After graduation, I stayed in contact with many of my classmates from culinary school. They really are some of the best people I have ever met. We would regularly meet up for drinks at this hole in the wall bar down the street from the college.
Jacob graduated the semester after I did, in December of 2016. He decided he was going to move to Denver, CO after graduation. His plan was to drive out there and stay with a friend before getting settled. I jumped at the chance to take the trip with him. After much planning and discussing on February 25th at 1:30 in the morning we were on our way to an epic foodies journey across the country!
Niagara Falls
The 1st stop on our trip was Niagara Falls, only about 6 hours from us and yet neither of us had been there before. We got to Buffalo, NY around 7 and decided to stop and grab breakfast. Since we both had gone to culinary school we were pretty into food. Jacob had brought along a Diners, Drive-ins and Dives book to use for reference on our way. We found a diner in Buffalo called The Lake Effect.
I learned a very important life lesson here, not all bacon is the same. I ordered eggs benedict with peameal bacon. As it turns out peameal bacon is basically thinly sliced pork loin. Incredibly disappointing when you’re expecting real bacon. Overall the breakfast was actually underwhelming, unfortunately.
From Buffalo, the falls are only about a half hour away so we got there pretty early, around 8. The parking lot was fairly empty, and a light rain was falling. As you walk up to the falls you can hear the rushing water but the river its self is calm, it’s hard to believe that a huge waterfall is up ahead.
When we got up to the viewpoint for the falls we were the only ones there. It was rather peaceful, standing in the rain looking at the most powerful waterfalls in Northern America. Niagara Falls is actually made up of three different waterfalls. Bridal Veil is the smallest, then the American falls and finally, Horseshoe Falls is the largest. The Bridal Veil Falls and the American Falls hit the base with 280 tons of force while the Horseshoe falls hit the base with 2,509 tons of force. Pretty wild to think people thought they could survive going over the falls in wooden barrels back in the early 1900s.
Toronto
Next stop on our journey was Toronto! From Niagara falls it was another two-hour drive. Jacob was super into authentic ramen so we headed straight to Hokkaido Ramen Santouka. It’s part of a chain with other locations across the United States as well as in several other countries including Thailand, and Korea.
I knew nothing about Ramen before I went so the menu felt a little overwhelming luckily Jacob was there to help me. The ramen was absolutely delicious! The perfect balance of salt, acid and just a hint of sweetness.
Jacob and I decided to go with Airbnb for our trip since its so much more affordable than a hotel. I booked the Airbnb for Toronto and I thought I had picked a decent one, well it ended up being the weirdest Airbnb experience I’ve had. When we got there the man who opened the door was not the host from the site and did not seem to speak English. A woman came out who did speak a little English but not much she told us where to park and showed us to the room.
The room was not the one that was advertised on Airbnb and there was no lock for the door. We ran out of toilet paper twice while we were staying there and never saw anyone else for the rest of our stay which was only one night thankfully. The place was clean and felt safe which is why we decided to stay but definitely an unorganized setup and fairly confusing.
That night we went to Queen Street, which is pretty much the main strip in Toronto. Just walking up and down Queen Street was nice. There were a bunch of shops and restaurants lining the street. We went to a bakery called the Tempered Room. The Tempered Room is a French-style patisserie with a variety of viennoiserie including heavenly chocolate croissants. If you get a chance I would also recommend the black pearl, it’s 2 meringues filled with buttercream and then dipped in ganache YUM.
For dinner, we went to Parts and Labour. Matty Matheson is the Executive chef there, he is also known for his appearances on the TV series Munchies and hosting Viceland’s Dead set on Life. The food at Parts and Labour is upgraded bar food.
To end the night we went to Roselle Desserts, from 8-11 they had a special menu. Items that weren’t normally available at the bakery and may never be available again. The place was packed but the line moved fairly quickly and it was more than worth the wait. I got a blood orange pistachio meringue that is one of the best desserts I’ve ever had. The crunch of the meringue with the citrus from the blood orange paired with the saltiness of the pistachios was out of this world.
The next morning Jacob and I continued to overindulge, we grabbed breakfast at Boom Breakfast Co. where I had banana granola pancake. No road trip is complete without snacks so we stopped at Glory Hole Doughnuts and got a couple for the road. Let’s be honest I picked Glory Hole for the name, the donuts were tasty though!
