One of my 28 still-unused Groupons was to head back over to Eno at the Intercontinental Hotel, so me and Frances headed over there for some wine and cheese and chocolate (the three major food groups, as far as I’m concerned).

This time around, I grabbed the Godfather wine flight, which featured three Italian wines. I really liked all three, but I think the first one was my favorite:

• 2009 Vietti Barbera d’Asti (Italy)
• 2007 Cosimo Maria Masini “Nicole” (Sangiovese, Tuscany)
• 2008 Lena di Mezzo Valpolicella Ripasso (Classico Superiore, Veneto)

Obviously, you can’t have wine without cheese, so we opted for the Triple Bypass flight, which featured three heavenly, creamy cheese (hey, might as well go all out). But my favorite of the cheese called Saint Angel (Rhone Valley, France, cow’s milk). And since a girl’s gotta eat, we grabbed the charcuterie plate as well.

Last time at Eno, we didn’t try any chocolate flights, so this time we grabbed a Fleur De Sel flight, which featured three chocolates with a salty twist. It was delish!

Frances and I had been talking about exploring more of Chicago’s fancy hotel bars, and since we already crossed Eno at the Intercontinental off our list, we decided to hit up one more. After consulting Google, we decided on the Sable Kitchen & Bar at Hotel Palomar. I LOVE Kimpton Hotels (of which the Palomar is one) – they have such a fun boutique feel, and always seem to have the best small touches to make your experience unique.

Once we grabbed a nice big couch near the bar, we decided to be classy lassies and order some fancy drinks. Following the waitress’s recommendation, I went with the War of the Roses. The drink consisted of Pimm’s (which we had to Google to find out it was a type of liquor), Bombay Saffire, Chase Elderflower, mint & fresh lime. I was a little nervous at first, since I’m not much of a hard liquor drinker and was worried the drink would be too strong. But it was amazing. It had a strong grapefruit taste too it, and went down quite smoothly.

Now Frances and I can cross off Eno at the Intercontinental, Sable at Hotel Palomar, plus Vertigo at Dana Hotel and Le Bar at Sofitel (which we’ve “crossed off” several times at this point) off our lists. Stay tuned to the “Chicago Hotel Bars” category on my blog for more coming soon!