My Second (Favorite) City, Part I

Everyone who knows me knows that New York City/Manhattan is my favorite place on earth. Now I have a second favorite.

Wow. Wow. Wow. And how I love the Second City. If you don't get the Second City reference, go here.

I was in Chicago this week. Caver surprised my mother and I about three weeks ago, by getting tickets to The Oprah Winfrey Show - the October 8th taping. The show will air October 14th. I'm sort of burned out telling the story of the actual Oprah experience, so I will post about that on the day the show airs...oooooh, a teaser...but for now, I will just tell you about our FABULOUS TRIP TO CHICAGO!! Or should I say eating our way through Chicago?!!

OUR HOTEL FAMILY.

Caver, myself, my mom (Elaine), Pam (Caver's mother-in-law) and Yvette went on the trip together. What a blast. God, we had fun. We stayed at the gorgeous, classy, unique, hip, friendly Hotel Affinia. That in itself was worth the trip. This place was PHENOMENAL. Pam put it best: they were like family. There are over 300 rooms there, yet each time we arrived or left, they addressed us by name. Christopher, the Concierge, and Victor, a Bellman, were incredible. There was one more bellman who I loved too, but can't remember his name. I'm telling you, if you go to Chicago, stay here! It was as nice as the W Hotel and any of the Westins (my favorite hotels - just classy), but they made you feel like family. I just about fell down the first morning after we arrived when they called me "Ms. Ordal". Anyway, here are my mom and Pam with Christopher, the cutest, sweetest man. When we left, he asked if we could put him in our suitcase. So sweet. Below that - our beautiful room and bathroom. Bathroom - look at that wallpaper. It was a thing-o-beauty.

FOOD, DRINKS, RESTAURANTS, TABLES, ALL WE DID WAS EAT!!!

At one point, Caver laughed saying: "Every picture we have of us in Chicago is around a table." It's so true. But, it was so FREAKING FUN!!! Anyone who knows the Ordals (and especially the Ordal women) know we love to eat and eat at good restaurants. We are the classic: sitting at one meal and planning the next...So, here is the extensive inventory of our eating extravaganza in Chicago. Really, if someone asks what I did in Chicago, more than going to Oprah, it was lounging or eating. Very little site seeing.

EXHIBIT #1 - c-bAR. arrival night. this is the bar in our hotel. we had a drink and a tasty lobster pomegranate butternut squash spicey soup. i know, sounds crazy. delicious.

(l to r - elaine, annie (childhood friend of sean's family, caver's husband), pam, caver, me, yvette...o.k. , don't caver and i look like twins!?!?! crazy.)

EXHIBIT #2 - top of the john hancock building - 100 stories tall - we were on the 96th floor. we just drank here, but it was something we had to do. it was worth the view. the picture of me is horrific...

the views were pretty when we first got there, but after only about an hour, the rain and overcast day took over and you could not see one single thing from up there.

below are pictures of the views from the 96th floor. the bathroom had one of the best views of the lake and also navy pier - the first picture was actually taken from the women's bathroom. there are two other views from the top of the building following that, of lake michigan. pretty cool.





EXHIBIT #3 - sushi samba - after our drink, we had dinner here. it was quite the place. my goodness. good food, not great, but the ambiance was wonderful - a little over the top, but in all the best ways. i loved the place more than the food. just completely grand. it was japanese brazilian peruvian fusion. we had fun. we tried interesting food. again, us sitting around a table. see a theme here? hmmm..

this is the FABULOUS dining area where we sat. i love the beaded hoop above here. notice our group in the way background of this picture.

this was the edamame presentation.

EXHIBIT #4 - bar louie - after the oprah taping...this little bar (which is apparently a chain restaurant), popped up after EVERYTHING we stopped by, literally, was closed. it had THE best sandwiches and food...really, really good..from the most unexpected place.

EXHIBIT #5 - the c-view rooftop bar. honestly, i just went up to see the view and take a couple of pictures. the rest of the gang hung out there for awhile.

EXHIBIT #6 - gino's east pizza. after the rooftop, yvette and i needed to partake in some chicago-style pizza. conveniently, the famous pizza place was next door to our hotel. honestly, it was good, but i didn't love it. it's apparently well-loved in chi, but the crust was crumbly corn bread. the garlic sticks (bread sticks drizzled with olive oil), though, were worth the trip. amazing. ironically, zach's pizza in berkeley is world's better chicago-style pizza.

i did like the traditional feel of a "real" chi pizza place. i loved the wall-writing and the cool hanging shown here, that tells you to write on the walls:

EXHIBIT #7 - our last day, thursday, was spent doing the tourist thing - finally. we went to navy pier and walked. we ate at the delicious - absolutely delicious - riva's. recommended by christopher and wonderful!! did i say it was delish?? :) surf and turf. fish is one of my faves - next to japanese - love the seafood. loved this place. pretty location on the lake at the pier, good company, winding down and thinking about going home to the kids...life is grand ain't it!?!!

next installment/blog - part II - the tourist in me that doesn't relate to eating. not much, but i'll share what we did.