Jaunted

Photo Gallery / Food Travel / Summer Travel / Chicago Travel / Chicago Restaurants / Memorial Day Travel / → All Tags

OMG. Lobster Roll.

This is a call to action. Get your ass up and out to eat, and order the lobster roll, because it is on the menu and it is gooood. 'Tis the season and all that jazz, but for real: summer is the time of the year when you may get away with all sorts of usually outré things, like drinking Rosé before noon or paying $22 for a buttery roll stuffed with lobster salad.

Yesterday we bit into what will be the first of many lobster rolls of the next few months, and although we weren't anywhere near the Northeast, it was tasty as all get-out. The victim was the $22 "Lobster Roll and Fried Onions" at new Chicago seafood hipsterspot G.T. Fish and Oyster. The excitement the Windy City had for Big Star last summer has shifted, from tacos to oysters (although G.T. placed fish tacos on the menu).

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Dunkin Donuts Alternatives / Food Travel / Chicago Travel / Donuts / → All Tags

Chicago is Going Crazy and It's all the Fault of Doughnut Vault

If you want proof that the cupcake craze in Chicago is over, head to 401 1/2 N. Franklin, where you'll see a line snake around the block. The patient foodies are waiting for hot, fresh doughnuts from the newly opened Doughnut Vault.

In fact, those hungry patrons stay in line for up to two hours in hopes of scoring some doughnuts. To make it even worse, there's no set time the place opens, you are limited to purchasing only six doughnuts—which go for a pricey $2 to $3 apiece—and the shop closes when it runs out of goodies and people on line are left doughnutless.

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Top Chef Travel / Food Travel / Chicago Travel / Rick Bayless / Chicago Restaurants / → All Tags

'Top Chef Master' Rick Bayless Cooks Up Mexican Street Food At Chicago's New 'Xoco'

After winning Bravo's first Top Chef Masters, Rick Bayless didn't sit around resting on his 27-ingredient mole. Instead, he went to work and recently opened Xoco (pronounced "Shoh-koh"), Mexican slang for "little sister." It's a fitting name, since the Mexican street food restaurant sits next to its upscale big sisters, Frontera Grill and Topolobampo, in Chicago's River North 'hood.

The line to get in the no-reservations restaurant is out the door for lunch and dinner, so we decided to avoid the crowds and get some breakfast chow. It was a good decision, since there weren't too many people there and we didn't have a problem snagging our own table in the 40-seat cafe, which has mostly bar-like seating.

We experience the flavor, after the jump.

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