The Five Spot: Cocktails and Candy Cages at Home, The World's Best Hot Chocolate, and Killer French Fries
Machine – God knows a lot of you are drinking a lot right now. Have you run out, or are you looking for a diversion from your usual Whiteclaw binge? Machine is putting together some nifty cocktail kits, some of which include smashable “candy cages”, which sounds straight up Veruca Salt’s alley. Pre-orders start at 5 pm today at:
https://www.dinemachine.com/store/
Xoco – You can have Rick Bayless food at an airport, so why not in your home? The ahogada or cochinita pibil sandwiches, the churros, and the red chili pozole (from Frontera Grill) are all solid calls. Also, while it’s getting warm here in Chicago, do not pass up the best hot chocolate in the world.
https://www.rickbayless.com/restaurants/xoco/
Meli Café- One of the best breakfast spots in Chicago is doing delivery and curbside pickup. The Greektown location was a weekend staple of mine for years. They do righteous Benedicts and fluffy pancakes.
Pacific Standard Time – One of my favorite restaurants of the last two years is doing family-style comfort food meals (think braised short ribs and antipasti salad and chocolate pudding) to feed 3 or 4 people.
https://www.toasttab.com/pstchicago/v2/online-order#!/order
Pop’s Italian Beef – This rec is for my Beverly homies. The beef here is fantastic, as are the fries. reportedly they used to buy and serve up McDonald’s factory seconds, which means they taste just as good, but maybe have a speck of brown skin or something on them. You’re not perfect, so this is fine.