One of our favorite Chicago spots on Michigan Ave is Grand Lux Cafe. The restaurant has a vast offering of dishes and we recently visited to check out their newest menu items this season. To kick off our meal, we enjoyed a raspberry lemonade and Strawberry Bellini...

One of their newest appetizers is their Empanadas. They were almost too pretty to eat but these crispy pockets were filled with a flavorful filling of beef, chorizo, peppers, onions, herbs and spices. Served on a bed of pickled red onions and a creamy, garlicky dipping sauce, you can't go wrong!

Another new appetizer menu item are their Poke Tacos. Tender chunks of ahi tuna is dressed with a sesame dressing along with fresh avocados, Asian slaw, green onions and sesame seeds. The taco shell was light and so crispy! I also loved the Wasabi cream and pickled ginger it was served with. I could have easily had this appetizer all to myself lol...

For our lunch, we opted to each have one of their new salads. This one is their Little Italy Salad. The salad included chopped lettuce, Genoa salami, fontina cheese, pepperoncini, garbanzo beans, tomatoes, red onion, and Parmesan cheese with a red wine vinaigrette. It was very good and had all the best Italian flavors on a plate!

The other new salad on the menu was their Roasted Pear & Strawberry Salad. I love my salads with a fruit and this was excellent! Roasted pears joined with strawberries, gem lettuce, spinach, feta cheese and almonds with a lemon dressing. It had the perfect balance of sweetness, tang and a whole lot of refreshing flavor.

After such a filling meal, we had to make some room to end on a sweet note. We just couldn't pass up the opportunity to get an order of their New Orleans Beignets. These soft, fluffy clouds of powder dusted airy goodness were even more delicious with the trio of sauces they came with. It's hard to choose what to dip them in between chocolate, raspberry or a vanilla cream... so we enjoyed all three in all sorts of combos!