I visited Chicago last year in August and while there I went to a restaurant called the Bongo Room. This restaurant was recommended to me because they are known for their breakfasts, and I LOVE breakfast!  When I arrived at the restaurant at 8:30am it was already full. Instead of waiting for a table I went and sat at the bar and ordered a coffee. I perused the menu and decided to get a regular breakfast consisting of eggs, bacon, toast and hash browns. Yet, as I gave my order I could not help but feel drawn to the red velvet hotcakes on their menu. Specifically, they were described as red velvet hotcakes with vanilla crème and toasted walnuts. I had to have them! The waitress noticed my distress over the amount of food I was ordering that she made a point of telling me that I could order a single hotcake if I wished. “You can do that?” “Of course” she said, “they are pretty big and filling.” Sold! “Give me one hotcake please!”

When received my breakfast I did wonder how in the hell I was going to finish it all. It was a lot of food! But it all looked so good! As I ate the hotcake a thought crossed my mind, in addition to “oh wow, this is delicious!” What crossed my mind was how a great of a cake these hotcakes would make stacked up, and how I would love to eat this on my birthday next year. It was an odd thought to have, but there it was. Would you believe that I had planned to attend the Taste of Chicago after breakfast at the Bongo Room? Yep, very good planning on my part. Sigh. I was so full!

Fast forward to May 2013. A few days before my birthday I got an a bus (somehow I found a $35 return Greyhound ticket to Chicago! Sure it was an 11 hour bus ride, but I slept through most of it). When I got to Chicago the plan was to explore, eat, and make my way to the Bongo Room on the morning of my birthday. I did say I wanted the red velvet hotcakes for my birthday after all. 🙂

So this time around I ordered one red velvet hotcake with vanilla crème and toasted walnuts and one white chocolate and caramel pretzel hotcake for $5 each. I was going to order more but the waitress talked me out of it. Good thing she did; these hotcakes were massive! I have no idea how they make their crème, but if I could I would buy it in buckets and happily gain the weight as a result. Naturally I could not finish my breakfast because I always order too much, but the waitress was kind enough to put it in a to-go container and throw in some extra crème for later. 😉 Oh happy birthday to me!