Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Chicago

I just got back tonight from a business trip to Chicago. It was my first time there, and I have to say... I loved it! What a great city. I had heard that Chicago had great architecture, but never really gave it much more thought. Once I got to see the city in person I really understood what a difference it makes.

I got the chance to visit two great vegan restaurants while I was there - The Chicago Diner and Karyn's Cooked. Both were excellent, and my sister, who is not veg, thought they were great too.

We had a bit of a hard time getting to The Chicago Diner - I had written down from the website that you could take the subway to get there and get off at Belmont station. There were a few more instructions that I didn't bother to write down (heck, who needs all the instructions?!) So, we hopped on the subway, got off at Belmont and tried to find our way to the restaurant. Using one of those free maps you get at the hotel. But something wasn't right and we couldn't find it. I won't go into details (I've blocked the memory) but eventually we figured out that we got off at the WRONG Belmont station, there was another one on a different line. Ok, in our defence, why would a subway system have more than one station that's named the same thing? Why not Belmont East and Belmont West? But I digress. We eventually got to the restaurant and it was well worth the wait. Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera, so I can't illustrate our meals, but everything we ordered was excellent (salads, Middle Eastern Plate, wings, and vegan carrot cake to top it off) and by the end we forgot our ordeal in getting there.

On another night we went to Karyn's Cooked. It too was really good! We started off with a salad, then we shared two entrees, the spaghetti and meatballs and the Buddha bowl. Both hit the spot! The only thing I can say that disappointed me a little were the meatballs - I was expecting a TVP-ish meatball, but they tasted more like falafels. This threw me off a bit, but none the less I enjoyed the dish.

I love going to new cities and checking out the vegan restaurant scene. I don't usually eat out a lot, so it makes eating out for days at a time something to look forward to.

If you ever go to Chicago (and I think everyone should at some point!) I would highly recommend checking out some of the great vegan restaurants the city has to offer.

T.

2 comments:

citygirl said...

I'm with you on how dumb it is to have two Belmonts. Really. They couldn't have put West or East or something to differentiate them?!

citygirl said...

One more thing. I LOVE going out to new-to-me restaurants!