Well, I’m exhausted as I’ve been up since 5am, but I’ll do my best to write coherently.

Today marks my first full day in Chicago.  I came to the city with low expectations, well, it’s more like no expectations.  I just returned to my hotel room after a long day of apartment searching with the folks over at Apartment People.  A special thanks to Bruno and Jennifer in the 51 W. Huron office are in order!

I’ve been up since 5am and I took an early flight over from Newark Liberty Airport.  One thing that I noticed immediately upon landing is that it’s already uber cold in October!  I currently live in the greater New York City area, but it’s still around 50 degrees or so over there.  Besides the cold, I immediately noticed the vast amounts of restaurants in the downtown area, and Chicago is known to be a foodie town.  I also wasn’t ready for the friendliness of the people in the city…must be a Mid-West thing.  Although I found it to be a little intense, it really is a welcome change.  The friendliness here is definitely quite warming on a cold day.  I must say, I’m really digging this city and I should’ve came out here with my mom and sister when they visited some years ago.

After a day of apartment hunting, my stomach was ready for a taste of Chicago’s culinary culture.  I wanted my first dining experience in the city to be easy-going, friendly, and of course, tasty.  Fortunately, a couple of days before my visit, my good friend Mark recommended the Twin Anchors Restaurant and Tavern for the ribs.  Seeing that Mark was born in Chicago and has lived there himself, I had much faith in his recommendation.

I took a cab from the hotel and found myself at the doorsteps of the Twin Anchors Restaurant and Tavern within 10 minutes.  I haven’t had good ribs in a long time, and I really hoped that this place would make a great first impression on me.  So there I was, a Jersey boy in one of the most famous restaurants in Chicago.  I’m a seasoned foodie, so bring it on!  The waitress was really super friendly and she asked where I was from.  I told her I was visiting from New Jersey and then she told me that Frank Sinatra (born in Hoboken, New Jersey), was the person who really put Twin Anchors on the map as it was one of favorite stops in the city.

I ordered the chicken and ribs combination.  I had the choice of dark or white chicken meat and I chose the latter.  I was curious to see how the chicken breast meat would turn out.  The dish came with a big bowl of zesty barbeque sauce and a delicious side of baked beans with shredded pork.  Usually when I eat something this heavy, I feel pretty guilty afterwards.  This time around, no guilt what-so-ever.  In fact, I was sad when I ate the last piece of rib meat.  The rib meat fell right off the bone, but it wasn’t as fatty and juicy as I expected.  Still, it was really good and I was yearning for more afterwards.  The chicken was cooked very well too.  The breast meat wasn’t dry, in fact, I was surprised that it held in some of the moisture.

Squeaky clean.

Tomorrow I’m planning to hit up the China town area in search of xiao long bao (soup dumplings).  Will there be anything in Chicago that can match up to Joe Shanghai in NYC?