Chicago
The drive from Toronto to Chicago was a long one, 8 hours without stops. The border crossing was pretty easy both times. On the way back into the USA we asked the border agent if he could recommend a restaurant for lunch, we specified that we were both foodies. He told us to go to Cheap Charlies. I can’t stress enough how terrible this place was. Everything was deep-fried and covered in cheese, not necessarily a bad thing but it is when nothing has been made in-house but it was cheap!
We got to Chicago around 7 and checked into our Airbnb. This Airbnb was the exact opposite of the first. Everything was super organized they even had a sheet of local restaurants worth checking out along with a map and detailed instructions on how to get downtown.
Jacob had found a restaurant that had incredible reviews and a very interesting menu, The Purple Pig. Doesn’t sound like anything fancy but it’s an upscale restaurant specializing in small plates, perfect for sharing!
Jacob took the lead on ordering since most of the dishes were out of my comfort zone. We split everything to maximize our experience. First, we had one of their signature dishes Pig’s Ear. The Pig’s ear was served crispy with crispy kale, pickled cherry peppers and topped with a fried egg. It far surpassed my expectations. Next, we had herb-crusted butternut squash, a little too herby for my palate. Our third plate was ricotta gnocchi with oxtail ragu, once again I was shocked. The flavors were just perfectly paired it was heavenly! For dessert, we had a ricotta stuffed brioche bun that was fried, basically a play on a cannoli. I’m dreaming about this meal as a type it up, it’s one of my favorite food experiences.
Day 2 in Chicago
Jacob and I spent the morning sightseeing. We went down to navy pier and walked along the shore overlooking Lake Michigan. The Great Lakes are incredible, they really do look like the ocean. As it turned out three women that were in my group tour to Europe lived in Chicago! I was able to reach out to two of them and we made plans to meet up that afternoon.
We met up with Tiffany and Cheryl who were sisters as well as Tiffany’s boyfriend Andrew in Millennium Park. It was so cool to be able to meet up with them nearly a year later! They took us to see the bean, an icon of Chicago.
Then we wandered around downtown before heading to Giordano’s for deep dish pizza! Giordanos is a chain but the deep dish was pretty incredible. The crust is flaky almost like a pie dough, the toppings go on top of the crust then the cheese goes on top of that and then the sauce. The exact opposite of New York style pizza. It was really delicious, this foodie trip was pushing the limits of my jeans! Super important to know, the deep dish does take about an hour so be prepared for a long wait time!
After dinner, we went for some drinks at a local bar. It was a Monday night so it was fairly mellow. Then Andrew made a joke about porn and chicken night at the Dirty Olive. Excuse me what?? Yup, it’s a real thing on Monday nights at the Dirty Olive bar in Chicago they have porn and chicken. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to experience something like that and thankfully Jacob agreed to go.
It’s exactly what it sounds like, porn is played on the TV screens and they serve chicken wings. On some nights porn stars are there but we weren’t there for that. They did have a woman dancing on each side of the DJ booth in lingerie. A guy in a chicken costume also comes around pouring shots into your mouth. Seriously one of the weirdest combinations I could think of but it was a blast! There are no phones or photos allowed in the Dirty Olive. I did, however, manage to snap one photo of the sign.
On the Road Again
The next day I felt pretty awful, definitely one too many shots from a man in a chicken suit. I never thought I would say that! Before heading out we stopped at one more pizza place. This one was called Pequod’s. Their pizza was much different from the deep dish we had gotten the night before. This one was more like a New York style pizza but the crust was much thicker. The caramelization on the edges was heavenly.
From Chicago to Denver is about 15 hours so around the halfway point we planned on stopping to spend the night. On our drive out of Chicago through Illinois we hit some bad weather. Our phones were buzzing with tornado warnings and the sky turned an ominous grey. 27 tornados touched down that afternoon, we were very fortunate not to encounter any of them.
Halfway between Chicago and Denver is Omaha, Nebraska. We were going to spend the night there but Jacob decided he wanted to just drive through the night. He was in a rush to see a girl and apparently, it just couldn’t wait an extra couple hours. We got to Denver at 4 am and slept in a park until the sun woke us up.
To be continued…
The road trip was other but there’s still plenty to talk about in Denver! Check back next week for my 5-day Itinerary for the Denver area!
