Sweet or Savory Waffles?

Sunday morning I ran in my first post Nelson race - the Chicago 10k. The fall like temperatures and the magnificent view of the lake made for an excellent inaugural race and has me itching to sign up for a half. We'll see about that, but on to waffles.

The finish line in Grant Park spit us out in the south loop so we ventured to Waffles for some post race calorie consumption. Waffles' website, while painful to listen to and navigate, boasts Time Out Chicago's Best New Breakfast of 2012. The scene is modern, simple and easy, welcoming kids of all ages. We chose to sit outside and ponder over which direction to take our waffle experience.

I have a hard time going all in for the sweet version of breakfast. I don't know what it is, but there is something about it just feeling like dessert and I feel cheated of an entire proper meal. This is one of the major benefits of dining with a 15 month old because I can order the sweet option "for him" and steal bites off of his plate while he is easily distracted by the closest "gah" - that's Nelson speak for dog. Yet, the menu looked so amazing here that I was willing to take a chance and I asked the waiter one simple question - sweet or savory?

Cheddar & Short Rib

With no hesitation, he said savory and pushed me towards the Cheddar and Short Rib, comprised of a 4 year cheddar waffle topped with coffee braised short rib and scallion. This was high risk for me, but he said it with such conviction, how could I go wrong? The flavor did not disappoint. The short rib was cooked to perfection and the waffle wasn't bad either, but it seemed like there was something missing. No grits or poached egg, just meat and waffle??? It lacked a mediator. Thankfully Brian shared one of his poached eggs from his Waffle Benedict - a liege waffle with slow roasted pork shoulder, poached egg and aleppo Hollandaise which was a real departure for the king of sweets. He was more than content with his choice. Thankfully Nelson's plain waffle with whip cream and old-fashioned syrup met my need to have it all. Whatever your breakfast fetish entails, you can find it at Waffles.

Pint O' Bacon

Pint O' Bacon

Yes, you heard me right, a pint of bacon. On a lovely Saturday in July during the Cubs/Cards series we couldn't seem to locate tickets for six together, so we decided to enjoy the day hanging out around Wrigley instead of inside of it. We began our day at Murphy's Bleachers with bloodies and beers, the only downside being we had to go indoors to see some ball.

So we ventured out to Casey Moran's for their well known patio framed by numerous TV screens. Our more than patient server Malory did a great job of keeping us satiated and initially recommended the pint of bacon, exclaiming it was the best $4 ever spent. We unquestionably took her up on her recommendation.

Bacon seems to be trendy this day and age. I recently saw a bacon cupcake - yuck. I myself have always been an advocate of bacon, excluding that short stint in 4th grade when I learned that improperly cooked pork could lead to trichina worms. That may have led to my preference for really crispy bacon.

Nonetheless, even with my strong affinity for bacon, I can think of a few better ways to spend four bucks. But, I will give them extra credit for originality. Let me just say this, when you go to Casey Moran's (an upscale Irish bar as it is called), you're not going for the bacon. You are going to either celebrate a W, or if the Cubs fans have not been as fortunate, you are going to kick back and have a good time. It's simply inspiring to watch the middle of the bar space turn into a dance floor so quickly in the middle of the day. This makes for great people watching and is one of those experiences that can make you feel really young and yet really old all at the same time. It's a fun destination win or lose, but fortunately, on this day the Cubs brought us a W! Too bad four out of six of us were Cards fans!