[VIDEO] Explore Chicago: Exploring Chicago’s Food Scene: My Culinary Journey

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There’s quite a LOT of places to eat and food to try in Chicago. I stayed only for few days which is definitely not enough for me to try and explore what Chicago food scene has offer, but I made sure to try some of the MUST have food when in Chicago and some that I just saw while walking around the place.

In this post, I would like to share with you what I ate when I was in Chicago. Let’s go eat!!

For my first meal in Chicago, I decided to go for Tacos. Broken English Taco Pub is only 5 minutes away from Arlo Chicago hotel which was perfect l wanted something light for dinner, small portions and a sweet ending as always.

Luckily, during Thursday they have the $2 Taco specials which is a great deal. There are 4 variation that was excluded, the likes of cod, chicken, shrimp and brisket.

Al Pastor De Pollo & Carne Asada: 4.47 USD

I ordered Al Pastor De Pollo (Chicken) and Carne Asada (Angus Beef).

It was good food for the price of 4.47 USD. It was just the perfect serving portion for me. I still have space for dessert.

If you a donut fun, or a really early riser who wants to have something to get the day started, then head to Stans Donut. It seems Stan’s is a popular donut place in Chicago.

They open 6:00 AM early enough to give you a cup of coffee or tea to get you going. Not to forget donuts if you want to kick start your day with sugar 😂

I stopped by mostly to get tea but their donuts looks really nice and freshly baked. I ended up getting Jasmine Tea and Strawberry Basmick which is basically Strawberry filled donut. It was good donut, soft and fluffy filled with Strawberry jam of sort.

Strawberry Basmick + Jasmine Green Tea: 6.93 USD

They also have breakfast sandwiches for a better start of the day. Check out their menu for more details.

Wildberry Mushroom Omelette with Toast and Fruits on the side – 20.00 USD

Provolone Cheese, prosciutto ham, herb roasted cremini, oyster and shitsake mushroom

For my first full day in Chicago, I decided to have breakfast at Wildberry Pancake and Cafe which is about 7 minutes away from Arlo Chicago Hotel and also close to Millennium Park.

In some of. the Chicago videos I watched, some bloggers were recommending this place for breakfast so I thought I’d check it. I need something quite heavy and filling as I will have a really long day today. Lots of walking!

Toasted Rye Bread

It was a nice cool day so I picked to dine outside the patio. The patio was by the side road so it could get a bit noisy but it was fine with me. I prefer the open fresh air dining whenever possible. It wasn’t as busy when I walk in about 9 am and then at around 10:00 am line-up started. It seems 10:00am is the start of most of the tourist.

The serving portion of the omelette was huge! At least for my capacity. It was thick and really loaded with mushroom, cheese, prosciutto and tomato.

The texture of the omelette was perfect, it was cook well but I find it too salty for my taste. I do not salt my food quite heavy and this for me taste too salty. The cheese and prosciutto is already salty and I don’t think there’s a need to add more salt.

I have to highlight that the great thing about their omelettes is that they are really generous with the ingredients, lots and lots of mushroom in this omelette.

They do have nice looking pancakes too, I guess that’s what their specialty here. And as expected, they come in huge serving too, more like single plate for sharing.

Good thing the toast comes with a jam, I have something sweet to balance it.

For the drink, I got 🍵 green tea.

Power House Salad – 7.45 (half) USD

Chicken, avocado, egg, hot pepper hummus, cucumber, tomato, field green and fat free vinaigrette

After having the huge salty omelette for breakfast, all I want is something light for lunch, and dessert of course (ice cream!) I was at Navy Pier trying to pass time and so this is where I decided to stay for lunch. They have a lot of free patio seating for people buying food from the pavilion and quite a few restaurant outside.

They have a lot of food choices in the pavilion, as expected the serving portion of food here is huge. I had a difficulty finding a place that serves small portion. I found a place called Potbelly which is basically a sandwich place. They sell sandwiches, soups and salad and they do half portion l, that’s just what I was looking for.

I ordered the Power House salad, nothing exciting but I really love it, maybe because I feel so overloaded with my heavy breakfast. The salad was simple but I really like the spicy hummus and the sweet and sour dressing.

All I can think of even before I had the salad was ice cream. I saw a Ben & Jerry’s in the pavilion so that’s what I had for dessert. Since I only have half salad, I still had space for a dessert .. it’s all about planning 🙂 I got a waffle cone with 1 scoop of Strawberry ice cream.

Mango Cure 10.05 USD (180 calories, 3g protein, 43g net carbs)

Mango, banana, strawberry, orange, lemon, ginger, raw organic honey and organic coconut water with a multi-vitamin boost

I woke up early today to do the Lake Front Trail run. It was about 14km lake front trail. It really enjoyed the run. It was not busy, it was a sunny and and it was cooler in the morning.

