Every summer, like clockwork, it’s time to hit the beach. But no, I don’t bother with Long Island or Hamptons – Brighton Beach is where you’ll find me on any sweltering weekend afternoon! Sure, the sand is crusty with beer bottle shards, and the water may as well be runoff from The Ganges, but it’s the closest thing I have to Russia. I enjoy hearing my native language, trying the food from my childhood, and spending time getting drunk with my mother. We always stick to the same plan: beach, food, nails, shopping.

Get off at the Brighton Beach stop on the B or Q train, and follow your nose to the salty smell of the ocean. Before you reach the boardwalk, grab Russian snacks such as pirogies, sausages, sour pickles, vodka & beer – then you can proudly set up your beach blanket as a patron of Russian culture and cuisine. Rotisserie under the sun for a couple hours, and when you are crispy red and toasty drunk, head to one of the restaurants conveniently located on the boardwalk, I prefer Tatiana’s or Gambrinus. The food is always fresh, priced well, and offers an extensive variety of traditional Russian plates – there is always something for everyone! Get another 200 grams of vodka, and you’re practically cruising in the French Riviera! (Be warned, the service is pretty terrible, but that’s all part of the Russian charm.)

After a fabulous day at the beach and a hearty feast, I head to the nail salon for some mani/pedi pampering – a good Russian girl must be polished and manicured! Eating good food with beautiful hands is that much more fun. Trust the Russian! On the last leg of my Brighton adventure, I head to the M&I International Foods, which is a one-stop shop for some of the best Russian favorites, home made and imported. The prices are unbeatable, and the selection is incomparable. On the subway ride back into the city, I go through my bags for something to nosh on: oh look, it’s my favorite, Salmon caviar. Might as well open the vodka too!

Oysters are the perfect food: low-calorie, low-cholesterol, dense in protein and an excellent source of vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, C and D. Four or five medium-size oysters supply the recommended daily allowance of iron, copper, iodine, magnesium, calcium, zinc, manganese and phosphorus. Of course, there are sensual pleasures that go along with eating an oyster. The flavor bewitches you, it captures you like an infatuation – you like it, but you can’t describe what about it that makes you so attracted to it. I would compare to a passionate kiss – not to satisfy any need except for the experience of getting lost in the moment of pleasure. As with lovers, you can only shower that kind of attention on so many.

Native East Coast oysters are all the same species, grown sub-tidally with smooth shells, and tend to be milder in taste than those farmed from the West Coast. The cold-water temperatures of New England slow down metabolism, producing slightly crisp, sweeter oysters. My favorite is undoubtedly is the Kumamoto oyster (originally imported from Japan) with sweet, honeydew notes. (Oyster flavor, like perfume notes, comes in three stages, and texture is part of stage 2. The first stage involves salt, the second stage body and sweetness, and the third floral or fruity finishes.)

Oysters are filter feeders, siphoning up to 25 gallons of water a day through their strain system – water is it’s food. An oyster’s flavor is a result of the trace minerals, salinity, and other nutrients in the water it lives in, therefore no two oysters will have the exact same flavor (the more nutrients there are in the water, the plumper is the oyster’s flesh, and the more flavorful is it’s taste.) The thrill of eating oysters is picking up on the subtle nuances of texture and taste from one hemisphere, continent, bay, or creek to the next. Eat enough oysters and you will become very sensitive to the differences in flavor and shell patterns.

A perfect weekend: taking a late-afternoon table at Balthazar, ordering a mix of West Coast oysters, a bottle of Chablis, and letting the time slow down as I become infatuated with the most divine flavors to grace my palette.
Is it Saturday yet?

I found this nifty poster from Chow.com, called: a dozen oysters you should know. View it!
The Mermaid Inn also has a feature called Oysterpedia, another cool education source on oyster types. View it!

*The images from above at the Ocean Grill. Lobster, oysters, octopus salad, and filet of branzino. Lovely place, but I still prefer Balthazar for oysters!

I love fresh strawberries first thing in the morning – the color, the taste, the scent are all so invigorating. Try this super simple breakfast I make almost every morning, and tell me this isn’t the best way to start your day? This delicious meal of fresh strawberries, walnuts, and honey is as nutritious as it is addicting – it’s that good! And did I mention that you can also make a face mask of it? Beautiful on the inside, and beautiful on the outside!

