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Last Saturday, a group of my friends and I decided to venture to Wicker Park for the night.  Jessica had found a bar called the Crocodile (1540 N Milwaukee, http://www.crocodilechicago.com/) that served free pizza with every drink purchase, so the plan was to start there, and then just wander around and see what was close by.
We enjoyed some fish bowls (diet Coke for me since I was driving) and the pizza .  You get one personal size cheese pizza with every drink, so everyone got their own pizza!
The service was good, and around midnight, it started to get crowded.  There is a downstairs basement area for dancing, which we had to wait in line for, that really isn't that great.  The best part is the main bar upstairs.  Our next stop was Debonair (1575 N Milwaukee, http://debonairsocialclub.com/), a bar right across the street.  I really liked the interior; it was black and white themed, and they had the new Alice in Wonderland movie playing on mute in four squares on one wall.  I thought it was very artsy.  There was a small dance floor, and the music was ok.  We didn't stay at Debonair very long and decided to make our way to Cafe Absinthe (1954 W North Ave, http://www.absinthechicago.com/).
It was very crowded, so we only stayed about 5 minutes- at least we could say we went in.  lol.  The final stop of the evening was Big Star (1531 N Damen Ave, http://www.bigstarchicago.com/).
This bar was very spacious and had cheap tacos, but unfortunately when we got there, they were no longer making tacos.  A pitcher of lemonade with bourbon whiskey and a cool breeze (I tasted a bit, and it was A LOT more whiskey than lemonade!) was a good way to end the night. :)

Overall, it was a fun night exploring a new neighborhood, but I wasn't really feeling the vibe.  The crowd in Wicker Park is a bit old for me, but I would definitely go back to Crocodile.

Two Saturdays ago, I went with Katie to Oakbrook Center to shop for business casual clothes.  I had a Lettuce Entertain You giftcard from last Christmas, so I decided to put it to good use at one of the restaurants at Oakbrook.  We decided on Antico Posto (118 Oakbrook Center, http://www.antico-posto.com/about/), an Italian restaurant and wine bar.  They have quite a few wines to choose from and their pasta, ravioli, and gnocchi are homemade.  It was a Saturday evening, so we had to wait about a half hour for a table.  You can wait at the bar, and they also serve food at the bar, but we decided to wait for a table.
Our server was very friendly but not super attentive- we had to wait a bit to place our order and then for the check.  The food is a bit on the pricey side but not horribly expensive- it is Oakbrook after all. :)   Bread with an olive oil dipping sauce is served soon after you sit down at your table.  For my entree, I ordered one of the specials that day, pistachio-crusted white fish, which was delicious!  Katie got the chicken marsala, which I tried a bit of, and that was also very good.  We passed on wine and dessert, but the homemade gelato sounded good.  I may have to go back and try it. :) Antico Posto also has specials Monday through Friday, such as 1/2 Price Bottle Tuesdays and $5 Pizza Night Wednesday.
Antico Posto was a pleasant experience- the food was flavorful, and I got to use my gift card.  I may go back to try the homemade pasta and gelato and maybe take advantage of one of the weekday specials, but I wasn't blown away by this place.

Almost two weeks ago, my friend Annie celebrated her 21st birthday!  For the occasion, we went to Mercat a la Planxa (638 S Michigan Ave, http://www.mercatchicago.com/) for dinner, then The Gage (24 S Michigan Ave, http://www.thegagechicago.com/) for an after dinner drink.

Mercat a la Planxa is a tapas restaurant specializing in the cuisine of Catalonia, a region of northern Spain.  The head chef is Jose Garces, the current Iron Chef America- I thought this was pretty cool. :)  At a tapas place, sangria is a must, and Mercat has three different kinds, including a white sangria.  We tried both the seasonal and white sangria.  I liked that the seasonal sangria had pomegranate, but (since I just wrote about Moody's sangria in the last post) I think I liked the sangria at Moody's better.

