This past weekend, we drove with some friends to Chicago. The catalyst: to see My Favorite Murder live @ The Vic. We also took the opportunity to check out some new spaces + explore areas we were less familiar with. And, uh, go to Ikea, of course.
61st Street Farmers Market
Located in a quiet area near UIC, this farmer's market was an understated and intimate place to be. Right when you walk in the building, you can smell the love—in the form of some yummy-ass food. It was split into two reasonably sized rooms, with several vendors in each. We were told by a friendly farmer to come back again during the summer; apparently it's a much bigger, exciting affair then. "...people dancing and music playing and everyone is outside..." Dude was so friendly, and was selling (and giving away) the most delicious apples. I can't wait to return during the warmer months!
Build Coffee
Right next door to the farmer's market was Build Coffee. A place of "radical collaboration" that also happens to serve coffee and a bunch of Haymarket books, it was totally up our alley. I was super into their logo, and they had these tote bags for sale featuring their logo in Yves Klein blue? Yes, ma'am, I'll take one! They aren't officially open for business until May, I think, but they heard us talking about it outside and invited us in to see the space. Can't wait to return and try their coffee. ☕
Jackson Park
Not much to say here, except that Chicago is a beautiful city, but I am always hungry for more green spaces whenever I'm there. It was nice to visit Jackson park, which houses the Museum of Science and Industry, and a moody little lagoon thing. We took advantage of its nearness to the lake and walked there, too.
Pilsen
The area of Pilsen we visited was all old brick buildings with colorful murals and filthy alleyways brightened by funny street art. I was totally into it and that fact that there seemed to be a vintage shop on every block.
Pilsen wasn't even on our radar, but one of the employees of Build Coffee told us a few places to go there and we decided to check it out. Well worth it; this is definitely a neighborhood I'll be returning to again and again.
Crisp
After Pilsen, we decided to park near The Vic and grab some grub. We chose Crisp, a Korean fried chicken spot in Lakeview. Everything on the menu looked good, plus they had speakers blasting ✨ hot tunes ✨ so loud you could hear it from the street. C and I decided to split 3 buffalo chicken strips and a baby Buddha bowl. Plus fries. The chicken was yummy, but the Buddha bowl truly left a lot to be desired. Pretty underwhelming, but I'd come back for the chicken, yo! 🍗
My Favorite Murder
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| Yes, of COURSE they did H. H. Holmes. He's INSANE. |
If you're not already familiar, My Favorite Murder is a true crime podcast hosted by Georgia Hardstark and Karen Kilgariff. It's been around for a little over a year, but it's suuuper popular. Late last year R and I found we had a mutual love for true crime and this podcast. When we found out they were coming to Chicago, we were SO READY.
Needless to say, the show was excellent. A lot of screaming. Plenty of awkward jokes. And 2 Chicago-based murder stories. What's not to like?
UM: THE BATHROOMS @ THE VIC.
Holy —
Please, no. First of all, they're located down some dank, windy stairs in a basement. The venue doors had just opened and I made my way down so I could beat the inevitable Women's Bathroom Rush™. This means the venue had been open a literal 5 short minutes and yet—AND YET— that bathroom was already a disaster. It smelled like someone had just vomited (FRESH ASS VOMIT) in a corner somewhere, there was hair, dirt and water allllll over the floor, and the poop smell was strong with this one. SO STRONG. I got in and got out like a pro, but open letter to The Vic? GET 👏 IT 👏TOGETHER 👏.
Suburbia
So we actually opted for a hotel in the suburbs in lieu of an Airbnb in the city, which ended up being a much smarter decision (even tho I'm low key creeped out by hotels). The Hyatt we stayed in had actually invested time + research + money into the optics of their ~hotel experience~ so the aesthetics there were pretty pleasant + modern. But let's be real, the true treat was free breakfast in the morning.
We camped out by a window in a sun-drenched corner, ate some (surprisingly tasty) powder eggs, and talked about how f*cked up America is/has always been. After checking out, we embraced our deeply buried 🗽 American values 🗽 and supported our economy by buying a bunch of random shit.
First, we stopped at a Japanese market, Mitsuwa, which C frequented when we lived in Chicago. They apparently have the best Ramen he's ever tasted in the U.S., and I was happy to discover they had a sweet-smelling bread nook on one side of the store that served a bunch of fresh bread. It took me back to my first visit to Japan when I literally lived in the bread section of the grocery store we always went to.
Next we went to Ikea, where we sleepily explored and picked up a few things. At this point we were all sort of out of it, but Ikea is honestly always a pleasant experience for me, and I managed to have a good, if spaced out, time. I'll be sharing my Ikea haul later this week, so look forward to that!
Last was Trader Joe's, where I took zero pictures, because why? But also, I was dead at this point, ready to hole up in the car for a couple hours, eating bread and apples.
That was our trip and this is the end of this post. Good bye, friends!
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