When I told my friend about the dinner I had at Palo Santo, in Brooklyn, with my supper club The Gastronauts, she responded with the funniest comment:

“Sounds like everything from a singing Disney movie
made its way onto your plate!”

The menu was, indeed, full of critters one doesn’t usually eat on a Tuesday night (or any day of the week!) Imagine: “Hey there Timmy, pass the Beaver’s flapper. Mom’s really outdone herself tonight with the frog’s legs, kids. Plenty for seconds!”

“Beaver Dinner” Menu at Palo Santo

Beaver Flapper Cracklings, Avocado/ Hot Pickles

Rabbit Terrine, Rooftop Greens/ Whole Grain Mustard

Frog Leg Fricassee

Grilled Elk Steak, Asparagus/ Mushrooms / Chimichurri

Braised Beaver Tail, Succotash/ Beer/ Molasses

Whiskied Bread Pudding, Strawberries/ Whipped Cream

The dinner was actually delayed that night in lieu of the visit from the DOH: serving off-the-menu foods is a big no-no, especially while the restaurant is being inspected by the Health Department. All of the specialty ingredients had to be hidden away, and we stalled the dinner until the Health Department left. Everyone got a nice buzz from sipping the sangria on an empty stomach, and so an angry mob of starved Gastronauts was avoided. A few hours later, after the A grade was awarded to Palo Santo, the  food came out in record time and we feasted until the late hours of the night and early into the next day.

The most memorable dishes for me were:
Rabbit Terrine – incredibly delicate, texturally interesting, and easy on the palate: not too gamey, yet still wild
Grilled Elk Steak – a classic combination: perfectly grilled and seasoned, deliciously gamey
Whiskied Bread Pudding – you can’t go wrong with a boozy dessert with super fresh ingredients

I often watch other diners summon the courage to taste such exotic foods like a beaver’s tail, scrutinizing the morsels of food with their eyes. I don’t think twice about the meal – I enjoy it for what it is, without much emotional or psychological attachement, a handicap the rest of diners sometimes may be down by. Growing up in Russia, you ate anything you could get your hands on, without thinking if Barashik was a cute lamb or died humanely (the answer is “Yes” to both, by the way.) The Russians have an iron stomach and can handle obscene amounts of alcohol, and I personally think there is a market for a reality show around that, not the Jersey Shore of Brighton Beach hooligans currently hogging the spotlight!

I am addicted to cooking classes – there is no shame for me in admitting it :) My favorites are regional cooking, such as French, Italian, Thai, and sometimes I like to throw in a few specialties, such as food styling / writing / photography, baking, cocktails, etc.  A few weeks ago I signed up for a specialty pickling class at The Brooklyn Kitchen, hoping to perfect my skills before next month’s visit to the pickling Grand Master – my grand mother. As a child, I remember watching her pickle anything and everything for days on end, and it was a seriously delicate process! Those tomatoes/pickles/cabbage/mushrooms were some of the best I’ve had to this day, so now I am interested in learning how to replicate her same process. At The Brooklyn Kitchen’s Bob McClure’s class (of McClure’s Pickles), I learned the bare basics of pickling – mixing the proper ratio of brine, packing the contents, and disinfecting and processing food. Now I can use my new knowledge with a flare of imagination to pickle just about anything! My first batch of curry asparagus came out great, now I’m ready to step it up: pickled eggs, pickled ginger, pickled mushrooms…

The best part of going to Brooklyn Kitchen was the store shopping experience. They have so much of everything – like a hipster Sur La Table! Beautiful hardware, cute tchotchkes, spices & condiments galore, and the best butchered meat in New York. I arrived early for class just to browse through the store and buy stuff for my new food styling obsession. I also ran into one of my favorite teachers, Peter Berley (a hotter version of Anthony Bourdain), who was teaching Knife Skills at the Brooklyn Kitchen the same time a my class. If you ever find his classes at ICE or BK, I highly recommend taking them. He is the best: most hands-on and knowledgeable teacher I’ve had!

THE BROOKLYN KITCHEN
100 Frost Street, Brooklyn, NY | (718) 389-2982

It was my third dinner with The Gastronauts, and this time we took a trip to Turkey (the one in Turtle Bay, NY), a restaurant called Sip Sak, which is regarded as being of the best Turkish eateries in New York. Orhan Yegen, the eccentric, pony-tailed chef-owner, is an avid biker, and judging by his massive Harley Davidson parked outside the restaurant, you know this guy means business. My girlfriend and I couldn’t resist climbing on top of that bad boy after dinner  and posing for pictures. I’m surprised the chef didn’t come out with a cleaver and chased us off! But then again, I don’t think we were the first ones to defile his bike – the natural high of the food from Sip Sak can make a man do some craaazy things. (True story!)

