Through my travels, there is one food item that I can never seem to get enough of: macarons. There are the staple macaron flavor profiles, such as pistachio, chocolate or lemon, but the ones I look out for take some creative thinking. So I thought it was time I tell you about some of the best macaron bites I’ve taken (although by no means have I tried all the best).
Figure 1. Lauduree in New York City
New York City is littered with ice cream and gelato shops, but Je and Jo (Figure 1) is now one of my favorites.
Figure 1. Je and Jo sign
We’ve heard and read the raving reviews about Degustation in NYC so we had to go on the first night of the trip. We ran a bit late, but luckily, instead of being seated at the wine bar, they were still able to seat us at the shared restaurant space with Jewel Boka, which has a romantic and relaxing ambience (Figure 1).
Figure 1
In my last post, I showed off the gorgeous tulips blossoming throughout Chicago’s tourist central. This past weekend, we went up to Holland, Michigan for the annual Tulip Festival to check out this year’s tulips. Thankfully, most were already in bloom!
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The other day, we walked over to the new place a couple blocks away that sells Brooklyn style pizza. On our way to Flour and Stone, we passed by some gorgeous tulips I had not taken the time to notice before (Figures 1 and 2).
Figure 1. Tulips
The early bird gets the specialty doughnuts. Well, that’s the revised saying applied to the doughnut scene in Chicago. People are willing to spend over an hour during the waking hours waiting in a line wrapped around the street blocks outside Doughnut Vault while others wait for Do-Rite or Firecakes to open their doors. Today, we were finally able to make it out to Firecakes (Figure 1) early enough to make a selection from the full dozen (they get depleted very quickly). So, of course, we got them all.
Figure 1. Firecakes Doughnut box nicely tied up
We had heard about Frog N Snail, the sister restaurant of Sprout, for a while now, and we finally found some time to go! As you walk in, there is a quiet, relaxing ambience that gets your tummy ready for some pleasant, comforting European classics.
Figure 1. Snails Y’all
Empanadas are these delicious pastries that can be stuffed with all sorts of meats, vegetables, cheese, fruits, and even Nutella. I haven’t had too many empanadas in my life, but recently, I finally found time to go to 5411 Empanadas in Lakeview (Chicago). I had a Groupon for a dozen empanadas, so we were able to get one of every flavor (Figures 1 and 2).
Figure 1. Meat empanadas
