Chicago loose ends

Wherein I share photos of folks who are not strictly ALA folks and I share photos of meals outside of the major meals I wanted to spotlight.

Loose ends.  Oh, Peter.  I have a general practice of just writing what I write and not worrying about whether the prose is all that good.  I have no illusions of this blog being optioned for publishing deal or a film or television series.  Can you even imagine?  So I write what I write and look back and cringe and laugh.  But it does remain true to at least part of me, so I keep it all.  The loose ends it is.  That will teach me to write placeholder titles days in advance!

Friday morning in Chicago, and it was breakfast with Matt and Kim at a place we could all walk to, a Chicago Waffles location.  So much on the menu to choose from, but I opted for an omelet, something I rather like but seldom have.  Broccoli and cheddar in this one, and it was enjoyable. 

I liked the potatoes on the side as well.  That was a filling start to the day.

Friday evening, and we met up with Courtney and Robert along with Courtney's sister, Chelsea; Chelsea's husband, Andy; and their two daughters.  The family had driven down from the Madison area, and we were supposed to be joined by Courtney and Chelsea's parents as well.  They couldn't make it up from Indiana, alas, so it was just the eight of us at Eataly in downtown Chicago.  A fun time!  I hadn't seen Chelsea and Andy in at least a dozen years or more, and I had never met the girls.  Conrad had never even met Andy!  We shared some light bites and pizza, pasta, and wine.  Conrad and I also enjoyed their version of Last Words. 

After dinner, we headed over to the Langham Hotel with Courtney

and Robert

and shared a bottle of wine at Tavelle, looking out at the river and catching up.

Saturday lunch was with ALA folks whom I like very much.  Five of us had a leisurely (very very leisurely) lunch at Southern, not far from the convention center.  Great company.  Maybe a little pokey there, but the food was terrific.  I had a Hugo Spritz to start

and settled on two appetizers for lunch:  deviled eggs and fried green tomatoes. 

Oh, and we all shared a cornbread that Kathy, the southerner at the table, refused to accept was proper cornbread. 

Whatever it was, she liked it.  We all did.

Sunday lunch was with Robert (not the same Robert as above) at Apolonia.  Conrad was there for that one.  I thought my blue crab eggs Benedict were nicely done - I always appreciate it when the yolks are still runny, and these ones were. 

We shared pastries that looked lovely but were honestly kind of dry.  Ah well.  I really did like my eggs a lot.

I have no photos of my sandwich from Danke in Sterling Food Hall from my lunch with Michael on the Monday.  It was a good sandwich, and the food court was pretty cool (and pretty busy).  Just so great seeing Michael, though. 

It's been far too long.  We met years ago through our work at each of our libraries in Chicago on digital collections and hit it off - he became someone I would go for occasional happy hour drinks with.  Good guy.

That brings us to Tuesday lunch and a reunion with Rachel and David. 

We met up not far from Rachel's work, dining at The Gage.  It's such a reliable restaurant, especially since it's in such a touristy spot on Michigan Avenue.  There's something of a classic bistro feel to it.  I've enjoyed cocktails and food there several times, and this one was no less good.  A gin and tonic on a hot and humid day was sweet relief, indeed. 

I opted for a cold sandwich as well, a lobster roll. 

No, not a typical thing for Chicago, but it sounded so good.  It was tasty, a little wet.  I devoured it happily.  Rachel and David were such excellent company, too.  It's always a treat to see the online happy hour folks in person, and I will see all of them in person this calendar year!

Conrad and I also had a very nice dinner at The Publican with his colleague, Nate, and Nate's wife, Allison.  I didn't take photos of that meal, but we did enjoy it.

That, friends, wraps up Chicago.  I hope it does.  It was quite the ten days away, and although there was a lot about the time away that just sort of off, there were great friends and wonderful meals throughout.  I'm glad we had those. 

Friday night concert downtown

For a year that started out with us going to very few concerts, we sure are ending it with a bang.  Three Fridays in a row this month with concerts, three concerts again in the space of 8 or 9 days in December.  I sit here listening to some Samara Joy Christmas music knowing we have tickets to see her in the New Year as well as Dan Mangan.  Lots of shows to go see.  Yay!

Last Friday Van and I left Olive in the care of Conrad (and both of them were very very fine with that)

and headed into DTLA, first to Joyce, a restaurant I had been to before and liked.  Joyce was already in the holiday spirit what with Christmas decorations up, and their drinks menu

was themed to tie in with that.  I opted for the Sketches on Christmas and liked it. 

Van and I shared the food, and it came out fairly quickly.  The cornbread was great,

the watermelon salad also (and different than what we expected - that was fun to see set down on the table). 

I didn't photograph the shrimp and grits, and I did like then, but I think the real star was the fried Cornish game hen. 

Three pieces plus biscuits, it was a nice play on what you would get at a fast food chicken restaurant.  Rather than get dessert, I opted to go not-sweet and ordered the Mother of Pearl Martini. 

It was interesting, and a generous pour, but at a certain point it tipped over into too funky, and I didn't finish it.  And that was fine!  Just enough food and beverage, and with that dinner done, we headed through DTLA

and over to The Novo on foot.

