My sister and I spent a magical day in Chicago on Thursday and realized a shared long-standing dream: a visit to the Oprah Winfrey Show! We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Casey, my hero and a friend of my friend Lara (thank you, Lara!), who works at Harpo and who put us on her ticket list a few weeks ago. We found out that we'd actually gotten tickets pretty recently and quickly threw together a plan for our whirlwind day in the Windy City.
My alarm clock went off at 4:00 am on Thursday morning and I sprang out of bed with the exciting realization that Oprah and I were hours away from being in the same room. Our mom drove me and my sister, who had flown in from London the night before, to the airport for our 6:15 am flight. We landed in Chicago by 8, checked into the Four Seasons (thanks, Credit-Suisse corporate rate!) to quickly spiff up, and arrived at Harpo Studios at 10:45. Then we waited. And waited. And waited some more. But Oprah, who finally marched out on to the stage around 1:45, was worth the wait. I love Oprah. I have watched her show for 20+ YEARS. She's been a teacher, friend, and counselor to me - yes, via television and I don't care how cheesy that sounds - and it was surreal to see her in person. That's all I'm going to say about the show since I signed a release in which I agreed not to write or blog about the taping. The show wrapped up after 3 and we stopped by the Oprah Store before thanking Casey and returning to our hotel for a little rest.
With the lack of sleep catching up to us, we headed to Frontera Grill for dinner. Fans of Top Chef Masters will recognize Frontera Grill as one of Rick Bayless's four Mexican restaurants in Chicago. It won the James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurant in 2007. And I can certainly understand why since it was fantastic. I had the best margarita I've ever tasted: a blood orange margarita that was shaken table side and served in a martini glass. And I have tried A LOT of margaritas. We shared way too much food including: guacamole; queso fundido (melted jack cheese) with crumbled chorizo, roasted peppers and oregano; delicious sopes rancheros (crispy corn masa boats with shredded beef, roasted tomatoes, avocado and house-made cheese); and grilled flank steak with a spicy serrano chile salsa, grilled scallions, and sweet corn tamales. Afterward, we headed to Xoco next door for some churros and Mexican soft serve ice cream with chocolate sauce.
On Friday, we got a 4:00am wake up call and reluctantly headed out of our warm hotel room for yet another 6:15am flight, this time back to frigid NYC. I loved my flash of a visit to Chicago and hope to return soon - though in warmer weather since it was FREEZING cold - so I can eat more (I want to try Art Smith's place, Table 52, too), spend some time exploring, and hopefully get to see my Chicago-dwelling friend Meredith and meet her little boy - sorry I wasn't there long enough this time for any visiting!
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