall, it was a good trip but the city did not wow me.

(Pictures courtesy of C,G and Y)

Restaurant Reviews

(Left: Le Creperie, Marche, Hot Chocolate; Right: Vong, Orange, Big Bowl)

Le Creperie- Cute place, very filling food. I had the creamed spinach crepe breakfast, which included an egg sunny side up and bacon. It was in a residential neighborhood, a bit out of the way but it was decent. $
Vong Thai Kitchen- I thought the food was just ok. The $1 desserts were an interesting novelty. I particularly liked the ginger creme brulee. The chocolate molten cake didn't have enough chocolate sauce since it was so tiny. The prices were much better than the NYC branch. The food wasn't spectacular but I didn't pay that much either. $
Marche- Loved the atmosphere, the open space, the open kitchen, the colorful decorations and the modern tables. It reminded me of Le Cirque. I liked my Shrimp Madagascar and they offered us a free course. I think it was because they messed up our dishes. The other tables didn't get it and some of my friends liked the free course more than their entree. Overall, it was a decent meal. $$$
Orange- Liked the airy, California look of the place. No reservations but it was worth the 40 minute wait. I had French toast kebobs with pineapple and strawberries. Extremely filling. The sausage was spectacular. All the food looked delicious. $
Hot Chocolate- Tasted like a melted candy bar. Absolutely disgusting. $5 for a cup too! $$$
Big Bowl- It's an upscale, Chinese chain like PF Chang's. The gimmick is that you can choose your own ingredients for lo mein or rice platter. It was ok. I thought it was a bit pricey for what it was. It tasted like dining hall food in college. We had the same thing and the same gimmick and I had more sauce options in college. Granted, my college is ranked 1 or 2 for food so it wasn't bad. It was more money than I would pay for American Chinese food. $$
Moto- I was excited to go here because I had read many articles on the head chef and owner- Homaru Cantu. They use a lot of science and it was innovative but I didn't like all the taste of everything. Service was impeccable and presentation was divine but it loses a star for taste. Out of the 10 courses, I liked half of them and the other half taste funny. It was definitely an experience. They started us off with an edible menu. It tasted like Indian bread. It was crunchy and definitely not Chinese rice paper. What was especially cool was that my name was printed on the menu since I had made the reservations. We decided on the 10 course meal. I'm just going to highlight each dish.
The first course was hot and sour soup with liquid nitrogen egg drops.
Second course was tempura scallops with carbonated fruit.
Third course was squid ink fried calamari with orange foam. I thought it tasted ok but many of us were offended because it looked like poop and it colored our mouth and teeth.
Fourth course was a palate cleanser. It was liquid nitrogen artichoke with balsamic vinaigrette.
Fifth course was my favorite. The MC escher surf and turf. Escher's "Sky and Water' was printed on an edible paper that tasted like sea salt. On the side we got duck meat, fish meat and mushrooms. The most interesting part was that the fish meat was sprinkled with a powder. The powder was the solidified state of duck confit. It turned into fat as soon as it hit my mouth. I was so impressed by that.
Between the 5th and 6th course, they took us to a presentation where they showed us how they lasered vanilla in a wine glass to infuse an oak flavor into a young wine. They served us a complimentary glass of young red wine that had been oaked in that way and it really did taste better.
Sixth course was rib eye with kielbasa and cabbage. The rib eye was in a sausage puree sauce. It sounds disgusting but it was one of the best tasting dishes.
Seventh course was Christmas in April. It was a butter fried cookie with a creamy, salty cheese and raspberry sauce. We also got a droplet of mint. While I hate mint, it was oddly sweet and refreshing.
Eighth course was a cotton candy truffle. The truffle was made out of white chocolate with liquid cotton candy inside. It was pretty cool and hard to make. The truffle was placed on a bed of cotton candy paper. By that point, we were a bit sick of edible paper.
Ninth course was a dessert that was called feijoa and parsnip. Feijoa is a S. American fruit like guava. Once again, they flash froze it and put it on top of a parsnip puree. It was interesting but not great.
Tenth course was called Starbucks. It had whipped cream in a jelly format, cinnamon peanuts that tasted lighter and crunchier than peanuts, espresso ice cream and graham cracker ice-cream with a creme filled cookie. I liked the ice creams and peanuts but didn't care for the cookie.
Finally, they left us with sugar packing peanuts. It tasted like packing peanuts, but sweet. It was hard to chew. Overall, it was an eye-opening meal but it didn't taste as good as it looked. For $135, including tax and tip, I was happy that I got to taste carbonated fruit, edible paper, and powdered fat. $$$$