Chi town

I recently had the opportunity to travel to Chicago. This is my friend Veronica. We are at Mercat, the restaurant owned by the new American Iron Chef, Jose Garces. It was yum yum yummers.
We went to table 52 for dinner. This is the second time we have eaten there but the first time that Chef Art Smith was there. He has worked for Oprah as her personal chef and his food is DEE Vine.
We always try out as many new restaurants as possible while away. This is wild boar gnocchi at Spiaggia. Chef Tony Mantuano is a James Beard winner and was also on Bravo's Top Chef Master. This was a great Italian restaurant.

We went to many places, including Ralph Lauren's restaurant for lunch. We had a great trip and ate way too much as you can see!
Oh- we also got in a trip to the Oprah shop by her studio. This is her chair that she sat in for most of her shows-it was kinda surreal-I kept expecting her or Gayle to walk in at any moment.
Back to reality this week has meant lots of laundry, baseball games and being a single parent while the hubband is at a conference in Orlando.