A Taiwanese bakery. How could a place that loves Michael Jackson be bad?…read more Salted Egg Yolk Bolo Bun流心菠蘿麵包: Calling it "流心"(runny) isn't quite accurate; it's a bolo bun菠蘿包 (pineapple -shape bun) with a salted egg yolk filling, but it had an authentic, old-fashioned flavor that made me feel like back to childhood. The crust was thin and crispy, with a large air cavity, making it very soft and fluffy. The salted egg yolk has just the right balance of sweetness and saltiness, and wasn't too cloying. Garlic Cheese Brioche Bun蒜香奶酪麵包: Perhaps its more Taiwanese name is "八蒜包" (Eight Garlic Bun). Its appearance and taste were very similar to those I've had at Taiwanese bakeries in mainland China. The cheese and garlic flavors were very strong, but the bread itself was slightly coarse. Hojicha Latte: The whole milk was very milky, but the hojicha flavor felt a little weak. However, it's already great to find a tea latte that's not very sweet.

We came around 12:30noon and got a huge bread haul at this bakery. I'm SO glad we did!…read more Here's what we got: * Purple rice taro bun / 5 (OUR FAV!!!) * Matcha custard bun / 4.5 * Matcha pistachio bun / 5 * Tuna egg mayo bread / 4.5 * Hot dog & cheese bread / 4 * BBQ hot dog skewer / 3 * Sesame roll / 3.5 * Cheese pudding tart / 3.5 * Banana bread matcha c oat milk / 4.75 If there's one thing you get here, get the purple rice taro bun. Suuuuper soft & chewy bread filled with purple rice and taro. The textures were amazing. Best baked good I ever had. It's pricey but SO worth it!! 10/10, 5 stars, 100%. Service here is just okay, nothing special. There's also a small seating area in the back that is open until 4pm!

Consider this my love letter to a small Cuban cafe chain that gave us all the home vibes we needed…read moreto get through the cold Chicago. We originally stopped in for a hot colada and warm tostada. A delicious little pick me up treat to get us by as we braved the Windy City block by block. After having a taste and thinking back to line busting through their doors, we decided we had to try their meals for dinner. Thankful that we were able to locate their locations on all the delivery apps, we opted to dine in our hotel room and have the food come to us even if it impacted the flavor a bit. I'm happy to say, it did not. The food was as flavorful and delicious as if my abuela had just laid it on the table in front of me (although my grandma does burn the maduros for that extra sweet crisp IYKYK). The star of the show was the Ropa Vieja sandwich. Probably one of the best I've had. Even counting back home, in Miami. If you're a local or just in town visiting, this cafe is definitely worth a visit.

This location in the loop is a nice escape from the hustle and bustle of the city conveniently…read morelocated near Grant Park. If you're in the mood for Cuban, don't skip Cafecito. The pressed sandwiches are clutch for any kind of weather, and there's a wide variety to choose from. I went with the Chivito which has steak, ham, bacon, fried egg, mozzarella, lettuce, tomato, onion, citrus aioli, and shoestring potatoes. If I didn't get that, I'd go for the Cubano or Jamon. They offer salads, plates (with rice, black beans, and plantains), and vegan specialties. Pair your meal with a café con leche or other coffee drink, and it's a happy day.

Beautiful inside with a classy coffee shop vibe. No computers are allowed on the weekends. Honestly…read moreit was nice to see people catch up with each other without heads buried under laptops. Coffee was solid, tried their vanilla latte. They have their own selection of food but didn't get a chance to try this time.

Beautiful space! Really good coffee and quick service…read more We enjoyed the drinks we got and the interior heightened the experience. Also appreciate the sign that it's a no laptop zone on weekends. Person taking the order was grumpy and rude. We figured she's having a bad day and still tipped her. Nonetheless, we'd visit again for the menu items!

A Chicago staple since 1942…read more If you haven't been here you really need to stop in. Great food Great service Great people You'd better be hungry because the food is plentiful and so are the desserts Love this place

I was excited to try this place because of its long history in Chicago. I went with a few friends…read moreover the weekend, and it stayed busy the entire time. When you walk in, you can order breakfast items at the front, or head farther inside to order hot food cafeteria-style, which keeps the line moving surprisingly fast. We shared the pastrami sandwich, corned beef sandwich, matzo ball soup, latkes, and zrazy. My favorites were the zrazy and both the corned beef and pastrami sandwiches. It was my first time trying zrazy, and I really enjoyed it. The potato coating was crispy on the outside, and the meat filling was well-seasoned and full of flavor. Would definitely recommend this item. I was a little disappointed by the latkes. They tasted like they had been fried a while earlier and weren't served very warm or crispy, which was a letdown.

Latte was made with just the right amount of milk and coffee (for me, at least). Did not get to try…read morethe pastries but they looked delicious. Service was quick and efficient. You order on a tablet which was pretty easy to use. Restaurant was pretty chic and clean with huge windows facing Millenium Park.

