Lou Malnati's Pizzeria

439 N Wells St
Chicago, IL 60610
Tel: (312) 828-9800

Chicago's signature deep dish pizzeria place the crowd sez, I find BJ's is better.

Chicago - Day 4

To we travel home, and it is a sad day, so I'll be brief.

Check out at 12:00, take taxi to State and Lake, hop on Orange line to Midway. The defender of our safety confiscate my toothpaste and a jar of Nutella. Fly for 4 hours to LAX, wait for 1.5 hours for Ida's connecting flight to SJC.

Take the Fly-Away bus to LAUS and gold line to Sierra Madre. Lisa pick me up and we arrived home around 7:30.

Chicago - Day 1

Taking the green line from IIT, transfer at Roosevelt to Red, dismount at Chicago. The walk to Avenue Hotel is pretty taxing since the weather is warming up again.

After checking in, I decided to tour around the premise. Apparently the penthouse on 40th floor is under construction and no one bother to lock the door, so I help myself in. The view is facing the lake and extremely gorgeous. The pool, located at the same floor, is alright. I decided to move on since I need to scout the city.

Do a quick city tour, visit Hancock Tower, water tower, up and down along Chicago Blvd until 12:30PM, take the train to Midway to pick up Ida. By the time we are back I hope that there are rooms available on the upper floor, but apparently most of them have been taken. The manager told me to come back to the front desk around 4.

To pass the hour, we decided to go to have the "Chicago" hotdog, and the concierge pointed us to Portillo's, which is pretty festive and interesting.

By 4PM room transfer is done. We have the 38th floor, the view is better and although the manager told me that there is a possible construction noise from the top, we don't (and won't) hear anything, in fact, we couldn't head the construction noise from the ground floor (unlike the 28th floor) anymore. Talk about weird ...

Tonight we go to Café Spiaggia Restaurant, everything is good, except my own food. The veal is fatty, I was warned and I am fine with it. It is nice that the veal is fatty since the skin and fat is crusting very well, but the meat is dry. I am not enjoying my meal, but I do enjoy the Navy Pier though. It is good to view Chicago from the pier at night.

Portillo's Hot Dogs

100 W. Ontario
Chicago IL 60610
Tel: (312) 587-8910

http://www.portillos.com/

We were hungry and tired, since we haven't gotten the room that I want yet. Since we have 1 hour to burn, we decided to get a quick grub. Portillo's Hot Dogs was recommended by the concierge and it is within a short walking distance, remember: we were hungry!

Anyhoo, the menu is great and the service is good to the crowd that expect fast food. The ambiance of the 30's gangster paradise also works.

Spiaggia Cafe

980 N Michigan Ave # 2
Chicago, IL 60611
Tel: (312) 280-2750

http://www.levyrestaurants.com/

I like the table where we were seated, it is a small table facing the window and Ida had a great view of Michigan and Walton. The service and the recommended wine is great. The appetizing squid was excellent, the soft shell crab was scrumptious, too bad: the veal was too ... dry, apparently the fat couldn't seal in enough juice.

Gibson's Steakhouse And Bar

1028 N Rush St
Chicago, IL 60611
Tel:(312) 266-8999

http://www.gibsonssteakhouse.com/

I should have known better and avoid [WR Chicago] rib cut, instead I am salivating over Ida's sirloin. Life is not fair, sometimes ...