How to Have a Proper Restaurant Crawl

In honor of our one year anniversary, my boyfriend and I created our very own, unplanned, restaurant crawl. Instead of going to one, super-fancy restaurant and dropping a bunch of money, we decided that it would be more fun to go to several restaurants and drop a bunch of money. This innovation went so well that I’m hoping to be able to refer back to this as our first annual restaurant crawl in the future. Keep reading to be inspired to throw together your own!

Our first stop was at Quartino, an italian restaurant not far from our apartment. This place is known for small plates and relatively affordable prices considering its location and the fact that it’s part of the Gibsons Restaurant Group. We enjoyed a huge pile of house-made goat's milk ricotta served with bread, orecchiette (a tomato-based pasta), and a small carafe of white sangria.

I also have to mention the service. I’ve been to this restaurant a few times and every time that I can remember, except maybe one, I have received some sort of gift in the form of free product. This time, the manager came to our table to light a nearby candle in honor of our celebration. Later, after scolding us for leaving too soon, he boxed up a giant piece of tiramisu and gave it to us for the road. It made a perfect, post-restaurant crawl, late night snack.

After dropping off our precious cargo at home and walking a few more blocks, we made it to legal scooter territory. If you aren’t familiar with renting electric scooters, it’s prohibited in the downtown Chicago area for some lame reason. You have to make it a certain distance away from downtown before you can rent, ride, or park any scooters.

Once we rented our scooters, we rode them to our second location; the J Parker in the Hotel Lincoln. This place had everything you would expect from a rooftop in Lincoln Park. Marco sipped a fancy drink called Jalisco Beretta and I drank some of their Plantation Pineapple rum with Sprite (or Sierra Mist; who cares?) while we sat outside and enjoyed the view. Then we ordered truffle fries and a pickle basket which included celery, carrots, classic pickles, and bread.

After another short walk and scooter ride, we arrived at our final destination. Barcocina is a neighborhood favorite of mine; only because every time I’ve been there, I’ve managed to have a good time and this was no exception. After being seated outside by a fire pit, which I fully enjoyed after being out in the cold a little too long, we both quickly chose the drinks we wanted to order. Marco ordered one called When I Met You in the Summer and I ordered a Blueberry Yum Yum. It took us a little longer to decide what to eat because everything looked great. We eventually chose the ancho shrimp quesadillas and the empanadas. After considering more food, and even another stop at Pequod’s, we decided against it and took the red line home.

By the end of the night, each of us probably spent the same or possibly less than what we would have had we gone to the upscale steakhouse that we originally planned. Despite the cold, it was the perfect adventurous anniversary date and I cannot wait for another excuse to try it out again. I highly recommend a restaurant crawl the next time you just cannot decide where to dine.