A visit to Millennium Park

Yesterday, Zach and I drove back into the city after sending my parents off at O'Hare. We wanted to visit the Art Institute but it was still early, so we strolled over to Millennium Park to see Cloud Gate, the Crown Fountain, the Pritzker Pavilion (designed by Frank Gehry), and a glimpse of the Jun Kaneko sculptures.

 

It started to drizzle and by the time the museum was open, there was a huge crowd in line for tickets. I told Zach I was too tired and emotionally spent to stand in line, so we opted to go for an early lunch instead.

We went to Yuzu, a little sushi and robata grill restaurant tucked in the middle of Ukranian Village. We had learned about this place by watching Check, Please! on PBS, so we were excited to see if the food tasted as good as they made it look on tv.

negi hamachi

spicy scallop

tuna, salmon, hamachi, wrapped in kelp

Yuzu did not disappoint. We started off with some seaweed salad and grilled whole squid. Then we sampled some shishito peppers, ribeye, and king oyster mushroom from the robata grill. We also shared some sashimi and rolls, and capped off our feast with some green tea cheesecake. We might not have followed my parents to Japan, but I thought we had a really fantastic Japanese meal right here in the Midwest. The good food helped ease my heartache, albeit only momentarily.