This place was near our hotel so we tried it to brunch. I didn't realize this was like a franchise…read moresince I saw other stores like this throughout Chicago. Anyways - walking in they have kiosks to order your food. We took awhile ordering our food since this was our first time here. I got a turkey/ham baguette which was really large. I could only finish half and had to take the rest to go. Other folks got the egg dishes and they enjoyed it. Seating wise was at first hard due to limited space but after folks left we were able to sit and eat our brunch. I was expecting more French but it's more or a bare store being runned (Subways/togos etc. I would come again and the prices were reasonable.

Clean friendly environment Have a great choice of…read moreproducts. Counter personnel friendly.

The South Loop Market has a convenient location on Michigan Avenue. They carry most categories of…read morenecessities. Variety is slightly lacking if you are looking for a specific brand. As anticipated, prices are higher than your typical grocery store, but it serves a purpose, especially if you're tired and don't want to go far away.

Perfectly decent tavern pizza and rather good onion rings…read more Welcome to a nice little neighborhood sorta divey bar with ample indoor and outdoor seating. It just feels comfortable. Aside from a small service blip where our server delivered the drinks very quickly and then disappeared for a long time without taking our order, everything else went well. The onion rings may very well be house made but I'm not in love with the dipping sauces. The BBQ sauce tastes like Kraft with a shot of hot sauce and the Thousand Island is Thousand Island. The rings themselves are good. The pizza is fine. We got sausage and artichoke and while the amount of artichoke was good there was a paucity of sausage. What sausage there was was very enjoyable but too many pieces of pizza had no sausage at all. That's a problem I've encountered at more than one Chicago pizza place and it only seems to happen with sausage. I don't get it. All in all, not bad.

We went to Flo and Santos because many we know kept raving about their pizza and the Polish…read moreoptions. To start, the space appears to be a traditional Chicago tavern with loud-ish music and a combination of booths and tables. It was a Sunday night and not too busy but the server was a little slow getting to us but was pleasant and reasonably knowledgable about the menu. The beer and drink selections were solid. We started with the pierogi platter and the cheddar waffle fries. The Pierogi were pretty standard, pan crisped, and served on top of sauerkraut with two sauces. They were somewhat flavorless and we we couldn't really tell the mushroom and sauerkraut from the meat at first glance after cutting into them. The cheddar waffle fries were smothered in what appeared to be a béchamel based cheddar sauce which was grainy and not well seasoned. The fries themselves weren't salted at all. Given that nearly all the topping was within the middle 1/2 of the plate, this left many fries being somewhat flavorless. The topping of bacon and green onions helped give it a much needed boost of flavor but we couldn't quite overcome the bland sauce (instead of shredded cheddar) over the fries. We then had the Marco's thin crust tavern style pizza. The cheese was mostly in the middle of the pizza and laid on thick while the edge pieces lacked topping and cheese. The topping were decent but unremarkable. The crust unfortunately fell completely flat. It was thin, which was nice, but it tasted like a Saltine cracker more than pizza crust. I know many people love Flo and Santos for their pizza but we were unimpressed by this outing. The pizza didn't really improve being reheated or even cold the next day per my family. Overall, we were very disappointed by our trip there and given the cost of going out these days I doubt we'll be back.

This is one kitschy diner and we love it! There's definitely a cozy 50's diner vibe to this…read morerestaurant, just without the attitude of an Ed Debevic's. The servers we've had were all wonderful and knowledgeable. We've had the pastrami and corned beef sandwich and, warning, the serving sizes are insane, so sharing is highly recommended. The sandwich was amazing with just the right amount of fat in the meat, the right warmth, and incredible flavor. We also shared the beef tallow fries, which are not to be missed. The spicy ketchup, which is an extra charge is good but can be skipped. The next time we got breakfast and the corned beef has was nearly all meat and wonderfully greasy and filling. The roasted potatoes were so incredibly crispy and perfect! We've had their home brewed bottomless root beer and that is absolutely worth the money to order!

Interesting place. Reminds me of a traditional deli but has a modern vibe; it seemed a bit confused…read moreand like it was all over the place. Went here on a Saturday around noon, and the place was busy and incredibly loud. We probably had to wait about 20 minutes to get a table, and ended up sitting at one end of the bar. The staff was very friendly and helpful, so that that's a plus. As a vegan, the menu was very confusing. Even though there's a vegetarian/vegan section, it didn't look like they were very many vegan options at all. Also, other items on the menu in other sections could have been vegan, but I'm not sure. Again, the menu was confusing to read. I would really have appreciated if they could clearly mark what the vegan options are on their menu, or how to make something vegan. I ordered the chopped Elodie salad with a miso-ginger vinaigrette. Even though it was pricey, the portion size was substantial, the vegetables were perfectly chopped, and it tasted delicious!