After a year and a half of being separated by 2000 miles and a global pandemic, Lauren & The Foreign were finally reunited last month in Chicago! The week was full of sightseeing, cocktail tasting, and relaxing by our hotel’s gorgeous rooftop pool.
For anyone else who is thinking of Chicago for their next little getaway, we wanted to share some of the highlights from our trip so you can experience them too.
We stayed at the Viceroy, which was absolutely lovely and a perfect location for walking to most of our destinations. Next door was a cute little taco shop, Velvet Taco, which was our go-to for multiple meals, margaritas, and late-night snacks throughout the trip. Our top three tacos were the Rotisserie Chicken, Fried Paneer, and Mexi-Cali Shrimp.
After dinner at Velvet Taco, we spent the rest of our first evening exploring the neighborhood and eventually ended up down by Lake Michigan where we watched the sunset over the skyline.
The next morning, we treated ourselves to a delicious brunch of Phatty burritos and tater tots at Wake ‘n Bacon. The food and coffee were delicious, but the floral decor was maybe even more impressive. Good vibes all around.
After brunch we headed back to our hotel to spend some time at the rooftop pool, soaking up the sun and drinking wine and frosé from Devereaux. The weather was perfect and you really can’t beat those views.
After a day of relaxing, we were ready to go out on the town! We walked to Aster Hall for dinner, and then headed to Neon Summer for an evening of fun drinks, photo ops, and extreme neon mini golf! We opted out of the go-kart racing and the axe-throwing that were also available, and spent the rest of the evening at an incredible cocktail bar near our hotel called Sparrow.
Sparrow is a hidden gem serving 1930s-era cocktails and vibes. The moment you walk in, you’ll feel like you’ve been transported to a speakeasy. The art deco building and complex cocktails create a very sophisticated experience, and we can’t say enough about how much we enjoyed it!
The next day, we slept in and then went to The Hampton Social for lunch. This place has been on our list for quite a while so it was very exciting to finally get to experience it, frosé, neon sign walls, and all!
The food was delicious and filling, so after lunch we took a walk over to Navy Pier, where we immediately forgot how full we were and tried some delicious Malbec con Frutos Rojos gelato from FRÍO Gelato!
Then we walked over to The Art Institute of Chicago (admittedly a rather long walk), where we spent the rest of the afternoon.
Before we headed back to the Viceroy after our afternoon of art, we had to make a quick pit stop at the Bean in Millennium Park.
Then it was time to get dressed up and head to dinner at Carmine’s! We had made reservations for most of the other meals throughout the trip, but didn’t have reservations for Carmine’s. Thankfully, even on a Saturday night, they were able to get us a table (indoors) right away. After filling up on some delicious pasta, we spent the rest of the night relaxing and resting up in the hotel.
The next morning was Sunday and we had a full day of relaxation planned. When we woke up, we went downstairs to start our day at Somerset with a breakfast of French toast and omelets.
Then we went back upstairs to lay by the pool, read a book, and just enjoy the beautiful weather for a couple of hours. Mid-afternoon, we drove over to Bottle & Bottega for a wine and paint session!
For dinner we went to Lou Malnati’s for some classic Chicago deep dish pizza. We ordered The Lou, their signature pizza topped with spinach mix (enhanced with garlic, basil, and onion), mushrooms, and sliced Roma tomatoes covered with three cheeses, on a garlic butter crust!
Since it was our last night, we decided to walk down to the lake one more time to enjoy the view after dinner. And once we realized how close we were to a Jeni’s scoop shop, we had to take a little detour for some delicious Wildberry Lavender ice cream.
The next morning, it was sadly time to pack up and head home, but not before a quick stop at IKEA in Schaumburg!
It was absolutely a whirlwind week, but so much fun finally reuniting and getting to explore Chicago together for the first time in 12 years! We can’t wait for our next adventure!
Exploren with Lauren 