CHI - Jollibee

This adventure was pretty unknown to me and honestly I just went along for the ride but boy am I glad I did! Tongxin has been begging Christel to go and get Jollibee for some time now apparently but seeing as it's a little far from campus it hasn't been an easy trip to make. The two of them finally decided to go and invited me along as well and now I'm obsessed. 

LOCATION: 5033 N ELSTON AVE, CHICAGO, IL 60630

Jollibee is a Filipino fast food chain that's known for their fried chicken (i.e. Filipino KFC) with the cutest Jolly Bee as their mascot and really good food. Christel is from the Philippines so she knew exactly what to get and just ordered the three of us a sample of everything so we could take in the Jollibee experience. Christel ordered us a Bucket Treat B which comes with a 6 pieces Chickenjoy Bucket (with gravy because this chicken MUST be eaten with gravy to be authentic), one family sized jolly spaghetti, and three mango peach pies. We ordered a soda to share and also an order of Palabok fiesta which is a Filipino noodle dish to round out the meal.

I had zero expectation of what this would be like but Tongxin was pretty excited she finally got to try some Jollibee and neither of us was disappointed. This chicken definitely gives KFC a run for their money; its soft, moist, and had a great crisp skin with great flavor. I'm too American and can't get used to eating it with gravy but that's not to say the gravy was bad at all. Jolly Spaghetti is pretty good but it's one of those sweeter spaghetti's with little hot dog pieces in it. Very American if you ask me but Christel and Tongxin are all about it. I'm a bigger fan of the palabok but that's not a surprise seeing as I like rice noodles with citrus drizzled on it. The palabook has a lighter sauce and comes with egg, shrimp, and crunchy pork skins on top for texture and flavor. I'm hooked and will dream about this noodle for a long time and I'm already sad it's gone. I'm already planning my next visit with my mom because she loves KFC and this is something she'll actually enjoy without a doubt. 

Of course it doesn't stop there, we made sure to stop in time to save room for dessert and Christel ordered us one halo halo to share which is more than enough after our chicken feast. Halo halo is a filipino dessert (similar to Chè for all my Viet homies out there) thats made up of shaved ice and evaporated milk. Jollibee halo halo includes this beautiful jam smeared on the inside of the cup and all the magical beans and jello hiding on the bottom including white beans, red beans, chickpeas, young coconut and has two scoops of ice cream (ube and cheese flavored) and flan on top. Christel said there was supposed to be pieces of jackfruit mixed in but we totally got ripped off and didn't have any and this thing was still magical. Halo halo and Chè are just those fun desserts that I love that no one else understands in America because it just doesn't exist but when you have it, it's just super special. 

CHI - Goddess and the Baker

Here I am again, back in Chicago against my will (kinda), but at least I always have somewhere new to eat. 

LOCATION: 33 S WABASH AVE, Chicago, IL 60603

Goddess and the Baker is marketed as this veggie friendly, healthy cafe and bakery which just happens to be by a few other veggie friendly, healthy eateries. Tons of competition but that doesn't keep it from being super packed with a line to the door. Still it moves pretty quickly so that's a plus and if there are this many people it must be good right? Well that's the logic I like to go with anyways. 

I came with a friend who wanted to check this place out and by the time we got to the front of the line decided that take out was the way to go since there were very few seats left open. I ordered the Garden Goddess Wrap which comes with hummus, avocado, beets, cucumber, carrot, tomato, arugula, and the 'goddess dressing' and also a side of fruit (or chips). It took a little bit of time until my order was ready and that time consisted of me trying to move around so that I was close enough to the take away counter yet not in someone's way. Spoilers if you've never been, there's no where that puts you out of the way. Still after 5-10 minutes my name was called (even though they never asked for it?) and we were on our way to look for a place to eat. A few tables had opened up but apparently we were up for an adventure so we walked around. 

A couple blocks later we ended up on a bench in the Maggie Daley Park (right next to Millennium) digging in. I was a little nervous because my wrap looked a little messy to eat on a bench but that's never stopped me before.

As beautifully colored as this wrap is, I can say I was a little disappointed. I love beets and just because of the way they're shaved you can barely taste them. Everything sort of melded into the bland blob of veggies. I took one bite and immediately thought 'it needs more flavor' a little bit of salt or citrus juice honestly would've done wonders for this wrap and I was so excited that I bought a lemonade to try and wash some of the blandness around to resemble flavor. The hummus itself stood out seeing as it was the only thing that had a unique flavor to it at the ends of the wrap and as much as I love veggies, I couldn't even finish this little $10 wrap because it was so boring. 

