Chicago-style pizza lives up to the hype!

Better bring your appetite!

Place: Giordano's Famous Stuffed Pizza

Location: 223 W. Jackson Blvd.
Chicago, IL 60606
(312) 583-9585

Setting: Your average Italian-centric pizza parlor—nothing to write home about, but you come here for the food, not the atmosphere.

Food: When you sit down, the wait staff warns you that if you want the Chicago-style stuffed pizza that it's going to be a 45-minute wait. You're hungry, you're sad, you order a salad to hold you over. It's your everyday garden salad with iceburg lettuce and fresh veggies. BUT THEN, the guest of honor arrives at the party (and right on
time—the 45 minutes pass by surprisingly fast), and you suddenly hear the angels sing. The pizza the size of a sports car's tire, and as thick as one too, arrives in the arms of a server who surely works out just to be able to lift the pies here. The buttery, crunchy crust! The nuanced sauce filled with herbs! The melted cheese! The flavor-filled pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms and green peppers! This is a pizza you have to experience once in your life! I have to say as a New Yorker of nearly 15 years, and a lover of pizza, this isn't the type of thing I could eat every day (as opposed to some of New York's lighter versions), because it's just so heavy. But it's well-worth the calories as a special treat.

Tacos, tacos, tacos!

Place: Tacqueria Lower East Side
198 Orchard St  New York, NY 10002
(212) 677-3910

Occasion: Late-night eats

Setting: Super-casual and comfortable dive-bar setting with an 
homage to hair bands and all things LA. Bonus points for the decidedly 80s-obsessed movie selections always playing on the TV screens over the bar (everything from 
Say Anything to Weird Science).

Chorizo sopes…yum!

A bevy of tacos

Food: Tacqueria Lower East Side is a welcome addition to the Manhattan Mexican options that used to just be Tex-Mex disguised as Mexican food. This is the real deal. Simple, fresh,  delicious. The chorizo sopes are my favorite. The masa shells are tasty and firm, and don't get soggy, which is important to the sope connoisseur. The chorizo has spice that is perfectly paired with the cooling lettuce and oaxaca cheese. The bistec tacos are the perfect street food with tender meat, tasty salsa, a slice of radish, and a squeeze of lime. On weekends, you might be lucky enough to score a bowl of pozole, a hominy and pork-based soup that's worth the wait. This food is great at any hour, but especially yummy for late-night eats.

Red Pozole

Coming Soon: My Summer Culinary Adventure

From New York City's tacos, to Orlando's banana cream pie to Chicago's deep dish pizza, I've been eating my way across the US this summer. As soon as I can put down my fork long enough to pick up my laptop, I'll fill you in on every last bite.

Emeril Lagasse's signature banana cream pie at Tchoup Chop in Orlando, FL.

Giordano's famous stuffed crust pizza in Chicago, IL.

Tacos at Taqueria on the Lower East Side in Manhattan.

Luke's lobster rolls come to FiDi!

I no longer have to travel to the East Village, Upper East Side or the Upper West Side for the buttery goodness that is Luke's lobster rolls. Fresh and creamy lobster meat paired with a perfectly grilled roll is simply seafood perfection. Visit the 26 S. Williams St location!