Vella Cafe, Bucktown, Chicago

I hadn’t seen Cinnamon since September, so she and I met up on Sunday at Vella Cafe under the Western Blue Line stop. I’d been there one time before, but it was about a year ago. Happy to say the food was delicious and I really like the space. Not only is it conveniently located one train stop from my house, but it’s nice and open and bright inside. So bright that I felt like wearing sunglasses in my seat for a while and my photo is all harsh light. I had the sausage frittata panino with caramelized onions, ajvar mayo, butterkase cheese and smashers on the side. Cinnamon had a ham crepe that she was happy to report tasted as good as I thought it looked.

I was still getting over a bad cold and though I felt better, I was losing my voice. Cinnamon and I had a lot of catching up to do so by the end I was sounding pretty bad. Whatever. Worth it! Hopefully Cinnamon and I can get back on track and meet up monthly again.. and hopefully we can convince Erin to come back out with us next time.

On another note, it seems like I will go months without going out for brunch and then I’ll find myself brunching every day of a weekend. This weekend I also went with Dallas and Kristin for brunch at Flo on Saturday. I don’t know why I’d never been to Flo before – it’s not far from where I lived in East Ukrainian Village. I wasn’t in love with my food (breakfast burrito – onions, tomatoes, veggies were all raw inside and the cheese wasn’t melted) but Dallas and Kristin loved what they got. Dallas got the smoked turkey hash with potato, onion, green pepper, squash and smokey chipotle crema, grilled and topped with two poached eggs, served with fresh fruit and wheat toast. Kristin got brioche toast with grilled smoked turkey, and fresh spinach, topped w/ two poached eggs, hollandaise sauce and asiago cheese. I definitely was in love with the latte I ordered. Perfect amount of foam and soo tasty. And it felt great on my sore throat. I definitely do want to go back to Flo and try what Kristin ordered.

[Read more →]