Christmas in Chicago - Dec 23-26

We came.  We saw.  We conquered.  We ate a lot of cheese fries.  Again.  Yes, I know, too many cheese fries.  Our intention this time was not as such, but downtown Chicago on Christmas Eve and Christmas is practically a ghost town.  Who would have thought?  Warning: this is a long post.

Our first night we stayed in Crystal Lake, IL.  Why?  It's a long story - don't ask.  We found Nick's Pizza and Pub on Yelp.  It had good reviews and was close.  The waitress was exceptional, the food was good, but it was a little overpriced.  Click that link.  If you like dead animals, then this place is for you.  Wanting to go out for a few drinks we stopped in at Duke's Alehouse.  Some drunk mess of a guy started a conversation with us and everyone else at the bar, we had a few drinks and then went back to the room.

The next morning, we had breakfast at Benedict's La Strata.  You can read my full review on Yelp.

Crab Cake Benedict with home fries

Crab Omelet with avocado and home fries

We were early for our hotel reservation at the Hard Rock Hotel downtown, but we called and they agreed to let us check in early.  The lobby was very modern and very "rock star."  Faux alligator walls, guitars behind the check in desk, slimline pool table in the lobby, low sitting chairs, etc.

We upgraded our room.  What a smart idea.  It was pretty fantastic.

We settled into the room but we were getting hungry and went out in the snow to find a place to hang before dinner.  Most things were closed, but we found Snicker's, a tiny little bar with decent drinks and decent food.  The greek fries were interesting in a good way.  Perfectly cooked fries, topped with feta, tzatziki and lemon juice.  I know!  Crazy, right?  Surprisingly good.  Macy's was open with a large crowd clustered around their windows looking at the displays and the skating rink was packed.  The bean was neat covered in snow.

The coldest bean in Chicago

After exploring, we were ready for dinner.  We found Rockit Bar and Grill.  There was an event going on, which we though sounded a little complicated and shady so we went across the street to Mother Hubbard's.  We drank and ate cheese fries and then drank some more and between the waitress (who we thought seemed so nice!) 'forgetting' she charged us for free wings and the couple beside us causing drama, it had turned into a long night.  So we lied and said we would meet up tomorrow, stopped for some beer at 7-Eleven and went to the room.

Christmas Day found us hungover and in need of something to eat.  We had indian delivered to the room.  Tasty, fun and WAY cheaper than room service.  After tending to our wounds we bundled up and hit the streets again.  It was quiet downtown but Blue Frog 22 was open for karaoke.  Jesse's song of choice, Monster Mash was a graveyard smash - har har har.  The tragic girl at the bar was disappointed when she realized she was going home alone and we met a former NFL player.  Though, I can't remember his name, he was very nice.  As Blue Frog closed we searched for somewhere to end the night - though our better judgement told us we should go home, we stopped back at Snicker's.  No trip would be complete without someone starting a completely inappropriate conversation with us while we're drunk at a bar, so why should this time be any different.  After a good verbal violation, traipsing back to the room was in order.  What a long night.

Sunday, we make the 6 hour drive back home, but not before a little brunch at Bandera's.  Mac and Cheese for an appetizer was perfect.  (They used sage!) A burger and ribs for the entrees.  Jesse LOVED the ribs and while my burger was good, it was a little sweet for my taste.  Between the ketchup, brioche roll and bread & butter pickles, it was a lot.  If we go again, I think ordering without the pickles would fix the issue.

It was a nice way to spend Christmas.  After the past year being about weddings and family and drama and learning a lot about the people we know - both good and bad, it was nice to have our first Christmas alone together and kind of decompress.  Who knows, maybe we'll make this a tradition.  Just don't tell my Mom.

