I Came, I Saw, I Ate All the Deep Dish Pizza ● What I Did In Chicago

The real reason I went to Chicago with my brother, his girlfriend and my boyfriend was to see Hamilton. Yes, a bunch of New Yorkers flew all the way to Illinois to see a show we could just as easily see here. No it’s not easier to get tickets there (ugh) and no the tickets aren’t cheaper (UGH.) But we couldn’t pass the chance to see one Karen Olivo crush it as Angelica.

My parents totes supported the idea of going to Chicago for the sole purpose of seeing Hamilton.

And lemme tell you, it GOOD. But that’s a given, I’ve already seen the show a handful of times in NYC 🙈

ANYWAYS, we had a blast exploring the Windy City and playing tourist for a few days.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn – Mart Plaza. It was the perfect location — walking distance to the Hamilton theater and tourist attractions. The area was perfect for walking around. Most of the places we went to were within 20 minutes walking distance to the hotel.

The Food

▶︎ Lou Malnati’s Pizza – River North

Lactose intolerance be damned I was NOT gonna miss out on some Chicago deep-dish pizza. If I was going to endure the dairy induced belly ache (okay and skin irritation) it had better be from the real deal, Chicago pizza.

We decided Lou Malnati’s would be the place to experience the infamous pizza of Chicago. And holy moly, it did NOT disappoint. It was so good Jeremy and I might’ve gone back a second time…

I got the personal cheese pizza both times which was more than enough for me. We also split an appetizer of buffalo wings and bruschetta, both excellent. Everyone else RAVED about the ranch dressing.

Pro Tips: We ended up waiting ~40 minutes for our table. We took advantage of the option to order ahead. Once seated, we quickly got appetizers and didn’t have to wait too long for our pizza.

Another pro tip: The second time around we got the pizza to go and it travelled SO well. Phone ahead and thank me later 🙂

 

▶︎ Goddess and the Baker

Jeremy and I both LOVED this place. It’s a mixture of coffee shop meets healthy comfort food. With an adorable, instagram worthy, vibe.

Anywhere that serves matzoh ball soup is a winner in my book. The huevos rancheros tortas (sans cheese and sour cream) were also fantastic. Highly highly recommend checking this place out!

 

▶︎ RPM – Italian

Oh my god I’m going to be talking about this meal FOREVER. It’s a bit on the expensive side and not the kind of place Jeremy and I would usually go, but it was a fun treat on our last night in Chicago. I ordered the squid ink and spicy crab pasta. Freaking fabulous. And Jeremy LOVED his steak. Trust me, he’s picky about his steak.

When we arrived they told us that they weren’t seating anyone unless they had a reservation. However, we could take our chances at the bar, which is first come first serve. We immediately got a private table and the service was still fabulous.

 

The Workouts

▶︎ Barre Code

This popular barre studio has been on my radar for a few years now. I was SO excited to finally see what the fuss is about. They offer a ton of different classes, all variations on the barre format. I took the signature Barre Code class. Much to my surprise, the class doesn’t use weights!

It wasn’t the hardest barre workout I’ve ever taken, nor was it as form focused as Bar Method. I still thought the class was fun and I wish I would’ve had the chance to check out some of the other classes at the studio.

 

▶︎ Corepower Yoga

Oh Corepower, we meet again!

As I mentioned yesterday, I met up with one of my friends from yoga teacher training for a sculpt class (<— read the review of my first time taking this class in LA). Hot damn. Literally. It is easily the sweatiest class I’ve ever taken between the heat and the amped up moves.

I’m SO excited CPY is finally opening in NYC. Gimme all the sculpt classes!

 

Everything Else

▶︎ Millennium Park: The Bean and beyond

Yes we saw the Bean! It’s real name is Cloud Gate. Who knew?

As touristy as it may be, I loved the whole Millennium Park experience. There’s a ton of cool architecture and art to look at

After Millennium Park we walked over to the Navy Pier.

I found the pier to be meh and more touristy than anything — y’know Margaritavilles and Bubba Gumps. No offense, Margaritaville, I love ya Jimmy Buffett. We did ride the ferris wheel which was a nice break from the freezing cold and gave us some great views. Otherwise I’d say skip the pier unless the weather gorgeous.

 

▶︎ #DateMe at Second City

Okay, seeing a show at Second City was one of the highlight of the trip for me, for a few reasons:

👉🏻 One, I was excited to experience a show at this infamous theater, known for churning out comedic greats like Tina Fey and Stephen Colbert… among MANY others.

👉🏻 Two, when Jeremy and I went on a cruise to Bermuda a few years ago, the ship had improv shows from people from Second City. We went EVERY night, and basically felt like Second City groupies on that cruise. We freaking loved it.

Uh turns out one of the performers from our cruise was in the show we went to in Chicago. Jeremy and I legit started freaking out! I picked the show at random and had no idea he was in the cast. Talk about meant to be!

The show #DateMe was incredible. It reminded me of theater my friends used to create in college… but better and more polished. The show is the true story of the creator’s quirky social experiment on OkCupid. She created 38 fake profiles of ridiculous humans to see if there really was a match for every fish in the sea. As you can imagine it’s a hilarious view at the world of online dating. It’s playing for the next few weekends if you’re in Chicago!

 

Alrighty, that was my Chicago trip in a nutshell — pizza, Hamilton and a little bit more 🙂

Your turn: What’s your favorite city you’ve ever traveled to?