I spent last weekend in Chicago with a friend from LA. We went on a river boat tour, architectural and historical, and it was awesome. I learned a lot about Chicago that I had never heard before. It was cool to have the city revealed to me in a new way. We also went to see The Bean, aka Cloud Gate, by Anish Kapoor - my favorite thing to go see in Chicago. We had a late lunch at The Purple Pig, which was great. The corn relish was fantastic, and the beets were phenomenal. We had an even later cocktail at The Aviary. They had some of the coolest, most innovative drinks I've ever seen. They had one called "in the rocks" which was an ice ball (about the size of a cue ball) that you broke open to find the ingredients for an Old Fashioned mixed up inside. Pretty neat.
Next we went to...Next. For dinner. It was fantastic. They had the Thai menu, which was awesome. It's only around for another few days, and then they are putting one together with the inspiration of "Childhood." There's a pretty good article that will make you want to come out and see what they put together. I know that if my friend comes back to the Windy City, we'll definitely be trying for a table!
