Chicago Archives - Foodology

In Chicago

White Castle: Little Sliders from the Mid West

October 7, 2013

After seeing the movie Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle, I’ve always wanted to go to White Castle for the sliders. Living on the West Coast, I’ve never seen one before since it’s mostly concentrated in the Mid West of North America.

I made it a mission to come here before I left.

To end my Chicago experience, we ordered 6 sliders and fries. It really wasn’t as impressive as I thought it would be. The patty is very thin and you really just taste more of the bun.

Original Slider has pickles, onions and the small patty between the soft bun. The patty seemed to stick to the bun and was inseparable.

Cheese Slider is like the original but with the extra cheese.

Bacon Cheese Slider is like the Cheese Slider but with the added bacon strips.

Chicken Ring Slider is just chicken shaped into a ring. It also has a slice of cheese.

Fish Slider also has a slice of cheese.

Jalapeno Cheese Slider has the thin beef patty and jalapeno cheese. It wasn’t spicy at all.

My first White Castle experience was ok, but I can now see why some people order a whole case of these little sliders. There’s really nothing special about White Castle except for the size of the sliders. A lot of other fast food joints taste much better. But, most people come here for the novelty of it all.

Have you been here? What do you think?

Website: www.whitecastle.com

In American

Argo Tea: Specialty Tea Shop in Chicago

September 13, 2013

Walking in the hot summer Chicago weather, BaguetteGirl and I were getting a bit thirsty and decided to head into Argo Tea for a drink. Argo Tea originated from Chicago and they serve a variety of teas and focuses on being sustainable and giving back to the community. They also sell coffee and baked goods.

Walking inside, it kinda reminded me of David’s Tea with their large variety of teas. But, Argo has a larger focus on being a cafe rather than just selling tea. The location we were at, there was lots of seats to just chill and enjoy the air conditioning. They have some pretty strange drinks like Chocolate Mint, Red Velvet, Tea Sangria, Teappuccino, and many others. Weirdly enough, they also have bubble tea.

I grabbed a latte and my friend grabbed a cold specialty tea drink. The drinks are pretty good, but for myself, I like plain teas like straight up green tea or black tea. I don’t like them with sweet smells or anything like that. They do have a nice variety of different tea, sweet teas, and other types.

We Rate Argo Tea:

Address:
140 S Dearborn St
Chicago, IL

Website: http://www.argotea.com/

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In American

Hershey’s Store in Chicago

September 11, 2013

In a lot of the tourist book, they highlighted the Hershey’s store on the Magnificent Mile. For some reason, I imagined it as exciting as the M&M store in New York, but sadly, I was a bit disappointed when I arrived. Also the Hershey’s Store in Niagara Falls was larger.

This is not to say this is a horrible store to go to. If you’re in the area, stop by. If not, don’t go out of your way to come here.

There’s lots of see and buy at this store. It’s only one level, so it’s not very large inside. There are high ceilings with lots of natural light that make the interior seem larger.

What I found quite cool large candy bars and large syrup bottles.

There’s also a little cafe area where you can buy cupcakes, cookies and other confections. There’s hot chocolate and other drinks too.

Overall, it was nice to stop by to see all the cool candy products. Some items were a bit pricey, but in the end I didn’t purchase anything since nothing really appealed to me.

Address:
822 North Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL

Website:
http://www.thehersheycompany.com/about-hershey/visit-hershey/retail-stores/chicago.aspx

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In Chicago

Rock n Roll McDonald’s in Chicago

September 8, 2013

Rock n Roll McDonalds is their Flagship store in Chicago, Illinois. It’s quite famous and attracts lots of tourist every year. It’s a few blocks away from the Magnificent Mile. What makes this location unique is that its 3 times the size of a normal McDonalds, has a Rock n Roll Exhibit and a mini McDonalds Museum.

Near the entrance, there are a few statues there that you can pose and take pictures with.

Peek-a-boo! It’s Ronald McDonald and I. Of course I had to take some fun pictures with those statues.

The bottom floor has lots of seating and the counter to order food. Stairs and escalators are located in the middle of the floor that leads to the 2nd floor.

Upstairs is the McCafe serving lattes, gelato, and baked goods. It’s very relaxing, so you could spend a lot of time just chilling here because there is so much natural light. I saw a few people just on their laptops working here.

On the second floor, there is a little Museum area where you can view old memorabilia. I remember collecting all those Inspector Gadget toys too.

On the walls are stories about the McDonalds Franchise.

Overall, it was a pretty cool location with awesome memorabilia to look at. If you’re a tourist, it’s a fun place to just stop by and have a snack. It’ll probably be one of the best looking McDonalds you’ve been to.

Website: www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/home.html

In Chicago

Slurping Turtle: Ramen in Chicago

September 7, 2013

The Slurping Turtle is located in the River North area and is a few blocks away from Michigan Avenue. Their logo is pretty cute and I was craving some Japanese food. Even though I was on vacation, I have a crazy addiction for Japanese food.

