Day 3 we decided to tour the city. After visiting the Navy Pier and a few other sites, we decided on eating at the very popular XOCO. XOCO is a fast casual eating specializing on wood fired tortas and soups. It's the third restaurant in the trio of Rick Bayless' Topolobampo and Frontera Grill. Although XOCO has only been open for a little more than a year, but has quickly become one of the top lunch spots in the city.Usually there are lines out the door ranging from 45 minutes to an hour, but luckily, we were able to walk in and o
nly wait about fifteen minutes to place our order. Once our order
was placed, we were directed to a table provided by the staff members.
First to come to the table was chips, guacamole and salsa. Also their agua fresca of the day which was papaya and lime.
Everything here was good. Chips had great crunch and the guacamole was nice and creamy.
Next up, XOCO's famous tortas
The first torta I ordered, was titled the "Top Chef" torta. The sandwich consisted of confit of beef tongue, potatoes, chorizo, avocade and jack cheese all piled in a freshly baked rustic loaf of bread.
The first bite was an explosion of flavor and the crunchy hot bread just made the sandwich unbelievable. Really a great sandwich.
Next up, the second torta I ordered was the Pork Belly torta.
This torta consisted of braised pork belly, dark salsa negra glaze, bacon, arugula and queso anejo along with the same fresh baked bread.
This sandwich was even better than the first. The pork belly was melt in your mouth tender and the salsa glaze added the perfect sweetness to the salty bacon.
To finish off the meal, we got XOCO's famo
us Churros with a chocolate dipping sauce.
Hard to mess up churros and these did not disappoint. Delicious.
Overall XOCO exceeded the already high expectations. Easily one of the best sandwiches I have ever had and definitely lived up to the hype.
DAY 4
For breakfast, we decided on the Bongo Room which specializes in pancakes and french toast.
First up, one of the daily specials, red velvet pancakes w
ith cream cheese sauce and toasted pecans.
The pancakes sounded amazing and they did not disappoint. The cakes had a somewhat cupcake consistency and were unlike anything I have had before. They were so flavorful, but extremely rich and filling.
Up next, pretzel pancakes, white chocolate and caramel sauce with chopped pretzels
These pancakes were light and fluffy and had a little crunch in them due to the pretzels. The saltiness from the pretzels added a nice contrast between the sweet sauce and the salty pretzels.
The Bongo Room was very good. Everything I sampled was different than anything I have ever had before.
LUNCH: Hot Dougs
Hot Dougs is one of the most popular places to eat in Chicago. Although there are many Hot Dog places in Chicago, Hot Dougs consistenly is at the top of the list. It even was once named Top 50 restaurants in the World by Bon Apetite Magazine. There is always a line no matter what time of day. On this particular afternoon, we had to wait about thirty minutes, but once we ordered our food, it was ready in a matter of seconds.
The first dog I ordered was the famous Chicago dog. Consisting of a chargrilled dog with dill pickle, mustard, neon green relish, celery salt and onions and tomatoes.
Easily the best hot dog I have ever had. I usually do not put relish or pickles on my dog, but everything went together so perfect. The bun was also amazing, so soft and was the perfect size.
The next dog was actually a sausage. One of Do
ugs most famous and unique. The Foie Gras dog.
The foie gras dog consisted of a duck sausage, truffle aioli, foie gras mousse and fleur de sel. This was definitely the most decadent hot dog I have ever had. Insanely rich and creamy, the duck sausage worked perfectly with the foie and aoili. The sausage was super filling, but really something special and totally worth it.
Hot Dougs was absolutely amazing. Doug himself was there and he was extremely nice and genuine to us and all the other customers. The fries were also great too. Can't wait to come back.
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