A Food-Filled Weekend Recap

Well, while you East Coasters were snowed in all weekend (and I hope you're all enjoying the beautiful snow) we were out and about around Chicago stuffing our faces. Pretty much all weekend.

It was just one of those weekends that no amount of gym time will make up for, but we enjoyed every minute of it! Here's the inside scoop on everything (of note) that we ate:

pork belly bocadillos

It was a busy week at the office for me so my grand plans to do some serious dining out during Chicago Restaurant Week did not go quite as planned. We did celebrate the end of the week by participating in our one and only Restaurant Week dining experience at Tavernita on Friday night. Tavernita is a trendy restaurant in River North that specializes in Spanish/Latin food and small plates. We have eaten at their bar (Barcito) for lunch before but I've been wanting to try the actual restaurant for a while. Restaurant Week was the perfect way to do this since the price is right ($33/person) and Tavernita's tasting menu was built for sharing-- my favorite way to dine!

artichoke salad

I didn't have my camera handy so I didn't get any pictures of our actual meal (boo). However, a few of the items we ordered were repeats of what we ate at Barcito and I have a few photos of those. Here's the full rundown of what we ate:

En pan:

• Burrata & tomato jam crostini
• Pork belly bocadillos with apple jam & pickled red onion

Small plates:

• Artichoke salad with roasted golden beets, arugula, blue cheese (my favorite-- here and at Barcito)
• Patatas with chorizo, brava sauce, and a fried egg (Alex loves anything spicy with a fried egg so he loved this!)

Large plate: Greg's Meatballs - wagyu beef and pork in a hazelnut romesco sauce (I wouldn't normally order meatballs but Alex insisted.  They were really really good!)

Dessert: Pan con Chocolate with olive oil and sea salt (not a big fan of the amount of olive oil on this dish)

On Saturday I went up to Lakeview for a much needed hair appointment and an equally needed lunch date with my BFF Alexis. We met up at Wilde Bar & Restaurant, one of our Lakeview East favorites where I had yet another beet salad (this time with oranges and shrimp). I didn't mean to eat them two days in a row, but I just love them. We also enjoyed a Bellini while catching up.

Sunday was by far the most gluttonous (and delicious) day of the weekend. It was a gloomy morning and we got up early and walked over to try Glazed & Infused for the first time. This location is part of a newer "boutique" chain of doughnut shops and the place is pretty incredible. Unlike the Doughnut Vault they have some seating inside and a pretty vast selection of flavors, which makes it really difficult to choose. We settled on splitting 3 doughnuts: the maple bacon longjohn (unbelievable), a red velvet cake doughnut, and an apple fritter (a favorite since childhood that did not disappoint).

 I also took some time on Sunday to whip up a treat for my valentine to share with his coworkers this week. When I saw that Kristin from Iowa Girl Eats highlighted a recipe for Red Velvet Puppy Chow on her Friday Favorites post last week I knew I had to make it for my husband. We agreed not to get each other Valentine's Day gifts this year (we definitely don't need any more "stuff" around here!) and to put the money toward a trip or getaway later in the year, but I didn't want him to end up totally emptyhanded. So, when I saw a recipe that combined his two favorite treats-- puppy chow and anything red velvet-- I was sold. You can find the original recipe here and I didn't really change too much about it. I will tell you that I made two batches and after the first I wasn't very happy with the lack of red velvet color (FYI I used Duncan Hines mix) so I added a few drops of red food coloring to the chocolate mixture on the second batch to pump it up.  You can see the color difference in the photo of my two batches below.

And to round out this day/weekend of treats, I have to give a shout out to my friend Mere! It was as if she was listening in when Alex and I were at Glazed & Infused and I said "I wish they made packzis here." As it happened, Mere spent the day making packzis with her grandmother and she dropped a few off for us on Sunday evening. If you've never had a packzi, find a bakery that sells them-- they're similar to a bismarck or jelly-filled doughnut and are made with a variety of different jelly or cream fillings. We used to have these traditional Polish treats every year for Fat Tuesday when I was growing up in Michigan, but they didn't seem to be quite as big of a deal during my years on the east coast. So, imagine my excitement when we received a special hand delivery of homemade packzis.  Thanks, Mere and Baci!


And on that note, I'll be heading to the gym and eating steamed veggies until our Valentine's Day date night.

Have a great week!