Marcus Samuelsson Rocks!

Has it really been almost a month since the last time I blogged?! Oops.

Guess we've been too busy hanging out with our new friends ...

Yes, we're besties with Ryan Seacrest and Julianne Hough these days! No, not really but we did run into them in Chicago and they were kind enough to chat and pose for this picture with us. They're a really cute couple.

Bret and I snuck in a Labor Day getaway to Chicago by piggy-backing on a work trip I had to the Windy City. We spent time touring the city, eating, shopping and hanging with our Aunt Vivi. We had a fabulous weekend!

We started the week out right by visiting Ethiopian born Chef Marcus Samuelsson's C-House restaurant located in the Affinia Hotel in downtown Chicago.

Date Night!


Here is just a sample of our yummy cuisine:

Gunthorp Farm Pork Chop ~ roast summer squash, white peaches, and crispy polenta

Red Snapper ~ tempura fried squash blossoms, maitakes, broccoli, and basil

Mac & Cheese ~ pork sausage and goat cheddar

We had never heard of Chef Marcus Samuelsson until about a month ago (where have we been?!) ... we were milling around the house watching HGTV and they were featuring famous celebrities homes (HGTV's version of "Cribs"), when I saw Samuelson point to an Amharic Alphabet and then explain he was born in Ethiopia and adopted by a Swedish couple.

Bret and I stopped what we were doing and instantly started paying more attention to the t.v. We seem to have super sonic hearing when it comes to words like: "Ethiopia", "Adoption" and "Africa" - they tend to peak our interest and divert our attention. We looked into Samuelsson a little more after the show and discovered that he had two restaurants in Chicago - where we were headed in a few short weeks - YEAH! His food was absolutely FANTASTIC!

Marc Burger was his other restaurant that we visited. It was located in Macy's food court in downtown Chicago and it was delicious.

Bret, embrassed of me taking his picture in the food court.

Smoky BBQ Burger with paprika, applewood bacon, and homemade bbq sauce

Classic Cheeseburger with homemade slaw and pickles

Strawberry Custard Shake

The Decor`

We are officially Marcus Samuelsson fans! Now, if we can just make it to New York to visit his Red Rooster Restaurant in Harlem we'd be in good shape.

Thanks for staying tuned. We'll try to be more active on our blog in the coming months. Hopefully we'll have some good news to announce before 2012.

Thanks for your continued love and support,