Chicago is home to Millennium Park--and Wildberry Pancakes and Cafe. |
I have made two trips to beautiful Chicago in the past
month: on the first trip I accompanied Doug to a conference in the bustling
downtown area, and on the second trip we attended the wedding of the daughter
of a close friend in the lovely little suburb of Wheaton.
My first cinnamon roll in six years! |
Besides enjoying several of Chicago’s recreational and
cultural offerings, I was pleased to find that Chicago is onto gluten-free dining.
Such restaurants as Morton’s The Steakhouse (65 E. Wacker Pl.) and Volare (201
E. Grand) in Chicago and Ivy (120 N. Hale) in Wheaton offered some especially
nice gluten-free options. But my happiest discoveries were two outstanding
breakfast restaurants.
The Egg Harbor Cafe rooster. |
In fact, I ate at Wildberry Pancakes and Café (130 E.
Randolph St.), a breakfast restaurant located directly across from Millenium
Park, three times while we were at the conference. While at the wedding, I ate
at Egg Harbor Cafe (208 S. Hale St.) twice. Wildberry’s GF Pancakes were the
best I’ve encountered since I’ve had celiac disease. I ate them every day—so
quickly, in fact, that unfortunately I didn’t take the time to take a photo.
You’ll just have to trust me on this.
(We actually tried to eat at Wildberry one other time on the
weekend but the wait was 1½ hours for brunch, and we didn’t have the time—so
keep that in mind if you plan to eat there. On weekdays, we were seated immediately.)
At Egg Harbor Cafe, I also had some mighty tasty pancakes on
the first day, but on the second day I had the first cinnamon roll I’ve had in
four years. And oh, boy, was it ever the bomb! If I ever have the chance to
return to Wheaton, you can bet that I will visit Egg Harbor again!
In addition to Wildberry’s downtown location, there are two
other locations: 1783 N. Milwaukee Ave, Libertyville, IL and 1383 N. Meacham
Rd., Schaumburg, IL. Egg Harbor, happily, has 18 restaurants in Illinois,
Wisconsin, and Georgia. You can look them up at www.eggharborcafe.com.