Nightwood

As I write this on Sunday morning, just before we head off to meet Darth and Heidi for brunch, I have to admit, I'm feeling a little overindulged today. Read that as "hungover" if you must (though I think that's not quite the case), but know that we had a terrific, late meal with Brian and Daniel last night. We said we would make it back to Nightwood after our first visit there this year, and sure enough, we did.

Michael was the one who first suggested it as a nice dinner out for us - I think he saw it on "Check Please" some time before that and had been intrigued. We agreed on a midweek evening, and given reasonable winter weather, Conrad and I were able to walk there from the Library.

Arriving a bit early, we ordered some fun cocktails from the bar and were soon joined my Laura and Michael. They, too, ordered drinks, and eventually we made it over to our table. The menu looked great, we had some Pinot Noir to sip, and the food turned out to be really very good. Fried smelts as my appetizer - like popcorn! A duck confit for my dinner. Warm cookies to share for dessert - all of them delectable, not a dud in the assortment. Conrad and I agreed that we very much wanted to come back.

And then the opportunity quickly arose.

Last night was something of a going-away dinner for Brian. Sort of. A last chance for a good meal out in Chicago before he moves, though we know we will get to see him in Vancouver in times ahead. Daniel was there, too, another enjoyable dining companion. We started out with a cocktail at nearby Skylark, then made our way to Nightwood for a 9:00 reservation.

The restaurant was jampacked, and we had to park at the bar for a short wait for the table. We ordered a bottle of a Pinot and a plate of fried lemon slices with aioli, and - of course - no sooner had we ordered than the table was ready.

I've got an image of the menu from last night from the restaurant pasted in here. It changes, perhaps nightly, though I think that some things are somewhat constant in idea even if the sides change. There was the duck confit again, though served with different accompaniments (Brian had that). The chicken was Conrad's choice the first time we went (he had the steak last night). We shared a plate of the smelts (once again good), and then I opted for the pate. The sardines were the obvious choice (to me) for my meal, and they were very good - three of them, grilled. I love sardines. As for dessert, I ordered the sticky fig cake (the brittle with it was the best part, the cake was fine but not exceptional), while we had a plate of cookies for the table (all of them again good) and Brian ordered a scoop of peanut butter gelato (truly peanut buttery, not especially sweet).

The only dud of the evening was my last glass of wine, a red blend I thought would be a rich finish to the evening. It tasted completely maderized, and I was brought a replacement that was better but not satisfying. We noticed this with the first bottle of wine (we had two with dinner): too warm. The second bottle had a bit of a chill on it and was much better for it. I should have said something to them - they seem to store their reds in too warm a spot.

Wine incident aside, we will go back.

It was a late night. A 9:00 reservation down in Pilsen meant that Conrad and I crawled into bed, overindulged, at 1:00. That is so far from our normal habits, and I'm afraid to admit it: I'm getting old.