A Chicago Weekend

Early in October we took two days off work to run the Chicago marathon, and then eat our way around the city. Well, not really around the city: before the marathon we didn't want to move our legs and after the marathon we couldn't move our legs, so our eating was restricted to places we could easily get to from our AirBnb in the Loop.

When not running, napping, or stretching, we squeezed in many meals and some touristing. Here were our faves:

Lunch/Dinner

Au Cheval: Yes, there's a wait. Yes, the burgers are amazing. But also, the mille-feuille was the best thing we ate all weekend.

Crisp: Awesome fried chicken. Awesome bibimbap bowls. Perfect post-race nourishment. (Would also be good for a hangover. The feelings are similar.)

Cruz Blanca Brewery & Taquería: We went here while we waited for our table at Au Cheval (perks of marathoning = 2 lunches). The tacos were great, the beer was enjoyed by the boys, and the Bloody María was perfection.

Little Goat: This was my favorite place. The bakery is incredible and lunch here was perfect whether you want mac and cheese, a reuben, or kale salad (or all of the above).

Pacific Standard Time: A super elegant, chic, California-style restaurant. Wonderful pizza, beautiful veggies, and a beautifully designed space.

Sweets

Bobtail Ice Cream: Peanut butter and cookie dough in a cone please.

Stan's Donuts: Go for breakfast or second breakfast. And then go again the next day. The doughnuts are awesome.

We tried to go to Doughnut Vault but they'd sold out by the time we hobbled over there. However, it looked adorable and if the sold out sign is anything to go by, worth visiting early!

Culture

Architecture Tour: I generally hate tours (or any kind of organized touristing/activity), but this was great. It's a boat tour along the river which is beautiful, super informative, and a wonderful way to spend the morning and learn a little about the city.

The Art Institute of Chicago: Whatever you want to see, they've got it. The museum is huge. I loved Chicago's America Windows.

The Bean: Obvs. Anish Kapoor's Bean deserves the attention it gets.

And if you want to run a marathon, the Chicago marathon really was great. Well, I didn't think the last few miles were so great, but I think that's more the fault of marathons than Chicago...

Continue Reading...

Mercado Lucas de Galvéz

An overwhelming number of smells, colors, and sounds hit you when you start getting close to Mercado Lucas de Galvéz. The streets around the market are packed with stands piled high with fruits, veggies, tacos, agua fresca, candy, and inside it's a more densely packed extreme. Locals bustle by, bags full, dodging each other, weaving in and out of the covered market and hectic streets. Follow them to find out where to get the best of everything, from limes to tortas to spice mixes.

We visited the market every day when we were in Mérida. It took a couple of visits to not be totally overwhelmed and unable to make a decision beyond "dos tacos por favor", to get my Spanish in good enough shape to talk to the pineapple-genius about which pineapple I wanted, and to figure out when we'd be hungry enough to actually cook a meal in our Airbnb, rather than eating from every taco stand we passed. Eventually we managed a "proper shop", and dinner that night was a triumph of homemade tacos, fresh margaritas, and leftovers for breakfast.

Mercado Lucas de Galvéz, Calle 65A, Centro, 97000, Mérida, Yuc., Mexico

P.S. For more of a glimpse into this amazing place, watch Samin Nosrat's acid episode on her Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat show on Netflix. You miss out on the smells, the noise, and the sense of overwhelm, but you get a sense for just how beautiful all the produce is, and understand why buying citrus fruits  in New York is now incredibly underwhelming.

Continue Reading...

Hacienda Temozon

Our Mexico trip was now many moons ago. This blog has gone through another phase of abandonment, but I'm back. I have big news to share with y'all soon, but for now, I'm diving into my photo archives. I want to share some shots from our stay at Hacienda Temozon in June. 

We were the only people staying there during our off-season visit. On our first night they set up a candlelit, petal-strewn table: it was like this really was our honeymoon (which it kind of was —yes, three years late). The food was perfect—not trying too hard, and giving you a taste of the area's specialities. The staff were the kindest—they gave you space, but when you needed another michelada, they were ready and waiting. The space was, well, magical. We spent our days walking the grounds, lying by the pool, chasing iguanas, sipping margaritas, visiting the cenote, and only forcing ourselves away from this beautiful place to see the spectacular Mayan ruins at Uxmal. If you're visiting Mérida and want a few nights away from the crazy city, this place has my vote.

Hacienda Temozon, KM 182 Carretera Merida-Uxmal, 97825 Temozon Sur, Yuc., Mexico

Continue Reading...

Wayan'e

A first trip to Mexico is essentially a challenge to see how many tacos you can eat in a week. So taco eating starts early in the day. And if we weren't at the market, we were at Wayan'e. Aguas frescas helped us recover from the super hot, super short walk, and tacos followed.

Our order: all the breakfast tacos available (which turned out to be the perfect amount—not all on the menu were available). They made our typical Brooklyn bagel breakfasts seem a little underwhelming: freshly pressed, super thin tortillas topped with softly scrambled eggs, fresh greens, rich black beans, a dash of chili, soft onions, a splash of hot sauce (danger! super hot!), and whatever other veggies they had on hand that day. So much work went into every taco, with no fuss, no pretense, no unnecessary fanciness. And yes, you're right, I was jealous of the other people having their breakfast meetings over this breakfast platter.

Wayan'e, 412,  Calle 59 408, Centro, Mérida, Yuc., Mexico

Continue Reading...