I’ve relocated (permanently as of August 19th) from the city, to the suburbs of Chicago. Needless to say, I spend a lot of time in suburbia now and am getting acclimated to my new “climate”.  I’m not going to lie, it’s hard to picture myself permanently in the ‘burbs but we’ve been doing a great job of staying busy, having new experiences and trying new places to eat. We’ve tried Jason’s Deli for the first time (sorry no pics of that), and although the food was delicious, we had a hard time with the overwhelming menu. There were way too many food choices (pasta, sandwiches, salad bar, paninis, entrees, desserts) that we didn’t even know where to begin and just jumped right in. We were both happy with our choices, in the end though, so at least it worked out

Last Saturday we had a “Go at Your Own Pace” day … my fave. It’s when we wake up when we want, do what we want, and spend the day the way we want. We don’t have any obligations, things to do, or anything. It’s relaxing and I love it. We planned to go to Costco to pick up some water, and decided to try a breakfast place in the same parking lot that we had spotted before. It’s called Wildberry Pancakes and Cafe and it has three locations in the Chicagoland area, for those of you interested in trying it out: downtown Chicago, Schaumburg and Libertyville.  We hit up the Schaumburg location and weren’t really sure what to expect except that we knew it was a breakfast place. True, it’s only open from 6:30 AM to 2:30 PM daily and has a full (and completely delicious) breakfast menu and a small lunch menu with sandwiches, salads and more.

When we walked up, it was about 10 AM and there were several people sitting outside on the patio area so we knew there would be a wait. They had a clean, open waiting area inside and told us that it would be about 30-45 minutes before we would be seated which was a-okay because it was GYOP day! They had a cafe station by the waiting area, so you could pick up a coffee or other barista-type drink while you waited which was AMAZING. I love that idea. There’s nothing worse than waiting 30 minutes for breakfast without your morning coffee. They brewed Intelligentista coffee which is super delicious, if you ever get a chance to try it. It’s a long departure from my daily McDonalds/Dunkin/Starbucks blends. Another awesome thing about their coffee was that it was $2 for a 16 oz at the station ($2.50 at your table with a mug) and with the to-go cup you got free refills if you purchased breakfast in the dining room! So, I had two cups making that $1 per 16 oz. gourmet cup of coffee. Great deal!

1. Beautiful paper lanterns from the large ceilings. | 2. JP enjoying her french toast. | 3. Fluffy Colorado omelette

When it came down to order our food, I had a taste for eggs, so I went with the Colorado (or Denver for some of you) Omelette with hashbrowns and buttermilk pancakes … lots of food but I wanted to try their pancakes. Don’t judge! It was seriously the fluffiest omelette I’ve ever had. It was perfect. Next time, I’d love to try their eggs benedict because I’m sure they make it fresh and amazing (you can’t get hollandaise just anywhere people! Have you SEEN Restaurant Impossible!?). JP picked the Caramel Apple Pecan French Toast and it looked amazing. Two large slices of french toast drizzled in caramel and large slices of apples with cinnamon…mmm! I definitely think it will be a place we will go back to, and the prices were pretty decent for such a delicious restaurant. We managed to get out of there spending about $23 bucks!