Last day in Chicago

The last day was just brunch in Wicker Park at Prasino.  Lots of options for brunch.  Jessica had an amazing "hippie" omelette.  I had the carrot pancakes.  Not sure why I chose this.  They were good but really a tad too sweet for my breakfast palate. Afterward we drove around Bucktown to see what it was all about. 

The rest of the day was spent back in the hotel watching Jessica do another photo shoot.  Then we just chilled out.  For dinner we went Arami.  Located on a vacant street driving towards Wicker Park.  What a find.  The food was amazing.  An adorable woman waited on us who had just became certified as a sake expert.  She really knew her stuff.  We let her order for us. 

The menu is extensive from robata, donburi, noodles, sushi, sashimi etc.  We took the lead from the woman who was waiting on us on how to curate our meal.  We began with the "cold" and had the tuna bites.  Chopped up tuna with chives and a little dollop of caviar on top.  Perfect start to the meal.

Uni shooter.  Tobiko, diced cucumber, shiso leaf and the house special soy sauce.  On the bottom is a piece of uni and ths rest is poured on top.  Incredible.  Even for non-uni fans.  The special soy sauce is amazing.

Spicy Tako springroll.  Spicy octopus with cilantro, crispy mixed greens wrapped in rice paper.  So many flavors happening here and with a serious kick.  Amazing.

A mixture of enoki, shimeji, shitake and eringi mushrooms warmed with a meyer lemon sesame dressing.  A nice light salad.

Special sashimi.  This is called secret hamachi.  Sliced yellowtail nicely presented over a rock with a bit of chopped mushrooms on top and a little bit of truffle oil.  We ordered it again.

We each got a mixture of sushi.  Super fresh and flavorful.  Not sure where they are bringing this fish in from but incredible.  I love how they gave me the deep fried head with the sweet shrimp.

King crab wrapped with marinated tuna and toasted sliced almonds on top.  A really interesting combination of flavors.  I reall loved the presentation too.

A piece of sublime uni.

Special maki.  Spicy octopus with fluke, ginger and tiny slices of apples on top and a ginger fuji apple dressing.  Wow wow wow.

Hamachi handroll.  We kept ordering!

We ended up with donburi.  Roasted duck over warm rice with ginger and thinly sliced plums. 

Had to have some mochi.  The food here is amazing.  If I was in Chicago another night, I might just return.