I spied an impromptu restaurant dining area on a busy downtown Chicago street. It’s amazing how a little white picket fence and some plants can instantly transform a “hustle and bustle” area into an intimate dining spot!

I was starving and feeling weak as I journeyed 80 miles from my home in Los Angeles to the Casa de Bandini restaurant located at The Forums shopping center in Carlsbad, California, for a lunch meeting recently. Why did I skip breakfast that morning?