Saturday, July 1, 2017

Babymoon: A Walk in the Park

I'm still playing catch-up in the ongoing quest to document all my Chicago adventures, so it's time for another installment of food-and-sightseeing Stuff We Did. Jeff and I enjoyed last year's staycation so much that we decided to revisit the idea for a mini-babymoon last month. Needless to say, our babymoon itinerary was all about good food and interesting local destinations, and we started off on a high note: with Frontera Grill and some relaxed sightseeing around downtown Chicago.

Recently, I've been super into two totally unrelated things: the American Civil War and true vintage. (You'll see in a moment that this isn't quite as big a non-sequitur as it seems.) First, the less surprising one: true vintage clothes. My trip to Vintage Garage Chicago in May sent me down a veritable rabbit hole of trawling Etsy and Facebook swap/sell groups for larger-sized midcentury vintage, and I've found some nifty pieces since then.

I know this vintage dress isn't midcentury, but I nabbed it all the same because the print is lovely and colorful! It seemed like the perfect summer sundress that would accommodate my baby bump and keep me cool. After road-testing it on a rather hot day, I'm happy to report that I made the right call!


As for the second of my recent interests, the Civil War: Jeff and I have become the sort of married couple that sees PBS programs as a legitimate source of entertainment. The Civil War is to Jeff what the American space program is to me: a childhood fascination that still holds our interest. So when PBS aired the remastered version of Ken Burn's classic Civil War documentary a while back, we DVRed it for future viewing. Well, the future became the present starting a few months back (try that sentence on for logical size!), and I found myself getting more and more engrossed as the series went on.

We finished watching the entire thing recently, so to fill the post-Civil War-viewing-sized void in our lives, we wound up watching a show about the history of Chicago's lakefront. I lost my mind every time they talked about the Museum, of course. But what really grabbed our attention was when the host explained that Chicago's statue of Ulysses Grant is located in Lincoln Park, while its statue of Lincoln is located in Grant Park.

Grant Park, eh? Why, that would be a lovely place to spend a few hours of our staycation! And after spending 11+ hours learning about how badass Mr. Lincoln was and admiring his craggy brows and steadfast commitment to union, I wanted to pay his statue a visit. It would be the perfect thing to do before dinner at a fancy Mexican restaurant in River North!

Day One of Staycation 2017 was thus planned as a fortuitous convergence of TV-inspired ideas and things we enjoyed last year.

After a quick lunch at a diner near the southern end of Grant Park, we split one of my favorite donuts of all time. Stan's Donuts is a veritable institution in the UCLA neighborhood I used to live in, and they have a Chicago outpost that's even better than the original, so of course I dragged Jeff there for a pistachio-lemon donut!

Stan's Donuts near Roosevelt L stop Chicago

Donuts safely ensconced in our bellies, we set out for a leisurely stroll through Grant Park. For those of you who don't live or work in downtown Chicago, Grant Park is one half of Chicago's Central-Park-like green space on the lakefront.


Located just south of Millennium Park (home of the famous bean sculpture), it's full of trees and sculptures, a small skate park, the fountain from the credits of Married with Children, and lovely walking paths. It's surrounded by Chicago's beautiful skyline, which means it's the perfect mashup of nature and city life.

Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park

After singing 'Love and Marriage' (the theme from Married with Children, as any 90s kid will undoubtedly remember) in front of Buckingham Fountain, we finally saw Mr. Lincoln's statue. He was just as craggy of face and weighed down by the burdens of history as he is in the photos, and it was actually an oddly moving experience. We sat for a bit and chatted about the Civil War, and I privately resolved to buy the miniseries on DVD for Jeff when we give up our DVR.

lincoln statue in grant park chicago

As I write this, I'm actively struggling to keep from whistling the theme from the miniseries. It's a bit of an earworm!

Anyway, we worked up quite an appetite walking around, so by the time we headed over to Frontera Grill, I was more than ready to eat! They have a bit of an unusual system for seating people there: they take very few reservations per day, and don't start seating people until 20 minutes after the doors open for dinner. Since it's a rather popular restaurant, it's worth getting there about half an hour early and waiting in the line that inevitably forms, just to make sure you get a seat and don't have to wait around for ages for a table (read: go to a nearby bar and order drinks).

frontera grill patio seating
Patio seating at Frontera Grill

Jeff and I are really good at getting places early enough to be close to the front of the line, so we were two of the first people on the door and given a 5:20 table. At Frontera, they take your name and phone number and send you to wait in the bar area until you get the text telling you that your table is ready. Usually we'd order a drink, but Jeff decided to stick with water while we waited in solidarity with me.

Our table was ready right on time, and after a quick look at the menu to pick some appetizers, we ordered. Both of us had been looking forward to this meal for a while, so we knew exactly which entrees we'd order. (We specifically went on a Thursday because the special is my favorite thing: chile relleno!)

frontera grill

For appetizers, we got the sopecitos with braised beef and the chicken taquitos. Both were absolutely incredible, but the sopecitos were a real highlight of the meal. They came with this delicious pureed tomato salsa that made me want to literally lick the dish. (I refrained.)

frontera grill sopecitos and taquitos
Left: sopecitos. Right: taquitos
frontera grill chile relleno and green mole
Left: chile relleno. Right: chicken with spring green mole.

Our entrees were also out of this world. My chile relleno was filled with the most amazing short rib and potato mixture, and it might've been the biggest chile relleno I've ever had. Jeff had this chicken dish with spring green mole, which was a unique and delicious take on mole.

