Brunch in Uptown

When one of my friends, Roman, suggested doing brunch today wayyy north (in Uptown) today, I was a bit put off. It was going to take a lot to impress me if I have to trek way up to Sheridan and Argyle for a simple Sunday morning brunch. However, Roman has spoken pretty highly of his past experiences at Tweet so I figured I'd approach this with a (fairly) open mind.

I arrived a little early but quickly fell in love with the place. Tweet just has so much CHARACTER... from the decor to the FREE COFFEE while you are waiting to the BOARD GAMES that are available while you are waiting for a table.

I had no problems getting settled on a cozy little stool to wait for my friends while sipping my free cup of coffee (okay, I may have had approximately three cups of free coffee but whatever) and admiring the old-school board games that were just ready and WAITING for players.

Once my friends arrived, we got seated in a back corner and... well, proceeded to get overwhelmed with the menu. I wish I'd snapped a picture of the menu - it was simply ridiculous. Each menu even had an ADDITIONAL menu embedded in it (with Velcro, of all things).

The really interesting (to me) thing about Tweet was how many gluten-free options there were. Not that I require gluten-free items, but it's just nice to know that the option is available.

Anyway, we ended up starting off with these mini-doughnut things that Roman had raved about in the past.

I have to say - I'm not the biggest doughnut-person at ALL, but I fell in love with these things. They were just so warm and delicious (and not overly sweet on their own). While the plate of mini-doughnuts came with a side of like syrup or something, I found that the doughnuts, themselves, satisfied my sweet tooth in and of itself.

After THAT lovely little starter, our server actually brought us complimentary dishes of fruit to enjoy before our actual meal!

I cannot emphasize enough how much I loved this aspect of brunch. We NEVER get free fruit with brunch in Chicago... and this fruit was just so darn fresh and delicious (it's been a while since I've ingested anything from that food group...) and a GREAT way to fill up just a touch before gorging on breakfast itself.

Soon after the fruit was devoured (I was already full by that point), our meals came out...

Holy food. The portions were QUITE generous, to put it mildly.

And SO DELICIOUS. I ended up going with Tweet's gluten-free pumpkin pancakes (helloo!) and... well, yum. Just plain yum. The pancakes were the perfect balance of sweet and (pumpkin) spice and everything nice... and I wouldn't have known that they were gluten-free at all. Unless I"m missing something, gluten-free pumpkin pancakes taste just how I would imagine "normal" pumpkin pancakes to taste.

Roman ended up going with a Danske omelette (he revisited an old favorite of his) while Purvi ended up going with a breakfast burrito and hash browns. I'm not a food critic by any means, but their plates LOOKED quite tasty and both were QUITE pleased with their meals as well.

All in all - today's brunch? A sweet success. Great food, lovely conversation (including a wonderful little blog idea, c/o Roman's creative ingenuity) and... well, FREE COFFEE! Hello! (Clearly, I have my priorities in check.)

Needless to say, I would DEFINITELY make a trip up north to re-visit this eclectic, delicious hidden gem... anytime at all.

The Most Expensive Groupon Experience If Ever There Was One...

I love reunions! My friend, Hiral, and I went to Ohio State together and currently both live in Chicago. I'd grown accustomed to seeing Hiral at least once every one to two weeks. However, simply due to crazy schedules, we hadn't seen each other for at least a couple of months.

It felt like eons. Seriously!

Last night, it was total reunion central, though. Hiral picked me up from my Lincoln Park apartment and we decided to venture a bit more north, to (finally!) use Hiral's $22 Groupon for Marigold - an Indian restaurant in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood. We were primarily excited to check this place out because it was so far north, so we had no doubts it would be MUCH easier to find a parking spot as compared to attempting this pretty impossible feat in my Lincoln Park neighborhood.

Lo and behold! A parking lot was ready and WAITING for us, right across the street from Marigold! It was totally meant to be.

Dinner was mediocre (the food was not NEARLY as good as I remembered it to be) but the reunion was oh so delightful! It was so great catching up with Hiral after much, MUCH too long. After dinner, we headed back out to the parking lot, BOTH of us exhausted (it was a Tuesday, after all!) and so ready to get back home.

Yeah... as we're walking through the parking lot, chit-chatting away, Hiral interrupts the conversation with "Umm... where did I park?" To which I immediately respond with: "Oh, like right over there..." (insert an image of my voice trailing off as my finger points toward an oh-so-empty parking spot).

Lord. I've never had to deal with a towed car situation so I had no idea what to do. I was a little nervous, because hello! Wouldn't YOU be pissed if your car was towed?! Well, I guess Hiral has a different take on things. Because HER reaction? "Oh NO!!... Oh well. We can just go pick it up."

Okay, it's kind of summarized, but that was the general gist. WTF, right? I never DREAMED one individual could treat the experience of getting her car towed as... well, a normal occurrence! (For the record, Hiral rarely, if ever, has experienced a towing situation.)

After calling the towing agency, and determining the location of the sadly towed vehicle, Hiral and I embarked on this seemingly never-ending sojourn. Thankfully, the towing lot wasn't all too far from where we were... only a few blocks, actually! Sure, the majority of the walk was comprised of one LONG block, that housed a cemetery, but whatever. We are brave people! Kind of. But I digress.

So, after this brief sojourn, we FINALLY spot the towing agency! Sweet success! Let's get this car and get the F outta here!!


You know, it was actually at this point in the evening, that I totally got into my blogger element, snapping away pictures (yes, I know- how Hiral didn't kill me during her time of distress, I just don't know). But come ON! Gotta embrace each situation, right?! And embrace, oh I so did...

I mean, LOOK at the towing agency's "office"!


If that just doesn't ADD to the creepy element of the night (initiated by that cemetery walk-by), I just don't know what does.

And, well, what's a night out without... some police surveillance?


At least I felt safer with them around. Because trust me. The people of Lincoln Towing were NOTHING to write home about. I understand that towing companies have to develop thick skin, dealing with complaints right and left. But these people were just plain RUDE. And it takes a lot for me to formulate that extreme of a judgment call!

Oh well. So, a whopping $200 later... Hiral FINALLY got her car back. Wahoo! (I tried to snap a picture of her reunion with her car but it came out all blurry.)

Sigh. To think... we'd started out the night excited about our plan to actually save money by using Hiral's Groupon...

Ha- PLEASE. The most expensive Groupon experience, if ever there was one...