The food here looks pretty good but in comparing quantity to price I was for sure hesitant to pay $10+ for smaller sandwiches with fewer ingredients and I'm completely deterred now that I know the flavor is completely lacking. I'm sure I could find an equally sized $10 sandwich with at least a little more kick to it. I was also disappointed in my little 5oz size of fruit but I guess that's to be expected. 'Fresh fruit' cups are always a hit or miss (mostly a miss in my opinion.)

In the end, would not go back. As incredible as the esthetic is and as nice and the food sounds, it was a total flavor disappointment. 

It's about time....

I'm not sure if this is surprising or not but I've honestly never eaten at Chili's. As much as I love eating out I have fun at the smaller places that Rochester has to offer with the quirks and charm that you can't get anywhere else. Nevertheless, it's still convenient to go to chains because they're all over the place and with my picky cousin Vi, this was a safe choice. So off we were to Chili's! 

LOCATION: 655 JEFFERSON RD., ROCHESTER, NY 14623

Now when I say I've never been to Chili's I mean I've never eaten there because I've definitely been here for Margarita's with the Italy adventure buddies. Still, I've never looked at a menu for food so this was a new experience. 

Vi used to go to Chili's relatively often in Arizona so I just trusted her and went with what she likes. I'm not as picky and would try anything especially since I was so hungry. We started right off the bat with skillet queso & chips which is Vi's usual starter. This queso has seasoned beef in it giving it a darker color than what I was expecting and made the salt levels higher. Put that on top of salty corn chips and cut to me drinking a whole glass of strawberry lemonade before we get our main dishes. Now if you know me, it's generally lucky if I finish one of these glasses of lemonade by the end of a meal so I'm serious when I say that salty is the word of the day for Chili's food at this location.

As a main dish I was considering a fresh mex bowl because I love rice bowls but Vi was saying how her brother likes getting the fajita's and the idea of a grilled steak over prime rib sounded like a better plan to me. I got Mix & Match Fajita's and I of course picked grilled steak and shrimp. It also came with caramelized onions and peppers, three cheese, guac, salsa, rice, black beans, and a few flour tortilla's. Vi ordered a steak (well done) with two sides of corn, not exactly my choice of a great meal but to each his own.

Already I wasn't asked how i wanted my steak cooked which concerned me but I've never been here before so I'm not sure if this is the normal structure or if I just got ripped off in this because my grilled steak came out very well done and I'm a medium rare kinda girl so I was slightly disappointed. The shrimp however was cooked nicely and everything came together to make some nice tacos. Of course, if you remember, the word of the meal is salty which is exactly what everything was. all of the protein was overly salty and i was pretty glad for the tortillas and my lemonade because I would've dried up from the sodium intake in this one meal. I had half left over which will be great for lunch tomorrow but chewy overcooked steak can only go down from here and I'd rather order a rice bowl at chipotle for $10 than come back for the over saltedness that is my Chili's experience.   

ROC - Barcade Adventures

I'm back in Rochester and my cousin Sheen is back living in New York which means cousin bonding day!! With training for his new job and my 'I work every afternoon' schedule it's been tough for us to catch up but I had the afternoon off and Sheen didn't have to drive into work so we figured it was the perfect time. He let me pick the place so I checked my trusty Rochester food list and found a place that would work for lunch so off we went! 

LOCATION: 820 S CLINTON AVE, ROCHESTER, NY 14620

The Playhouse Swillburger was the first barcade I've heard of in Rochester and even though it's been open for a few years I'd never found the time to go or anyone to go with so this was the perfect opportunity. Clearly, part of going to a barcade is for the bar but noon on a Sunday didn't seem like a time we wanted to drink but burgers and video games are an any day any time kinda deal so there was still enough to enjoy. 

Sheen and I were of course super nerdy and awkward which makes us really endearing to cashiers so we asked a bunch of very stupid questions and I ended up ordering a single burger with lettuce, cheese, and tomato and Sheen got the chicken sandwich with lettuce and tomato as well. I also got a side of their swill sauce which is of course a special sauce they created and the cashier explained it to me when I asked but I couldn't tell you now what's really in it.  

Sheen and I decided to split our meals so we could see which ones we thought were better and of course because of family and bonding reasons. I think we both decided that my burger was the winner in this situation even though I'm pretty much a chicken sandwich kinda girl. This chicken was crispy on the outside but not super flavorful and ended up being a little dry. The burger was much more satisfying in flavor and texture. The swill sauce actually did help with the moisture component but it's not a super strong sauce and wasn't crazy overpowering which I appreciate. I actually enjoyed it more with the french fries. 

