Entries Tagged as 'wicker park'

Juko Nails

August 3rd, 2011 · No Comments

Juko Nails has been located on Division Street at about Hoyne for many years. I’ve been past it a ton of times, especially back when I used to live just off Division. It wasn’t until I bought a Groupon that I actually visited the salon.

For $20 ($40 value), I got a manicure and pedicure. I loved the look of the salon. Very trendy and contemporary. And better yet, as soon as I was seated I was offered red or white wine. Yes, please! I had at least 2 glasses of wine that night, increasing the value of my Groupon even more! I also thought the salon was very diverse. Both the people working there and the clients were of all races, sexes, ages. Many salons in Chicago have Asian workers who do not speak English and you just get really used to the non-verbal cues, nods, nudges. But here, my technicians all spoke English and would say “ok, right foot” and I’d almost not respond because I’m so used to just getting the nudge! It was kind of refreshing, actually.

As I was leaving, the owner came over to help me into my shoes and spray my toes with that spray that helps the polish dry. She made sure that I knew about their guarantee – Manicures are guaranteed for 3 days and pedicures for 7 days! I never heard of a nail salon doing this! If any chips, smudges, etc happen in that time, just go back and they’ll fix it.

Also, just before I walked out the door it started to really downpour! The owner asked me if I had an umbrella, and I did, but she said if I didn’t she was going to offer me one. Not sure how that works, but I thought it was awesome for her to offer it.

Overall, I really liked this salon. I’m kind of bummed that it’s not super convenient because even their regular prices are pretty good.

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Red Hen Bread

July 22nd, 2011 · No Comments

I picked up a Groupon for Red Hen Bread because it’s nearby my gym and a bus stop a spend a lot of time standing at. I thought I’d just swing by one night when I finished the gym and get an awesome discounted sandwich. Problem: Red Hen closes at 6 and I’m never out of the gym by then. So, it took me a while but I finally used the Groupon on a day I did not go to the gym. I got the caprese sandwich and an iced coffee. The sandwich was good, but my bread was kind of hard to chew. I ended up eating the parts separately to compensate.

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The Bedford

July 18th, 2011 · No Comments


The Bedford Vault

A few months ago Dallas and I met up with some friends at The Bedford in Wicker Park. This place is nearby my first apartment in Chicago, but when I lived there the building was an MB Bank. Now the bank part on the street level is a CVS and the basement of the bank is a restaurant and bar called The Bedford.


Todd

We didn’t eat at The Bedford, we just had drinks. The cool thing is that the bank vault and safe deposit boxes are still intact. We sat in the lounge and were surrounded by hundreds of safe deposit boxes. It was pretty cool. And neat to see the vault door just behind us.


The Bedford Bathroom

I was drinking white wine that night. Other people were drinking fancy cocktails. I think everyone liked their drinks. I for sure liked the setting. Even the bathroom was gorgeous. I’d go back and try the food, but I’d for sure go back to show off a cool cocktail lounge to out-of-town guests. Check out this Thrillist video of the interior and you can get a better feeling for the space:

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Stephanie’s First Manicure

July 3rd, 2011 · 1 Comment

Once upon a time I took my mom for her first pedicure. Then I took Amanda for her first pedicure. And then Steph came to visit and she got her first manicure. Somehow on our trapeze day, I stubbed my toe and my toenail was all messed up, so I needed to get a pedicure. But I knew I’d be super busy this week before the holiday so I was in a jam. Well, somehow I was talking to Steph about her fingernails and we decided that we both needed to go to the nail salon the next morning!

We ended up going to Pinky Nail Studio in Wicker park. I got my same, boring, red/wine color for my toes. Steph was drawn to the more bold, primary colors. And then she spotted the Shatter nail polish by OPI. Apparently this stuff is all the rage these days. You apply two coats of nail polish and then apply a coat of a contrasting shatter polish and it dries with this special effect. Check out the video below to see how it works:

Steph chose green for the base and purple for the top, shatter coat. It turned out looking like dark green on the top, but I think it still looked cool.

For comparison, here’s what her nails looked like before:

The color was cool, but the application was not good and it was all chipping off. Also, it was the same exact color as the mints we got at dinner the night before!

After visiting the nail salon, we checked out the Wicker Park farmers market. And then after that, we wandered around Wicker Park Fest for a few hours, where I was tempted to buy this tshirt, but didn’t:

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Standard Bar/Grill

June 28th, 2011 · No Comments

Standard Bar/Grill opened in May, just in time for us to go and watch some Bulls playoff games. The space inside is huge, including a second level, and decorated with gorgeous dark wood. The guys at the door were kind of weird to every person in our group who came in, asking if they were meeting someone or they had a reservation… which was odd.. bc hello… you’re a sports bar. There are TVs everywhere in there. Well, later on we realized they were probably just trying to manage the chaos because it was SO packed during the game. Still, they could have probably gone about it better.

Drink specials were good. You could get all the cheap beers in buckets. Actually, some friends even got buckets of locally brewed, Daisy Cutter. And I thought the food was good too. I got a veggie burger (portobello, black beans, lentils, brown rice, tomato, beet, avocado, red pepper mayo, whole grain bun) with a side salad. Nothing crazy, but the veggie burger was delicious. You could tell they made it in-house. It wasn’t some frozen Boca burger that they microwaved

I would not go back unless I was going to watch some sports, probably. It seems to be the main focus of the place, with all of the TVs. But I did like it and would go back again.

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