I have been extremely lucky in my dining choices this past week.  Of all the wonderful treats, two stood out as top notch and definitely recommends. 

First, in Chicago, my girlfriends and I went to Quartino to celebrate a dear friends birthday.  Birthdays are always fun, birthdays with friends whom you have known most of your life are always better, but birthdays around a small round table with good wine, good food, and good conversation is the best. I would highly recommend Quartino to all Italian lovers.  You can go decadent with the pesto gnocchi, or light with the arugala salad, but I would recommend you order both, plus a couple of flat bread pizzas (campano is my fav!) and share family style.

He was at the restaurant! 

The second must-eat, located in Scottsdale, Arizona, was SearSucker.  Top Chef winner Brian Malarkey started a restaurant group, naming the wine and dine spots after different fabrics.  While I have only been to Scottsdale's Searsucker, I can imagine every spot to be phenomenal.  From the comfortable yet chic seating, to the unbeatable eggplant, this menu was fun and fresh.  We had a small incident where a friend of mine did not know what carpaccio meant and when his lab arrived raw in very thin slices, he had a hard time containing his confusion.  Needless to say, a pork belly saved the day.