Allison Benedikt
From Every Day with Rachael Ray
April-May 2006
Retail Aromatherapy
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 STAY THERE
Chicago has no shortage of fine places to stay, but these
stylish hotels have an added bonus: They're affordable.
Hotel Indigo
In the heart of Chicago's ritzy Gold Coast neighborhood, this hotel has colorful
rooms with hardwood floors and spa showers. (1244 N. Dearborn Parkway, hotelindigo.com,
312-787-4980; doubles from $169)
The Talbott
Located near the fabulous Oak Street shopping district, this cozy European-style
hotel and its adorable restaurant, Basil's, are hidden away on a quiet, tree-lined
side street. Rooms are nicely appointed, Aveda products and all. (20 E. Delaware
Pl., 800-825-2688; doubles from $159)
James Chicago
This new boutique hotel is on the expensive side of affordable but comes with
plasma TVs, an enormous fitness center and spa, and one of the latest entries
in Chicago's fine-dining scene, David Burke's Primehouse. (55 E. Ontario St.,
877-526-3755; doubles from $250)
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The girls are back together again and we need to recuperate before another night
out. Ruby Room (1743
W. Division St., 773-235-2323; $100 for an average hour of spa service), a spa in
Wicker Park, goes beyond the usual wraps and massages with how-to beauty classes
and spiritual services like Soul Exploration.
Emotionally cleansed and externally beautified, we walk across the street to Milk & Honey
Café (1920 W. Division St., 773-395-9434;
$7 for an average sandwich),
a cheerful breakfast and lunch spot with a great outdoor patio. Does house-made
herb-crusted roast beef and radish slaw on ciabatta bread with potato chips sound
good? It is.
Wicker Park and nearby Bucktown are great areas for afternoon shopping; many
of the stores, like p.45 (1643
N. Damen Ave., 773-862-4523), are owned by young businesswomen and stocked with
clothes made by up-and-coming designers. After lunch we browse the goods at Nina (1655
W. Division St., 773-486-8996), a funky knitting shop; Lilly
Vallente (1746 W. Division St., 773-645-1537), a vintage clothing and accessories
boutique; and Tatine (1742
W. Division St, 773-342-1890), which sells beautiful soy-based candles.
Lugging shopping bags, we sit down at Avec (615
W. Randolph St., 312-377-2002; $10 for an average small plate), a rustic Mediterranean
wine bar that serves phenomenal small plates. Co-owner Paul Kahan, who owns the
famed restaurant Blackbird (619
Randolph St., 312-715-0708) next door, modestly calls the Avec menu "peasant
food." Hardly. You and the girls can chat all night over shaved apple and
Manchego cheese salad and to-die-for bacon-wrapped Medjool dates stuffed with
spicy chorizo.
If the weather's in full glory, you could instead opt to head to the city's newest
gem, Millennium Park (55
N. Michigan Ave., 312-742-1168), stopping first at Fox & Obel Market (401
E. Illinois St., 312-410-7301; $8 for an average sandwich) to
pick up a picnic dinner of grilled Cuban panini and homemade chips. For dessert:
individual berry cheesecakes.
Sunday. The last hurrah. The long good-bye. We make it count with one final bonding
session at The Chopping
Block (4747 N. Lincoln Ave., 773-472-6700; $75 for
an average lesson), a
cooking school in Lincoln Square. We watch. We learn how to chop a shallot. We
eat crêpes. Choose from classes that change monthly—Seafood 101,
Sauce Sense, Taste of Thailand. Then buy yourself a culinary souvenir from the
gift store, to remind you of all the great food you shared with the girls.
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