P.S.  Thank you to the Hard Rock for being so awesome about returning my back I accidentally left with the concierge!  Quick, painless and not one thing out of place inside.  You guys rock.  Literally.  ;)

Honeymoon - Day 10 - September 29, 2010

It was raining when we woke up so we decided to do something indoors and visit the Smithsonian American History Museum.  Before though, we stopped for a little breakfast/lunch at Old Ebbitt Grill.  This place is apparently a hot spot for politicians, though if we had seen any, I wouldn't have known one way or the other.  That's bad isn't it?  I had the Gnocci which was done is almost a carbonara style with bacon but with the addition of mushrooms.  It was by far one of the best thing I had during the trip.  It's a shame we didn't get a picture.  It was amazing.  I think Jesse ended up eating half of mine along with what he ordered.  I'm pretty sure he had the crab cake sandwich.  Whatever it was, it was also really good.  And you should have seen the surprised look on their face when Jesse had finished his first drink and when he asked for another they wanted to know if it was a Arnold Palmer (1/2 tea, 1/2 lemonade) and he said, "No, a Bloody Mary" at 11:00 in the morning.  Ha!

We walked through the United States Navy Memorial and the National Sculpture Garden on our way to the museum.  Once in the museum, that had a lot of really great exhibits going on.  The Julia Child one was pretty neat-o and seeing the actual Star-Spangled Banner was incredible.

We were staying at a Radisson outside of the city in Delaware, so before our dinner reservations at Sei, we went back to the room to get ready in anticipation of our long awaited special sushi meal of the trip.  We had done weeks (literally) of research in our decision to find a great sushi place to go while on the Honeymoon.  We decided on this place because of its inventive rolls and since we were doing Le Bernardin while in the city.

We arrived and were seated immediately in the ultra modern dining room which is partitioned away from the bar area.  We ordered a couple of cocktails and began mulling over the menu.  We started with the sea bass sliders and pork buns.  The sliders were crispy and sweet and tangy and perfect.  I could eat those every day.  The pork buns were also tasty.  Not a typical style of pork bun, it was almost a cake-like bun, spongy in texture and the pork was more like pulled pork.  Sweet and tangy as well, the textures, melded together well.  For our entree we chose the Fish and Chips (flounder, malt vinegar, potato crisps, wasabi tartar), Kobe Tataki (spicy crunch, watercress oil, red wine ponzu) and Surf n' Turf (kobe, lobster, yuzu horseradish aioli) rolls.  All were good, but not amazing.  Not as satisfying as the starters for sure but decent rolls.  We've found that despite being in Louisville, Sapporo is really difficult to beat in quality, flavor and value.

Looks like a mess, but was good.  Obviously too much aioli.

Still hungry but not wanting to bust the budget for the night we headed to Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant for a drink and an appetizer.  Keeping with the fish theme, we had the seared ahi tuna appetizer and a couple of drinks.  The waitress was incredibly rude, but the food was good so it's a wash.

We returned to the hotel and headed for the hotel bar.  We are apparently friendly-looking folk so a few people began to talk with us.  So friendly in fact, that I'm about 95% sure that I was rufee'd by someone sitting next to me.  I supposed he thought that when Jesse went to the bathroom that he wasn't coming back and he had an opening.  Boy was he surprised we he wasted that pill on a girl he couldn't take advantage of.  *eyeroll*  What an asshole.  What is it they say, "It isn't a honeymoon until you get drugged by and dirty man at a hotel bar in Delaware?"  No, I don't think they say that.

Honeymoon - Day 8 - September 27, 2010

We headed out early Monday morning to get to Atlantic City with enough time to walk around before it got too dark.  Our first stop was a Starbucks with the most regal exterior I have ever seen.  Tre fancy, no?  We drove for a little while and eventually stopped for breakfast at a small diner called Town and Country.  Basic breakfast, good service, you know, a diner.

Can't find a link for the place, but here's the juice we drank.  That's good enough, right?