Then after the Lake Front Trail, I continued and I did the River Walk, one of my favorite place to walk in Chicago. I have a full video of these places, check them out if you have an idea of the area.

After the morning run, I stopped by for a smoothie at Protein Bar and Kitchen which is just across Arlo Chicago Hotel.

Japanese BBQ Salmon 15 USD (690 calories, 33g protein and 60 grams net carbs)

Salmon, roasted Japanese sweet potato, roasted mushroom, red cabbage, Japanese BBQ sauce, organic quinoa, mixed greens, toasted sesame seeds and roasted sesame dressing

My choice for lunch is a Salmon bowl from Protein Bar & Kitchen. This place is a real life saver for me. Finding healthier places like this to eat while on vacation is such a great find. Don’t get me wrong, I also eat bad stuff and treats when I am on vacation, but for main meals, as much as possible I want to have something a bit healthier to balance of the delicious treats that I eat.

I love everything about this Salmon Bowl, all the ingredients worked well together. So good!

If you are looking for healthier meal options, this place is a great place to visit. I love their smoothie, and they also have nice breakfast options. Check them out when you are in the are.

Spinach and Pesto Egg Scramble: 6.75 USD

Spinach, nut free pesto and egg

For one of my breakfast, I got the Spinach and Pesto Egg Scramble. I liked it, it taste good. It a small serving portion so if you are really hungry, you can double up the egg.

I had my breakfast to go. I really wanted to have a relax chill day on my last day. I ate it in the terrace of CitizenM Hotel. I am obsessed with this hotel ❤️ It is super cool, vibrant and uniquely decorated. I have a separate video and post for this place. Check it out.

Sweetgreen is located just across Protein Bar & Kitchen was very convenient for me. They specialize on quick salad, warm bowl,

Chicken Pesto Parm: 15.45 USD

Roasted chicken, spicy broccoli, tomato, shaved Parmesan, zaatar bread crumbs, warm quinoa, spinach, Sweetgreen hot sauce and pesto vinaigrette.

I had it to go as I want to have a more relax not rush lunch in the hotel terrace. The salad was quite filling and tasty. The combination of the vegetables works well together. After almost 3 hrs of walking, it was so good to have a relax meal.

Sometimes it’s not bad to indulge a bit when you are on vacation. When it comes to indulging, for me that means either slice of good cake or creamy delicious scoops of ice cream.

World Famous Sundae 14.95 USD

Good things comes to those who walk around 🙂 This was not on my plan of food places to visit, but since it was there then I decided to give it a try. Why not? Besides, I reserved a LOT of space that is why I had a light Salmon Bowl 🙂

This delicious dangerously looking great is Ghirardelli World Famous Sundae, and I can attest to that. I really enjoyed every spoonful of these sundae, from top to bottom.

The serving portion is huge. In fact, they give 2 spoons when serving this because the portion is for sharing. it guess what?? I finished this all to myself!!

Am I a fan of Nutella? No, but I do eat it from time to time especially if there is a recipe that needs Nutella. When I saw Nutella Cafe across my hotel, I know this is one of those cases where I have to fry it, I always say “for the blog!” 😀 What an excuse ..

I had been postponing my visit to this place until my last day, let’s say L was saving the best load of calories for last. No kidding, their items in this cafe is loaded. Do not come near this place if you care about calories. This is not the place to count calories, you will loose.

What’s in the Menu

All the items in the menu have Nutella in whatever form. They have the best seller crepes, waffles and pancakes.

They have overnight oats, chia seed pudding, gelato, pastry and fruits .. all with Nutella on or in it.

Crepe with Strawberry & Gelato + Biscuit: 15.57 USD

I ordered crepe. You can customize the crepe and pick the toppings that you like and you pay for every extra toppings that you choose. The base price in the menu is only for Fri crepe and Nutella.

It was a good crepe. It was soft and it was filled and topped with Nutella. Served with a scoop of Nutella gelato and Nutella biscuit. I told you, this is a Nutella Cafe, no kidding 🙂

Was it good? Yes. It’s worth visiting but for me, this is a place that you do not visit often if you care for your health 🙂 The choice is

I finally had the chance to stop by and try Garret Popcorn. I am not really much into pop corn but I do not mind eating from time to time. I heard this recommendation from few of the Chicago videos that I watched so I thought why not give it a try. It seems to a popular thing Chicago and I saw a lot of I assume tourist trying it.

They have different flavors and they also have the more popular mix which is a mix of cheese and caramel. This is the one that tried. It comes in different sizes as well, I bought the small one just to try it.