That evening we wined and dined on seven courses of off the menu dishes:

Lamb’s head soup

Pan fried calf’s brain

Pan fried calf’s liver

Green salad

Kokorec
Roasted lamb intestines stuffed with veal sweetbreads

Stuffed lamb ribs
served over rice with pine nuts, currants

Butternut squash desert

All of the prepared dishes had a lot of natural flavors that were a pretty big surprise even for someone like me (good taste and bad smell is very subjective; I try not to discriminate.) The lamb’s head soup was sweet, gamey, and fatty – liquid crack for me. The pan fried calf’s brain and liver were very fresh, and a favorite amongst many diners. The kokorec was an explosion of flavor: pungent, gamey, bitter, and tough in texture. After one bite, you want to believe that you’ve had enough, but you want go for another one out of curiosity, “What is that taste!?” And another one. And more. And soon, your plate and your clothes are covered with bits of kokorek, your heart is beating fast, and you’re climbing a stranger’s bike! Liquid crack, I tells ya.

A great ooh and aah moment was when the chef wheeled out the lamb cart, and all of us descended upon him like vultures, clutching our cameras to get “the shot”, waiting for him to rip the lamb to shreds and feed us. Scary moment to find yourself in…  Absolutely delicious lamb otherwise!

The butternut squash desert was the perfect pacifier to my inner cracked-out animal – soft, sweet, simple. That doesn’t mean I went home right after the dinner, but for at least for the next hour, I behaved well (almost!) The whole night was like a trip down memory lane for the chef, and an adventure for us, The Gastronauts.

Check out the full image gallery on Flickr!

SIP SAK
928 Second Avenue | (212) 583-1900 ‎

Buongiorno ragazzi! Summer is almost here. The city greenmarkets are bursting with gorgeous fresh/local/organic produce, where I can easily spend a half month’s rent shopping for the latest & greatest veggies, greens, dairy, meat, etc. I tend to steer clear of the $15 heirloom tomato and go straight for the $2 broom-size bush of basil. Summer has an official start date for me – it’s when I make a fresh jar of pesto, an aromatic Caprese salad, a drink of Amaro Averna on the rocks… Do you see a pattern? Hint: Italian specialties! As the days get warmer, I start craving Florentine food, reminiscing my beach romance in Calabria, missing the private yacht in Sardinia, & planning a (futile) semi-permanent move to Capri {a sequel to Under the Tuscan Sun!} Some of my happiest memories are from those summers abroad…

But let’s be realistic – I am in New York right now, and my only connection to Italy is through food. I will have to live vicariously through my favorite restaurants until I find myself in Capri (maybe later this year!?) First stop: Cipriani, my favorite!

When I come there for lunch or dinner, everyone asks about my mom, my job, my dog, etc. These guys watched me grow up from a rebellious teen to a respectable lady – that’s family! One can always find true epitome of hospitality in any of the Cipriani restaurants, and that’s 1/2 the reason why I love coming back. The food, is the other 1/2, and it’s always fresh, light, simple, and delicious. The season’s best menu items: lobster salad, shrimp from the grill, sea scallops with baby artichokes, baccala (when available), any kind of carpaccio, risotto, and pasta with wild mushrooms. Of course, save room for dessert: merengue pie, and an ice cold limoncello shot!

CIPRIANI DOWNTOWN
376 West Broadway | (212) 343-0999

My second favorite Italian restaurant in the city has become Rubirosa. It’s vibe is rustic, simple, and laid-back, but the food really packs a punch! I give my trainer full credit for introducing me to this place, which has become a weekly must-have pizza, pasta, and bruschetta splurge. Literally, it’s become an addiction. <sarcasm> Thanks, Derek! </sarcasm> The staff at Rubirosa is super cute, by the way. Hot, even. Sometimes I get self-conscious when the cute bartender is watching me stuff my face with pizza, but I brush it off and focus on the immediate gratification – cheeeeeese!  A few must-haves from the menu: Meatball or Shrimp Bruschetta, Black And White Tagliatelle, Pappardelle with Sausage ragu, Vodka Pizza, Pesto Pizza. So, see you there this weekend? Ciao, Angelo!

