Afternoon Tea at the Seasons Lounge at Four Seasons - Chicago, IL

My friend Yeena took me out for afternoon tea for my birthday a few months ago.  How can you not love little sandwiches and plates of scrumptious desserts?  

Sweet & Savories - Chicago, IL

A friend of mine recommended Sweets & Savories to me awhile back for the Sunday prix fixe menu.  For $14, you get a two course meal that comes with coffee or tea and a plate of baked goods.  It sounded like a great bargain to me so a few of my girlfriends and I planned a Sunday Brunch there recently.  

It's on Fullerton, but the front is very unassuming so it's pretty easy to completely miss it.  I ended up having to drive past it a few times.  

Lure Fishbar - New York, NY (Soho)

I went to go visit Pete in New York last month and I always face a conundrum when I am there.  I have limited time and there's too many places to eat.  So when Pete asked what I wanted to eat for lunch on Saturday, I had no clue.  Luckily Pete suggested lobster rolls.  It's hard to say no to lobster rolls, so off we went to Soho to Lure Fishbar.

Graham Elliott (Lollapalooza) - Chicago, IL

I went to Lollapalooza earlier this month and while my cousin was going crazy for the lineup, I was busy creating my own lineup, plotting what I would eat throughout the course of the weekend. hehe. I've been to my share of street festivals this summer and was getting a bit tired of the usual funnel cake, fried cheese curds and elephant ear offerings. So you could imagine my excitement when I found out that The Southern, Hoosier Mama Pie Company, Kuma's, Sunda and Graham Elliott were all going to be there.

We all have Graham Elliot Bowles, the Culinary Director for Lollapalooza this year, to thank for the fabulous chow town line up. For those of you who are not familiar with Mr. Bowles, he, at the age of 27, was the youngest chef in America to ever receive four stars while he was at Avenues at the Peninsula Hotel. Then Bowles went on to open a River North “bistronomic” spot named after himself two years ago. He's known for creating signature dishes like his “foilipops” (fois gras speared like a Tootsie Pop and encrusted with Pop Rocks) or his deconstructed Caesar salad, which is made up of baby romaine, white anchovy, Parmesan fluff and a brioche Twinkie.

His restaurant represented at Lolla and offered up three tasty choices: Lobster Corn Dogs, Truffle and Parmesan Popcorn and Watermelon Gazpacho.