DancesintheKitchen: Chicago

Every day I live in Houston I still can't believe how many people live in this city but then I visit the few other cities with even more people and I realize it's what makes these cities great. In Chicago, I really love the hustle and bustle of everyone walking around with a variety of places to see and eat and explore. My husband and I were able to take a quick weekend trip here before the start of my new job. We were lucky enough to catch up with old friends, be tourists, and of course find our own cute little gems of the city that we always love to do!

Stay:

Russell and I stayed at the Palmer House Hilton Hotel. We didn't get to do our usual Bed and Breakfast for this trip because honestly I couldn't find one I liked close enough to the city. So, this hotel is the next best thing. It was gorgeous, had a great breakfast, and most importantly perfect location to everything. We were in walking distance to every thing that we wanted to visit and there was also a metro stop right outside of the hotel for the airport or our day trip to Lincoln Park. Plus I love the pink lights for Breast Cancer Awareness month. I would definitely recommend this place if you are visiting Chicago!

Eat:

Lou Malnati's Pizza

There are two main deep dish pizza chains throughout Chicago. This one is personally my favorite as I feel like it has the perfect amount of sauce to cheese ratio (more cheese of course). I believe pizza is one of the best things offered on the planet and when I want to splurge, it is my cheat every time. This place will satisfy your Chicago deep dish pizza fix. You can't tell me that doesn't look good.

Portillo's Hot Dogs

Portillo's is the famous Chicago Hot Dog stop. This is a must do while in Chicago. It is usually crowded (with tourists mostly) but they have a system and move quickly and you'll be in and out with your delicious traditional Chicago dog. Remember no ketchup ;)

RPM Italian Restaurant

RPM was my favorite restaurant in Chicago. It was so insanely delicious. Seriously, every single thing we tried was so good and I was actually sad when each dish was done. You will need to make a reservation pretty early in advance if you want a table or you can walk in and try and steal a seat in the bar area (which is what we did.) We couldn't decide what we wanted so we did more of a tapas style with a bunch of different small plates. Russell and I decided on the Truffled Garlic Bread, Prime Beef Meatballs, Zucchini Fritti, and Giuliana's Italian Salad. Then the best was yet to come with the dessert. Once again we couldn't choose just one so we split Pistachio Gelato and their special of the night which were these perfectly Fried Italian Doughnuts served with a side of Nutella. This is making my mouth water just writing this. I will go back to Chicago for this restaurant alone. Go.

La Fournette

Russ and I have an obsession for french bakeries/macaroons/almond croissants/ basically anything french. So any city we visit, we will search out what people say is the best. And this one comes close to one of the best we had tried. The almond croissant was perfectly baked and the almond paste was extremely if not exactly similar to the way they make it in Paris. The macaroons were also delicious with a lot of fun flavors to choose from. Another bonus is this bakery is located in Old Town which is one of my favorite areas of Chicago.

Do:

Wendella Boat Ride

This is a pretty common thing to do in Chicago while visiting but my recommendation is make sure to take the ride around sunset. This way you can see the city in the daylight and when you turn around and come back you get the gorgeous view of the city at night. I love being able to see all of Chicago lit up as we rode around on the Lake. Throughout the tour, the guide tells you all about the architecture and history of the city and Chicago definitely has a fascination history if you enjoy that type of stuff. It is also romantic (we even had a proposal on our ride!). Another tip, if you go anytime past September bring a jacket! The wind obviously gets pretty chilly out there.

Millennium Park

I thought this particular area of the park was the prettiest spot in all of Chicago. I love being able to look at all of the flowers and different colors and then look up and see the city in the background.
The fall colors definitely help my case and I have a slight obsession with lavender. However, I am sure I'm not the only one that feels this way as there were multiple engagement and wedding photos being taken here while we were walking around.

Lincoln Park Zoo

This was the one on our as list to do that we actually saved for the last day of our trip because we weren't sure about it. We found out it was completely free to get in and our honest thoughts were if it's free how good could it be. Well we were so glad that we decided to go. I have never felt that much engagement or that close to animals at any other zoo. Usually you go to the zoo and you have to search for the animals and they are usually in the back of their cage sleeping. Not here. Almost every animal was up and moving and coming down to get closer to us. Maybe we just picked a good day but in all we were so impressed with this zoo and I would recommend it to everyone. See if you can tell which animals I love the most.

Old town

This is a cute little area that we stumbled upon looking for our french bakery. I love the feel of this area walking around. A lot of cute restaurants, shops, and my favorite- dog walkers. If you are looking for a place to sit outside and enjoy a coffee or lunch I would say this is a good area to stop by!

Chicago Art Institute

This is one of the best Art Museums in America or maybe even the world. The collection, amount, and variety of works it has here is unbelievable. Make sure to give yourself enough time because it takes a while to get through it all but if you are interested in art and are in Chicago this is a must do. No question.

Lincoln Park

I already mentioned earlier how much we enjoyed the Lincoln Park Zoo but another bonus is the area around the zoo is also adorable. It has an absolutely gorgeous park and beautiful neighborhoods surrounding the area. We loved exploring this part of Chicago and Russ and I decided if we ever moved to Chicago, this would be our area.