I of course had to pull another awkward dumb moment when I realized I wanted to order fries and never did so when I picked up the burger and sandwich I placed an order with the super nice cashier and he was happy to make me feel less dumb about my process. 

He also tried to explain to me their sauce on their special fries but I wasn't feeling THAT adventurous not knowing what their fries tasted like alone so I just ordered them plain and called it a day. 

While it was awesome that they gave me this huge fry spill, I'm not super satisfied with these fries. Theyre so thin and fried to a crisp that they don't really taste like much. I'm all about starchy potato-y fries that i was kinda let down. Wouldn't order them again. 

After we finished eating we decided to play some games and Sheen had about $3 so it was fast. We both stupidly stood in front of pinball machines after depositing our tokens and were worried that we just lost our money before we both realized after about 5 minutes of standing there that pinball machines have start buttons. Like I said we're both really smart. Must run in the family. We may not have won anything (not that there's really much to win) but we had a fun little cousin outing and walked around after. A great day for both of us thanks to Swillburger. 

CHI - Bouldering, Nando's, and Cookie Dough

Today was the final day of the school year which meant a Year End Show to send off the seniors and see what other programs were working on in the building. This also meant that we didn't have to be at school until 2pm so I twisted some arms and Alyx and Christel from the industrial design program happily agreed to go bouldering with me at Brooklyn Boulders because I was dying to climb. We had such a fun time and even though it's more expensive than what I'm used to, it's also a million times nicer and bigger than the Red Barn at RIT. Nevertheless the barn will always be my bouldering home and for less than $5 it's a steal. Not something I'm going to find in Chicago I'm sure.  

After a little over an hour we decided to pack things up with our noodle arms and head to lunch since it was still early. Brooklyn boulders is in between school and the west loop where the strip of restaurants is that is always a go-to success. After debating whether or not we should be eating tacos and drinking margarita's because its Cinco De Mayo we landed on going to Nando's PERi-PERi which is something I've wanted to do since the decor looks so fun from the outside and we don't have this chain in Rochester. 

LOCATION: 953 W RANDOLPH ST., CHICAGO, IL 60607

Walking in this place is just as cute inside as it seems from the outside. It's super colorful while not being gaudy and it smells really great. We checked out our menu's and I got some recommendations from Alyx and made a sharing game plan with Christel and we walked up to order. Alyx was telling me that this chain derived from Africa and the PERi-PERi is a popular pepper of that region which gets shipped to the states for this kitchen to use. Pretty cool. 

 Alyx got a wrap of some sort, Christel got chicken, and I decided on the Chicken Thigh Skewers which comes with onions, red pepper, and I chose the mango lime sauce on the chicken with a side of Peri Chips (french fries) and the special Perinaise (the PERi-PERi mayo). Christel got a side of garlic bread and we shared so we got to try a little more. 

Everything tasted so good and between the three of use we pretty much cleared our plates and were pretty full. My chicken was juicy and the mango lime sauce on top was a unique twist. I liked the idea and it was really yummy. The fries were also great and not too skinny and crispy which I like. Fries that taste like potatoes are my love and with the dipping mayo it was so flavorful. With mayo aioli type sauces I'm good to go. 

Happy, full, and not yet sore from bouldering, we continued our adventure!  

 We still had some time to wander around after we finished eating so Alyx suggested this cookie shop that her boyfriend found for her. She was raving about how these were the best cookies and she was super excited to go and grab some since we were close to the store so Christel and I agreed and we started to walk off our Nando's on our quest for cookies! 

LOCATION: 1148 W MONROE ST., CHICAGO, IL 60607

Warm Belly Bakery is this tiny little shop with a full case of these dense cookie balls. They're pretty heavy weight wise and density wise so, not having a huge sweet tooth, they're not something I would crave but like I mentioned, Alyx loves them and they are really tasty. 

Since there were a bunch of flavors the three of use decided just to go in on the 6 cookie deal for $16 and get two each. I got the fruity pebbles and the cheesecake and they both ended up being pretty good. The problem I found with the fruity pebbles was that the cereal itself got a little soggy in the processes and were therefore a little chewy in a way that wasn't super enjoyable. The cookies are also a little crumbly and super heavy so it took some time and dedication for me to get through this rock while also sharing with some people. The cheesecake was a little flatter and therefore more enjoyable. It was creamy and cheescake-y but again, chewy. Not my favorite part of the day but I honestly love trying this kinda stuff and if I'd seen pictures of this place I would've made it a trip so even though it's not my thing I'm super glad Alyx took us.   

Overall, a very nice bonding day full of climbing and food. What more could I ask for.