After my orlando stay, I had to head over to Chicago for a quick overnight trip. After checking into our hotel, we headed over to Catch 35, which is right on the river. We couldn’t get a regular table quickly, so we sat at the jazz bar instead. And lo and behold, jazz musicians started to play! Seafood is what we wanted, and seafood is what we got!

Here’s a crabcake appetizer. I liked this crabcake because it didn’t have all kinds of weird hunks or chunks of random stuff in it. It was pretty much just crab. And it was pretty  much delicious. The salsa that came along with it was also great. I also had a cup of the clam chowder which was very creamy but not very clammy. It was more like a potato chowder with a tiny bit of clams in it. I still liked it, but it needed more clam flavor! J got a cup of the gumbo which he quite liked.

The waiter said that the halibut and the bass were the dishes they were best known for, so J went with the halibut. The sauteed alaskan halibut was topped with maryland crabmeat, portabella mushrooms, and meuniere butter. J requested that they hold the mushrooms. This was an excellent fish dish.

Although I’m typically a scallop girl, I went with the chilean sea bass in hawaiian ginger-scallion sauce. Oh. My. Word. This was one of the best fish dishes I’ve ever had. The fish was incredibly flaky and practically melted in my mouth. The sauce was the perfect complement. I absolutely gobbled this up. The green beans were also great, as I love skinny green beans like this.

Although I was full, J wanted cheesecake. So I had to try it! It had an almond graham cracker crust, which was quite decadent! Overall, the entire Catch 35 meal was excellent. Service was good, but the food took a very long time to come out. I think this was extra noticeable because we were both extremely hungry. But yeah, the wait for the food was quite long! This place was recommended by one of the hotel employees, and we thank him for the excellent pick!

I was in Chicago for the day to visit a potential client (very famous cup maker) and had to have lunch. J is very familiar with Chicago, so he wanted to take me to an institution – Portillo’s. This place is beyond busy during lunch. I mean seriously. There is a drive-thru and that had a long ass line. And inside, there are multiple sections (sandwich line, pasta line, salad line) and all the lines were long. But they know how to run a tight ship.
There’s tons of space to eat in. The decorations are wacky. That’s a giant bra hanging on a clothesline. Random. When you order in the sandwich line, long before the registers, a guy takes your order and writes it in shorthand on a takeout bag. So at the register, you only pay. Then you get a number and then wait to pick it up on the pick up side. You really don’t have to wait that long, which is impressive considering how many people there are. It’s like a machine!
So what did we get? The combo sandwich – with a giant heap of italian beef with gravy, grilled sausage, mozzarella, and sweet peppers. You can pick your choice of cheese and whether you want peppers or not. So um… this sandwich is big. And it has tons of the italian beef. And I ate the whole thing. And I certainly shouldn’t have, but I couldn’t help myself, it was so freakin good. Like seriously good. Like I could eat this all the time, if it weren’t for the fact that it can’t possibly be good for you. But you know I would. If you’re ever in Chicago and want an iconic sandwich, stop in Portillo’s and stuff your gourd. You will leave happy!

O’Hare has tons of food options. It makes me so jealous. It sure beats Philly and it certainly beats Tulsa. I shouldn’t even count Tulsa as a real airport. While I typically enjoy the cheese danish from starbucks, I tried the apple one this time. I think I was trying to be “healthy” after all the damn beef. It was good, but I think I like the cheese one better!