Short trip to Chicago and a surprise encounter with Scottie Pippen!

I went on a short trip to Chicago this week.  Here are some of the interesting places where I ate at:

I had lunch at this nice little store called grahamwich.  It is owned by Graham Elliot, who is a Michelin starred chef and one of the judges on Gord Ramsay's Masterchef.

 I ordered the waldorf chicken sandwich.  It was pretty tasty but a bit on the salty side with the blue cheese.

I also tried their pain au chocolat provided by Bleeding Heart Bakery because it looked so tempting.  It was very flakey and goes well with a nice cup of coffee.

For dinner, I went to two noteworthy places.  First was Cafe Spiaggia.  I tried their mozzarella with some fruit preserve - very appetizing.

For my pasta dish, I got the ravioli stuffed with pork and finished with rosemary and a balsamic sauce.  I like how the balsamic sauce is nice and light and the portion size was not overwhelming, unlike most other restaurants in the US.

I also tried the salted caramel cupcake from Sprinkles Cupcakes.  Their cupcakes are so nice and moist and there'd always be a lineup whenever I passed by the store.

On my last night, I met up with a friend and we went to GT Fish & Oyster.  Another restaurant by a Michelin starred chef, Giuseppe Tentori.  This was a very happening place and people kept rolling in even as we were leaving the restaurant.  We didn't have a reservation so we opted to sit at the communal table, which is a more comfortable choice than a the bar.  We ordered some oysters to start.

Then we got a few dishes to share.  First was a lovely crab cake dish.

Then we had the ricotta gnocchi with squid and smoked salmon.

We also tried the fish tacos.  I liked how everything came in a size perfect for sharing.

We finished off with a decomposed key lime pie.  I didn't expect a key lime pie to look like this!

At the end of my trip while waiting in the airport lounge was a surprise encounter with none other than Scottie Pippen of the Chicago Bulls!  Since the airport lounge was very full at the time, he didn't stick around long.  I got up the nerve to ask him for a picture and he got his little son (I think it was his son) to take it with my iPhone.  Totally made my day!