every day is another opportunity to eat, pray, love
Chicago Food Fest
So - in our world of athletics, we work a lot of weekends - I mean majority of them. So when we had a weekend with no events, we capitalized on the moment to take on chicago for a quick road trip. my best friend, Trisha & I ran with it (key the itinerary and bitmojis of us and our friend Kevin). ready? We weren’t…
well - let’s just say this place is pure danger. If you know me, you know I already checked out the menu, but It still took me a good 10 minutes to pick my poisons. I went for the hangover helper - ham, cheese & eggs and Spaulding’s Choice - turkey, american cheese, lettuce, tomato & avocado
We posted up the car, and caught an uber (who was absolutely amazing) and headed to POPS - Trisha’s favorite place on earth. We stopped for two drinks & a few gummies - thanks to the waitress for bringing some over after I got a litttttle too excited that trisha’s drink came with one. Smokey Hollow - Bourbon Whiskey / Blueberries / Thyme Syrup / Cava and the Italian Tale - Aperol / Averna Amaro / Lime / Prosecco
after getting lost in an alley - we found the correct alley to walk into this basement tiki bar. Other than it being very dark, It was a very cool place. for starters - I am obsessed with this skull wall. I got the BOURBON COCKTAIL -Bonded Bourbon, Jamaican Pot Still Rum, Rolled Oat Orgeat, Madeira, Lemon, Cinnamon, Allspice. I was blown away by this drink - the touch of cinnamon was clutch.
crossing off another stop on our list - an irish pub. It also worked out really well to be able to catch a glimpse of the duke game and to get some snacks. Went for a standard old fashion - but was excited for the double cherries. Trisha & I split SMOKED Salmon Bites - cold oak-smoked salmon with capers, onions, light horseradish sauce, lemon, cucumber slices - these were AMAZINGGG. The boys opted for the The Big Soft Pretzel - freakishly big Bavarian pretzel with whole grain mustard and cheese sauce.
Trisha and I had already scoped out the menu and knew exactly what we wanted to get and let the guys pick one of them. Drink of choice: Negroni. The THREE ZA’s (CLOSET TO FURTHEST): 1. capricciosa - san marzano tomatoes, artichokes, kalamata olives, mushrooms, prosciutto cotto ,pecorino romano, fior di latte mozzarella, basil 2. pistacchio pizza - pistacchio pesto, locally sourced sausage, fior di latte mozzarella, basil (MY FAV) 3. Affumicata - smoked mozzarella di bufala, hot sopressata, roasted bell peppers, fior di latte mozzarella
LONE WOLF TAVERN This stop was actually before forno rosso but since I only snagged one photo - i slotted it with the others. I stuck with the aperols - this was a quick little stop waiting for our reservation.
the press room This was an awesome basement wine bar where we split a bottle of rose - really cool vibes
backdoor saloON This was definitely the most interesting spot, but settled down for another cocktail & called it a night
Still obsessed with these little skull guys.the next morning, we planned on hitting up the publican - but due to potential bad roads, we decided to skip out on brunch and head back to good ol’ iowa city. but first - I made everyone stop at sawada for my military latte and a glorious doughnut vault almond doughnut. I just wish I got one of each.
