House of Blues Chicago

I had no idea how cool the House of Blues, Chicago is you guys! Someone should have told me sooner! Of course, I knew it existed as a concert venue, but that's about it. I went to see Mike Doughty play there last night and was amazed at the entire experience. LOVED it! First of all, I love me some folk art and this place is jammed with it. Of course it makes sense and all, blues culture and the folk art asthetic go together, duh! My friend N and I had dinner downstairs before the show and I couldn't get enough of the art and decor in general. I think I even said, "I want to live here. I love it!"

So I did some searching and the HoB is, of course a chain. There are 13 locations throughout the country. Chicago opened in 1996. The first location opened in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1992. It's no longer open, but there is a Boston location. Obviously Chicago isn't the one and only, although this location felt authentic, not chain-y, which I appreciated greatly.

A tiny taste of the art/decor. This is from the "front porch" before you walk into the restaurant area on the first floor.

Yours truly, at dinner. This pic was originally super dark, but after tweaking with the levels, the overall vibe fits.

Crossroads at House of Blues Cornbread appetizer. Love the mini skillet and it was delicious!

Crossroads at House of Blues side of cole slaw. Red cabbage, carrots, cilantro and a light dressing.

Crossroads at House of Blues Trio of Cheese Rigatoni. I don't remember all three cheeses, but there was a hidden blanket of melty cheese in the middle of that mess of noodles. The sauce had a nice kick to it.

Chow

Wow! There's a show on the Travel Channel called the Chow Down Countdown. Each episode features 20 eateries that are worthy of being featured on a show that includes the words Chow Down in the title. I happened to catch a bit of the 80-61 show the other night. Looks like they've only aired two episodes so far, so if you play your cards right, you may be able to catch the first two and the new episodes as they air.

My initial thought upon seeing some of the featured dishes, "this is why Americans are fat". Interestingly though being someone who loves to cook and eat, I couldn't get enough of the show! It was total food porn. Clip after clip of amazing, drool-worthy food located all over the country that I will probably never eat. Here are a few of the features that stood out to me. And if you've got some extra time, a few pics from the episode can be found here.

#76 An ice cream sundae called the Kitchen Sink.

#75 The Buffet at the Bellagio looked like it was a mile long and had amazing looking everything.

#73 A ballpark with a burger served in a grilled Krispy Kreme doughnut.

#67 A five-pound burrito called Burritozilla.

#64 Round Rock Donuts. A place that has a doughnut so big they use a five gallon bucket as the dough cutter.

Watching one episode made me totally hungry for junk food in huge delectable portions. It's probably a good thing that these places are located all over the country and not in my back yard! Probably also a good that I don't have cable to be able to watch shows like this on the regular.

One of my favorite out of town food memories is when I visited Sherman's Dairy in South Haven, Michigan on a high school camping trip. I had been on the road with classmates for nearly two weeks traipsing around out west and we stopped in South Haven for an almost-home snack - ice cream cones that were GIGANTIC! I like to say that large portions of food are "bigger than my head," but look at that picture, the cones really were that big!

do not like

We went to lunch at Qdoba today and I can still smell the restaurant grill smell on my clothes. I'm so not a fan of food smells permeating clothes. I even went as far as to leave my giant winter parka in the car so my coat wouldn't smell. So while the parka may have been able to escape being bathed in the pungent aroma of lunch, the rest of my outfit, not so lucky.

Dear Qdoba,
What exactly is going on in there? Do you need better ventilation. I think you do. Seems funny that you'd have a restaurant - you cook food for customers - and not have adequate ventilation for those customers. It's not like it's a surprise that you cook huge volumes of food every day. It's not like you're grilling up veggies and quesadillas for yourself for lunch and all of a sudden there are hundreds of people who want to eat lunch with you so you're forced to prepare food in less than adequate conditions. You are a restaurant for crying out loud!! I want to eat your food for lunch. I don't want to smell like my lunch after I eat it. I'm considering breaking up with you. Remember the sweater incident? (*)You were on my list for a couple years after that situation. Do you want that to happen again? You're on thin ice, my burrito-making friend. Don't think I don't have other burrito making friends in town. I'm just saying. Please do us all a favor and review your ventilation system.

-*fish

*many years ago. The ex and I visited the Qdoba on 28th Street between lunch and dinner. We were two of maybe four people in the place. I somehow left a light sweater behind. I called the restaurant within a half hour of our departure. When I described the sweater, they said they had it. I went back shortly after the call and they tried to pawn a fleece from the lost and found box on me. It was so not my sweater. I'm pretty sure one of the staff members snaked the sweater for themselves. Of course there was no way for me to substantiate my suspicion, but it took me a couple years before I'd even consider eating there again.

Cygnus 27

Square lights @ Cygnus. 

Went there for a friend's birthday brunch a couple months back and had a lovely time. The food was plentiful and delicious. The drinks flowed. 

I liked the decor, but found the way some of the tables were arranged didn't take maximum advantage of the view on the 27th floor of the Amway Grand Plaza in Grand Rapids. There are high-back round booths set up in the corners  that look into the restaurant, instead of out over the Grand River. I just thought it was slightly odd, because overall you can tell a lot of thought went into the new design of the restaurant, but how they missed on table layout is a mystery.