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!

Chicago: Donut & Deep Dish

Coming to Chicago, I had 3 things that I really really wanted to try: donuts from Doughnut Vault, legit deep dish pizza, and dine at Girl & the Goat (achieved on Sunday night). On Saturday morning, the gang accompanied me to the Doughnut Vault and waited in line for about an hour with me. Even though we were behind on our schedule by the time we were done with our breakfast, they didn't complain at all (except for the hot ass weather). Thanks guys!

Doughnut Vault

400 1/2 N Franklin

Chicago, IL 60654

Neighborhoods: Near North Side, River North

thedoughnutvault.tumblr.com

Recently there's been a lot of these gourmet donut shops popping up throughout the country, and Doughnut Vault is actually a pretty new addition!

Even so, still a crazy line. Can't keep good things under wrap for long I guess haha.

Painted on to the wall.

Menu. Instead of chestnut glazed, they had pistachio glazed and carrot cake that Saturday.

This is how small the place is. I'm literally standing at the door taking this picture.

First up, Ben's pistachio glazed donut with toasted coconut flakes.

Tastes just like pistachio hahah. Sweet and super fluffy.

Old fashioned donut. Can never go wrong with an old fashioned.

The crazy chocolate glazed. First it is glazed with sugar, the dipped in chocolate with some chocolate sprinkles. The donut is bigger than my hand!

$1 French-pressed coffee! Totally needed it since everything was loaded with sugar.

Line got considerably shorter as we were leaving. Boo.

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After our breakfast, started walking towards Millennium Park so we can rent bikes and after getting lost for about 2 hours, finally found it and biked towards Navy Pier.

By the time we got the Navy Pier, and walked around for a bit, it was already 2pm so we decided to stop by the Navy Pier location of Billy Goat's Tavern. The original is under Michigan Ave, made famous by its owner placing a curse on Chicago Cubs because the Cubs wouldn't let him bring his goat in hahah. The place is also made famous by a SNL skit. Not that funny IMO but you can watch it here:

Billy Goat's Tavern at Navy Pier

700 E Grand Ave

Chicago, IL 60657

billygoattavern.com

"World famous." Yea yea we knew it was a tourist trap, since it is the Navy Pier location but still, decided to try it, and we wanted something fast.

Our cheezborgers.

Double cheezborger. Simple cheeseburger with condiments on the side. Not bad but meh, nothing to talk about really. Slightly better than your average backyard BBQ burgers.

They really try to sell the whole SNL skit line. Too bad they were so shiesty with refills. $1 for refills, wtf!

Should've been smart like Ahrhan and just got a beer to quench my thirst :P

As we were leaving Navy Pier, saw a churro stand and decided that I had to get it.

Damn these Disneyland prices.

Got the churritos drizzled with condense milk, which is suppose to be mini churros but it's more like churro being cut in half. In the end got like 3 churros' worth. I was a happy man hahah.

As soon as we finished and got to our bikes, rain started to fall. Actually, it was more like, rain for one minute, then all of a sudden lightning and thunder came, and the drops turned to these huge mofos that as we were riding, our faces would hurt from the rain hitting our face LOL. It was ridiculous. Usually you can tell how far the center of the storm is from you by timing the time when lightning strikes to thunder being heard. However the lightning and thunder happened essentially at the same time.

In the span of 10 minutes, the weather turned from 85C, to 65C, to storm. Needless to say by the time we got back to the bike rentals, we were soaked. As we were taking a cab back, the rain stopped and all is calm once again. Should've just waited it out :P

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After showering, we decided to take a nap and get ready before heading out once again for the main attraction of the day, stuffing ourselves with some legit deep dish pizza!

Pequod's Pizza

2207 N Clybourn Ave

(between Webster Ave & Greenview Ave)

Chicago, IL 60614

Neighborhood: DePaul

pequodspizza.com

Pequod's actually a little out of the day so we had to take a 20min taxi ride out, but it's worth it. Had more of a sports bar atmosphere. Chill & laidback neighborhood joint.

Large please!

A pitcher of Blue Moon.

Since it was gonna take around 30 minutes, decided to get onion rings.

