Craving Chicago - The Food Diary

Chicago, Illinois:

On to my favorite! There is no shortage of food options here and honestly, at times it was a bit overwhelming to choose. Someone (Thomas) said, let's not try to plan so much around food. Sir, stop. It was laughable to suggest that for me but I said ok to move on 😂.

Shaw's Crab House

When I say I pick the best places to eat, I really do. People contact me all the time for recommendations and I don't know if that's good or bad but I enjoy telling people about what places they should consider trying. I usually start with the reviews but I also review menus ahead of time. Some times, deciding at the table takes me a while because I like to pair wines and/or cocktails so if I have a general idea of what I want to try, it takes less time at the table. But this is about Shaw's, not me. We ate here for dinner and this place has all the character you can ask for. You can tell it's been here for some time BUT the atmosphere + food was a solid 10.

Here is where I tried my first stone crab claw. Didn't know what to expect but this one little baby was $9.

I don't know if that is fair or not but it was worth the experience. For dinner, I went for the Shaw's Seafood Platter (garlic shrimp, sea scallops, Maryland style crab cake, jasmine rice and sautéed spinach). It was perfect, I promise. Thomas had the French Fried Shrimp and raved that it was the best shrimp he ever had. Their menu has a lot of great food to try if you are a seafood lover so if you are in Chicago, please give them a try.

We (or I, cause it's really my principle), will look for the city's top rated for - steak, seafood, and italian. We didn't make the italian this time but the steak and seafood choices were top notch.

Steak 48

Now that I have your attention. I didn't open with this one but if you have heard the hype on Steak 48 recently since one opened in Charlotte, I am here to tell you, for me there is no hype. It's literally the truth in terms of food quality and service. We have tried for months to get in the Charlotte location and could never secure a time that was convenient for us. I knew there was one here but it was definitely a hard choice to decide to dine at a place that has a local option so close to home over trying some place new that's so far away. We went for it after months of waiting. There was not one single disappointment.

Let me give the run down on the Chicago location.

They have a $100 pp minimum in the dining room. If you sit at the bar or a cocktail table, the minimum does not apply. HOWEVER, you will have no challenge meeting the minimum with food and drinks considering their price list.
Like the other locations, they have a business casual dress code and have restrictions listed. HOWEVER, I saw a few minor violations and folks were just dining away so I don't know that it's strictly enforced but just follow the rules like they suggest to avoid getting turned away.
There was an 18% automatic gratuity added regardless of party size. I was aware of this already because it was posted on their website but when we got our check our server reminder us that it was included to avoid us overtipping. This was fine for us because we generally tip between 15% - 20%.
The lighting at night is very low which I absolutely love but it didn't make well for me to capture great photos with my phone. So while I will brag all day on how great the food was, it will not be translated through tons of photos. Please don't let that discourage you from trying Steak 48. It has really made me question my choices in past steakhouses.
This probably applies to all locations but when they say careful, hot, don't touch the plate. DO NOT TOUCH THE PLATE! Hottest steak plate I have ever had placed before me. It was insane. I literally had to lean back in my seat and wait for it to slightly simmer down.
SERVICE = TOP NOTCH! I don't think I have experienced anything better. Actually, I have never experienced better service.

Pinstripes

Close to our hotel (they also have their menu available for ordering) and with great reviews, we went for Pinstripes. This is a bowling alley, restaurant, and you can also play bocce. I won't lie I have no idea what that is and I'm not that interested right now to google and find out so there. It was mid-day so it was not crowded. We ordered two different flavors of lunch chicken wings and they were good. They have outside dining both on the front and back of the venue so if you are looking for an all in one for food, fun, & sights, I think this will be a good option for you to try.

Food Truck

I already knew I wanted to try a staple in the city. Not loving the whole deep dish pizza thing so I went for the Chicago style hot dog. I don't know where the best place in the city is to get one BUT we caught a great food truck after leaving the museum and it was actually pretty good. Off the bucket list for now but I will for sure have another whenever I can. If you like a little kick in your dog, go for it.

Streeterville Social

The rooftop dining at our hotel was superb. I usually am not fond of hotel restaurants being the first choices but after another 8 miles or so of walking, we couldn't bear to keep going so we opted for Streeterville Social therefore a post dinner walk would be right upstairs. What an amazing choice.

If you don't know, Shishito Peppers are my new go to app and they must be paired with a delectable dipping sauce. If you haven't tried them yet, give them a whirl if they are on the menu for your next dining experience. To drink, I had a HSL (Hennessy, sprite, lime) and Thomas had his normal Jack + Coke. To celebrate, our wonderful server gave us some birthday shots to end the night well.

So that's the food diary, except I am skipping Cheesecake Factory because, I just didn't get too excited about my dish BUT they made a pretty nice cocktail that was the perfect mid-day treat.