Windy City with Passport Delicious [On The Road: Chicago]

The sea was angry that day my friends, like an old man trying to return soup at a deli 

George Costanza (Seinfeld episode “The Marine Biologist”) 

It has been a long time since I visited Chicago so it was about time. During my visit I contacted blogger friend Krista to catch up with her adventures around the world. 

We started the night with cocktails in The Aviary. This is a new concept in Chicago, bartenders are trained chef, innovative cocktails are at the centre stage, a drink kitchen, and all these under the command of chef Grant Achatz.

The menu

Drink Kitchen

We got the three drinks option, there is an option of 7 drinks they call the Flight. The cocktails are amazing, great balance, creative, out of the box, using coffee French presses, treasure chests, and even a spray to put your drink on fire. You can also get some nibbles as well, the oysters and the lobster are amazing. Great place for drinks before going for dinner. Highly recommended if you’re in Chicago. 

One of the cocktails

My drink is on fire

The Aviary

T: +1 312 226 0868

Cocktail Bar

Approx Damage: US$90pp
Area: West Loop

Chicago

Twitter: AviaryCocktails

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Then we decided to go for a bite, funny enough the places I wanted to visit were the same recommendations that Krista had in mind. We ended in Little Goat. Owned by chef and Top Chef winner Stephanie Izard. Her concept was to have a dinner, bar/bakery, rooftop, and a place for classes and events under the same roof. The menu is based on American Dinner of course, with salads, burgers, soups, and sandwiches. 

Little Goat Baristas

Entrance to the Diner

The place was completely packed, we had to wait in the bar for 10 to 15 minutes. Krista got a Caesar salad, she wasn’t a big friend of the tempura anchovy on it (you can read her review here). I went messy and greedy on this, I got the Goat Almighty, a monster burger with goat, braised beef, and bbq pork. Add to that cheddar cheese, jalapenos, chimi mayo, and onion rings. The burger was humongous, ok flavour, I knew that was going to happened, there were so many things going on, so many flavours, so my expectations were a bit low, but for the size. Beef overcooked, goat was ok, flavour ok. If you’re into this kind of monster meals this is the one for you, I just did it to say I’ve done that and got the t-shirt, but that’s enough for me, not an experience I would repeat. Sincerely, I prefer to go to Girl & the Goat instead.

Goat Almighty

Burgistagram

Overall great fun to be back in Chicago at least for a couple days, I really appreciate Krista took time to show me that amazing cocktail place.

Little Goat
T: +1 312 888 3455
American Dinner
Approx Damage: US$30pp
Area: West Loop
Chicago
Twitter: StephAndTheGoat

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