With two years in the books, Brett and I wanted to celebrate our anniversary with some good eats! Fun fact about me- I keep a running log of places I find in Chicago with gluten-free options so that I can review them as soon as I have the opportunity. So when it came time to pick a place to eat for our Friday night celebration, I handed Brett the list and told him to surprise me. On Friday night at 8:00pm sharp our uber rolled up to Hub 51, and we eagerly headed inside. Needless to say, the place was bumpin’. There is a nightclub downstairs that gets pretty crowded as the night goes on, so I was happy to be at a high-top table upstairs, away from the bass and close to the food.
I ordered a dirty martini with EXTRA olives (my favorite) and was not disappointed when four of them graced my cocktail. Brett got a small pour of a beer on tap- their beer menu is pretty impressive if you’re into gluten.
Here below is pure olive bliss! As you can see I don’t know how to space out my olives.
As we poured over the menus (gluten-free and glutenous) we decided on the pulled chicken nachos to start.
We were thankfully advised by our lovely waiter Aaron that if we wanted to even think of having a 2nd course, to order the half portion. If this was the half portion, I can’t imagine how big the full one would be!The flavors were insane with these- the tomato salsa had a sweetness to it that balanced the salt from the chips and cheese. I’ll give you all a close up to drool over.
My choice for my main course was the El Segundo Sol Burger- a beef burger with chihuahua cheese, jalapeño slaw, pickled red onion and spicy mayo. And it came with dedicated fryer french fries!!! I’m never a huge fan of buns so having this bun-less didn’t bother me, but I did wish the cheese had been melted for a minute more.
Brett got the Grilled Lamb Pita-Shawarma style- those Greek fries? I’ll admit I was jealous. Neither of us were able to finish our plates, and gladly accepted the doggy bags we were provided. As I sipped on my malbec and Brett asked for two coffees, we were presented with the best surprise ever!
We were treated to three desserts: two gluten-free, and one glutenous, which I didn’t mind because LOOK at that carrot cake!
Brett ate as much as his stomach allowed and made sure we took the rest home. I got to move between the raspberry sorbet and the butterscotch pot de crème mini.
I don’t even know how to describe this pot de crème- it was heavenly. I about licked the glass to finish it.
I will tell you- if I’d seen this on the menu I never would’ve ordered it. I now know how foolish I would’ve been to have passed this up. The sorbet was tart and an awesome addition to our spread, we felt truly spoiled.
Ooooh baby.
Hub 51 was unbelievably good to us, they made sure our anniversary dinner was a memorable one and this blog was one of my most fun posts to write!
If you want to make a reservation, click here and to view the gluten-free menu click here.
As always- if you have a recommendation of where to go next- let me know in the comments below! And share the love by sharing my post and subscribing via email to get them sent to you when I publish a new one! Sharing buttons below for your clicking pleasure 🙂