Urban Family Adventures: Chicago's West Loop

Exploring the city and all of the exciting neighborhoods with new and different restaurants, shops, parks and people is just as educational as a museum, right?  Well, that's what I tell myself on some of our days off.   There are more than enough museum days in Chicago.  It's summer now and I need to soak it up and explore our city...

Here's how I kept everyone (mostly) happy for the day in the West Loop:

DRINK:
Harvest Juicery
1012 W Lake St.

This once delivery-only juice bar serves organic or locally sourced juices that not only detoxify, but also taste great.  The atmosphere is fresh and inviting and the women working were super sweet and knowledgeable.  We started with the Fennel Juice (fennel, orange, lemon and mint) "this creamy drink is a digestive tract dream, aids in releasing toxins, is loaded with fiber, antioxidants and vitamins A and C".  The boys and I were fighting over it (somehow the youngest got the most).  It's nice to be able to take the kids out for a healthy treat (and something other than ice cream) that they really enjoyed!  Can't wait to try The Pear waiting for us in the fridge.

PLAY:
Mary Bartelme Park:
115 S Sangamon St.

This modern park doesn't have your traditional play equipment.  It was such an adventure for the boys to experience a different park than we're used to and being the climbers that they are, they loved it!  The sculptural water feature wasn't running at the time, but we'll go back during the evening this summer when it is...perhaps after an early dinner at one of the many West Loop spots.

EAT:
The Little Goat Diner:
820 W Randolph

Stephani Izard is a Chicago food genius and yet we still hadn't been to Little Goat.  I knew it was kid-friendly enough with a great outdoor patio.  So the food isn't exactly light, but that turned out to be perfect considering that we took a little trip to Children's ER between the park and lunch.  Oliver got tripped up leaving the park and ended up needing stitches...and after that whole issue, we all needed french fries!

And after that, we needed something sweet...

The Little Goat Bread is a little cafe/bar with so many tasty looking treats (the s'mores cookie was one of them) and thoughtfully chosen and amazing coffee.  Plus, all the breads are baked fresh on site daily and it was apparent from the sandwich we had (Los Drowned...amazing).  The fresh flowers for sale is such a nice touch and I can't wait to try the rub we bought.

Finally, we just walked around checking out all that Randolph Street and Green Street have to offer including Loretta's Bake Shop and Cafe, the site of the soon to open Soho House, and the amazing alfresco spaces of RM Champagne Salon , Green Street Smoked Meats and the Parlor Pizza Bar (coming soon).

So much better than the museum :)