Kevin Skobac
lovelifenow
Donut Vault
400 North Franklin Street
Chicago, Illinois 60654
I usually love restaurants that only do one thing and do it well, and Donut Vault was no exception. Donut Vault is a tiny hole in the wall manned by one person at a time, serving only delicious donuts and french press coffee. The store opens at 8:30 on weekdays (9:30 on Sunday) and only stays open until they sell out of donuts, which usually takes less than three hours. The daily specials are so popular that there's often a line of people 50 deep before the doors even open and the most popular flavors sell out before the first hour is out. The store uses Twitter to update potential customers every few minutes on how many donuts are left and how long the line is. We arrived around 10:30 to find no line, but the only donuts left were a few vanilla glaze and some chestnut donuts. We had one of each, and loved them both.
Big Star Taqueria
1531 North Damen Avenue
Chicago, IL 60622
We went to lunch at Big Star with my cousins and had a great time. Big Star is a cool spot to hang out; it's got a huge outdoor patio, and a hoppin bar inside the garage-like space (we didn't have drinks, but they're supposedly great too). The tacos were great, tastier than any I can remember having in New York recently. My favorite was the taco al pastor, but I enjoyed the panza and huitlacoche as well.
Prosseco
710 N Wells St
Chicago, IL 60654
Prosecco is a high end authentic italian restaurant, which clearly prides itself on top notch service (they start you with a complementary prosecco toast) and came with prices to match. Our favorite dishes were the appetizers we ordered: Imported creamy mozzarella, Prosciutto di Parma, house-cured tomato and Grooved tube of pasta, pancetta, mild Italian sausage, light tomato cream sauce. The mozzarella is imported from Italy several times a week, and it melts in your mouth. I also thought the Tiramisu was fantastic. Neither of us cared much about our main courses, but I think it was more bad choices than a reflection of the quality. If I had to pick a restaurant to cut from the trip it would be Prosseco because of the cost, but I'd also just as happily go back for the mozzarella and tiramisu.
Longman & Eagle
2657 N Kedzie Ave
Chicago, Illinois 60647
We had brunch at Longman & Eagle, which was in the first batch of Chicago restaurants to get a Michelin star- a special significance because it's only been open one year. The restaurant uses local ingredients, and changes the menu frequently per availability. In addition to the many dishes we ordered on our own, we were lucky to have a new friend join us for brunch who's a local chef, so the restaurant's pastry chef sent us some extra sides as well. My favorite dish was the chicken & waffles, and the cheese grits. The biscuits & gravy was also popular.
Girl & The Goat
809 West Randolph Street
Chicago, IL 60607
Top Chef winner Stephanie Izzard opened Girl & The Goat last year, and was quickly named a best new chef by Food & Wine. You have to plan months ahead to get a reservation, but if you know you're headed to Chicago you have to try. We were lucky enough to sit at the bar table facing the kitchen, so we got to look in on the cooking and get recommendations from the chefs. Everything we tried was delicious, and we ate until we could barely move. My favorite dishes were the wood fired wiley point oysters with horseradish, bacon and preserved lemon, the roasted cauliflower with pickled peppers pine nuts and mint, the seared tuna with lamb sausage and grilled blueberries, and the sugo with linguini, rosemary and gooseberries. We also chose one of the daily breads (ours was pretzel bread with mustard butter), and had goat cheese bavarois with brown sugar cake, citrus blueberries and marcona caramel for dessert. It was all delicious.
Lillie's Q
1856 West North Avenue
Chicago, IL 60622
Our final stop was Lillie's Q, which was opened by our new friend Chef Charlie McKenna. Prior to Chicago, I've tried BBQ in South Carolina, St. Louis, Kansas City and New York - and against all of it Lillie's Q was some of my favorite. We had to rush our way through the meal before running off to the airport, but I can't wait to be back there when we have time to eat more. I'm still thinking about the tri-tip, the pulled pork, the smoked fried chicken with tupelo honey, the shrimp & grits, the stone ground grits with house made bacon, and the mac & cheese. The home made BBQ sauces were pretty killer too. A big thank you to Chef Charlie McKenna for having us, it was great to meet you!
and an added bonus...
Pequod's Pizza
2207 North Clybourn Avenue
Chicago, IL 60614
This is the one restaurant we wanted to go that we didn't make it to. However, we were mainly upset because we'd been there on our last Chicago trip and loved it. Pequod's is not the place tourists think of for deep dish pizza in Chicago, but it's definitely a local favorite. It's a packed dingy bar that brings out single serving deep dish pizzas in cast iron skillets, and they're fantastic. If you're going to Chicago for the first time and you want to try deep dish pizza, Pequod's is highly recommended.
In conjunction with the all of the weekend's eating, I went a little crazy sharing our adventures on a number of mobile social apps. I checked in everywhere we went on Foursquare, posted several pictures to Foodspotting, and added all of my recommendations to Recco. I would suggest trying out all of the iPhone apps if you are a foodie.
So - any other Chicago restaurant recommendations you'd suggest that we missed?
