Helena's American Adventure | Where to eat in NYC & Chicago

Hey guys!

I thought I'd start off September with a little series of posts. It's named with an appropriate level of cheesiness, "Helena's American Adventure". I was lucky enough to be able to explore New York and Chicago with my Dad, and want to share my thoughts on my trip across the pond.

I make no shame of the fact that I am a spoilt little Daddy's girl. I am provided for (and then some) by my Dad extraordinarily, and need to start this series off by thanking him, as it is hard to put into words how grateful I am for such an amazing holiday, and Dad in general. 

We all love food, right? So to start off, I thought I'd show you some of my favourite places to eat in New York and Chicago. My dad and I are very much foodies, so rest assured you won't be let down if you do end up paying them a visit!

P.S. A quick disclaimer, I am not writing this to show off, brag, etc about anything. I am so fortunate and grateful to have experienced all of this, and I simply want to share it.
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Also, I'm super sorry if the pictures are half eaten or blurry. I would either have to scream "STOP! BLOG!" half way through eating to grab a snap, or they were blurry due to my sheer hanger. Fat girl problems at their finest.

Enjoy!

NYC;

Breakfast; Clinton Street Baking Company

I love breakfast. Most important meal of the day blah-blah-blah; but mainly; damn tasty. The Clinton Street Bakery do the classic breakfasts of french toast and pancakes, but have an exciting specials board too. The soft shell crab BLT I had was out of this world, and my Dad's pear and caramel waffle was a sight to behold. With hot strong coffee and refreshing strawberry lemonade, it was a solid ten for me.

Lunch; Urbanspace Vanderbilt-

Red Hook Lobster Pound

In all honesty, (as you can see by the sheer size of the breakfasts above), we only had an actual "lunch" one day in NYC. After spending a good twenty minutes asking people and various kiosks where Urbanspace actually was, we finally found it outside the north entrance of Grand Central Station, all tucked away. Inside is a plethora of every cuisine you could possibly want; you are definitely spoilt for choice. We ended up choosing a lobster roll at Red Hook. The meat was fresh and flavourful, the roll soft and doughy, with a refreshing lemon and herb sauce. Light, tasty, and a great choice for lunch.

If lobster isn't your thing, we also returned to try a burger at Hard Times Burgers and Sundaes, which was as good (if not better) than Five Guys any day.

Something sweet? DOUGH doughnuts were AMAZING. The passionfruit and cocoa nibs flavour was top notch.

Dinner; Le Bernardin

Now I won't lie, this wasn't your average dinner experience. I had absolutely no idea where we were going for dinner that evening, only that I had to look nice and stick a pair of heels on. It turned out we were headed to the three michelin star  (!!!) french fish restaurant Le Bernardin. The dinner was an experience from the moment you walked in. Service was expectedly sublime, as was the food. Fish is my favourite dish to eat, and I was completely delighted by my choices of Geoduck (Sliced giant clams),  Scallops, Snapper and mango parfait. They were perfectly balanced, and delicious. The Yuzu and pear virgin cocktail was also worth a mention. I thought it tasted a bit like a dib dab.

 Honourable Mentions List:

Breakfast: Eggshop 

Dinner: Pennsylvania 6

Dinner: Peter Luger Steakhouse

Chicago:

Chicago has to be one of my new favourite cities. It's comparable to a much more relaxed New York, and has some amazing places to eat.

Breakfast: Ann Sather's

Ann Sather's describes itself as a Swedish diner, but I'd say it was more on the classic American side IMO. Whatever it is, it was a good spot for breakfast. The uniquely delicious thing about this place is that with any egg dish (or entree as they call it) you get two free sides. Ann Sather's is famous for its Cinnamon roll side, and they did not disappoint. Doughy, sweet and utterly moreish. My breakfast of a salmon and dill omelette was also pretty good. I love dill, but the omelette could have been a tad softer for my liking. However, the cinnamon roll clouded over any doubts I may have had.

Lunch: Mr Beef

Forgive me, I don't actually have a picture of Mr beef's sandwich itself, as we were too quick to stuff them into our gobs. This was a slow roast, wafer thin beef roll, smothered with beef jus. It makes my mouth water at the thought of it. And I'm pretty sure it came to under 15 dollars. Bargain or what? In replace of food pics, here's one of daddio posing.  

Dinner: Cafe Spiaggia & Gibson's Steakhouse

I just couldn't bring myself to mention either one of the other out of these two! So I'm writing about both. We'll start off with Cafe Spiaggia as it's the one we went to first. As a self titled carbohydrate queen, pasta brings me obscene amounts of joy. This is the sister restaurant of one of the fanciest places in Chicago, Spiaggia. (President Obama ate there Oo-er.) It was a beautiful array of Italian food. We started with burrata with acacia honey, A watermelon and pecorino salad, then followed by various pastas including ones with short rib, and a porchini mushroom sauce. For dessert, the blueberry and thyme sorbet was delicate and refreshing.

Gibson's had a reputation to uphold, and it delivered. The starters of carpaccio and shrimp cocktail were very tasty, and as for mains; Dad named it as the best steak of the trip, and my lamb chops were cooked to perfection. Although, the American version of mint sauce is just no match to the British version. Dessert was a gargantuan slice of peach pie. I've never really been one for pie in general, but I found myself stealing bite after bite of my Dad's, so it must have been pretty darn good. 

So that's it! I really hoped you enjoyed this post, I had so much fun re-living all those meals. 

*drools*

Let me know if you'd like to see any more food related posts.

Thank you so much for reading! 

Helena xo 

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