Allison Benedikt From Every Day with Rachael Ray April-May 2006 Sips, Snacks and Sugar Slide Show   Chicago has always been a city of big shoulders, full of Midwestern machismo. But it has a feminine side, too. Yes, Richard Daley's Chicago and Mike Ditka's Chicago is also a place where a pack of girlfriends can gather for a weekend of tall drinks, sexy snacks and rich desserts. If your friends are anything like mine, you'll want to start your weekend with a few cold drinks and a tasty meal. We hail a cab and head to Devon Avenue, Chicago's Indian and Pakistani restaurant row. Devon is packed RACH'S WINDY CITY FAVES: Kitsch'n on Roscoe I always have a blast at this retro-metro '70s café. Try the pesto Green Eggs and Ham…Sam. (2005 W. Roscoe St., 773-248-7372) Café Laguardia The owner's family ran a restaurant called Los Cubanitos in Cuba in the '50s, and if this food is any indication, it must have been some place. I always order the Brazilian red snapper and a mojito. (2111 W. Armitage Ave., 773-862-5996) Gioco Located on the site of a Prohibition-era speakeasy, Gioco feels like an old-school Chicago joint. But the taste is all Italy. It's hard to find pappardelle with wild boar sauce outside of Tuscany. It's here, and it's dee-lish. (1312 S. Wabash St., 312-939-3870) with decent dinner options, but Tiffin (2536 W. Devon Ave., 773-338-2143; $6 for an average appetizer) is by far the best looking—the dining room has dark wood trim, an open kitchen and a sky mural on the ceiling—and dinner here won't break the bank. We share some appetizers, including spicy Fish Peri Peri (salmon marinated in red chiles and a blend of masalas) and Kathi Kebab (tandoori chicken wrapped in whole-wheat crêpes). For the vegetarian of the bunch: stuffed eggplant with curry sauce. Lucky for us, Tiffin serves booze, unlike most joints in the neighborhood. Slurping a yogurt lassi isn't exactly our idea of happy hour. We wouldn't normally shop on a full stomach, but buying a sari—a garment that can conveniently conceal the tummy—seems like a great idea. Sari shops line this stretch, and there's a sparkly jeweled bangle at every turn. Chandni Boutique (2503 W. Devon Ave., 773-381-5400) gets my vote for best on the block. Next neighborhood: Bucktown. Next meal: Chocolate. Last year, pastry chef Mindy Segal opened HotChocolate (1747 N. Damen Ave., 773-489-1747; $17 for an average entrée, $10 for an average dessert), a restaurant/lounge/bakery. The room, decorated with shimmery brown blinds, plush cocoa-colored leather benches and coffee-hued concrete floors, practically screams, "You want dessert!" And we do. Dinner here is really an opening act, a short list of savory bites like Kobe beef sandwiches, followed by a lengthy and mouthwatering dessert menu: warm brioche doughnuts with hot fudge dipping sauce, chocolate soufflé tarts with salted caramel ice cream and pretzels. If you prefer to drink your chocolate, Segal serves five varieties of hot cocoa. Four desserts later, we dance off the damage across town at Carol's Pub (4659 N. Clark St., 773-334-2402; $3.50 for an average beer), a late-night watering hole-in-the-wall where the house band plays country tunes into the early morning. After a night on the town, I like to pretend to be healthy. For brunch I head to Orange (3231 N. Clark St., 773-549-4400; $7 for an average breakfast), where you can create your own fresh-squeezed juice, like kiwi-cantaloupe, and sample "frushi": chunks of fruit wrapped in sticky rice. If I'd been ambitious, I would have run there on the lakefront path. A brisk morning jog on Lake Michigan would make breakfast here—especially the weekly pancake flights—taste a little sweeter.

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