Of course, most of my vacations consist of eating amazing food and there’s no way we could go to Chicago without getting deep-dish pizza! While I personally prefer New York style Pizza (Grimaldi’s being number one spot in Vegas) I do like to partake in a good deep dish while I’m out there. There is a ton of good pizza places in Chicago, probably the most famous being Lou Molnati’s (it’s a chain so you can find them all over the city). After Friday’s Cubs game we met up with a friend at Pequod’s, which is another popular deep-dish spot. This place is so popular in fact, that there was a two-hour wait. That seemed a little ridiculous, but we called a couple other of deep dish spots and on a Friday night at 6:30 pm they all had really long waits. It’s also harder to just get up and go to a different spot when you don’t have a car. We decided to grab a drink and split an appetizer at Whale Tale, the bar next door, while we waited, hoping that they were overestimating the wait time (they weren’t).

When that buzzer finally rang we were all so hungry and tired, we couldn’t wait to eat ourselves into a food coma and go to bed. We split a medium sized pepperoni pizza with fresh garlic and mushrooms. While they were extremely generous with the toppings and the pizza did come out quicker than they said it would, I don’t think I would wait two hours for it again. I can’t think of any place I would want to wait two hours for. We took an Uber home because while the train was easy enough to take, none of us wanted to spend an hour getting back to the apartment. It felt so amazing to go to sleep early with a full stomach.

On our last day in town, we still had time to knock off a couple things on my mom’s list. We got up really early to make it to Navy Pier by 11 am. Chicago Shakespeare Theater was performing Madagascar A Musical Adventure, for the summer. We left the apartment really early because we knew we wanted to grab some coffees and breakfast at Dunkin’ Doughnuts on the way there. Chicago has so many Dunkin’ Doughnuts around – there’s one on every corner it seems. We took a bus downtown and on the way, some woman spilled her groceries and a container broke open on the bus floor. The driver said he would have to call it in and he didn’t know how long the bus would be delayed for. That’s another issue with not having a car in Chicago – public transportation is so unpredictable. My friends leave so early to make sure they’re at their jobs on time because there are so many delays and issues with the trains and busses. That’s another reason they Uber way more now than they did when they first moved to Chicago. Thankfully after grabbing some Dunkin’ right where the bus was delayed Google Maps got us back on track with another bus and we made it to the play.

The theater where Madagascar was performed was small so it seemed intimate and it had a good sound system. The play was really cute and even though my mom and I were one of the only adults that didn’t have kids with them we loved it. It costs $34 for each ticket, but it was very enjoyable. After we walked around Navy Pier enjoying the beautiful day. We watched all the boats coming in and leaving and decided to get tickets to get on the Ferris wheel. Last year, in 2016 Navy Pier had its centennial celebration, so they renamed it the Centennial Wheel and did some upgrades. They enclosed the pods and put air and small TVs in them. They did pack us in, but it was a really busy day on the pier. Afterward, we met up with one of my friends to go to Parlor Pizza Bar at the West Loop. Our friend was serving there today and after getting a glimpse of their pizzas the other night I was craving one.

Parlor Pizza Bar is located among a bunch of other really good and higher priced restaurants. My boyfriend and I love to eat well, so we were constantly in that area for food when I went with him the summer before. Many of the restaurants were busy, including Parlor, but we were lucky and were able to get a seat in my friend’s section right away. While we didn’t order drinks, they had an amazing Bloody Mary bar. If you love making your own – this is your spot. They have different mixes and plenty of toppings, like thick cubes of cheese and thick pieces of meat. The two pizzas we ordered to share were so tasty! They were called “I Feel Like Bacon Love” and “Burrata Be Kidding Me”. I would recommend coming to this pizza place if you’re not necessarily looking for deep dish, especially with their large outdoor patio and rooftop seating for nice nights. The problem with Chicago is there are too many great restaurants and not enough time.

Our last stop on our trip and another item crossed off the list was The Green Mill Cocktail Lounge. This place is a popular one because it is a very old lounge that has been around since the mob era and it has done well to keep up that look and feel. We went at 4 pm on a Saturday, thinking it would be pretty dead – wrong! We could barely get through the door there were so many people packed in. There was an open mic type of show going on, called “The Paper Machete”. I don’t know how many acts performed before we got there but we walked in on a man doing a skit. We grabbed a drink while a duo, the Floral Couches, were singing up on stage, and thankfully found some empty chairs in the crowded bar and enjoyed listening to the rest of the show and other satirical skits. The whole show ended with the Floral Couches again and then people started clearing out of the lounge. They have live music or performances almost every night. The calendar of who’s performing can be found on their website. I’m glad we got there when we did to enjoy some entertainment. Besides that, it was an old-timey bar, with your run of the mill drinks.

I told my mom to save the rest of her unfinished list for the next time we go back. With my best friends and her favorite baseball team out there, it isn’t going to be a question of if we go back, but when. Hope you enjoyed your birthday present, Mom! I know I enjoyed taking on Chicago with you!