Fig and Olive

Fig and Olive, which has restaurants in New York, Los Angeles, and now Chicago, is to die for. This place has Mediterranean food, with its origins from the South of France, Italy and Spain. You can feel the Mediterranean vibe with the ambiance and decorating. The space is extremely open and airy with two floors, and the decor is almost all white (hello, my dream). The bar is a huge square, so this would be a fun place to post up for a drink. You can easily hang here while listening to the DJ (that plays subtle party music). There is also an open-air garden terrace. This restaurant almost feels like it belongs in an upscale Vegas hotel, and you are going to walk out onto the pool and cabana at any moment. This is also the most well dressed and wealthy crowd I've seen at a restaurant in Chicago. I've never seen more Hermes and Chanel in one place. This is definitely a place to see and be seen.

The food is also great. They are known for their olive oil, and bring out this amazing bread to start with three different dipping oils. I've also learned that they use olive oil in all of their dishes, instead of butter and cream. Also, like most restaurants these days, they have a great small plates and a shared menu. We ordered a burrata dish, a crostini and a pasta dish. We were too stuffed to even look at the dessert menu. The wine pours were also huge, which was a great bonus when you're out for a girls night.

The only cons about this place were that it was extremely cold (although they did turn off the air a bit) and they didn't dim the lights early enough. That wouldn't be enough to keep me from coming back though. I highly recommend coming here, and putting this top of your list. I would have to say this is up there with Bottlefork, Nico Osteria and Cicchetti for me (as far as new River North restaurants go).

Summer House Santa Monica

I could go on and on listing off the wonderful things about this place. The atmosphere is absolutely amazing, and you truly feel like you're in Southern California. Come to this place in the winter if you need a dose of summer! Also, the people at this restaurant were extremely attractive. I was actually getting distracted because of how good looking the men were. Clearly I need to be coming here more often!

The food was slightly expensive though. We ended up with a decently hefty bill at the end of the evening. If I were to do it over again, I would probably share some of the small plates with a pasta entree. Just don't eat too much before you go, because you'll want to save yourself for the carb heavy menu and amazing pastas. The service was great though, and all the waitstaff were all super friendly.

The only negative is how hard it is to get a reservation, and the weak cocktails. We had to make a reservation a month in advance! Although all the cocktails looked amazing, they were not strong enough...at all. Stick with the wine here. Especially because the featured winery on the menu was Sanford. Good pick!

Overall I would highly recommend coming to this place! And make sure to take home some goodies for yourself from the bakery at the front of the restaurant.