Slurping Turtle was created to show guests Chef Takashi’s childhood culinary experiences in Japan, as it is reflected in their menu.

The interior has a long communal table through the centre of the restaurant, with some booth seating on the side. Lots of seating.

Duck Fat Fried Chicken ($9) is soy-sesame marinated chicken deep-fried in duck fat. The fried chicken was very very moist inside and sinfully delicious. The is even a slaw on the side to balance out the greasiness.

Tonkotsu ($14) has homemade thin ramen noodles, silky pork broth, braised pork shoulder, pickled mustard greens, and other veggies. It’s a huge bowl and very popular among customers.

Roasted Garlic Ramen ($14) has homemade wheat ramen noodles, clams, mussels, garlic oil, and veggies. There are a lot of clams and mussels, which is pretty great. After eating this, I was really really full.

Overall, it’s a pretty cute place to come get a bowl of noodles for lunch. The ramen was good, but it wasn’t as authentic as you would find in Japan. The interior is very nice but for a $14 ramen, it was a bit expensive.

We Rate Slurping Turtle:

Address:
116 W Hubbard St
Chicago, IL

Website:
http://www.slurpingturtle.com/

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In American

The Publican: Homage to Beer, Pork and Oysters in Chicago

September 3, 2013

The Publican plays a homage to beer, pork and oysters. The restaurant is owned and operated by Executive Chef and James Beard award winner, Paul Kahan. We made a call before we went to dine here and sure enough, they did have space available.

The interior is style like a European beer hall with lots of communal seating. There are some standing tables in the centre, but set up in a square are long tables. They can seat about 100 people in the restaurant. There are portraits of pigs all around the restaurant.

The waitress was nice and explained how the menu works. It’s family style, so everything is shared. She suggested about 2 plates per person. We had 4 people, but we only chose 6 items.

Complimentary bread service available upon request. So, it won’t come until you ask. What arrives is rustic bread with butter. I found the bread to be quite burnt on the outside, so most of us avoided that part.

Beets ($9) were very delicious. You can really taste the freshness of the beets. There were some grapefruit and pistachios accompanying the dish.

Tomatoes and Burrata has some balsamic drizzle on top with sprouts.The tomatoes were very cute and had so many different colors. The creamy and rich burrata is a great combination.

Taste of Three Hams ($21) has their 3 signature cured hams with their distinct tastes. It is served with nordic creamery goat butter and peasant bread. It’s a nice item to munch on if you’re having a few drinks.

Loup de mer ($28) has a yummy sauce with a nice crispy skin.

Pork Belly ($26) comes in a thick slab with potatoes, shrimp and corn. The pork belly is just cooked so nicely and falls apart. One of our favourite dishes of the night. Highly recommended.

Farm Chicken ($25) with summer sausage & frites. The fries were very crunchy and oh so gooood. Chicken was very moist and the outer skin had a nice smokey flavour. The sausages were ok, but wasn’t very moist but more dense.

Overall, The Publican was a great place for dinner. When you come here, you must have pork! Some of the dishes can be a bit heavy and greasy, but you can wash it down with some beer.

We Rate The Publican:

Address:
837 W Fulton Market
Chicago, IL

Website:
http://thepublicanrestaurant.com/

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In Chicago

Street Food Artistry in Chicago

September 1, 2013

On August 11th, 2013, during our vacation in Chicago, we took a visit to Street Food Artistry – a one day event celebrating of Chicago’s hottest street food and art scene . It was located in Zhou B Art Center. Being a tourist, it just seemed like the festival was in the middle of no where. There was a lot of old buildings in the area.

Admission is $10 for adults and once you get inside, food items from the trucks go to a maximum of $5. For some reason, we just walked in without paying the $10 admission. We were very confused.

Attendees could enjoy a Food Truck Pavilion with some of Chicago’s favourite food trucks, an art exhibit showcasing local artists, a marketplace with designers and handcrafted pieces, and the Street Music Stage outside the gallery with entertainment.

While we were there, there was someone playing the electric violin and a belly dancing lesson. It was actually a pretty fun time.

Some of the food trucks and vendors that were there were:

Dia De Los Tamales
Gelato De’Oro
Getta Polpetta
Baby Cakes
Curried
Herby Pop
Porkchop
Cheesie’s Pub and Grub
Izzie Sparkling Juice
Jerk
The Fat Shallot
Puffs of Doom

There were so many delicious options that I was a little bit overwhelmed.

The Street Food Artistry was a pretty cool event. If you did a bit of digging around, there were a few deals online for discounts and something on Groupon. It’s still a fun time if you really love to eat at food trucks and check out local artists.

Website: http://streetfoodartistrychicago.com/

Porkchop

Since I was feeling a bit full from the previous meal, I decided to check out Porkchop Food Truck. It looked and smelled pretty good. As you can tell by their name, they sell a majority of items with pork. Yum! Too bad they didn’t have any pork belly today.

I wish I could have went to more food trucks, but I really couldn’t fit any more in to my stomach.