Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Trip Report Insane Chicago trip!

It was 71 degrees in November! INSANE! We take this particular trip yearly. My husband runs a company, and we rep a company in Chicago, so we take several employees and wives for dinners and stays in appreciation. This year, I found a $109 special at the Sheraton Towers. We loved it! The hotel was in a great location. The large lobbies overlooking the water were relaxing, and the staff were excellent. We joined the Starwood Preferred guest program and were given beautiful corner rooms on the 30th floor with views of the river and Lake Michigan. Wow!

Our first meal was to be Nea pizza at Coalfire. We walked 2.3 miles only to find it closed for lunch! I did all this research, but missed that! We stumbled into Salerno's which was a great misstep. Best eggplant parmesan I ever had. Homemade cavatelli. Good atmosphere as well. Walked back and napped till happy hour at the gorgeous lobby bar at Sheraton. After meeting our guests, we left for Devon Seafood grill.

Devon proved to be a real gem. Outstanding fresh seafood, great service. We (10) were seated in a semi private room which enhanced our enjoyment. Only nitpick was the daily menu and lack of a proofreader. The misspelled several words, but the best was "Braised Groper". LOL!

The next morning under cloudless skies I took a 4 mile walk/run twith all the beautiful people (who bike, run, walk and take care of their bodies) down on Lakeshore Drive. I ran to the end of Grant park and enjoyed watching the tourists at "the bean" and all the people loving the weather. When Rick finished his gym workout, we hit the streets. It was already getting very crowded on this flawless day. We stopped for the pizza mojo at La Madia. The margharita was 9 dollars, so we ordered two. Big mistake. Pizza was huge, price was amazing! Delicious ultra this crust with fresh mozza and basil...mmm. Afterwards, we joined the throng on the Mag Mile and strolled the side streets for about 3 hours. I wore my bu** ugly ZCoil shoes and racked up many miles and laughed at the silly girls teetering on the concrete in heels. The fashion trend was mostly flat boots, leggings, slim jeans, short skirts. Very cute on slim young women, horrendous on chubbers. Backs of their legs looked like black cottage cheese.
Dinner tonight for 10 was at Tizi Melloul. We had dinner here last year and wanted to repeat. They have the best mussels! Also, they have several vegetarian dishes. Last year, I had their seared tofu, but tonight I was still full from lunch, so I had a salad and we all shared hummus, stuffed calimari, olives, mussels and flatbreads. MMmmm. They were able to open the doors on this warm night and we had a ball watching people pass. The diners decided to walk home! We shucked our heels and walked barefoot (1 mile) back to the Sheraton. What a ball!
Next morning, I did 5 miles in the other direction. I was appalled at the condition of the beaches. There were cans, bottles, butts and glass shards everywhere. Definitely unsafe for kids and what a shame. The beautiful people were out in droves on this sunny warm morning and I had a real high going. I ended my run down the mag mile looking at the ridiculous stupid shoes at Chanel, Nine West, etc. My ZCoils were looking better all the time, lol! Lunch today was the jazz brunch at Bistro 110. This was my third time. The quartet is awesome- Louis Armstrong's ghost I believe. They did fun New Orleans style music and standards. We scarfed down 4 divine Bloody Marys. I had their signature Onion Soup and Rick enjoyed the roasted chicken with roasted veggies. Tres French, very good. We walked off lunch for a bit, then headed to the Orange line train to Midway. I'll never taxi back to the airport, the train is $2.25 and no traffic or crazy drivers! Good times, great food, great company, loads of romance and I lost a pound!