Jesse has never been to Vegas so I tried my hardest not to get his hopes up too much about Atlantic City being anything like he sees on television about Vegas.  Let me just say that Atlantic City was so much worse than I had anticipated.  Besides the fact that it was dreary and cold it might possibly be the saddest place on Earth.  People there aren't gambling for fun, they're gambling to buy their kids shoes.  Pretty tragic.

We stayed at Caesar's which was fine.  The room was a good size and we had a view of the ocean.  I had bought the room on the American Express travel site and ended up having to pay for it a second time when we checked out and then it took seven phone calls to get it cleared up and returned to my card.  What a mess.

Our room at Caesar's

Our roof/ocean view

Caesar's has a lot of shopping and restaurants, all of which are also pretty $$$.  A sports bar called Game On! looked good enough and little did we know the little gem of greasy, caloric goodness it would offer.

Behold the Buffalo Blue Cheese Fries.

Warning:  This picture will clog your arteries.

Though I would never recommend anyone visit Atlantic City, in the event that you are ever there it would be un-american not to try these.  Keep in mind, they weren't on the menu.  It was only by the awesomeness of our server that we were able to experience this delightful nastiness.

As we're not big gamblers after we had lost about $10 we went to the bar instead.  If you're not gambling enough to get the free drinks, it's not really worth losing the money in my opinion.  Either way, we met some people that seemed very nice at the bar and started chatting.  Let me preface this by saying that Jesse and I are magnets for crazy people.  Liars, cheaters, freaks and cons - they'll find us and we gots ta get tha hell outta there.  Ya dig.  So....these two seemingly nice people, right?  Well, the lady of the couple and I go to the bathroom - you know, how drunk girls do and she's telling me how nice her husband is and how they've been together for years and he's so good to her.  Back at the bar her husband is telling Jesse how he cheats on her constantly and she has no idea and that he's never been faithful, etc, etc, etc.  After we realize this, the night began to sour quickly.  The stories got more and more bizarre and the hugging more and more frequent.  Jesse and I pulled a good maneuver and while he was in the bathroom, I pretended like I needed to go also and we split.  This also meant that we stuck them with our bill.  But after all the crazy sh*t they were telling us, I think we earned our $4 in drinks.  Crazy people, if you ever find this and remember (which I doubt you even knew where you were), let me know and I'll send you a check.

It was a good thing it was already pretty late because in fear of crossing paths with them, we got a quick dinner, albeit at 3:30 am, and went to bed.  Wow Atlantic City.  I get it, but you ain't no Vegas.

Honeymoon - Day 4 - September 23, 2010

We switched hotels this day, which truth be told, while the Courtyard Marriott in Times Square was definitely beautiful and had more amenities, we wouldn't have been opposed to staying at Chelsea Pines for our entire stay. It really was cozy.

Our view from out hotel window at the Marriott

This was also the day we were heading towards Chef Eric Ripert's, Le Bernardin.  Said to be one of the best seafood restaurants in the country, we were pretty excited.  Since it's definitely not cheap by any stretch of the imagination ($130/person for dinner) while we were there, we opted for the more affordable lunch at $75/person.  Needless to say, when we arrived we were in a little over our heads.  Between the snotty coat check girl and the fact that our silverware was replaced at least four times throughout the meal, we were a little out of our element.  Jesse needed a jacket, which we never expected for lunch and were even more frustrated by the fact that he had brought a full suit to the city, we just didn't realize he would need it here for a meal other than dinner.

Either way, the meal was outstanding.  It was prix fix, which has changed since then, but I remember I had escargot for the first course, sea bass for the second and a hazelnut ice cream with a chocolate ganache for dessert.  It was all delicate and flavorful at the same time and they really did an amazing job of highlighting the ingredients without being too showy.

Oh, and before lunch we stopped for a drink at the midtown tourist trap known as Ellen's Stardust Diner.  As if you needed me to tell you, avoid this place at all costs.  This was the most expensive basic mixed drink I have ever paid for coming in at $14.  Stupid.

