Our Quest for oysters in Chicago....

So, Manny and I have been on a quest for CHEAP, QUALITY Oysters in Chicago for about a year now.  This quest originated because you people in Milwaukee have it made!

Christmas Oysters

So at the Milwaukee market you have access to high quality oysters for a very low price at St. Paul Fish Company.   It is rare that they have an oyster for over $1.50 the highest I have ever seen their oysters is for $2.00 each, and I am telling you, if St. Paul Fish Company has a $2.00 oyster, that oyster will cost you at least $5.00 anywhere else so try it immediately or they will run out!  They always have your standard blue point and a rotating selection of delicious oysters, we really like the gold band and the well fleet.  To the left is a picture from Christmas Eve.  So Christmas Eve we went to the market, enjoyed some oysters AND our $1.00 beers before we went out to my Grandma's. Oh yeah I forgot to mention, they have $1.00 beers on Saturdays!  So lets sum this up, $1.00 - $2.00 oysters, fresh delicious, perfectly shucked, and to top it off, $1.00 draft specials.  I don't think it gets much better than that! The only problem is that we live in Chicago, not Milwaukee.  If we lived in Milwaukee we would probably be there every Saturday! 

(http://www.milwaukeepublicmarket.org/index.php) (http://www.stpaulfish.com/)

So not living in Milwaukee, and Chicago being the amazing metropolis it is, we figured there has to be something comparable here in Chicago, somewhere... I know all the standard places, where the oysters are good but far from cheap (GT Oyster, Quay, Shaws, etc..) all of these places though are rather expensive.  

After some searching, i found this place in Lincoln Park called half-shell.  This place seemed to be quite popular on Yelp. They had a dozen oysters for $16.90, making them $1.40 an oyster.  They only kind they have is blue point, which is a standard oyster but still good.  Manny and I were very excited and went Friday night.  We walked down the block and found it.  It is this little basement place, which was very promising.  We were so excited and took a seat at the end of the bar and ordered our dozen oysters.  Our seat was right in front of the ice where they keep the oysters.  To our surprise the guy at the bar did not take the oysters out of the ice, but rather oysters that had been pre shucked and were soaking in some water below the bar.  This made these oysters not good.  They had lost all of their ocean taste, no briny flavor, and had observed some of the water they were soaked in.  They had lost all their flavor and even some of their texture.  We were so disappointed. We are kind of giving them the benefit of a doubt and thought maybe they were cutting those corners because they were so busy?  But still hire some kid to stand there and just shuck oysters all night.  We figured we might give them another shot, maybe on a weeknight, but if they fail us again we are never coming back and going to continue our quest..... 

Cheddar Fries

We were so sad by the disappointing oysters we decided we needed to hit a guaranteed home run.  Manny then pointed out that we are really close to the Weiner Circle.  Now many people have probably seen the Weiner Circle on shows where the workers insult people and the people are disrespectful and taunt them.  Well Manny and I are super respectful (afraid) and treat it like the soup nazi on Seinfeld.  We try to make our orders always correct and efficient.  The thing that is so amazing about the Weiner Circle is its Cheddar Sauce.  We don't know what it is about it, but that Cheddar Sauce is so freaked amazing! Thank you Weiner Circle for saving our night!  

Picante Taqueria

Well I now have a computer at home so here we go with the Sara's Urban Life Blog.....

Today after boxing I was hungry!  But after buying books for class and this new computer enabling me to be writing this blog I am a tad broker than usual for this early in the month.  We both decided it has to be cheap so naturally we decided on Tacos.

Manny and I have had tacos all over this city, the good the bad, and the ugly.  We have heard good reviews of this place Picante Taqueria.  We were a bit worried because reviews of any place on Division can at times be inflated but had to try it.

As parking is at a premium on Division we decided to risk it and park in front of the porn shop next door. We got to the door of Picante to see a sign telling us that we will get towed and "we are not kidding run back to your car now".  So Manny ordered and went back to the car.  The guy immediately greeted me and regaled me in tails of people getting their car booted within three minutes of walking in the door.  I guess a guy sits in the parking lot booting people as soon as they walk away... LUCKY for us he wasn't there today.

