Five days in Chicago, Illinois allowed me to pack a lot of stuff into the schedule. So for your sanity (and mine), I have broken down the Chicago trip into three parts. Today, is part one!
First night, a meal at Joe’s Seafood and Steak. This is a restaurant from Florida that specializes in stone crab. The shell of the crab is literally as hard as stone, and if you tried to break it with your teeth, it would break your teeth. Good thing they break it for you, before it gets to your table. I recommend the stone crab and steak dinner with their key-lime pie dessert. Delicious!
The next day was pizza day, and one of Chicago’s most famous places is Pizzeria Uno. I recommend heading down during off hours, because otherwise you will be waiting for at least an hour. They are so used to long waits that they have you pre-order while you are waiting for your table. I tried their specialty and barbecue chicken. Both were delicious, but remember that deep-dish Chicago-style pizza is very filling, so don’t over order!
A little bit of art before the night concert at Millenium park was in order. The Art Institute is a huge art museum located right downtown and has a lot of things to see and do. It will take a couple of hours, so make sure you give yourself enough time!
The Crown fountains at Millenium park were really cool. The fountains consist of 50-foot tall glass towers that either shoot or waterfall water down them. Each facing-in side has a video screen that showcases Chicago citizens and waterfalls. When the video is a person spitting, the fountain shoots water at you. When the video is a waterfall, water comes falling down from above. It’s really cool!
Throughout the year, Chicago’s Millenium Park plays host to various types of musical entertainment. Featured in their Jay Pritzker Pavilion that night was some classical music. If you are in town while there is something going on, I highly recommend grabbing a picnic dinner and some chairs from the Park Grille and sitting in the grass. Listening to the music, eating and drinking wine was a great way to end the day in Chicago.
The Museum of Science and Industry was definitely one of my favorite things. Being the huge nerd that I am I decided that this was the perfect place for me to let out my inner child and feel like I was in 7th grade science class again! They had everything from a full size Boeing 727 airplane (with working parts, I might add) to a full exhibit on storms and weather. I was in heaven!
To end the day, dinner at Fogo De Chao. This restaurant is a Churrascaria-style restaurant, and it was delicious. If you’ve never been to a Churrascaria restaurant, I highly recommend you do so. Servers called “Gauchos” walk around the restaurant carrying spears of different cuts of meat. Everything including steak, lamb, pork and chicken are served to you table-side by these gauchos. You are given a red and green button that you flip over depending on your hunger status. If you show green, it means you want more meat. If it’s red, you give up. I had my fill of lamb and steak, and had to unbutton the top button of my jeans to make it all fit. I ate too much this trip.
That’s all for today folks, part one of my Chicago adventure. If you want to see all the pictures from my trip to Chicago, friend me on Facebook. Stay tuned as I will update the rest of the trip later. Hope you enjoyed it, and see you in Chicago!
If you liked Fogo de Chao, you can continue your churrasco spree here in Tokyo when you guys come next. Just find the time and my Brazilian friends and I can take you there.
i love the currascaria style!