Last month, I participated in a GuacOff courtesy of Metro Magazine and with the combined culinary stylings of some great fellow Twin Cities bloggers (Kaeti, Doug, Emily, and Conner), we took home Most Authentic.

This post isn’t about that. Conner did a great recap, so I’ll point you over there for that.

What this post IS about is the gift card that I snagged as part of the prize stuff from Crave Restaurant. I’m not too far from the restaurant, located in Edina’s Galleria Mall so when Rachel was here a couple of weeks ago, we decided to check it out.  I kept hearing delicious things about it, and we decided to move in for their HUGELY PROPORTIONED brunch.

We rounded up my roommate and her manfriend and made it there pretty much as the doors opened (11AM on Sundays).

The deal (snatched right from their website, emphasis mine):

Fabulous Family Brunch $15.95

Generous helping of scrambled eggs with Tillamook smoked cheddar, house made baked hash browns, off-the-bone ham, applewood smoked bacon, savory sausage links, whole wheat toast and jam, fresh fruit, and sticky buns all served on large platters for your table to share and replenished as you desire!

Also Includes: French Toast Bar with gourmet toppings and Our Chef ’s “Create-your-own” Omelet Bar and A glass of Mimosa, Champagne, or Orange Juice

Yeah, you had me at French Toast Bar and Champagne for sure. And I’m always a fan of hash browns or breakfast potatoes or whatever you want to call them, but these? UNFREAKINGREAL.  Here’s a [close-up!] shot of those with the yummy eggs:

Can’t you just smell the cheese melting all over that?  SO good.  But seriously, those hashbrowns were greasy, cheesy, potato-y perfection.

Because that wasn’t enough food, I had the chef make me my own omelet; isn’t it pretty?

Tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers, and cheese – YUM!

Our table basically looked like this: we each had coffee and a mimosa.  The plates in the center of the table included: the cheesy-orgy plate of eggs and hash browns, the meat-lover’s plate of sausage, bacon, and ham, plus some toast because why not throw more carbs in the mix, a plate full of sticky-buns, and then whatever plates we’d collected at the French Toast or Create-Your-Own Omelet station.

I’m not a meat-eater, but check this out:

Make no mistake, I know how to make y’all drool.

I’ll have to get back to try their other meals, but this was definitely a winner for a giant Sunday brunch with some of my faves.

Photo credits: Me! I took the pictures, but with Rachel‘s camera and she did the editing.
Camera: Canon Rebel XT; 50mm F/ 1.8 II lens

This is going to be a quick and dirty recap post.  I had the chance to try LOTS of great little neighborhood places while visiting Chicago this fantastic Labor Day weekend, but this visit was more about hanging out and catching up with friends than it was exploring Chicago’s culinary offerings.  However, because the locals here know where to hang – and have great taste in eats and imbibes, the places we did eat deserve a nod here.

Breakfast/Brunch

Moonshine Food, Music, Spirits, and Brewery
1824 W Division St, Chicago, IL 60622
I tried this place on an earlier trip to Chicago this summer, and I instantly fell in love with their HUGE mimosas:

Yeah, count me IN.  We were all a little hungover from the previous night at Mac’s, so were looking for greasy brunch.  I opted for a veggie omelet (perfect!), breakfast potatoes (OMG!), and toast (hard to screw up toast).

DELICIOUS!

Sunshine Cafe
2012 W Chicago Ave, Chicago,IL 60622

Finding ourselves hungover again on Sunday morning (what? we’re on vacation!) and all craving different things, we headed over to the diner-like Sunrise Cafe.  I had their banana pecan shortstack, which was AMAZING, but the best thing about this place was the kickass waitress we had.  She was on top of everything, totally laid back, funny, and just all-around awesome.

Dinner/Bar Food

Zen Noodles and Sushi
1852 W North Ave, Chicago, IL 60622
This was a GREAT find (thanks, D!) that was the perfect place for Saturday night’s blogger hang.  I had the fried tofu app and the Aloha maki roll (tuna, avocado, and mango).  The food was insanely awesome, but the best part was that this place was BYOB.  Um, YES please.

Cleo’s
1935 W Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL 60622

This was the perfect place for late night drinks and apps on Saturday night.  There were 8 of us – new friends and old – and we spent a couple of hours outside on the patio, enjoying wines and $3 Modelos and sharing stories that had me literally on the floor I was laughing so hard.  I snacked on their spinach and goat cheese quesadilla (awesome) and tried a bite of their cheese-stuffed portabella mushrooms, which were TO DIE FOR.

The server was super cool, even gave us a round of shots on her.  Thanks!

Mac’s
1801 W Division St, Chicago, IL 60622

LOVE this place.  Noteworthy – their mac and cheese is ABSOLUTELY UNREAL.

It was fun to stay in pretty much one neighborhood the whole time.  We did make our way downtown to check out a little bit of jazz fest and to do a little site-seeing, but for the most part we all stayed in the Wicker Park/Bucktown area.  I enjoy how much of a chance this gave me to really get the feel of a truly awesome neighborhood.

Nicole and I at Buckingham Fountain, Grant Park

Until next time, Chi!