Chicago on a beautiful summer day is hard to beat – and boy did we get lucky on Tuesday. The temps were in the 70s, bright sunshine, light breeze. My sister and I rode on the bike trail along the lake front south from North Beach down to around Hyde Park area – great trail, easy riding, little congestion (on a Tuesday), stunning views of the lake and the city, riding past sandy beaches and landscaped gardens.  I borrowed a bike but there is a bike rental at North Beach (and a few other places) – and the rental place has a free air pump, which we made good use of.

On the return trip, we stopped for lunch at Taste of Chicago – crowded but not as bad as a weekend. We “tasted” some good Thai dumplings, a so-so Greek sausage, and an icky Ukrainian dumpling (starchy dumpling with what looked like tomato soup atop it).  Later, I swam for the first time at the Oak Street Beach – the lake was cleaner and warmer than expected with a nice sandy bottom and manageable waves. Laid out on the beach for awhile. Very nice.

For dinner, I went with E and M to Xoco (“cho-ko”) the new Rick Bayless restaurant – we picked just the right time to go: 5:30 p.m. on a Tuesday. We’d heard about long lines and limited seating but this time worked great. We stood in line for maybe 5 minutes, got our food right away, and sat at a high top table on stools outside overlooking the street. Well-managed place.  Food was interesting – supposedly it’s Mexican “street food” but smarted up with artisanal ingredients – the sources for the food – the bread, cheese, meat etc – were prominently displayed.  The Woodland Mushroom torte was a favorite. The Ahogada – which some critic likened, accurately, to a Mexican version of an Italian sub, was messy and hot and tasty (golden pork carnitas, black beans served on crusty bread face down in a tomato broth with a “spicy arbol chile sauce” (wisely, this is not offered for take-out.) We tried one of the caldos (soups) – the pork belly vermicelli which was interesting but not our favorite although the avocado was especially creamy after floating in the thin broth.  The churros were outstanding – a lighter, less greaser version of what we’ve had in Spain. The hot chocolate wasn’t our cup of tea – I’m sure it’s authentic but too sweet for us (we had the Almendrado – a chocolate shot with almond milk.) Very good guacamole (made according to the recipe used by Xoco’s fancier sibling next door, the Frontera Grill) with “just made” (of course) chips. The homemade Mexican vanilla soft serve ice cream tasted pretty much like regular vanilla soft serve…But overall, the place felt unique and fresh, like something truly new and ambitious – and reasonably priced. We spent $60 for three – granted we didn’t have any alcohol.

Next time I’d like to try the Pepito and one of the  griddle Tortas (our two tortas were cooked in a woodburning oven).  Also would like to try the carnitas and the cocoflan (which they didn’t have when we visited.)