When visiting the tiny beach town of Spring Lake, New Jersey if you close your eyes you can feel the history of its heyday. There is a sudden sense of community present upon your arrival to Spring Lake. The locals-many who were born and raised here-take pride in their small town, and they love to share their knowledge. Some leave Spring Lake, but many come back making it once again their permanent residence.

On the contrary to the opening theme music from the classic television show, The Jefferson's, this foodie tour is movin' on down to the Lower East Side. We begin at the top of the East Side and will work our way to a deluxe restaurant, not in the sky, but conveniently located on street level.

Once named the "Cast Iron District," for its many buildings made of the material, the neighborhood commonly known as Soho, (South of Houston) has become one of the main tourist and local attractions in New York City.

Greenwich Village is one of the last remaining, "neighborhoods," in New York City where you can find the butcher, the baker, and even the mozzarella cheese maker all within walking distance of each other. You can find most of what your heart and mouth desire on the neighborhood's life line of sorts, Bleecker Street.

After President Herbert Hoover announced the 18th amendment as, "a great social and economic experiment, noble in motive," thousands of underground bars and saloons were fashioned all across the country, known as speakeasies. The alcohol was arranged by bootleggers or practiced in the back of many of these institutions. Night after night, patrons sipped from teacups filled with this illegal juice as if it were their last night on earth. New York was no exception!

Cliché as it may seem, "dinner and dessert," can mean a blessed merriment for your taste buds. For a low key night out in Chicago, one merely needs to begin with a cheerful appetite, a little cash, and maybe some elastic waist pants, (no calorie counting on this trip). On this evening in Chicago, we start and end our night on West Randolph.