the best thing i ever ate.

is that title going too far? you may think so.. but i honestly think that last sunday’s brunch was in fact one of the best, if not the very best, things i have EVER consumed.

last sunday i was in chicago. remember? yep.

someone told me i had to go to the bongo room for breakfast. who told me to do that? i want to send you a thank you card. no, seriously, THANK YOU.

kristen and i were on our own on sunday, so we had big plans to go to the field museum since we struck out the day before. there was a bongo room conveniently located right by the museum, so we made plans to eat there for brunch.

the hour wait was rough, especially because we were starving, but i was sure the wait would be worth it. boy, was i right.

because we were both in the mood for sweet AND savory, we decided to order two dishes to split.

first, the savory: sweet potato black bean burrito. spinach tortilla stuffed with pureed black beans, pureed sweet potato, guacamole & scrambled eggs. topped with jack cheese. served with ancho chile sour cream, tomatillo salsa and hash browns.

hello, amazing.

cross section shot.

with every bite i took, i kept saying how well all the ingredients worked together. the beans. the sweet potatoes. the guac. oh.. the guac! this was the BEST breakfast burrito i have ever eaten. and i have eaten a LOT of breakfast burritos, folks. this one is the winner of them all. it was pure culinary genius in a tortilla.

and now, for the sweet. oh, the sweet.

that, my friends, is heaven on a plate.

on special, JUST FOR US (i am convinced)—brown sugar brioche grench toast with warm vanilla bean crème, butter & brown sugar caramelized bartlett pears & dried cherries topped with oatmeal crisp.  (side note, the one below the one we got—the white chocolate pretzel pancakes? those sound amazing as well!)

UM. yeah, you can drool!

wow. just wow. words can’t describe how this tasted.

so, moral of the story? fly to chicago, go to the bongo room and INSIST they make you these two dishes. even if you don’t have someone to share with—you will want to eat them both for yourself. they are both so amazing!

whew.. ok.. now onto the field museum.. home of the most complete T rex skeleton to date! pretty cool, eh?

roar. that’s my dino face.

the field museum was pretty rad! tons of interesting history and artifacts. and elephants.

my favorite part of the field museum was the dinosaur exhibit. i had never seen dinosaur bones in real life. all the displays were at least 90% all real dinosaur bones (the rest being made up of casts to make the skeletons complete).

check out this giant wooly mammoth! he was a big guy!

after the museum, kristen and i did some more shopping. there was a 4 story crate & barrel! of course we went in and i snagged a few fun items. we also got danny & derrick some things for their apartment as a late house warming gift.

since it was our last night, we decided to go out to a nice restaurant and have a farewell dinner. it was pouring down rain, but that didn’t stop us from making the journey to tango sur.

this BYOB argentine steakhouse came highly recommended by kristen’s friend. the whole restaurant was very dark and we dined by candle light. the atmosphere was fun and fancy. i really liked it!

we started with the antipasto platter to share.

there was also some delicious bread and a pretty boring salad (just lettuce, onion & tomato).

for my entrée, i ordered the filet mignon which came with the most flavorful, delicious spinach mashed potatoes.

although they look like a pile of mush.. those potatoes were basically a green pillow of heaven. everyone at the table agreed. so dang good!

great last dinner in chicago!

we went back to the apartment and talked about high school and ate vanilla bean ice cream straight from the container. it was the best.

Qs~

1. what is the best thing you ever ate? i know. that’s a hard question. answer if you can.

2. what is your favorite way to eat potatoes? so many ways.. roasted, french fried, mashed, scalloped, baked.. ahh.. the possibilities are endless. i think my favorite is roasted.

xo. janetha g.