RUBIROSA
235 Mulberry Street | 212.965.0500

It’s finally summer and my inner Thupamodel dreams of looking her best (you can’t retouch the love handles in life, isn’t that a bummer? How about some Photoshop for the real world!) Lucky for me I have a fabulous personal trainer, Derek Nicholas, who is one of the top nutrition and exercise gurus in NYC. He’s developed an Operation Bombshell routine: in just a few successful months you can transform putty into Michelangelo’s “David.”

Derek, what is your number one nutritional rule for getting instant results?

Cut chemicals and trans fats out, and you will see instant results! Change your food intake to those sources which have the most nutritional value. If you give your body whole and natural foods, it will find the best way to use and implement them. Eat as much raw fruits and vegetables as possible, and supplement your diet with seeds, nuts, and whole grains. Stay away from processed foods. Animal protein (meat) should make up the smallest percentage of your caloric intake. Much of dairy contains hormones & chemicals, so shop at a local/organic market whenever possible.

Alcohol has no nutritional value, however, wine contains antioxidants from grapes which, in moderation, have been found to have nutritional benefits (but I recommend just eating some grapes!) Watch out for chemicals which come in oxidized proteins and fats, such as French fries. Eating a potato is not the end of the world, but when it’s fried, the oil oxidizes due to the heat and becomes carcinogenic. Same goes with cooking animal protein: the heat changes the fat in the animal protein on the molecular level, and so it becomes a trans-fat that’s difficult for the body to digest. Steak tartar, on the other hand, or raw eggs, contain raw fat that is easier for your body to process. Also, drink plenty of water! It keeps your body hydrated, yourself looking fresh, and flushes toxins out faster.

People love fad diets, but we all know that they don’t last. Taking into consideration the points you’ve mentioned, how soon can one see major physical results with just light exercise: jogging, biking, tennis, etc?

If you can combine the habits I’ve mentioned above with just some basic outdoor sports (tennis, cycling) or plain cardio in the gym a few days per week, you’ll notice that your body will start to drop retaining water (that bloated, heavy feeling). You can lose up to 1-2 pounds of fat per week, and that’s about 4-8 pounds of fat per month (plus another couple of pounds of water weight!) The more you put in, the more you can lose. You can “cleanse” or do a fast, but i don’t recommend doing anything you can actually maintain over an extended period of time (at least 3 months). The reason – this weight will always come back, and it will disrupt your body’s metabolism, slowing down your progress.

The fastest results come from eating foods with nutritional value combined with a great cardio routine.

And what do you recommend for a solid gym routine?

The best routine is to actively do cardio 3-4 days per week. The intensity levels should vary daily, for example:
Day 1 can be interval training – run for a 1/4 mile hard, then recover for a 1/4 mile with a light jog. Do this for 30 min.
Day 2 can be longer, sustained, steady state cardio at a lower heart rate – try to do the exercise bike or the stepper for 45-60 min. Work up a sweat, but don’t let the heart rate get get too high, above 150 (you should feel like you can talk in complete sentences without having to gasp for air.)
Day 3 can be a basic cardio class at the gym – kick-boxing, spinning, boot-camp, etc.

I’ve had family, friends, and clients get results very quickly from this basic routine. And I mean 20-25 pounds over 3-4 months! This is not an exaggeration, these are completely realistic, possible results.

What is your perfect daily routine, nutritionally and physically? Let’s compare at how much the rest of us are lagging behind, hehe!

Here is a sample weekday food log:
5am – 2 raw eggs, small container blueberries, teaspoon of raw honey, coconut oil, and flaxseed
8am – cup irish steel cut oatmeal (with water), cinnamon, tbsp raw honey, tbsp hempseed
11am – beet, kale, spinach, cucumber, apple, cayenne pepper fresh juice
2pm – 6 egg whites, kale, peppers, avocado
3pm – 5 oz. sweet potato
4pm – workout
6pm – 5oz sweet potoato
9pm – gigantic salad (dark greens spinach based) with poached salmon (6-8 oz) only lemon or balsamic vinegar for dressing.

My ideal workout is a 40-50 mile bike ride (weather permitting), or a cross training workout in the gym with a mix of cardio and weights. Gym for 1hour, or cycle for 2-3 hrs. I train 5 days a week, 2 weights and 3 cardio sessions. I will stretch, do yoga, or a massage on the 6th day. And one day (weekend) I do nothing but eat whatever I want!

