Mini Trip Report!
We flew in late Thursday and picked up our rental car. We were supposed to have a Lou Malnatis pizza waiting for us at check in at the 21C Hotel. When we arrived it was no where to be found. Called the store back and the manager was pretty rude, but the delivery driver got it to us finally after retrieving it from the wrong hotel haha. First time having the pizza and I really enjoyed it!
Friday we got up early and grabbed breakfast at the hotel before heading out to the Aquarium. Quite a few exhibits were being worked on, but my girlfriend loves aquariums and she had a blast. We then walked to the Art Institute. I had been to the Smithsonian art museums a few years ago and loved them. I could have spent the rest of the day checking out all the exhibits, but we got hungry after 12:30 and went to The Gage. We both ordered a drink and I ordered a burger, she ordered a mahi mahi sandwich. Both were amazing and the drinks were great. We couldn't decide between an apple crumble or deconstructed coconut cream pie for dessert, so the waiter chose for us. The coconut cream pie was outstanding!
After lunch we ventured over to "The Bean" and took pictures and watched people ice skate before heading to Millers Pub to meet up with a friend. We had a few beers and something called Malort. It was disgusting, but we came to find out it was a tourist tradition. We ventured back towards the hotel and stopped at the Starbucks Reserve for a drink (to wash out the still burning malort taste).
After a quick nap and change of clothes we went to Maple and Ash. This restaurant was recommended to me by a few people, and funny enough my friend works there. We walked in and were greeted by the staff and directed to the back to take an elevator to the main floor. The bouncer/attendant joked that no one was talking or having a good time. When we exited the elevator he took us to the bar and gave all 6 of the people in the elevator shots of tequila and told us to wake up before dinner! We had a reservation at 8pm and this place was packed, we were seated at 8:15pm and were greeted by Shawna who did an amazing job all night. Our friend sent us over a round of drinks to start the night as well as a king crab truffle sushi roll. Which may be the best thing I have ever eaten. It was perfect! We ordered tuna tartare and grilled octopus as appetizers. The girlfriend ordered the fish special and I ordered a 30 day dry aged ribeye. We had asparagus and lobster mac as sides. The lobster mac was better than any I have had. Better than Tiffins/Nomad, better than bull and bear, better than other places outside of WDW. The steak was cooked perfect and the fish was very fresh. For dessert we saw coconut cream pie listed and wanted to compare to our lunch. Sadly it didn't compete with The Gage. The dessert may have been the only blemish on the meal. We took our time and dinner lasted a little over 2 hours. On the way out we met an NBA player from the Milwaukee Bucks who just so happens to have been a player on the team here locally. Was a great interaction and chance to meet him.
The next day we got around late and explored some of the small neighborhoods like Fulton. Ate at Time Out Market and enjoyed the various food booths. We headed out to Valparaiso to meet up with family and stopped at a downtown square area that had a meadery. If you haven't had mead before it is worth a try if you enjoy really sweet drinks.
Thanks for reading and the advice prior to the trip! We will be going back to Chicago in the future to check out more places to eat and the other museums.
