A note about our dining history. Mark and I met in '88 at Syracuse University. I was a freshman majoring in English; he a junior majoring in ad design. We first clicked over a jelly donut at his fraternity and made it official over a grilled chicken breast sandwich with mushrooms and Swiss and a side of fries at our favorite place called Phoebe's. We took our parents there the first time they met, and it ended with them doing brandy shots at lunch - yikes. We married 6 years later and had our first son 5 years later. So, we spent our first 11 years eating and drinking our way first through NYC and then Chicago when we moved here in '93. Sprinkled on top where some serious food-focused trips to Europe and dinner parties even in our 700 sq ft. apartment. I also landed a gig writing restaurant reviews for a Chicago pub early on. PR execs taking me out to feast was a fun perk of my job. Then, post-kids, pre-holistic health coaching, I launched and managed Chicago's Taste of the Nation, a culinary event featuring over 50 local chefs and mixologists, for several years. The event supported the effort to end childhood hunger - but not a sane life for me. So, I'd like to think we have a perspective to share about food, fun cities to find it and products we love in the kitchen. But it's just our perspective. As for local restaurants, we've watched the Chicago restaurant scene explode and it could be a full-time blog job writing about it all. Instead, we'll share just the meals, dishes or restaurants that truly blew us away. First up, El Ideas, Au Cheval and Grace - the restaurant we chose to celebrate our 20th anniversary at last September.