Category Archives: ..and more

Geja’s chocolate fondue

img_1206Tropical breezes are supposedly on the way this week, but we still got our flame on with Geja’s chocolate fondue. The beauty of an expanded restaurant week means getting to visit all of the old favorites around town on the cheap. I actually hadn’t been to the classic fondue spot in years, and forgot about the mini-spectacle that is the flaming chocolate fondue dessert. Kicked off by flaming marshmallows presented by the server, a platter of fruit, chocolate pound cake and not nearly enough marshmallows are slated to be dipped in melted chocolate flamed with orange liqueur. Now if we could only leave reeking more like that and less like hot bubbly oil. Geja’s Cafe, 340 W. Armitage Ave., 773.281.9101

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I mean, why?

Walgreen's randomness

Oh Walgreens, why are you so random sometimes?

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Lunch at NoMi

I’m not huge on soup unless I’m lucky enough to be dining at NoMi in the Park Hyatt. Their awesome cold watermelon soup with star anise rocks it in the summer, but this month I am worshipping the warm pumpkin and coconut soup served with a side of cold potato salad with bacon lardons. I recently tried the luscious concoction along with Peekytoe crab cakes and will definitely be back, especially since they just rolled out a $25 starter-entrée-dessert lunch special this week. And even after dessert (which ranges from chocolate caramel brownie macaroon to carrot cake), you get to try not to devour the entire silver box of turmeric marshmallows, hazelnut caramel, licorice chocolate ganache, orange tea cake with hazelnut caramel candies delivered to the table at the end. NoMi, Park Hyatt Chicago, 800 N. Michigan Ave., 312.239.4030

Coconut and pumpkin soup with potato salad

Coconut and pumpkin soup with potato salad


Peekytoe crab cakes

Peekytoe crab cakes


A sweet finish

A sweet finish

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Elizabites on Glossed & Found

Fashion and lifestyle Web site Glossed & Found did a fun profile on elizabites.com this week! The interview is sort of beauty- and fashion-oriented, but I do plug my favorite Chicago restaurant, red velvets and other sinful favorites…

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Dangerous discovery of the day..

Trader Joe’s dark chocolate covered pistachios.

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The Fruit Roll Revival

So does anyone remember Fruit Rolls? I’m not talking about Fruit Roll-Ups that are like plastic strips of technicolor crap with cartoon characters on the boxes, I’m taking about the Fruit Rolls from the early 80s? Anyway, they were flat and round (conducive to twisting around your finger) and came on thin cellophane that always got super sticky, but they tasted like real fruit and were significantly less plastic-y then the “Super Kiwi Kick” and “Screamin’ Green” Fruit Roll Ups you find today (shaped like a parallelogram describes Wikipedia-did you ever think you’d hear that word again after 5th grade?). Anyway, they had natural-tasting flavors like apricot, strawberry, apple and raspberry and seemed somewhat good for you. Well, I think I found the modern day equivalent at Trader Joe’s. Their handmade dried fruit bars in flavors like apricot and boysenberry taste exactly like old-school fruit rolls, even if they are a little thicker and aren’t round, but they’re unsweetened, so maybe that’s the key? The dried fruit comes from fresh pulp. Whether or not you grew up on them like me, I highly recommend.

Trader Joe's dried fruit rolls

Trader Joe's dried fruit rolls

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Grubhub hound

I swear I keep Grubhub in business. Being sick with a bad cold this weekend/week, I’ve hit them up for several meals due to an overwhelming urge to not get off my couch. My usual ordering suspects are Friendship, OK, and, um, Friendship, but I did go out on a limb and try out Thai Aroma a few weeks back only to be completely disappointed with a noodle dish that didn’t match the site description at all. Anyway, I love the delivery service for times like these..feed a cold right? I will say that sometimes the new restaurants they bring aboard just don’t strike me as the delivery types…Cafe Iberico? I want the crowded bar area, the loudness, 5 different servers and bottomless Sangria pitchers with my tapas, not plastic silverware. But the other restaurants (especially Friendship) can stay.

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Chick-fil-A

This week my friend and local writer Amalie blogged about miniature horses, the cool kids of Louisville and Chick-fil-A. The mere mention of this chicken sandwich haven brings back Milwaukee Northridge Mall food-court memories of my 12-year-old self furiously debating between Sbarro and that baked potato place (the name escapes me, anyone?). Of course, I had to save room for a 730-calorie Cinnabon, so Chick-fil-A always won out. I love grilled chicken sandwiches, but most fast food versions use suspect chicken breasts that are bland, dry and rubbery. But Chick-fil-A always tasted fresher and more flavorful, probably due to the hand-breading and extra seasoning, and they pretty much set the precedent for the perfect waffle fry. Eventually Northridge Mall closed up shop, taking Spencer’s Gifts and Ponderosa Steakhouse with it, as well as Chick-fil-A. From a quick search on their surprisingly comprehensive Web site, it looks like the closest location might be in Racine, but Amalie swears by an Indiana location she frequents. I’m down to road trip it to either one. Cinnabon on the other hand? Not sure I could still stomach..

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