Dress Like A Princess - L.K. Bennett London... In Chicago

On my wanderings today with BabyWP while we waited for our babymobile to get an oil change, I saw this:  L.K. Bennett London.  In Chicago.

If you're asking what's L.K. Bennett, then you're clearly not an avid royal watcher like myself.  If you were, you'd know that L.K. Bennett pumps were Catherine Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge's pump of choice.  Check out all the following appearance from this year.  Where she wore.... L.K. Bennett pumps.

 Until this year, L.K. Bennett did not exist in the U.S.  And, as I learned today, this particular Chicago store was the first in the country!  Chicago, first in fashion, first in my heart. 

Back to the pumps. 

So obviously I ran in and started drooling on all the princess-worthy pumps.  But as this was an impromptu visit, all I had was my very sad and very embarassing camera phone to take pictures with.  Sadness.

L.K. Bennett, £185.00 @ [Sorry, the site only has pounds and I didn't catch what it was in USD]

I knew that L.K. Bennett was a fabulous luxury designer, but what I wasn't prepared for was the, relatively, super reasonable pricing!

Their regular price pumps were all about $325.  And the sale shoes, like the ones below, were all about $200.  You could spend that on crappy, terrible shoes from Aldo!  But instead you get fabulous, luxurious, princess pumps.

Look familiar?  I think so.  They're Kate's shoes!

Buy them here

I clearly had to try on some Duchess-worn shoes myself.

I instantly knew why Kate is such a fan - they're gorgeous, classic, and oh so comfortable. I could have walked miles in them. Or stood for hours for a public appearance. You know, since I have a lot of those ;)  I may or may not have had to buy them.  I mean, how else can I snag Prince Harry if I don't dress like a princess?

Not only was the merch fabulous, the sales staff was so crazy nice.  They saw me clicking away with my phone and then helped me out and pulled pieces for me to picture for the site!

$375 @

£295.00 £175.00

Switching out the jackets for me. How fierce are her shoes? I almost bought them.

$995

Heck, they even modeled stuff for me!! Now where else can you get service like that?

$795

This jacket was lined in leather.  *swoon*  It was SO. HOT.  I wish I had my real camera to do the jacket justice.

And with that I left the very yummy L.K. Bennett.  But don't you worry, L.K., I'll be back very soon.

EWP Review: Big Star

We've moved to a bit of a hipster paradise, so we've been making the rounds to all the hipstery places to eat.  The latest was Big Star, a taco joint that I've heard so much about.

Sadly, no one took the the time to warn me it was terrible.

It was absolutely packed on a random Tuesday night, which generally means good things, but the clientele could be summed up in two words: hipster douches. Sorry, but it's true.  The type of peopel who only care about where they think is cool to be, but not where actually has good food.  And, well, the food was definitely not good. The guac was bland, the chips ridiculously salty, and the tacos were just so sad and gross.  Literally the ONLY thing I liked that I had that night was my bottle of Mexican Coke.  Which I could have just got from my garage where I have a whole box of them that I picked up at Costco.  I would've rather eaten at Chipotle, where the guac and tacos are so much better and my meal would have cost only a 1/3 of what I paid at Big Star.

I give Big Star a very sad Goodwill rating of 0 stars.  But I'm sure the hipsters will still go there in droves, they like to buy things from Goodwill and be all ironic, whereas I'd rather buy something nice and nto be ironic about it.

EWP Review: Takashi

Ever since the ol' Michelin folk came to Chicago, I made it my mission to hit up all the places they bestowed with their lovely stars. 

So towards that end, Mr. EWP and I called a sitter and headed to Takashi. 

The place is tiny, blink and you'd miss it on the street, but it's well decored.  We sat upstairs which was a little roomier, but oh so hotter. They only had a window air conditioning unit.  Yes, that's right, a WINDOW AIR CONDITIONING UNIT.  And there was a rather large man sitting in front of it hogging all the cool goodness. What a jerk.  Another building issue: the bathroom was basically right in the middle of the tables. They tried their best to cover it up with this odd screen thing in front of it, but it was stil super awkward when I took a restroom break.