Remember moderation. We all have cravings and need a release sometimes, like a couple drinks, etc. Be smart, stay on track, and you will see great results!

Pretend situation: I had a perfect week of avoiding fried foods, carbs, and alcohol, but on Friday I had too much beer/wine/vodka (yes, all at once!) and wound up eating a falafel/pizza/hamburger (yes, all at once!) What is my game plan for the next day or two for get back on track? How do you deal with a hangover and craving for fried, fatty foods from a long night out?

One rule when dealing with a binge or a bad meal is to pretend it never happened, and go about eating healthy and normal. “Forget it, it’s over with, back on track” is my mentality. The worst thing you can do is starve yourself to make up for the bad meal. This deregulates insulin (a digestive function which helps your body process sugar in the blood) which causes body fat storage.

As far as dealing with a hangover – it is what it is, there is no quick way around it. Grab a greasy breakfast, but stop at that. I find that a spicy Bloody Mary actually keeps me from eating all the damage. Lay off the bacon, sausage, and cheese, and instead opt for an omelet with toast and a Bloody Mary.

The best time to binge is early in the day: it gives your body a chance to digest and work through some of the damage during a full day. Try to avoid doing the late night burger and fries before bed. Sumo wrestlers gain weight so proficiently by binging and napping – they repeat this cycle all day! Hint hint. Don’t eat and fall asleep unless it’s only protein and veggies. No carbs before bed!

Most importantly is to avoid the behavior that causes the hangovers and cravings (at least keep it down to once a week.) The common theme is moderation – don’t tell yourself that you can’t have something. Instead look at it as something you’re choosing to avoid. Mentally, when we tell ourselves that we can’t have something, we’ll just want it more!

What is the better food to splurge on: Pizza vs. Hamburger, Falafel vs. Hot Dog, Beer vs. Wine, Ice Cream vs. Chocolate?

The thought process should be to satisfy your craving and eliminate the greater of the evils –
Pizza vs. hamburger: hamburger with all natural or organic beef. Put lettuce, tomato, onion, and an avocado on it, and you’re good. Stay away from the fries.
Falafel vs. hot dog? My pick is a falafel. Even if it’s fried, at least it’s chickpeas. A hot dog is mystery meat!
Beer vs. wine? My pick is wine because it has antioxidants. Beer has yeast and gluten, which is basically liquid bread. Can you say bloat?
Ice cream vs. chocolate? I’ll go for dark chocolate, since it has very little dairy as compared to ice cream, and it’s far less caloric. More importantly, dark chocolate has been shown to lower blood pressure due to antioxidants found in cocoa phenols. European chocolates are higher in cocoa phenols than the chocolate produced in the US. Milk chocolate blocks the absorption of the cocoa phenols, so always go for dark!

Please recommend the readers a few nutritional tips during the day to beat phantom hunger, emotional cravings, and stressful alcohol binges.

Some things I can recommend to keep from giving into liquor and food cravings are: sparkling water, crunchy veggies like carrots, cucumbers, celery, and seeds/nuts. At night, when you get home from work, it’s pretty common to want to reach for a glass of wine or a martini. I find a glass of sparkling water with lemon and cucumber satisfies the habit of having something in my hand to drink. The lemon and cucumber give it flavor, and fills me up without actually putting calories in my body.

Fat slows down our digestive process, so if you want to feel full longer, add a little fat to your meals and snack on nuts – I sprinkle ground flaxseed on my salads, or add a little olive oil. If i have a piece of fruit for a snack, I’ll have 10 almonds with it. At night I snack on carrots, cucumbers, celery, or peppers. If you’re really in a pinch, it wont hurt to dip those in hummus. A little goes a long way and can be a good snack so you don’t go to bed hungry.

Try to avoid power food bars. There are very few that actually contain good nutrients and aren’t full of sugar. I use Pro Bars (Cliff bars are ok but tend to be high in sugar.)

Any book recommendations?

The best book I can recommend is “The New Optimum Nutrition Bible” by Patrick Holford. It gives you the science, and you can choose how best to work it into your own life!

