Sex In the City

For my third weekend in a row out of town, I spent time in the heart of Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, which was a nice change of pace from the last two weekends spent camping and enjoying the outdoors.

As I’ve mentioned before, Karen serves on a planning committee for a professional conference that takes place in Chicago each December. Throughout the year, she heads to Chicago for planning meetings, and I tag along to selfishly enjoy the fabulous downtown accommodations, shopping, and dining, and to catch up with friends who live in the city.

We spent late Saturday through Monday in the city. Saturday was a beautiful day, so after checking into the hotel, we immediately headed to the Ohio Street beach to lay in the sun and read. That night, we ate dinner at A Mano, an Italian Trattoria located on North Dearborn, near the House of Blues. A Mano focuses primarily on antipasti, wood oven pizzas, pasta, and gelato. The Arugula Salad (with pine nuts, parmigiano and Meyer lemon vinaigrette) was fantastic, but my entrée—Herb Gnocchi (with mussels, zucchini blossoms, preserved lemons, and snap peas)—didn’t quite live up to expectations. I liked the open kitchen concept, but business was relatively sparse for a Saturday night, which makes me believe it won’t last long.

On Sunday morning, we did a nice long run on the Lakeshore bike path. Afterwards I met my friend, Seif, at my favorite Chicago breakfast spot—Fox and Obel. It was great to catch up, and after brunch, we did a little shopping on Michigan Avenue. I then met up with Karen after her meetings, and we went to dinner at Avec, a truly unique and extraordinary restaurant that Seif had recommended, and a place deserves a post all to itself. Details will follow.

After dinner, we went to see the film Choke, which exceeded my expectations in being dark and disturbing. I knew the basic storyline and how the main character is a sex-addict, but really, I wasn’t expecting quite that much raunchy sex. I would steer clear of this movie if you’re a.) on a first date, or b.) expecting to have sex in the next month. Otherwise, go for it. I suppose it was thought-provoking, and I did love the soundtrack.

We had big expectations for Monday, our final day in the city. We did another long run on the lakeshore path, I had breakfast at Fox and Obel, and Karen had just a few hours of morning meetings, after which our grand plans included a trip to the Lincoln Park zoo. Unfortunately, our parade was literally rained on, so we settled for a little shopping on Michigan Avenue, lunch at Go Roma, a fast-food Italian chain on North State Street that never fails, and then headed home, back to the comfort of Madison, at least for a few days, until our travels take us to Minneapolis for our next urban adventure.