Jesse with his overpriced drink.

Me with my overpriced drink.

We had dinner at Schnipper's which despite its location was actually really good.  It has a modern open feel to the inside and though they're famous for their Sloppy Joe's, which were featured on Bobby Flay's Throwndown, we had the fish tacos, and they may be the best fish tacos I've ever had.

Our friend Sunshine was in town staying in Brooklyn with some friends of hers and had acquired foie gras that she planned on sharing with everyone.  If you know me, you know I am not even slightly interested in foie, but if you know Jesse, you absolutely know he was.  Instead, Sunshine made me delicious pasta with olive oil and parmesan that suited me just fine.

Close up of the beautiful toast, foie and pasta.

It's a foie party, yall.

Honeymoon - Day 3 - September 22, 2010

Our first full day in New York.  We realized early in the trip that we had forgotten our sunglasses so after a quick trip to Fossil for a couple pair, we headed the long way through Central Park (which I had never been to) on our way towards Shake Shack.  Shake Shack is one of those places that you rarely hear anything bad about.  They have a special blend made for their burgers and it's know to be an hour wait to simply pick up food at the window of their original location.  When we arrived, there was a slight line but seating downstairs, so we didn't wait long.  Jesse and I both had ShackStacks and fries and Jesse had a vanilla milkshake.  What exactly is a 'ShackStack' you ask?  According to their website menu:

A Cheeseburger and a 'shroom burger topped with lettuce, tomato and Shack Sauce.

What is a 'shroom burger', you ask?

Crisp-fried portabello filled with melted muenster and cheddar cheese topped with lettuce, tomato and Shack Sauce.

ShackStack at Shake Shack in NYC

Exactly.

Amazing.

After lunch we headed to a taping of the Jimmy Fallon show.

Waiting in the NBC Experience Store to be ushered into the studio.

In deep thought about Al Roker.

The featured guest was Josh Brolin, which was pretty cool, but the other guests were the suck.



If you can find a clip of the end of the show you can see Jesse and I in the front row.  You can also see me reach for a cupcake and miss.  It made me look pretty lame.

For dinner, at the recommendation of the front desk clerk at Chelsea Pines Inn, we went to Vynl.  It was a lot of fun with a projector going showing Lady Gaga videos and old Whitney Houston.  I had one of their build-your-own style grilled cheese sandwiches and I would wager Jesse had a Burger, but I don't really remember.  The true piece de resistance was to come tomorrow though, when we visited Le Bernardin.

Honeymoon - Day 2 - September 21, 2010

We finally made it to New York this day after a lot of driving and stopping.  We had breakfast at McDonald's which I think I could eat every day.  Not McDonald's in general, but their Bacon, Egg and Cheese Biscuit with the hashbrown put right inside I would seriously consider as an option for my last meal.  I know, it's disgusting.  We also had Long John Silvers which is also a guilty pleasure of ours and learned that they were now offering fish tacos for $1.  Not outstanding, but definitely worth $1 if you don't care about being dehydrated for a week after eating one.

We also stopped at Sheetz a few times.  If you're unfamiliar with Sheetz, it's a chain of pretty awesome gas stations that run across the north east.  Their food offerings put our local chains to shame and there are actually fan pages dedicated to how much people love this place.

We actually stopped in Jersey and parked the car at my friends Simone and Larry's place and took a car service to our hotel in Manhattan.  We stayed at Chelsea Pines Inn.  It was wonderful.  You can read my review on Trip Advisor.

Chelsea Pines Inn - Ann Margret room

Chelsea Pines Inn - Ann Margret room

The resident cat at Chelsea Pines Inn, Charlie.

 

Jesse really liked the mounted television.

Taken by the Innkeeper for their inline scrapbook.

But the day was not all a loss 'culinarily' speaking.  We did have dinner at Cafe Loup.  I don't remember what we had so I guess that doesn't bode well for it's memorability, but I do remember it was good.