The tapas are organized by heaviness on the menu.  Lighter plates are at the top, and the dishes get heartier as you move down the menu.  There were four of us, and we each picked two tapas and ended up adding another one at the end, so we had a total of nine different tapas.  They were all amazing!!!  Each dish was bursting with flavor.  I loved the Datiles con Almendras (bacon wrapped dates stuffed with almonds), the Tocino con Cidra (slow cooked pork belly with a cider glaze), and the Conil amb Chestnut (braised rabbit agnolotti- it's like ravioli).  We split every dish so we could each try all of the plates.  The amount of food we eat ate didn't seem like that much, but none of us left feeling hungry.  Let's not forget dessert- we got the Croquetas de Xocolata (milk chocolate croquettes with banana marshmallow and rosemary caramel), which is apparently their signature dessert.  It was a little explosion of deliciousness in my mouth!!

The service was good, and the food was brought our continously as it was made, so it was very fresh.  It's a bit pricey, but for a special occassion it's great.  I would definitely come back, especially for the dessert!

Our next stop was The Gage, which has is a restaurant and bar.  Annie had good things to say about the restaurant, so I want to go back to try that some time.  It was pretty busy, and we got the last four seats at the end of the bar.  Annie had the signature Gage Cocktail, made with pear Grey Goose- it was gooooood!  I had their homemade tonic water.  It was infused with an interesting mix of herbs.  I liked it.  I was going to get the Pick Me Up, which is their orange flavored iced coffee, but the bartender warned me that it was strong, so if I was planning on going to sleep in the next 3 hours, it was a bad idea, so I decided not to get that.  Maybe I'll try it when I go back. :) Since it was Annie's birthday, the main bartender/manager bought her drink and a shot of Grand Marnier.  The bartender was friendly and even showed us the sailboat he had made from a lime and orange peels.  I told him that he obviously wasn't busy enough.  :)

It was a good ending to Annie's birthday festivities- it was a Wednesday night after all, so nothing too crazy.  I definitely want to go back to try the food at The Gage and get the Gage Cocktail.

To begin, I got my CityWalks: Chicago cards this week.  I can't wait to start using those to explore more of Chicago.  It's really funny that 4 out of the 50 walks are around UChicago.  Two are UChicago/Hyde Park, another is Kenwood, and another Jackson Park.  Those should be easy to start off with, and maybe I'll learn some new things about this area.

Now onto the meat (haha) of this post.  On July 16th, Katie and I went to Moody's Pub (5910 N. Broadway, www.moodyspub.com) for a Friday after work dinner.  Moody's website claims to have the best burgers in Chicago, and the reviews I read raved about the sangria and outdoor patio.  There was no way we were skipping any of these three essentials.  :)  We drove and had a little bit of trouble finding the place- the signage is not very eyecatching, but after calling the restaurant we found it.  One of the reasons we'd picked Moody's (other than the burgers) was that it offered free parking next to the restaurant.  However, the parking lot was not big enough!  After some searching we ended up parking on a side street not too far away.
Walking in, the first thing I noticed was how dark it was.  I would not come here to eat inside, especially not in the summer.  It's stuffy from the kitchen, and you can barely see anything.  The outside patio is great though; the only downside is that people are allowed to smoke out there.  Other than that, it's really spacious, and the atmosphere is nice.

Katie and I ordered a pitcher of sangria, and it was really delicious!  I ordered the Cheese Moodyburger, and Katie got the Moody Bleu Burger.  We also got onion rings to share.  It was toooo much food!  The order of onion rings was pretty big, the burger are half a pound, so that's pretty substantial, and there was a good amount of fries.  The burger was good, but I wasn't blown away.  The bun was dry and crusty.  The same goes for the onion rings and fries- good but not amazing.
I almost forgot about the coupon!  Moody's has a buy one, get one half off dinner coupon on their website: http://www.moodyspub.com/coupon.php Use it! :)

Overall, I enjoyed myself at Moody's Pub.  The best parts were the patio and the sangria.  I'd go back, but only during the summer months.

Quite obviously, I am no longer in Athens, so the name of my blog needs an update.  I have yet to come up with a name that I like though, so I'll work on that.  As for what I want to do with the blog, I want to continue it!!!  Duh. :)  I'm going to write about a mix of things.  Two things I definitely want to do are 1) review restaurants I go to and 2) since I'm buying the City Walks: Chicago cards, chronicle my walks around Chicago with these cards as a guide.  Recipes I try or other fun things I do might find their way into posts as well, and most likely some things related to the MCAT and applying to medical school.  Of course, any more traveling I do will be featured here as well!  I already have three restaurants I want to review and a new blog name to think of (and of course studying for the MCAT...), so I'll be busy!