The place itself is no larger than my first apartment in the city (want to sit on your bed to do your dishes?  Too damn bad no way in hell are you fitting a bed in this apartment, enjoy sleeping on an IKEA couch for the next year and a 1/2...).  There is a counter and behind the counter a grill.  Small but efficient.

Tacos were what we were there for, we were looking for a $2.00 taco so was completely content in paying $2.05.  We both ordered a pastor and a steak taco and a horchata.

My first sip of the horchata blew me away!  Let me tell you I am an expert on horchata due to ordering it every possible chance, and considering Mexican is Manny and my preferred food... The horchata had maybe more almond in it, maybe more vanilla... not overly cinnamony.  Very good.  I then got our tacos and met Manny in the car.  He was waiting in a valet area so he drove around the block and we parked and ate our tacos.  Going to go out of order to save the best for last.

The second taco we both ate was the steak taco.  The steak had a grilled taste to it cooked perfect.  The tortillas were fresh white corn tortillas.  Very tasty.

Now the creme de la creme.. the Pastor taco!  These tacos were so delicious we didn't even add any of the salsa they gave us and just went with the sauce the cooked the pork in.  It was cooked so perfectly and had mouth watering spices.  If you go do not miss the Pastor Taco!  Honestly probably one of the best in the City (I also have ordered my fair share of Pastor Tacos).

4 tacos 2 horchata's.. $12.32  quality steak and pork.

Lunch Breaks on Tuesdays

Part of what I love about living and working in Streeterville is our vast assortment of lunch options!  See living downtown lunch can be a very expensive thing if not done correctly.  To save money I allow myself one or two splurge days a week (one of the gourmet food trucks, gramwhich, e.leaven etc..) other than that my new staple has become Trader Joe's.  Getting lunch here is much more effective while working with Dan.  See him and I were super smart.  Yesterday we went and got their chicken patties, 4 pretzel rolls, and one tray of gourmet salami and cheese.  This cost us $5 each and provided 2 lunches.

Today though Dan decided we should walk to the farmers market at the MMA so he can get tomatoes and I can get out of the office and look around. I mentioned to him on the elevator that I started a blog. He decided to point out that judging by my complaining about the guy who got of on the 11th floors shoes, it will be an incredibility hateful blog.  We continued walking and I said yeah and my anger and disgust toward that giant clump of weave in the gutter isn't helping much either.

We then turn the corner by Geno's after some bitching about when the construction will be over and we can walk next to the new Children's Hospital rather than around it and... low and behold!  Let me tell you there were some insanely hot construction workers all on break sitting around the sidewalk.  Dan and I felt like we were running some nice gauntlet! We were really enjoying ourselves.  Until yeah the other group of construction workers.  Dan even said look at that woman continuing her peoples stereotype. Just can't win.  At least we didn't get pooped on by a stupid pidgin.

Starting a Blog

Well here I am, finally doing it starting a blog.... This blog is about me and my life so I guess I should give some background.....

I moved to Chicago June 2006.  When I first moved here I lived in a tiny studio apartment in the Edgewater neighborhood. I paid $595 a month, which was almost my entire paycheck from my little job at Payless Shoes. I was working on my masters degree and still managed to have fun with very little. I then got a few temp jobs to make more and eventually got a job at a small real estate development company.  When I say small I mean me and 1 other person sitting in an apartment that had been converted to an office. That job was low pay but still an improvement from Payless. I finished my Masters Degree, then got a small increase (very small) and worked at the University of Chicago.  At least I had health insurance there!  I then moved to a small studio downtown (double the rent) and got rid of my car. After almost two years there I finally got an administrator position at Northwestern University!  My whole life changed and got way better.  I won't say it is easy by any means, there are still struggles and many challenges but I am on my way and further on my path.

Now about me, funny when I talk about myself it is usually about my career.  I find that is because my career and my education have always been my main priority in life. I am really lucky because my family always supported this as they saw this is what makes me happy.  Sometime recently though I wonder if not having a family of my own (you know husband kids) is something I will regret but we shall see.  My new goals are to be promoted at work, maybe get a second Masters and work from there!

So this is it, hopefully I can keep up with my new blog.  I guess I am hoping to discover more about myself.