Ssyal Korean Cuisine

To redeem ourselves from the “bad” bi bim bap experience and to clear Chicago’s name in that category, I researched and reserved a spot at a nearby authentic Korean restaurant. We knew if you drove north-ish from our neighborhood that there’s a small pocket of Korea town where a lot of things are written in Korean. We just had to figure out exactly where and what a good place to eat would be. We settled on Ssyal.

Ssyal was a great choice. Not fancy, but really good food. The full banchan was included. I loved the Pajeon and would have eaten it for my whole meal! Maybe next time!

One thing I never understood was why Dallas’s mom would always make us go to Joong Boo, the Korean supermarket, or other Korean places while she was in town, when she was visiting from Hawaii, which is filled with Asians and Asian stores and Asian restaurants. She told me on this trip that even though this is the case, there are no Korean stores or restaurants on Kauai. I think we’ll be researching and visiting our little Korea town more and more when they come to Chicago!

One other interesting thing – Right next to the restaurant the neighborhood of Mayfair has a little square with a veterans memorial. Dallas’s dad is a veteran, so we took a look.  

Tatas Tacos

We really liked Tatas Tacos the first time we went in September, so we went to check it out again. I had gotten a salad last time. This time I got three tacos and was really impressed with how big and full they were! Very tasty. Dallas tried a burrito for the first time and really liked it. It was huge! Tatas was not very crowded and the owner was very friendly. At the end of our meal she gave us some Mexican cinnamon tea on the house. I loved the traditional mug!

Brew Brew Coffee + Tea

Makai and I went to check out Brew Brew Coffee + Tea, a new (to us) coffee shop. Makai got a big chocolate muffin, while I settled for something lighter with my bagel and lox. Very large portion of salmon on each bagel half! Great place. I’ll go back. We also went across the street to Kosciuszko Park [Koz Park] afterwards.

Sip of Hope Coffee Bar

Sip of Hope opened in the old Dill Pickle location. I’ve been walking past it often but haven’t been able to stop in. This is the coffee shop you may have heard of that serves Dark Matter coffee and 100% of the proceeds support proactive suicide prevention and mental health education.

Dallas and I were walking Makai to his first soccer class held at his school (more on that later) and I decided to stop in. I loved the look inside of the shop and snapped a few photos of the interior. I got iced coffee for myself and iced tea for Dallas.

At soccer class I edited and posted a few photos on Facebook. It was only then, when Dallas took a look at them, that he noticed that JB Pritzker was totally in the shop and in my photos. I l was so busy admiring the inside of the coffee shop that I didn’t even notice!