Carrie "Mrs. Cake Ball" S.'s Profile

Looking for a brew before knitting class, I headed to Brownstone because it was open. Coming here on a Wednesday was my lucky day, the beer and food special is out of this world. On Wednesdays, wings and 25oz. of beer are $5 each! Seriously, these weekday specials can't be missed. I enjoyed my Stella and got an appetizer for dinner. Long before my food arrived, I felt the beer's grasp. My spinach and artichoke dip was nothing to write home about, but it helped soak up the Stella. I enjoyed my quiet beer and app before heading to knitting class a little tipsy. In the near future, I'd go back for another awesome Wednesday night special.

Yeah for another neighborhood bar in the West Loop. New Line Tavern helps fulfill that a bar every two blocks quotient that I grew up with in Wisconsin. I came here on a lazy Sunday afternoon when my husband could no longer stand the growing number of boxes in our apartment for the move.

The bar itself is nicely lit with rich, dark banquettes lining one wall and a long bar with high stools. I found my husband watching the Packer game on one of the four screens above the bar, chatting up the staff and patrons, and enjoying an Allegash White. Before I arrived, he had already tasted some of their fare. He enjoyed the tavern wings and chicken strips. He said that the barbeque sauce was good, but the honey mustard was alright.

Once I situated myself, I got an Allegash White and checked out the food menu. I ended up having a burger with cheddar and New Line fries (Asiago cheese and garlic). The burger was delicious complete with a tasty pretzel roll hit the spot. The New Line fries were alright. Frankly, they weren't the best fries ever, but decent. Asiago cheese really does make the bar smell cheesy. If they laid off the cheese and served it with garlic aioli, they would be fantastic.

I enjoyed my lazy Sunday at New Line Tavern. I like the bright, cozy bar where you can read the menu without squinting. I also liked the laid back feel of the bar. If I wasn't moving, I would be a regular here for their great beer selections and yummy food.

My go-to take tourists to destination. In the seven years I've lived here, I've been here numerous times but never to the observation desk. What's the point when you can sip a cocktail, see a view, and delight your friends and relatives.

My most recent visit occurred during my Saturday interlude between bachelorette party and wedding shower in July. My best friend had never, ever been to Chicago, so naturally we had to take her here for a drink. The line was long getting up the elevator. In seven years, I've never seen this long a line. I guess word got out that this is the place to be for the view and drinks. We waited in another line to get a table. I half expected another line to wait in another line (joke from South Park).

When we got a table, we ordered our drinks and enjoyed the view. The drinks are average, nothing spectacular. The service is fast and friendly considering how many tables one server has to manage at once.

Again, it's my go to take out of towners, tourists, family to gaze at the Chicago skyline and take in the view.

So, on Halloween's Eve, my husband announces to me that we're going to a party tomorrow. Really? You're kidding me right? I fully intended to spend the night on the couch wrapped up in my pink Snuggie, knitting, and watching "Shaun of the Dead." After a momentary freak out, I start looking around websites for not lame last minute costumes. Luckily, I have two blue dresses and decided to go as "Devil in a Blue Dress:" kind of lame, but it would do. My husband decides to go as a biker. Unfortunately, most of motorcycle gear is up in Milwaukee for when he rides. So, we decided to head here for our last minute Halloween costumes.

Card and Party Giant is located near Whirlyball in world's worst parking lot. The parking lot is embarassingly small and impossible to navigate. We managed to get a parking space as everyone and their mother needed Halloween gear.

The store itself is dark, dank, and dirty. It's clearly a neglected store that could use some TLC. We perused the Halloween aisles which were mostly picked through. I found devil horns and a staff. After about ten minutes of looking around, my husband found a "Miami Ink" biker costume complete with fake tattoo shirt, fake gloves, doo rag and vest. It did the trick for his costume needs. I couldn't wait to check out because it's such a dirty store. We got what we needed and got out of there. It was a pain trying to get out of the parking lot too.

This is definitely a last minute party needs kind of store since it's such a headache to deal with the parking lot and unkept store. Only come here if you're desperate for party gear.

After our fun little trip to Card and Party Giant on Halloween day like the rest of procrastinators, we were hungry. Usually when in this area, we frequent the boring, average fast food places. Since Vienna Beef was around the corner from our errand, we decided to stop in.

The factory store and deli is pretty unassuming and like your typical Chicago hotdog stand. We located the hot dog area and proceeded to order. My husband ordered the regular Chicago dog with a side of cheese fries for us to split while I ordered the Chicago double dog. Yes, I'm a glutton, but there's something awesome about being able to fit two hot dogs and all of the fixins into one bun. The hot dogs are steamed which is alright. I prefer char myself, but it's the Vienna Beef factory, so I'll let it slide. Our Chicago style dogs from the Vienna Beef factory were pretty standard fare, but they hit the spot. The cheese fries were delicious Chicago fare as well. Can't go wrong with cheese fries!

