Brad "beerad" C.'s Profile

Kyle McHugh has something special at this boutique liquor store. Drinks Over Dearborn is warm, intimate and very inviting especially for a beer lovers like myself. You so have to be buzzed up to enter which is a little odd but don't let that turn you away because your are not likely to be disappointed with what they have to over.  Besides their excellent selection of beers, one of Drinks Over Dearborn's greatest feature is the ability to mix and match beers to create your own six pack. Even if you aren't in the mood for a six pack you can even just walk out with one 12 oz bottle. Kyle is very knowledgeable in all things drink related and is more they happy to help you to find something that you are likely to enjoy. Be sure to check out Drinks over Dearborn's calender on their site because they have a lot of great events happening all around the city.

Yuck is the best way to describe the italian beef sandwhich that Al's serves. Just because you saw a place on TV doesn't mean you should visit it. Rather than your typical italian beef, Al's does a sort of shredded beef sandwich which makes for a really odd texture to eat. It's giving me a bad feeling just thinking about it now. When I'm in the mood for an italian beef I'm gonna stick with Mr. Beef, it is only a few block from Al's.

Bottom line, come here to drink and avoid the food and you won't be disappointed.

Bad Apple's selection of craft beer rocks and they also have a good amount on tap as well. As far as the food goes, well it sounds amazing on the menu. The group i was with ordered several of the 12 burgers they have on the menu but when I asked to substitute the texas toast for the pretzel bun, I was denied. Come on if you have it in the back let me put it on my burger. That should of been a sign right there that it was going to disappoint. The pulled pork on the burger was flavorless and dry, the burger alone was ok but it wasn't anything better then I could of cooked on the BBQ at home. I couldn't even eat the entire thing I ended up passing it to a friend to finish off.

I saw on yelp a few people talking about a game room. Well the game room is a sad room behind the bar, I wouldn't call it a game room but rather a room with a game in it. One Foosball table doesn't equal a game room! Although maybe they've improved that since I was there about two months ago. Service and prices were ok nothing good and nothing bad. In the end if you're looking for a place to drink then this is great but move on if you're looking for food.

It's places like this that make me not like French food. I haven't had such bad service in a long time. There was plenty of seating when my Fiancé and I walked in. So we sat at one of the many seats on the patio and waited... and then waited some more. We waited over 10 mintues at a table before anyone even brought us a glass of water. Then I watched people come in after us and place their order for drinks before a waiter even came to talk with us or even looked in our direction. Then another 5 minutes went by after we got the water til the waiter finally noticed us. If the place was busy I could maybe understand but it was pretty empty and there were four people I saw working. The menu is mostly traditional, normal crepe flavors nothing too fancy or exotic. I ordered the mushroom and onion crepe and the waitress suggested adding swiss cheese to it but neglected to say that cheese cost two extra dollars. I was happy to see that the crepes were a decent size I would of been really upset if they would of been tiny and still cost $12. The flavor of the crepe was pretty good but really nothing to memorable. If I could make crepes at home I think mine would of been just as good as this La Creperie. Overall I'd suggest checking out some place else for crepes this place just isn't worth it!

You almost never know if this place is open or not. It just looks dark inside when you peak in the windows. But if you don't see anyone sitting at the tables give the door a tug, you might be surprised to find them open. Thats at least what happened to me and the only other people hanging out in there seemed to be Radhika and some of her friends. Between isn't too big but its not tiny either; it just has a really neat cozy vibe. Service is laid back but still good. As far as the food, it is small portions that are kinda expensive but it's really good. I would hope that the food would be good since Radhika was on Top Chef and did fairly well durning her season.  I think I'd go here more often if I remembered (I only live a block away), but sadly it's just one of the those places I seem to forget about.

This was a random stop for me in Astoria but I'm so happy I was able to stop here before they closed for the day. This is such a great place. It has a great atmosphere and a friendly staff. But a coffee shop is only as good as the coffee they serve and I'm happy to report that the roast at Columbia River is fabulous. A coffee nirvana! I was enjoying my coffee in the shop when I spied a sort of hanging chair almost like a chair hammock. I didn't want to get up from it once I sat down. I recommend getting a big cup of coffee and then hopping in the hanging chair and enjoying the free wifi.

I went here for lunch on opening day... Today! I'm always down for trying new places and you can't get much newer then XOCO at the moment. Since it was opening day I was expecting a line, but I was shocked to see that it wasn't as long as I thought it would be. Sadly they had a sign that said there was no carry out today. I really didn't want to eat there with all the Rick Bayless fan boys. But I really had no other option. I ended up waiting in line for about 20 minutes before I placed an order. The menu isn't that large, maybe 10 different sandwiches. After going back and forth on a couple different options I ordered the Cubana and a chocolate espresso. These two items set me back $15. I thought XOCO was the cheaper of the three Rick Bayless restaurants!  It took a really long time for my Cubana to finally show up at my seat. Bayless and his team need to speed things up here, I'm sure this being opening day had a lot to do with that. I could have had free chips at Frontera and waited just as long. The taste did make up for the long wait. The sandwich rocked but a sandwich with bacon and avocado is usually going to be a good sandwich.  

I'd go back again but I'm not going to eat there and put up with the wait. Hopefully over the next few weeks they speed things up.

Yeah cupcakes! So so so very tasty! I love visiting new cupcake places! I also love visiting them when they are as delicious as Sweet Honeybee. I ordered the Rocky Road, Mango, Strawberry, and the Chocolate Ganache. All of them were so wonderful it was like a sweet magical birthday party in my mouth. Each one was so moist, it's no fun when you get dry old cupcakes from a place. The frosting was also top notch.

Sweet Honeybee took the cake and is currently on the top of my list for cupcakes in Chicago. Great friendly service and pretty decent prices, just under $2. Plus tons of good flavors.

Hows a place like this even stay in business? I don't ever see anyone in here and I bike past it twice a day. This morning I walked and decided to stop in. I was told that they had smoothies. So I figured that was a perfect breakfast option. Sadly I found out all the smoothies contained frozen yogurt. Thats fine, I know most of jamba juices smoothes also have ice cream of some kind in them. But I was shocked to see the guy fill up a 16 oz cup with frozen yogurt and then put some banana and a little bit of peaches in. Ice cream for breakfast isn't always a bad thing, but I wanted a smoothie this morning not ice cream and I didn't really want to pay $5 for it. No thanks Love's, you had your chance and you failed I don't think I'll be visiting again.

Ok so I didn't go for the breakfast. Just because it's a breakfast spot doesn't mean you can't hit them up for lunch and that's what I did. I went here for lunch the other day and the place was pretty empty.  Yolk has an incredibly large menu, I could of ordered one of the many breakfast items but instead I went with the tuna melt. It was lunch time and I was in the mood for a sandwich not hash browns and eggs. The tuna melt I got was really tasty and the portion size was pretty hefty too. Good service and good prices. This is a place I can see myself having lunch at again and maybe next time I'll even try the breakfast.