But enough about the setup, let's talk food.  The appetizers were both delicious and GIGANTIC.  Honestly I couldn't believe how much food was on our plates, especially for what we paid.  Mr. EWP's was basically the size of an entree. And my foie gras was more than generous a portion.  Our desserts were equally as phenomenal.  But the very odd thing was, after great beginnings and endings, our entrees were just meh.  Nothing to write home about, nothing that I wanted to go out of my way to eat again.  Mr. EWP had a wasabi encrusted steak and I had some sort of chicken creation that tempted me with the promise of eggplant, which there wasn't much of sadly.  It was just very boring.

So while the apps and desserts made us all giddy and would have been a 3 in my book, you really show up to a restaurant for the entrees, and those just made me fall asleep. 

And because of that, Takashi is only getting 2.25 stars.

But they have a special noodle night that I do still want to check out, I think more casual Asian fare may do better for them.

EWP Review: The Bristol

We switch from fancy downtown dining to casual neighborhood fare.

The Bristol specializes in locally-sourced, seasonal food and has a different menu daily written across its blackboard wall.

I've checked it out for both brunch and dinner now.

They don't take reservations, but I actually haven't had a problem getting a table, despite its Michelin recommendation, it's still not totally crazy to get into. *phew*

I've decided I'm a bigger fan of their brunch than their dinner. They feature a giant strawberry doughnut to share and their eggs are cooked oh so well. I'm particular about the cooking of my eggs.

As for dinner, I was a big fan of the monkey bread with dill butter. And their duck fat fries are pretty yum.

I was especially gaga for the bone marrow. I guess it's not for everyone, but I really really love bone marrow.

While all the small plate appetizers were super delish and varied, I was disappointed by the entree selection - there were only FOUR things to choose from. And the four weren't really up my alley at all: two fish, pig's feet, and chicken. Pig's feet aren't really for everyone, which limits you to the other three, and if you're not into seafood, you have only chicken left to choose. And while it was some of the best chicken I've had, it was still just chicken.

As for dessert, I was expecting a lot since their pastry chef is currently competing on Top Chef: Just Desserts, and because I was so gaga for the cherry doughnut. But the desserts didn't really wow me, except the peanut butter cookies with chocolate mousse. MMMM... peanut butter and chocolate.

Brunch: 3 stars
Dinner: 2.5 stars

EWP Review: Quay

It's EWP Review Week and today we're reviewing Quay.

My friends wanted to grab dinner and suggested this new place on Illinois right by Navy Pier and the following thoughts went through my head: 1) OMG, it's by Navy Pier, it's going to be terrible, 2) OMG it's new, it's going to have terrible service, 3) OMG it's new, it's going to have terrible food.

I am very pleased to share that I was wrong on all counts.

Quay has both a bar area and a pretty dining area. I would, in the future, head to Quay to watch a game [who am I kidding? I don't watch sports. But I do often hang out with people who watch sports, so I'd go there with them] and skip the dining area.
For a bar it's super clean and cute, and not pretentious.

The dining area was actually surprisingly cute. I am a sucker for good decor and ambience. It really makes a HUGE difference in where I want to eat. I was a little nervous when I walked in and it was this polished because we had brought BabyWP and I was worried she'd not be received well. Once again, I was totally wrong. The waitstaff was totally happy to grab a high chair for us and catered to the little miss all night, even more than to us! They brought a non-stop string of baby friendly food items for her to munch on which was seriously super appreciated, by both myself and BabyWP.

And speaking of the waitstaff, they were really great and you wouldn't know the restaurant had only been open for 3 days. Yes, 3 days. They knew what was on the menu, and they knew what they were doing.

And as for what the adults ate. I opened with chicken thighs with a Korean BBQ sauce. It was delicious. Surprisingly so. I would eat that again. And I have actually. Haha, loved those chicken thighs. [btw, all the pics have been stolen from the Quay website. That was not my actual dish of chicken thighs]
For my entree I went with the scallops. It had promise but was unbalanced. The scallops are sweet, which is fine and expected, but then it was paired with a sweet parsnip puree which was also super sweet. It was too much sweet and not enough acid. There was a bit of shortrib to add a little savory, but not enough.