If anything, the Vienna Beef factory store and deli makes for great people watching. On Halloween Saturday afternoon, there were a mix of families with children in tow. I was impressed by a 10 year old digging into a corned beef sandwich. Her palate at such a young age gave me hope for the future. We saw some factory workers talking to food servers. However, I enjoyed watching the svelte, young, and sexy couple who had just come from working out at the nearby athletic club loading up on some simple, white carbs after a workout.

For my first visit there, I'd say that Vienna Beef Factory store is pretty cool. I like the no frills approach to Chicago hot dogs and that's how it should be.

A coffee shop that sells alcohol? Really, yes, really!! It reminds me of Parisian cafes and even what Cosi used to be like a decade ago. I came here last night for the first Wednesday knitting meetup. The cafe is cozy with comfy, dark couches, local artwork lining the walls, a long bar, magazines, and board games. I could see spending a few hours lounging around here. I had a pumpkin spice latte. The latte is your standard fare and luckily was their special, so it was only $3. I enjoyed sipping my latte and meeting new knitters. The barista/bartenders were very nice and kept the table clean throughout the time I was there. I like that they serve alcohol because it would be nice to knit with some wine in hand and hopefully not mangle a few rows in the process. Cafe WhaWho? brings back the cafe lifestyle before it became commodized into boring, character-less places serving coffee and not much else.

We stopped at Lemmings as our last stop on our Wicker Park Halloween pub crawl. Walking in here, I knew this place was laid back and relaxed. All of us found seats at one corner of the bar. They have a great beer selection and board games! Hello! Board games. The mister and I would easily return here for a night of board game fun with some brews! Since it was about 2a.m. or so (really can't remember), the bartenders were very laid back and awesome. One of them offered me a taste of their Halloween fun for the night: dum dum flavored vodka. They stuck a dum dum in some vodka and let it chill for the night. I took a sip of their fun little concoction! Good times! This is one of those great neighborhood bars just to hang out with friends and drink some beer. I prefer bars like these without pretenses or anything gimmacky. They just want to serve their clientele and have a good time. My kind of bar despite the weird name.

For our post-Halloween Sunday football madness dinner, we came to Piece. We managed to get in just before it got even more packed than it already was. We placed our order of a white italian sausage and basil right away. Unfortunately, nearly a half hour if not longer passed until we learned that the oven had been turned off. My first thoughts were "you're kidding me right?" Your pizza oven of a very popular place for a Sunday football watching evening is shut off as our server informed only after she took the time to figure out why she wasn't clearing tables fast enough. For our inconvience, they offered us a free app. We were alright with that and ordered it since it was a planned lazy Sunday dinner for us.

We never connected with the app, so she offered us dessert for later. Instead, the pizza arrived right about the point where I was too hungry to eat. Despite the long, agonizing wait for the pizza and the Packers loss against the Vikings, our food satisfied and hit the much needed empty stomach food spot. I loved the crunchy crust and just right crispy pie. Our wanton hunger completely overshadowed that she got our order wrong. Only half way through did we realize that we had an italian sausage and bacon pizza on our hands. At this point, we just didn't care and ate with wild abandon. Their pizza is delicious. I don't know if it worth as long of wait that we suffered. It's definitely better than our weekly standard pizza fare.

After consuming our pizza, we got dessert: a massive piece of chocolate cake and ice cream with cookies. The ice cream and cookies were alright; nothing special, but delicious nonetheless. Last night, we finished our leftovers. I had some of the chocolate cake. It's mounds and mounds of delicious chocolate.

I really want to give Piece more stars, but it seemed like they had a total service meltdown on a busy Sunday night. How does an oven get turned off during football season with a packed house? I just don't get it. Piece gets stars for making sure that we left happy and not completely unsatisfied with our dining experience. They tried; I just don't know if I want to enthuastically return for some more pizza, beer, and football.

Stop #2 on our Halloween pub crawl. Lottie's was jam packed to the gills with Halloween revelers. With some effort, we got our shots and PBR (drinks of choice for Halloween). We managed to find open spaces to hang out with our friends. Lottie's reminds me a lot of the neighborhood pubs on every corner in the Midwest. I love, love the lights lining the wall. What a cool effect for a small neighborhood pub!! For me, it's those little things that makes this place awesome. I caught sight of their food and drink specials. I definitely want to return for 25 cent wings on a Saturday night and $3 drafts. I could envision bringing my dad here for a drink or two. If a bar meets that criteria, it's doing something right.

I came here as the first bar on our Bucktown/Wicker Park Halloween pub crawl to meet up some friends and friends. The bar's pretty laid back and corner pub-like. They have an extensive selection of beers ranging from domestic to imports all on draft. What's funny is that my husband and I had $11 in cash between the both of us. The incredibly nice bartender managed to get us brews that came in exactly that much. We joined our friends at a nearby table and enjoyed the Halloween people watching. Seriously, Halloween is the ultimate people watching night and there were plenty of characters around. I could easily see coming back here for some excellent beers and company with friends. For a first visit there, I had a pretty good experience and can't wait to sample other delicious beers.