2nd Annual Chocolate Tour

Tonight we went on our second annual Chicago Chocolate Tour, this time in Lincoln Park. (Last year was the Gold Coast / Magnificent Mile tour.)

Our first stop was Swirlz Cupcakes, which is a cute little cupcake shop.

The flavors were awesome, and we got to go into the back and eat delicious mini cupcakes while one of the workers told us about the business. Look at this adorable set-up!

From left to right, the cupcakes are vanilla-chocolate, bitter chocolate, Boston cream pie, chocolate raspberry cheesecake, and raspberry truffle. Mmm.

Our next visit was to Deli Boutique, an awesome little European specialty foods shop. I need to go back there and get some meats, cheeses, and potato salad. Next we went to an adorable little coffee shop, Noble Tree Coffee and Tea, and then to Argo Tea for some amazing Vosges chocolate bars.

Last year I wrote a list of all the wonderful things we ate at the different tour stops, so I think I'll do that again. Here it goes:

• Raspberry truffle cupcake, Swirlz Cupcakes
• Bittersweet chocolate cupcake, Swirlz Cupcakes
• Chocolate banana cupcake, Swirlz Cupcakes
• Chocolate raspberry cheesecake cupcake, Swirlz Cupcakes
• Chocolate peanut butter square, Deli Boutique
• Caramel chocolate cookie, Noble Tree Coffee & Tea
• Aztec hot chocolate, Noble Tree Coffee & Tea
• Vosges Tea Sangria chocolate bar, Argo Tea
• Vosges Green Tea Ginger chocolate bar, Argo Tea
• Vosges Chai chocolate bar, Argo Tea
• Brownie, Argo Tea
• Chocolate chip cookie, Argo Tea
• Chocolate mint tea, Argo Tea

Everything was so good, but I think maybe the cupcakes and chocolate bars were my favorite. You can never go wrong with Vosges, which produces my favorite chocolate bar.

After stuffing ourselves full of all this chocolate, we went to the Irish Oak pub in Wrigleyville to meet up with Rob and Diane for Rob's birthday. Rob was missing the wonderful pubs of London, so we meet up for some ale, burgers, and fish and chips. Somehow, Dave and I split a burger and fries, though any more food probably would have made us explode. (Oh, and for Rob's present, we gave him a chocolate raspberry cheesecake cupcake from Swirlz. Awesome.)

It was a decadent night, but then again, what with Valentine's Day, it was destined to be a decadent weekend anyway. Might as well stoke the fire!