Our friend Beth makes fun and funny pillows under the name Diffraction Fiber (you may have seen her ctrl-alt-delete pillow set on your favorite nerd blog) and we’ve given her state pillows as wedding presents before. So when we trying to come up with a wedding present for our friends Ben and Emily, we thinking about getting them an Illinois pillow, because they both love Chicago (they even had their Chicago-themed apartment featured in a Time Out article). Brainstorm—why not pillows of the Chicago flag? They came out great—we gave two to Ben and Emily and kept two for ourselves (I’m justifying it by telling myself that 4 pillows would be awkward on a couch). Beth says she’s adding them to her repertoire, do they should be available from her Etsy shop.

I was correct. At 3:00 pm there was practically no wait at all — there were just a few people ahead of me in line (two places ahead of me in line was restaurant PRer Ellen Malloy and Rick Bayless came running over to take a picture of her with his iPhone).

Rick Bayless was very much a presence in the open kitchen of Xoco — snapping photos, clanging around with pots and pans, and doing an interview with a Spanish-language television host (above). I try not to get starstruck, but yeah, he’s a handsome man.

For lunch I got a churo, a limonada, and the Torta Cubana. I had meant to save the churo for dessert, but my sandwich took a little while to come (I’ll let it slide—it’s the first week) and so I ate the churo to tide me over. The churo was delightful—sweet, cinnamony, warm, and just the right ratio of crispy and doughy. The limonada was similarly delightful — thick with lime flavors and fairly tart.

The Cubana sandwich was good, but not the best Cuban sandwich I’ve ever had. Notably, there was no pickle, which I would consider a component that really makes a Cuban sandwich. Not to rag on it too much — it was a good sandwich and the bacon on it was incredible. In retrospect, maybe I shouldn’t have gotten a Cuban sandwich at a Mexican joint. I’ll definitely be back to try some of the other offerings.

Xoco is only open for lunch and dinner right now, and they’re not offering takeout (which is a wise choice, given the time it took for my eat-in order). The breakfast offerings already on the menu look incredible and I can’t wait for them to open earlier.

Novelty Golf and Games* in Lincolnwood (3650 West Devon Ave) has everything you’d want from a miniature golf setup: big random sculptures, mechanical rotate-y things (including a windmill), and oddly difficult holes. The Bunny Hutch is right next door and there’s an Oberweis across the street for pre-game hot dogs or post-game ice cream, respectively. There are two 18 hole courses and there’s a second game discount if you just can’t get enough miniature golf.

* the “and Games” is batting cages and an arcade.

Stop 0: Sotol

It’s important to be properly fortified before you set out on a journey like this, so we had a sip of Hacienda de Chihuahua Sotol before we took the train south. Hmm… smooooth.

Stop 1: Uncle Julio’s Hacienda, 855 W North Ave

We all were going to mostly stick with traditional (or at least, non-frozen) margaritas, but the Swirl is the signature drink at Uncle Julio’s and I’m a sucker for a signature drink. The florescent flamingo lets you know you’re not in for subtle flavors, but I did enjoy it.

Everyone else got the Julio’s Gold margarita on the rocks and we got a bowl of Chile con Queso for the table. Hmmm… cheeeese.

Stop 2: Adobo Grill, 1610 N Wells

At Adobo the signature dish is the Guacamole which is prepared fresh, tableside. (I’m also a sucker for food that’s a show) so that had to be our appetizer. And we had the Adobo Margarita all around. None of us were brave enough to add a “smoky floater” to our Margarita (an extra shot of del Maguey Chichicapa), which in retrospect I regret.

Stop 3: El Nuevo Mexicano, 2914 N Clark

We had a lot of choices when we were assembling the route for this tour, and Cesar’s, just a few blocks north, was a strong contender with, if nothing else, their huge neon sign proclaiming that they have “killer margaritas”. So I’m not sure how El Nuevo Mexicano made it onto the list, but it turned out to be a good choice if for no other reason than that it was getting to be dinner time and Cesar’s was pretty packed. (Margarita tours can’t wait!)

I was starting to feel the alcohol by this stop and so I ordered a pomegranate margarita under some sort of mistaken impression that the fruit juice would be healthier or something. Instead, it was a bit too sweet for my tastes and so it was the only drink I was unable to finish on the tour. We had a plate of Garnachas with ground beef which were tasty, but a small portion for four people.

Stop 4: La Fonda, 5350 N Broadway St

I was back on my game by the time we got to La Fonda. It was my turn to order the appetizer and I was feeling a bit noshy so we got two kinds of plantains (hmm… plantains) — the Tostonachos Caribenos and sweet plantains, and some rice and beans. We got the Gold or Special or whatever (I forget their name for their Top Shelf margarita) all around. I think it might have been my favorite of the tour, though that may have been the 4 previous drinks talking.

Like I said, there are plenty of places that didn’t make the cut just because of time and not drinking-ourselves-into-oblivion. Next time maybe we’ll hit Frontera Grill, Cesar’s, and wherever you suggest in the comments…

The long-standing 24-hour newsstand at the corner of Chicago and Michigan was dismantled this week.

Update: It’s not dead! It’s just a flesh wound! It’ll be rebuilt in the style of the CTA bus stops. (Thanks, OMIC)

Red Line, Saturday night, just after Midnight.

Now that I’ve survived two winters here, I have now realized the perfect analogy to explain this phenomenon for folks who don’t live here or are new to the area. Let’s say you’re walking down the street and an extremely overjoyed person prances up to you and says, “Isn’t it wonderful that I’m not punching you in the face right now?!” Of course you would look at them funny or try to avoid eye contact and escape, or perhaps just nod and smile and continue on with your day… Now, if that same person were to punch you in the face continuously for say, five (or more) months. When they finally stop and ask, “Isn’t it wonderful that I’m not punching you in the face right now?!” you would say, “Yes, oh yes! Not being punched in the face is marvelous!!”

Chicago, it’s April. Please stop punching me in the face.

Now that it’s June and the weather is still punching us in the face, over and over, giving us little shoulder jabs, just think how wonderful that one sunny day is going to seem. Whenever it gets here.

The new rule around our house is that if one of us says “We should …” and the other person says, “Yes, we should.” then we do our best to just go do that thing.

So it was that this last weekend we found ourselves driving down to Kankakee River State Park, about an hour and a half south of where we live in Chicago, and riding horses.

It was $25 each for an hour-long guided ride, and it was well worth it. We rode most of the way in quiet, just soaking in the sounds and smells of the woods around us. The State Park Stables are run by Camp Shaw and everyone we dealt with was a peach. Afterwards we had a beer and lunch at BrickStone in downtown Borbonnais and it was a great topper to the afternoon.

Sun-Times: Parking meter hikes, ticket writing to be delayed in areas

From the Lakewood Manor Players.

(Via Schadenfreude)