Chicago ... where do I begin?

We spent six lovely, sunkissed days in the Windy City ("Good Morning, Chicago! It's 84 degrees and sunny in the Windy City, and not so windy") to watch our youngest - the gem of the family - graduate from college. We laughed, we cried, and we ate. A LOT. I don't want to be the only one to recount all of our culinary joys (Boka), epiphanies (the Handlebar, props Misa!!!), and misadventures (I'll leave that one for hate-lover T) but I feel we have to begin documenting soon before the memories fade. Luckily, we jotted down some notes to help us along.

Day 1: The Posse Has Landed.

We met V, Mas & Heather at The Hopleaf, an airy, laid back tavern full of wood and light where we recounted the comical tales of our travels to V and his Chi-town posse over spicy golden beers and steaming pots of Belgian-style and spicy coconut-curry mussels. The Belgian-style mussels, steamed in Witterkerke white ale with sliced shallots, celery, and bayleaf were the crowd favorite; but personally, I preferred the coconut curry mussels, resting in a spicy yet soothing broth of jalapenos, cilantro, ginger, and coconut milk. The frites with aioli were also a hit. Alas, their steak frites had nothing on the delectable standard-by-which-all-others-are-measured, the steak frites at Union League. This was definitely a beer week overall (Dad was in his glory) and the Hopleaf was the perfect spot to kick it off with an extensive beer selection and an emphasis on Belgian ales of all colors and stripes. I tried the Allagash and the Leffe blond, both of which are now permanent additions to the (admittedly limited) repetoire.

I think V had some rabbit dish (correct me if I'm wrong) that looked (no offense, V) kinda sketchy, but maybe I'm biased because I own a pet stuffed rabbit. All in all it was a lovely meal with stellar company (Heather, we're adopting you!) and we left sated, refreshed, and ready to see more of Chicago.