And for dessert I had the Banana Tres Leches cake. I'm a HUGE fan of banana desserts. Yes, I'm allergic to bananas and they make my mouth and throat itch, but it's really worth it. I heart banana desserts. I also love the mushy goodness of a tres leches cake, so I was really excited for this dessert. And, well, it was a disappointment. It had this random bit of pineapple on the plate that had nothing to do with anything and didn't fit the flavors at all. And then the cake itself was rock hard. It was really gross and weird. Not the texture you expect from a tres leches cake at all. So disappointing.

So in sum, the food was good enough, but not great, and pretty pricey. I would skip the dining area and just go for apps and sit at the bar and watch a game.

I give it: 2.25 stars

Chicago Spotlight: Michelle Tan

Part of the fun of moving to a new neighborhood is discovering new stores. Yay new shops!!

On my shopping adventures I found a cute little shop called Michelle Tan. Then I found out that Michelle Tan was a real person, and she owned the shop and could often be found there. This is her next to one of her designs:

Michelle Tan the shop carries clothing by Michelle Tan herself and a few other local Chicago designers. I was rather gaga for this structured jacket. That collar made me swoon.
But for the more traditional types, this skirt would be PERFECT for work. Not to mention that fit isn't a problem since Michelle Tan will measure you and make a custom skirt just for you. And at super reasonable prices. This skirt was (I think, I have a terrible memory) $100 and the jacket was $250ish. Maybe. Don't quote me on that. I just remember thinking they were reasonable.


I, myself, decided to do something totally out of the norm for me and bought this vest. It adds such fun to a tank or a jacket or whatever. I foresee myself wearing it a lot. I've worn it twice already and gotten a bajillion compliments on it.

And to go with that whole custom thing, there was only one vest left in the store and it was a size small, which miraculously fit me everywhere except the belt around the waist, it didn't have as much hangy part as I wanted. So for at no extra cost, Ms. Tan made me a new belt.

I also picked up this dress, by one of the other designers carried in the store. I was looking for something casual and cute to wear around with BabyWP on our strolls that could also be thrown in the wash. This dress fit the bill. I love the applique! [I came back from one of those said strolls when this picture was taken, so please don't judge how gross and tired I look]
So if you're in the area, check out Michelle Tan at 1872 N. Damen.

This Chicago Spotlight was not compensated. All opinions are my own.

Fashion's Night Out Chicago

I'm way behind in posting, so you're getting a post dump today in an attempt to quickly catch up so I can bring you Emmys red carpet coverage starting tomorrow.

A bit over a week ago, I was invited to Saks' Fashions's Night Out event. It was definitely a bigger party, and louder party, than the Brian Atwood event that morning.

I dragged my friend Niki along.

But I'm sure the free champagne at least was worth it

Saks had models wearing Brian Atwood shoes

even the ostrich-feather "it" shoe for fall. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I won't be wearing these this fall, or ever really.

We perused the shoes

and did some great people watching

Why didn't I wear my fascinator?

Then we got bored pretty quickly with Saks and moved along to the newly opened TopShop

It's gigantic and definitely worth a visit

Their theme for fall seemed to be "sequins"

Which is fine because I oddly have been having a hankering for sequins myself. Not that I bought anything because the line was ridiculously long.

This was me attempting to take a pic of the makeover stations they had going on for the public, but silly people stepped in my way. Boo!

From there we went to Neiman's where these lovely people were standing inside

and this fortune teller was sitting inside.

Sorry, Saks, but Neiman's definitely had you beat in the entertainment department. And hands down killed it in the food department. There were like 6 food and drink stations on each of their 4 floors.

But forget the food and drinks and even the fortune teller, Niki and I were very entertained by the hats.

I made Niki model some of the hats for you



But then I just had to try this one, for realsies, not for jokesies. I was in love. And then I saw it was made by Philip Treacy, aka milliner extraordinaire for the Royal Wedding. Ooo, I want.
How did y'all spend Fashion's Night Out?