Chicago: Eating like an American

To be honest, sometimes I still find it odd that so many people can wake up early to go to brunch. It's almost a must for many but because I grew up in Taiwan as a kid, I never got to experience the "brunch culture" until I got to college. My family never did brunch, let alone go out for breakfast foods.

Nevertheless, we really wanted to go to a good brunch spot in Chicago. Initially we tried Xoco, a Rick Bayless spot, but found out they are closed on Sundays. Tried calling Table 52 (Art Smith's) but no reservation. After a bit of Yelping found Eggsperience, a cool diner that's about 10 minutes away from our hotel.

Turns out, Eggsperience is a popping diner and good thing we called ahead of time and made a reservation cause it was paaaacked. Also, what an awesome name :P

Eggsperience

35 W Ontario St

Chicago, IL 60654

Neighborhood: Near North Side

eggsperiencecafe.com

Whooooo they really play off the egg theme hahah.

Part of the menu.

I love fresh squeezed grapefruit juice so had to get one!

After looking through the menu for awhile, decided to go with the Apple Pancake, which is baked apple pancake filled with fresh apples, cinnamon and sugar glaze.

It's big. Look at the size of it compared to the slice of orange haha. Lots of apple slices inside.

I had to get a side of bacon just because I needed something salty as I was eating the pancake.

Ahrhan's Bennie, which is a traditional benedict with Canadian bacon.

Lots of hollandaise sauce.

Ben's Tommy Boy's Skillet, which is for meat lovers. Eggs, bacon, sausage, ham, and potatoes.

Anna's Skirt Steak Skillet, with scrambled eggs, skirt steak, onions, green peppers, Jack and cheddar cheeses

Definitely the better skillet out of the two!

Each skillet comes with either pancakes or toasts. Sad that there was so much food, so none of us even touched the pancakes.

Definitely a great spot for breakfast since there's something for everyone. The portions there are ridiculous as well. I had to leave about 1/3 of the apple pancakes and I don't think anybody else finished theirs either. Maybe this is why Americans are obese :P

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Actually Americans are obese because we eat things like Portillo's! After visiting the museum, we decided to grab a Chicago dog from Portillo's, just because we had to try one an authentic Chicago dog.

Portillo's Hot Dog

100 W Ontario St

Chicago, IL 60654

Neighborhoods: Near North Side, River North

portillos.com

Yay! Hot dog and sandwiches!

Portillo's sign.

Pretty spacious inside. Looked more like a food court.

You order first, then wait for your number to be called.

Haha... how sad. I think it is funny whenever hot dog places use daschund as a mascot :P

Cheese fries. More like fries with cheese sauce.

They are actually famous for their Italian beef sandwich as well!

Not gonna lie, it was hella good. Beef is juicy and they dip the bread in jus so it is super moist. I got it with hot peppers so it added a little kick.

The Chicago Dog! The hot dog itself is nothing special, but the combination of mustard, relish, freshly chopped onions, sliced tomatoes, kosher pickle, and sport peppers piled onto a steamed poppyseed bun is great!

Had to get a chili cheese dog because... I was still hungry :P Chili surprised me! Usually not a fan of chili with beans but Portillo's did a good job.

Added some cheese sauce from the fries. I obviously didn't do a good job haha.

So I just found out that there's actually 2 California locations, one in Buena Park and one in Moreno Valley. Definitely need to go out there (probably Buena Park's). I do like the Chicago dog. It's funny how just an ingredient like fresh tomatoes can make such a difference on a hot dog. Hopefully the Italian beef sandwich in the Cali locations are just as good as the original!