La Ciudad: Mexican Food without the Sombrero

Recently, someone asked us how we would choose the one restaurant to visit for each of the popular cuisines, like Italian or Chinese or Mexican, and we didn't have a good response (some of our friends have mistakenly assumed we've put lots of thought into this project, and that's adorable!).  This past weekend we came up with the answer: we opted for La Ciudad for Mexican cuisine because it was a nice afternoon and the restaurant was an easy walk from our place.  We weren't that familiar with the restaurant, but we were aware that the place had been featured on Check, Please!, so we strode off confidently, knowing that the liberal media wouldn't steer us wrong.

Isla Pilipina Restaurant: Heaven in a Strip Mall

When you don't own a car, you learn the charms of public transportation quickly.  Besides your colorful fellow commuters, one of the perks not driving is being able to look around and see what is passing by outside your window.  Several months ago on our way to Sarajevo Restaurant, we spotted several promising looking places while enjoying the 81 - Lawrence bus, including an Iraqi place that you'll probably read about in the coming months.  Another place that looked good was Isla Filipina.  On that particular night, people were lined up out the door, so we took that as a good sign.  This restaurant is an unassuming place in a small strip mall, tucked in near a Little Caesars and several places catering to Eastern Europeans.  So this week we hopped back on the bus headed to Isla Filipina to get a taste of the Philippines!

Tre Kronor: Non-Muppet Related Swedish Food

One of the charms of this little adventure is trying places that we've seen many times and always remarked that we should try, but never did.  This week we ventured to Tre Kronor, which is straight up Foster Avenue towards O'Hare Airport from us.  On just about every trip to and from the airport, one of us would remark that we should try Tre Kronor, a Swedish restaurant, to see what Swedish cuisine was all about when it wasn't prepared by the Swedish Chef on the Muppets or served in Ikea's cafeteria.  On a sunny, warm March day, we decided to hop on the Foster bus and check out our first Scandinavian country for lunch.   Tre Kronor, show me what Sweden is all about!