Floriole and Franks 'n Dawgs

Took the day off for my birthday and spent it with my Ang and Mae. I wanted to try Franks 'n Dawgs in Lincoln Park for lunch. Headed to LP and dropped of Ang for her dentist appointment and Mae and I had a quick breakfast at Floriole Cafe and Bakery just down the street. Floriole is next to one of my fave cupcake bakery, Sweet Mandy B's, and inside is what I call modern cozy. Menus are up on chalkboards and their fresh selection of pastries and salads are in the display. I ordered a nice cup of Intelligiesta coffee and a chocolate croissant. If you know me, if there's a chocolate croissant on the menu, I'm game. The croissant was butterly and flaky, but I wish there was a bit more chocolate in it.

After hanging out in the area and picked up Ang, we headed to Franks 'n Dawgs for some unique hot dogs. I had the Epic Pork-gasm of bacon sausage, bacon jam, whiskey glazed pork belly, baconaise, chicharrons, and ham dust; Ang had the Tur-Doggin of turkey & date sausage, crispy duck confit, herb garlic aioli, pickled onion relish & pickled carrots; and Mae got Brunch dog of Slagel farms pork loin breakfast sausage with Cobb smoked bacon, fried egg & drizzled with maple mayo. We shared sides of triple truffle fries and truffle mac and cheese. We really enjoyed our meal. The combination of flavors on our dawgs worked really well and our truffle flavored sides were amazing. Can't wait to come back here and try other franks and dawgs!

Chicago Food Truck Social 2012

The girls and I spent a warm August Saturday afternoon in the city. We met up at the Randolph Street Festival in the West Loop to browse at vintage and one of kind of items. Therese was the only who walked away with some nice broaches for a bridal shower she was attending. After the festival, we walked over GEB for a refreshing cocktail of their punch then cabbed it over to the Food Truck Social for some dinner. It was our chance to dabble in some of these foods since we all work in the burbs and we were excited. The set up was in an empty gravel lot of 11 food trucks displaying their unique specialties. We started off with Hummingbird Kitchen's Italian fries of shaved garlic, fresh oregano and chili flakes. We snacked on the fries while waiting in line at The Tamale Spaceship where the guy at the window was dressed appropriately with a Lucha Libre wrestling mask. We got the chicken, pork and steak tamales with chips and guac. The tamales were delicious with their special mole and green sauces and the guac was simply tasty. Tried Chi-town Bomber's sausage and onions, which was juicy and full of flavor. Then ended with Ice Cubed's Black Velvet frozen treat. Overall, I had a nice time here and would definitely look out for these pop ups next summer as food trucks in Chicago are quickly growing.