Thank you Derek! I hope this inspires my readers to a healthier life approach as you’ve done for me. I’d love to have you back again seasonally! See you Wednesday :)

Derek Nicholas, a NSCA certified personal trainer in New York City. His focus is mainly on one-on-one personal training, working out of Rich Baretta Private Training, known for its highly qualified trainers and athletic clientele. Living a healthy, outdoor, active lifestyle is one Derek not only lives himself, but one he lives to promote. In Derek’s sessions, the attention is placed not only on the obvious aesthetic benefits desired from exercise, but also in performance enhancement, pain free living and proper nutrition. His clients range from triathletes to the weekend warriors, from beginner to the highly conditioned. Most recently, Derek has been working closley with Rich Baretta, former Mr. America (1987) and owner of Rich Baretta Private Training, who he attributes to being his most influential mentor.

Links: Facebook |  Last Stand For Lucy | Rich Baretta Profile |

Sometimes a girl can’t help herself when the champagne is flowing like water. Padma Lakshmi, the gorgeous model, cookbook author, actress, and the host of Top Chef has her own secret remedy to preventing a hangover.

“I can tell you the best hangover cure ever … You take 1,000 milligrams of Vitamin C, with two Advil and one liter of water. Consume that in entirety before you go to bed. And … a falafel. Or, an egg in a hole, with hot sauce … and preferably cheese. If you can follow those instructions, you might feel good enough to go to the gym the next day, which you should do.”
{Source: New York Grub Street}

Sounds good to me, though I would avoid fried foods and focus on bread to soak up the extra alcohol. I also suggest a sauna next day!

A few weeks ago, I packed a couple of pretty outfits and jetted off to attend Art Chicago (an annual international fair of contemporary and modern art.) My friend had a wonderful opportunity to display his work in the show – a stunning piece called Marina – so I volunteered to join him in celebrating the success of his efforts. Having never visited Chicago, I jumped flew on the opportunity to explore it’s magnificent architecture, stunning parks, and its famous cuisine (I’m not talking about deep-dish pizza, read on!)

We walked a lot. Got lost a lot. People were nice to help with directions, but we still somehow ended up in Chinatown looking for Alexander Calder’s Flamingo sculpture… maybe Gmaps thought we were buying a flamingo and some cauldrons? Mmm… exotic Chinese food! Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time to explore Chinatown, but Chicago is only 2 hours away from NY, so when I finally get that reservation to NEXT or AVIARY (in a few years!) you bet I’ll be jetting back, looking for those flamingos in Chinatown.

A few memorable feasts:
- JAM, a hipsteresque restaurant with headquarters in the Ukrainian village and with killer food. Featured in Travel & Leisure as one of the destinations hot-spots, having brunch there was a revelation: good, seasonal, authentic american diner food with a gourmet twist, plus al fresco dining in a makeshift sculpture garden on a sunny day, with some of the best pork belly and corned beef I’ve ever had. Yes please, more!
- Blackbird, serving seasonal ingredients with a modern culinary twist, in an expansive white space, with James Beard Awards and a Michelin star… you just can’t go wrong. What stood out most was the lovely service, and whimsical plating. I had fun.
- Late night room service at our hotel, The James, with the menu by chef David Burke. That was one of the best burgers I’ve ever had at 3am!

the two owners of JAM: Chef Jeffrey Mauro (left pic, apron) and Jerry Suqi (right pic, hat)

Having a VIP pass to Art Chicago is an open door to exclusive gallery shows, parties, and events. Of course, having my cute friend as arm candy is like carrying the VIP card with me all the time! Some of the most memorable late-night places we visited in Chicago were:
- The Elysian Hotel and it’s glorious cobblestone courtyard, stunning wax figure heads in the hotel lobby, and an overall clean + minimal design. Just the right touches of luxury and extravagance, plus the best martinis and bar atmosphere make it comparable to the Bemelman’s Bar at the Carlyle in New York. Even Gwyneth Paltrow was raving about it in her GOOP newsletter!
- The Wit, primarily for the views from the rooftop bar. The club-like lines outside the swanky hotel were a turn-off for me in the beginning, but well worth the wait just for those breathtaking skyline views.
- Jazz & Blues clubs, man! You can never go wrong with a place where jazz music is the main attraction. That, and cheap drinks, and you got yourself a couple of dancing fools having the best time in the world!

What really took me back about Chicago was the people – very polite and accommodating. For a second there, my angry, jaded New Yorker spirit relaxed (with the help of my favorite drink, the Italian Greyhound) and the rest was cruise control with smiles and happiness. (But it’s still to windy there, damn it!)

I gotta fight the hangover and get back on the plane to NYC! Bloody Mary and onion soup to the rescue at Bistrot Margot

Check out the full image library on my Flickr!