The verdict, it’s a decent popcorn but I did not think there’s anything special about it, at least compared to the other popcorns that I had tried. It is best to eat it the same day you buy it becomes it gets soft longer it stays open. I had leftover and when I tried it get following day it was already soft. The caramel is still a bit better in terms of crunch because it was coated with sugar so it stays crunchy longer

I am very curious about the deep dish pizza that bloggers are talking about. Is it just a hype or is it really that good? But most of all, is it worth the wait? Let’s find out!

One of the most recommended food to try when in Chicago is the deep dish pizza. There are two pizzeria that a lot of bloggers talked about, they are the Giordano’s Pizza and the Lou Malnatis Pizzeria. Both these places are close to my hotel. I read and watch reviews and comparison between the two and I like Lou Malnatis more, we shall see it it is that good as people say.

I got there around 1:14 PM on a Sunday and it was busy as expected. Wait time was more 1 which was really long! Make sure to come when you are still not hungry because by the time you get your order, you will be very hungry. They took the order ahead of time which is good but it still took a long time to serve.

Based on the feedback of people who had been here, they suggested not to take any appetizer or sides when ordering the deep dish pizza as it is really filling and heavy. The lunch specials comes with soup or salad so take it anyway.

Personal Deep Dish Pizza + Salad : 16.56 USD

The good thing is that they have Express Deep Dish Personal Pizza + soup or salad specials for lunch. That is just what I was hoping for, I certainly cannot finish a big one.

For the lunch deep dish specials, they have it in cheese, sausage, pepperoni and spinach. I ordered the pepperoni with the side of salad.

You can also order the personal size deep dish pizza not as lunch specials. The difference is that you get to choose more flavor than the 3 included in the specials. It is a bit more expensive but just a tiny bit additional amount for the freedom to choose more flavors. The lunch specials comes with a salad is good.

Is it worth the 2 hrs wait?

It was a good pizza, but there’s nothing special about it that is worth waiting for 95 minutes. I have never waited to be served a pizza for this long. I was prepared to wait for 45 minutes which was what most people say, but 95 minutes? Well, let’s charge it to experience 🙂 Never coming back to this place again.

The crust was not I expected it to be. It was dry and hard. It just did not work for me, but that doesn’t mean it will not work for you. So I give the decision to you, your choice 🙂

Starbucks Reserve Roastery is an attraction on its own in Chicago. The Roastery have 5 levels and each level have their own specialty. The place is huge and there’s quite a lot of areas to cover so I created a separate post and video for it but I’ll give you a glimpse in here but I highly recommend that you watch the video and visit the post for more details.

Avocado and Egg Toast

For breakfast, I ordered a simple Avocado Toast . It was good. Nice sourdough bread, fresh avocado and arugula and an egg on top. I like the lemony taste of this toast.

On my last day, I had my breakfast at Starbucks and stayed a bit longer just to pass the time before checking out. Check out is 11 AM and my flight is not until 4PM. Lots of time still to relax.

It is Tuesday morning and the crowd difference during weekend is huge. Weekend is definitely more crowded especially during early morning and evening.

Salmon Croissant 9.50 USD + Fruit Salad 5 USD

I ordered the Salmon Croissant, it was good but it was not French style croissant that is flakey and light. The bread texture is like dough for brioche bread. It was basically a bread shaped in a croissant more than a real croissant, but it taste good.

I also ordered fruit bowl or salad that’s how they call it. Basically just a mix of berries and pineapple.

I would normally get something hot to drink, but unfortunately all they have here are coffee and I don’t don’t drink strong coffee. They have water fountain in every floor which was really nice.

One recommendation I heard from videos and post I read was to try Crumble Cookie. I believe there is a branch of this that just open in Vancouver but I’ve never been there. Since I am here anyway, might as well try it here, besides it’s just 2 blocks away from my hit. I call that .. fate 🙂

The store is a self service store, which is already a service that a lot of stores do here. If you are paying cash, you have to use the machine in the cashier counter.

They have 9 flavors to choose from. I choose the Dark Dream and the Brookie.

Dark Dream (4.54 USD) & Brookie ( 5.75 USD)

The Brookie is half semi sweet chocolate chop and half chocolate. I feel that getting this will give me the taste of both variation in one cookie. I was assuming that the same chocolate base was also the one use for the Dark Dream but when I asked the staff said no and so I ordered it. I am more craving for something chocolate so this is the best choice among all the other flavors.

These cookies are huge! I would say about 4 – 4 1/2 inches in diameter, that’s a big cookie. But the main question is, does it taste good? I have high expectations for this cookie as

That’s basically what I ate in Chicago. Nothing fancy, but it was nice exploring the food scene of Chicago. I hope you enjoyed this post. If you’ve been to any of these places, please leave a comment and share your experience. Thank You for stopping, until next time. Byeee!

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