Will Fly for Food - Chicago and Milwaukee in Review

LAX 2 ORD - Series Finale

It’s been a while now since I’ve been back from my big trip. I love calling it my "big" trip as if I had been jet-setting all around the world for weeks and weeks. Anyone who knows me or scrolls down this blog page, even say, two days, knows that I went a whopping 2020 miles to Chicago and Milwaukee for all of four days. Not very big in miles, not very big in days.

Hey, if the mere purchase of an airline ticket makes you hyperventilate as you breathlessly ask the agent for the largest jet they have, and the anticipation of the actual flight sends you on a mad, hives-covered dash for the Xanax and Benadryl, and you haven’t set foot outside a one-day’s driving radius from LA in over seven years (*ahem* WMC does not count for obvious reasons), Chicago and Milwaukee would be a big trip for you, too.

Though it was only four days, the trip is covered in a total of sixteen entries posted over the course of a month. My chronologically reversed vacation posts are periodically interrupted by delicious pop-ups of extravagant electronicalistic events, newsflashes about insurgent histamine attacks, Bunny hatchings, holidays and other restaurant and food related goings on, so it’s all a bit chaotic. I’m putting the award winning mini-series all in one post.

Opening Credits: Taking These Lemons on a Little Trip to…Chicago!

Series Premiere: LAX to ORD – Requesting Permission for Fly-by

Episode 1: Power Bars, Biscuits, and Ginger Ale – Eating with Your Seatbelt Securely Fastened

Episode 2: Leave the Bucci Bag and Pradski Dress at Home - PJ Clarke's, Chicago

Episode 3: The Final Frontera – Frontera Grill, Chicago

Episode 4: Because It’s Fun – Y Lounge and the Redhead

Episode 5: How Much is that Doggie in the Window – Portillo’s, Chicago

Episode 6: Here’s the Beef – Mr. Beef, Chicago

Episode 7: Freaks and Greeks – Greek Islands, Chicago

Episode 8: Drink Like You Mean It – Spy Bar and K Lounge, Chicago

Episode 9: Little Miss Muffet on a Wisconsin Tuffet

Episode 10: Richie Cunningham Does Small Plates – The Swig, Milwaukee

Episode 11: There’s an Ultra Lounge in My Hunting Lodge! – Kenadee’s, Milwaukee

Episode 12: Popping My Milwaukee Cherry with a Lot of Sausage – Usinger’s

Episode 13: I’m a Dork in Leopard Print – Milwaukee Public Market

Episode 14: Forecast: Chili Today – Real Chili, Milwaukee

Episode 15: For Butterflies and Grasshoppers – The Social, Milwaukee

Episode 16: Better Than Xanax – Gino’s East, Chicago

The trip was awesome for obvious reasons. It was good to forget about the lemons and finally get away from L.A. after not having taken a real vacation for almost five years. I got to visit “family,” hang out with old friends, and party with new friends. Someone please slap me before this warm fuzzy Girl Scout feeling overwhelms my sanity and I hold hands with everyone and sing “Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver, and the other gold” in rounds. Of course, Chicago won me over completely when I saw Delicious all over the place on my seocnd day there. Maybe it's a sign. ;)

chicago is delicious. period.

the search for delicious is over

I had the time of my life exploring Chicago and Milwaukee, trying to maintain both a dorky Rachael Ray tourist enthusiasm as well as a Tony Bourdain food freak sense of curiosity and adventure. But the trip was important on a deeper level. Neither philosophical nor psychological, but really, just psychiatric – LOL! I proved to myself that much in life is about mind over matter. I had pretty much convinced myself that I could never fly again, but I did. Not only did I do it twice (there and back) but I did it without drugs (the legal kind, okay?) and I sat through Must Love Dogs and even worse, The Island. That last feat alone is worthy of some serious praise. LOL!

which is worse-turbulence or the island?

And now, when once I had to suffer a miserable six-hour-plus drive thr
ough the barren desert, I can write this post just before hopping a 43 minute flight from LA to Vegas (obviously, a future post). A whole new world has re-opened up to me. Watch out. I might be jet-setting around the world after all!

A naughty hug and deliciously sloppy kisses to all my BFFs (blog and forum friends) for their calming encouragement about flying, recommendations for restaurants and food stops, and general advice about getting in and around both Chicago and Milwaukee. You all know who you are. I’ll do the same if you’re ever silly enough to visit La La Land ;).

tags :: food : and drink : restaurants : reviews : chicago : wisconsin