Chicago, part one: The food! The food!

So half of my trip to Chicago was spent working on our Real Simple event at Union Station. The other half, on the other hand, was supposed to be spent exploring Chicago (I took an extra day or so after the event to hang out); however, in reality, it was spent eating Chicago.

Also in reality? Most of my food choices were guided by good old-fashioned reality TV. Along with friends/co-workers, we took an unofficial Top Chef Masters tour, starting with lunch at Frontera Grill, the restaurant from Rick Bayless (oh the guac--the guac!). We soon breakfasted at Rick's next-door joint XOCO (I swear I will dream of his chorizo, egg, and avocado torta until the day I die). After most of the team had left, I also ended up having lunch at Terzo Piano, the restaurant from Tony Mantuano in the new Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago (his "Top Chef Masters ravioletto" with crescenza cheese and wild mushrooms was heaven, I tell you).

We stayed at the sophisticated and classy Trump International Hotel and Tower--the construction project Bill Rancic chose to manage after winning the first season of The Apprentice--and I had an amazing dinner at its restaurant, Sixteen. I was also lucky enough to experience the sophistication and class of Trump's room service. After two days of working our events, my friend/co-worker/hotel roommate Kruti and I melted into our beds each night, too exhausted to bother with much more than putting on our pajamas. But we had to eat. So not only did we get to try Trump's "Mar-a-Lago Turkey Burger" made famous on Oprah (recipe is here, and yes, it was beautiful), but we also got the waiters to position the room-service table directly between our two beds. Meaning that we never had to get up to eat.

Which shows you just how classy and sophisticated we both are. (In reality.)

The turkey burgers and the table

Terzo Piano

XOCO

Two classy ladies at XOCO: Kruti and me