Sorry I couldn't get a shot of the full pizza since the server was quick to serve each of us one but MAN it was a glorious pizza. Pequod's is almost famous for their caramelized crust! As the deep dish pan is inside the oven, cheese around the edges gets burnt and forms a cheesy crunchy crust!

Pepperoni, sausages, onion, mushroom, spinach, and fresh basil!

Cheesy saucy goodness!! I think I ate like... 2 and a half slices hahah. I'm still thinking about it after 2 weeks... sigh.

Had to get another beer so went with a local brew, Goose Island 312. Citrus-y, more on the lemon side!

Afterwards, headed back to the pier and watched the fireworks that the city. Pretty cool how Chicago does something like that. As soon as that was done, we decided to walk towards John Hancock Building since we needed some help in digesting our food!

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The Signature Lounge at the 96th is a lounge located at the top of John Hancock Center, and it is pretty much famous for its view. There's no cover so it's quite popular with people visiting Chicago to grab a drink while taking in the city view. Met up with Shuinn and her boyfriend to grab a few drinks.

Signature Lounge at the 96th

875 N Michigan Ave

John Hancock Center

Chicago, IL 60611

Neighborhoods: Streeterville, Near North Side

signatureroom.com

John Hancock!

All the way up there!

Had to wait in line to get to the elevator.

Drinks menu (click to enlarge). Lots of old school classics with new twists.

Old fashioned. I always forget how strong it is haha.

Ahrhan's martini. Totally forgot which one it is.

Anna's Moscow Mule, which is probably my favorite that night.

After a few drinks and Shuinn showing us a bit more of Chicago, we decided it to head back to have a few more to drink then prepare for a busy Sunday in Chi-Town!

Chicago: The Purple Pig

Finally got the time to upload pics from a recent trip that I took to Chicago with a few close friends.

Since we all left from different places and met up in Chicago, we somehow managed to find flights that will arrive around the same as one another and by the time we got to our hotel and settled in, it was already midnight. Did a little research and found that The Purple Pig was close by and it closes at 2am so we immediately headed over there hoping to satisfy our hunger. It turned out to be an awesome choice since I was craving for something savory and Purple Pig is definitely a good spot for that.

The Purple Pig

500 N Michigan Ave

(between Illinois St & Grand Ave)

Chicago, IL 60611

thepurplepigchicago.com

The Purple Pig! Cheese, swine & wine.

Menu. Small plates casual American.

Rather than ordering wine, most of us got a beer. I opted for the Gulden Draak, which is a dark Belgian beer with a 10.5%abv. I expected it to be quite bitter but it's actually the opposite: smooth, mellow, with just a little bit bitterness in the end. Named best tasting beer by Chef's Best in 1998!

Anna ordered the Ayinger Braü Weisse (only a little bit cause they had to change the keg). A fairly dry beer to us.

Ben's Einbecker Brauherren Pils. Einbecker is one of those old school brewery with hundreds of years in history and the pils is considered to be one of the best!

Fried Prosciutto bread ball. Prosciutto mix inside, then deep fried, and served with marinara. Think of it as a prosciutto meatball, bread, then fried!

Calamari with fregola, radishes, cucumber, and pistachio. Lots of interesting textures! Light & refreshing.

Milk-braised pork shoulder with mash. The pork is super tender. Awesome creamy gravy & mash potatoes to go along with it.

One thick piece of pork.

Jamon serrano with oyster mushrooms & fried egg. Serrano ham = super prosciutto.

I love it when you break the yolk and it just runs down the dish!

Favorite of the night: roasted bone marrow with herbs. Super decadent and one that makes you feel guilty eating it. I love bone marrow since when roasted right, nothing can beat the gelatinous fatty marrow. Here, they give you buttery grilled bread to smear it on, and you can even add a little cilantro, pickled onions, and sea salt to it.

A little of caperberries to top it off.

Buttery bread + bone marrow + cilantro + onions + sea salt = heaven.

The Purple Pig was definitely a good start to the trip. I love how they have some of the best beers in the world on draft, even if it is more of a wine bar. Food was great, and totally satisfied my salty savory food cravings!

More to come!