Pastrami and Playboy

At the beginning of May, my mom came to visit.  Visit is a liberal way of putting it - it was more of a stopover on her way to a conference in the Twin Cities.  I'm glad she could spend a day with me!  She really wanted to see the reason to be in Chicago in May: the tulips.  They're everywhere in the city and they're beautiful!

My mom also suggested we take a food tour, something I had not yet done in Chicago.  After careful consideration, we went with Chicago Food Planet Tours.  We opted for the Near North tour as it is close to my apartment and an area A and I haven't visited frequently.  Turned out to be a great choice!

First stop: Ashkenaz Deli for their version of a reuben... using pastrami!  Delicious!

Next we stopped for cranberry mango iced tea at Tea Gschwender.  Learned more than I ever knew about tea, and had a realization.  I like tea!  Not really into hot tea yet, but iced tea (with minimal sweetner - we're not talking McD's tea here, people!).  I ended up going back and buying three yummy flavors!

We took a short walk from the Gold Coast towards Old Town.  Along the way, our guide pointed out interesting historical buildings.  Such as the original Playboy mansion.

Yes folks, Hugh Hefner started his enterprise in Chicago's Gold Coast neighborhood.  Apparently when he owned the mansion, the rooms without a lake view in a building across the intersection had the highest price tag.  The view of the Playboy sunning roof overpowered Lake Michigan!

I liked this house because 1) it shows how Chicago lots work - long and narrow and 2) it has oil lamps which burn 24/7.

This home was the most intriguing... it's built with steel beams between two neighboring buildings.  The architect didn't bother to build side walls - he used the walls from the buildings next door!  (With permission, of course.)

Our first stop in Old Town was at The Spice House.  The name is self-explanatory, but let me elaborate.  Any spice you want, they have.  It's going to be a dangerous place for me and A.  Our "tasting" here was different types of cinnamon.

After that we went two doors down to Old Town Oil, a shop specializing in olive oils and vinegars.  We mixed different oils and vinegars to create some unique tastes.  My mom and I both loved the Italian Herb oil.

Next up: A chocolate and candy store!  We had their homemade caramel chocolate bars - yum!  This is a 10-pound bar of chocolate they get from a manufacturer.  It was surprisingly heavy!

Chocolate-covered raisins!  (We almost stole some.)

After that we moved on down the road to Delightful Pastries, a Polish-European bakery.  (The owner is Polish!)  We had one savory item, a cheese and potato pierogi and one sweet item, some sort of fruit-filled pastry.  Delicious!

Mom liked the chicks.

Then we had a longer hike to our final destination: Bacino's pizza.  They gave us huge slices of spinach stuffed pizza.  And it was yummy.

It was a great tour, and a great day!