We decided to go for dessert even though we had eaten quite a bit by that point, and I'm very glad we did! Both the duo of flans and the homemade vanilla ice cream with warm cajeta sauce were delicious. I think the chocolate-cinnamon flan was my second-favorite part of the meal, after the sopecitos.

frontera grill flan

We left the restaurant in the sort of delighted, slightly sluggish fog that you get after a truly first-rate meal, and I was asleep before 10pm. Success! While Frontera is pricier and fancier than most of the restaurants we frequent, it's absolutely worth it for a special occasion, and I can't wait till we go back!

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28 comments:

  1. LOVE the colors in that dress! It really is a rabbit hole when looking for true vintage online, ha! I get overwhelmed, especially because it's hard to find vintage that will fit my chest! But, after I picked up my first true vintage dress (in Nashville), I started looking more for vintage online, but haven't found anything yet.
    Sounds like you guys had a lovely time! Stan's sounds amazing, as well as Frontera.

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    1. That dress you found in Nashville is absolutely incredible -- it's the perfect print for you, and it's just so lovely that it fits you so well! I've spent quite a few evenings recently trawling the internet for true vintage...

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  2. I loved this post! Donuts and Married with Children sounds like a winner to me! Man, that was a good show!

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    1. Jeff loves Married with Children so much, and always teases me that it's realistic ;). I love it too, but honestly, the donuts were the star of the day!

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  3. Oh my goodness, your photos are perfection! Those donuts look absolutely delicious too.
    -Olivia Xxx

    http://oliviaxalesha.com/blog/

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    1. Thank you so much, Olivia! These are reallllllly good donuts. I'm actually sitting next to a box of them right now!

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  4. I adore the dress you're wearing in your pictures babe, it looks stunning on you. It sounds like you had a really wonderful day. Thank you for sharing πŸŒΈπŸ’—✨

    With love, Alisha Valerie. x
    www.AlishaValerie.com | www.twitter.com/AlishaValerie

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    1. Thank you so much! It's such a comfortable dress for a day filled with good eats. We had a great time and I actually took my dad to Grant Park yesterday!

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  5. Sounds like you had an amazing time! I've always wanted to visit Chicago it looks like such a wonderful place. Also as always your pictures and dresses are pure perfection πŸ’–

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    1. I hope you get to visit Chicago someday -- it's a really fun city and there's SO much to do and see (and eat). And thank you so much, Kim <3!

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  6. The photos of the food in this had me drooling; at the time of commenting, I was waiting for my dinner, complete with the 'hunger' feeling! I also love your Watermelon bag in the photos. I hope you had a great Babymoon, and that you enjoyed your DVD x

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    1. Oh noooo, I'm sorry you read this while you were hungry! I sometimes have to get up in the middle of writing about a restaurant and make myself a snack ;). This watermelon bag held EVERYTHING we needed: umbrellas, sunscreen, a cardigan, sunglasses, wallet, and phone. We had such a lovely time exploring our city :).

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  7. Your photos of the food and scenery had me sold on visiting Chicago, and may I add that your dress and bag look absolutely fab!!

    Alura x
    Aluradupuis.blogspot.ca

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    1. Thank you so much, Alura! Chicago really is a wonderful city -- it's got a zillion fun and interesting things to do, but the neighborhoods are very welcoming and have tons of character. Definitely worth a visit!

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  8. Sounds like you both had an amazing time, and the idea of having a babymoon is super cute! I've never been to Chicago before but it looks like a lovely place.

    And isn't etsy amazing? I'm so hooked on it!

    Lizzie Bee // hello lizzie bee

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    1. We really did enjoy our babymoon -- even though we live here, it's fun to set a few days aside and do all the tourist stuff we don't have time for during our usual routines! Chicago is a great city, in case you're looking for American destinations to visit ;).

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  9. I've always wanted to visit Chicago so your round up here certainly gave me some good ideas for a future visit, that donut place looks amazing - pistachio and lemon? I'm sold! I also really want to visit some spots from the tv show Shameless US, another reason I'd love to go! Thanks for sharing x

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    1. OOOOH, if you do ever visit Chicago, let me know! I have an itinerary as long as my arm of places to eat, things to see, and more things to eat ;). Shameless is set in California, right *quickly googles...*

      Wait, that show is set in Chicago?!? Somehow I didn't realize that -- on the billboards, the characters look so Californian!

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  10. This looks so lovely! Your photos are absolutely incredible that you're making me want to visit!

    - Chloe
    chloetommo.co.uk
    xoxo

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    1. Thank you so much! Chicago is a beautiful city. There are so many lovely parks among the skyscrapers!

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  11. OMG - I wanna be you when I grow up lol
    This is fantastic and it makes me want to visit Chicago even more :)

    And...as always....you look gorgeous <3

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    1. Lollll so you want to stay up too late, eat donuts for lunch, be sort of clumsy, and have way too many dresses to fit in your closet? VISIT CHICAGO!!!

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  12. the food looks so so good. Yummy! OMG! Love the watermelon bag! xx corinne

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    1. It's one of the best restaurants I've been to in the city! And I'll buy anything watermelon-print :).

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  13. Looks so great! Love your whole outfit :) x

    astoldbykirsty.co.uk

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    1. Thank you so much! Watermelon prints go with everything, right ;)?

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  14. Those donuts look amazing and I really love your bag! It's so pretty and vibrant!

    Rosy | Sparkles of Light Blog
    My Instagram | Instagram

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    1. Oh my goodness, thank you so much! The donuts are truly delicious. I'm actually sitting next to a box of them right now... temptation is killing me!

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