Devouring The Windy City (RPM Italian)

• TRAVEL REVIEW:  First time in Chicago. WHY. IS. THIS. MY. FIRST. TIME. GOING?  Chicago is by far my favorite city, from the food, to the big buildings, to the environment. It really is amazing.  So, where do I start?  I don’t even know, I guess I just have to start from when I landed and walked through the airport.  First off, the airport is big as S***.  I only walked from my terminal to the subway which took me to my hotel, but I can tell how huge it was just by how long my walk was.  The train that I took was the CTA blue line that took me to the financial district which is downtown in Chicago.  My stop was Monroe which was literally one block away from my hotel.  I checked in early around 9 a.m and they had a room available, so of course I took it.  I always check in early in the morning at hotels and not at 3 p.m like they suggest because they’re not giving me a full 24 hours but charging me for 24 hours, but I digress.  The hotel was nice, but after more careful research, I think I overpaid lol but it’s cool, you only have one life right? WRONG! This is my lesson to book a hotel at the last minute, you’ll most likely get a better price. Chicago to me is a fast paced city, so wherever you go, please act like you know where you’re going or you’ll get run over (Just kidding, well.. Not really).  The location I stayed at which was downtown at they Hyatt Centric was a pretty good location.  Everything that I went to and visited was walking distance.  I would say the walk to the places I want to see or things I wanted to do was no more than 25 blocks away, so bring comfortable shoes.  It’s totally worth it!  I did eat breakfast, but I honestly forgot to take pictures of it (please don’t ask me why, but I’ll make up for it).  I chose to go to Meli Cafe for breakfast though.  That was NOT a bad choice.  The stuffed French toast was amazing, topped with fruits and whip cream.  I had that accompanied with a side of bacon and over easy eggs.  I love breakfast but breakfast foods are so limited.  Once you get past the bacon, grits, bread, and eggs what else is there to eat?  Nevertheless, the food was amazing.  Definitely a 4 out of 5. Oh wait.. I had fresh apple juice, no.. Really. Fresh, apple juice. It was my first time having apple juice that was made strictly out of apples and water, no sugar.  Would I go back? Yes, but I’ll remember pictures.

• RESTAURANT REVIEW – Food! Yes. Let’s get back to the real reason why I came to Chicago.  I grabbed a pie from Lou Malnati’s.  It was my first official deep dish pizza from Chicago.  It was amazing.  The pizza I ordered was a cheese and sausage pizza extra cheese of course.  The crust was amazing. It was nice, flaky, and buttery.  I got full off of two slices so I gave the rest away.  To be honest, I grabbed pizza because of the peer pressure.  The whole “You can’t go to Rome without doing what Romans do”, well I’m here to tell you do what you like to do.  It’s ok for people to provide suggestions but never let someone force you to eat something you wouldn’t otherwise because they will talk about your food of choice.   I killed time before dinner by catching a movie before dinner.  (How sway)  Food! Yes, food again.  I opted to go to RPM Italian because I know I would get a bang for my buck and I wouldn’t be slouched after I left.  I had the Grilled Langoustine, Squid ink Pasta with King Crab Meat and Chicken Parmesan.  All three of the dishes were amazing.  The grilled langoustine was a bit on the chewy end.  Langoustines are similar in appearance to crayfish, but differ in that they grow in saltwater seas and oceans, whereas crayfish breed in freshwater rivers and lakes.  They are classified as part of the lobster family.  They have the taste of a thicker rubbery shrimp, but still good.  The squid ink pasta is a spicy dish but I had them remove the chili flakes that made it spicy and keep the red peppers on top because I can fathom those.  It was topped with King Crab Meat and this was my first time actually having squid ink pasta.  Squid ink pasta in my opinion taste like whole wheat pasta.  I ordered the chicken Parmesan as well.  It may seem like I ordered a lot of food but the portion sizes aren’t gigantic so you will leave filling just right.  The chicken Parmesan wasn’t anything to go crazy over.  The texture was good and the chicken was baked just right.  The marinara sauce wasn’t over powered with oregano or thyme and the cheese wasn’t over bearing. This isn’t a place where you’re looking to get filled up quickly.  Overall out of 5, this is a 3.8 restaurant.  It didn’t stand out to me, the prices did but nothing else.  I wouldn’t be in a rush to go back.  Overall the trip was amazing, I would go back just to eat again.

                         RATING- STUCK ON THE RUNWAY

• Where To Next?  Dinner Reservations: Tomorrow.  Let’s Get on The Train and Travel To The Next State.