Earlier this week I spent a day and a bit in Chicago for work. Happily, whilst there, I was able to eat and drink like a gourmet idiot.

After-work drinks started at South Branch where I had an Allagash White and a Lagunitas Little Sumpin Sumpin. After that we moved on to Haymarket, which was highly regarded on ratebeer, though I figured later it must be for the guest tap and bottle list rather than the beer they make on-site. My Bad MF’er Black Rye I.P.A. wasn’t great, and no one else in our party loved theirs either. I also regret not buying the Geuze Tilquin they had on tap. I haven’t been able to find it since Brussels.

Things picked back up for dinner across the street at Little Goat, though. I loved the diner style, and my food — the “Bull’s Eye” french toast w/ over-easy eggs carved into the middle of the bread, covered in crispy chicken, with sweet onion brioche, and doused in bbq maple syrup — was incredible…even if I couldn’t come close to finishing it. But put together with the Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald porter and Revolution A Little Crazy Belgian pale it was a goddamn memorable meal.

I wasn’t even hungry for breakfast the next morning, but grabbed a fantastic cappuccino from an Intelligentsia near my hotel. After a few more hours in the office I went to the airport where Porter canceled my flight…and let me tell you, Midway is not a great airport at which to kill a lot of time. But I made it out alive, with a plan to return some day when both wallet and waistline are for up for it.

.:.

Photo by Kurman Communications Inc., used under Creative Commons license