Chicago - Day 3: Vintage Shopping, Taco Eating, and Reggae Band Seeing

After checking out the Lincoln Park Zoo, I dragged Stephen to a couple of vintage shops with me. I looked up a couple of them at the hotel, and found quite a few in and around the Wicker Park/Bucktown area. So we got on the bus, and made out way over to W. North Ave. and N. Milwaukee Ave. 

Our first stop was a place called Vintage Underground. They had the most extensive jewelry collection I have ever seen. Everything was pretty well organized, but I was way too overwhelmed by the sheer number of shiny things in there. Sadly, I did not buy anything. I knew I could spend at least an hour in there, and I did not want to subject Stephen to that as we were both hungry and getting cranky. Plus, to be honest, I just could not choose. The prices were very reasonable, but a bit higher than what I was willing to pay seeing as I did not really need anything and was not supposed to be going on a trip anyways. They have a great selection of costume jewelry as well as higher end designer pieces and very unique finds. The store also carries some clothing and accessories in addition to their wonderful collection of jewelry. I will definitely go back if I am ever in Chicago again and have some time to peruse and pick. 

Walking along W. North Avenue, we saw a couple of stores all named Akira. We were a bit thrown off, because there were literally three all on the same two blocks or so, so at first we thought we were crazy/somehow walking in circles. We realized that it was indeed 3 separate stores. Akira has six different stores all over Chicago, and an online store as well. We managed to check out the Buck Town's Footwear, Women's, and Men's stores. It's cool because even though it is the same company, each store looks completely different and embodies a different aesthetic. Here you can view all of the different store locations and what each one carries. The Footwear store was somewhat small, but had some cute stuff. I did not manage to get a picture of the Women's store, but I did buy a nice shirt there. The Men's store is pictured above. The first level is all clothing, while footwear takes over the basement. Overall I liked the stores. The prices were really reasonable in the Women's store and they had some edgy on trend pieces. The Men's store was a bit more expensive, but also had some interesting selection. 

We went to quite a few other vintage stores, but this was the only other one I managed to snap a photo of. I liked Una Mae's a lot, and it turns out they have an online shop as well. The store is well laid out and carries an interesting selection of vintage and contemporary pieces, as well as accessories and household items.. I ended up buying a cute leather belt there. They had a nice selection of jewelry at the register as well as at the back of the store. It is hard to see in the picture, but there is a winding circle staircase at the back that takes you to a second level as well, which I thought was pretty cool. The prices in this store were very reasonable as well. My leather belt was $22, I think. 

Another store we wandered into for a brief moment that was neat was U.S.#1. We did not stay long because upon seeing the Louis Vuitton bags I knew this was not a store I should be in. But they do have a crazy selection of cowboy boots, jackets, and bags all in great condition. Bear in mind, it is quite pricey though. 

By this point we were exhausted and starving, so looked to trusty Yelp to help us find a good place to eat. Yelp failed us the night before when we ended up eating crappy tacos and listening to not our type of jazz, so we were hoping for better luck this time. And I gotta say, I was impressed with where we ended up.

We ended up at Antique Taco, and I think the tacos here are still my favourite tacos I have had to date. The decor is this place is super cute (antiquey, go figure), and very well thought out. I'm a bit of a sucker for a place that has good type and is all customized. I checked out the website after we ate there, and loved the place even more because of the husband and wife team that created this place.

We started with the Chili Cheese Curds which someone recommended on Yelp. Way too much, but also way too good. Basically chilli with beer battered cheese curds on top, and some other stuff thrown on. Delicious. Almost a meal of its own. Then we had the Crispy Fish Tempura taco (above), which was the best fish taco I have ever had. I think it was the smoked cabbage on top, or the combination of sauces, but it tasted amazing. The Pork Carnita was also super tasty. The avocado and slice of bacon were a very welcome addition. All of this in addition to our Stiegl, made for a wonderful meal that more than made up for the night before.

I loved our hotel. I really did. There was a piano player there every night, which was such a nice touch I think. I think it was the night before, but we went to wander around the hotel for a bit. Decided to just combine it with the hotel pictures of this day as well. We found an unlocked room and looked in. I made a joke how it looked like Obama should be on the stage there, giving a speech. Little did we know, the next day we saw framed pictures of Obama there, giving a speech. Thought it was funny. 

Even though it was raining and crappy out, we committed to venturing out. We could not really figure out where to go and ended up at a place called Watershed. It was basically a bar below the bar above, and made to look somewhat like someone's living room  There was a band playing, and it was a pretty cosy place. They feature artisan drinks and local beers. The drink I got wasn't that great, and after a bit we decided to go. I wanted to be someplace we could dance. It's a bit tricky finding a good lounge I guess. Cool music, cheap drinks, and unpretentious people that dance, but not a whole in the wall. A regular big box club is easy, a cool lounge not so much.

The waitress recommended we check out the Underground Wonder Bar as a more lively place, so we headed there. There was a reggae band on at the time, so it was fun. Not exactly what we were looking for since it was still more of a bar than a place to dance, but the music and atmosphere were great so we settled in at the bar. We did dance a bit by the end, I think. Who knows? I had a fun night with Stephen and that's all that matters. I think we got back to the hotel past 3am and decided to order a pizza.  We ordered from Sarpino's Pizza, which apparently delivers until very late. I love Chicago!