I liked the venue.  Van had got us VIP seats, which meant a lounge upstairs and great seating at the front of the balcony.  It was odd to me, though, that they didn't monitor the experience well.  Anyone could come up to the lounge, no gatekeeping of that.  Moreover, the ushers didn't monitor seats and tickets, and so there were folks who were squatting in prime seats who had to leave as more people with the correct tickets came along.  Like us.  It was strange that that happened, but not a real bother otherwise.

Van and I stayed in the lounge through the opening act, Bay Ledges. 

There were screens set up, and we could watch it there.  We didn't know him or his music, and honestly, it was a little dismal.  One guy on stage singing along to his canned music - he was doing what he loved, and I admired that, but I wasn't into what I heard.  I gave it a listen the next morning on a walk, and no, it didn't grab me.

The main act was what we were there for, or Van certainly was.  Leisure, a collective from New Zealand who have put out a handful of albums.  I'm not sure how Van stumbled on them, but he seemed to know a bunch of the songs.  I messaged Dion and Minna in NZ after the show, and they had never heard of Leisure.  Anyway, I have to say that they were tight.  I mean, they were playing so well together, there were no lags, no fumbling around.  They had coordinated outfits, they swapped lead on the songs, and it all went together so well.  I was impressed by them as a band.

But...

The sound!  It's not a big venue.  Not tiny, but not big.  That sound was so so loud.  And I swear it got louder by the end.  I was plugging my ears with my fingers during the last song.  I could feel the bass hitting my chest.  It was too much.  And it meant that the singing got lost in the mix.  A lot of the singing - and singing duties were shared - was softer and higher than I would have guessed from five men, and ultimately, I could hear the singing but not understand a lot of it.  And that meant that a lot of the music started to sound the same to me.

How would I classify the group?  Retro-soul/funk/pop?  In recordings, they sound kind of chill-out and lounge-y, sort of dance-y.  In live performance?  They came across as 90s white funk and made me think of Jamiroquai very vaguely.  I didn't have a better point of comparison.  Anyway, as the set went on, I continued to admire the group, but I was enjoying myself a little less.  A shame.  I think that better sound would have gone a long way toward me having more fun.

The show over, Van and I had the walk back to where the car was parked, a thick fog settling over the city as we made our way there and then on to home. 

One concert for November done.  Bring on the next!  

Girl and the Goat (LA)

Saturday night the three of us headed into LA for dinner somewhere other than Pasadena. 

Oh, we love our local favourites, have no fear, but we wanted to enjoy a meal a little farther from home, somewhere different.  So it was that we found ourselves at the Los Angeles outpost of that beloved Chicago mainstay, Girl and the Goat.

If you have watched Top Chef, you should know the name Stephanie Izard.  Winner of season 4, the Chicago season.  And a Chicagoan herself.  I loved watching her on that season.  She demonstrated terrific cooking skills, a fascinating sense of flavour, real leadership, and subtle humour.  Small wonder she also won the fan favourite voting.  After she opened Girl and the Goat in Chicago, I went a few times - it wasn't far from work, so happy hour meet-ups were feasible.  In more recent times, I've been to the Little Goat diner a few times, treating myself to tasty and filling brunches.  She opened a Los Angeles branch a couple of years ago, down in the Arts District.  None of us had been to that one, so there we were.

It's a fantastic space, what I saw of it.  It's also a loud one, and I was not unhappy that the three of us were seated on the patio area (we had reserved an outside table) at the very end.  A quiet corner, relatively speaking.  The weather was just fine for being outside, and so we had a nice evening with a terrific server.

We ordered cocktails, and then some wine.  For food, we went simple.  The cornbread to whet our appetites,

and then the goat shoulder. 

That was a substantial platter that included multiple sauces as well as lettuce leaves, naan, and tostadas for wrapping up the meat.  A meal that we could really dig into and enjoy.  We did.  We had some vegetable sides as well, I promise.  And then it was on to dessert.  We were torn between the sticky rice and something called the popcorn situation, and when we settled on one, the server decided to gift us with the other so we wouldn't miss out. 

That was awesome of her.

Dinner done, it was home to the little girl.  Our bellies were full, and although we thought we might want some television, we instead crashed pretty early.  A very good meal, though, and I would be happy to go back.

Gala

Our first evening in Santa Barbara, we headed downtown for dinner, to a newer restaurant that Van's friend Jennifer had suggested.  It was a rare break in the June Gloom that day, so we sat outside and felt comfortable in the cool evening.

I liked Gala.  It had an interesting menu that genuinely felt seasonal.  It also had a good bar program, from what I could tell - and goodness knows we like our cocktails.  I started with the Clover Club, which I haven't made in ages, and it was a nice choice.

Van and I shared two starters.  One was a salad that featured morels (see?  seasonal!) and an asparagus puree. 

It was modest in size, but beautifully plated and tasty.  Van was a little surprised that I asked to have the mushroom dish, but come on.  Morels are a far cry from the satanic turds that are button mushrooms!  We also shared the cornbread, and that was delicious.

I didn't get photos after that.  The light was getting low, and I decided to just eat and enjoy what we were having.  Duck confit for my dinner.  The mashed potatoes were glorious, the pile of salad on the plate was fine but maybe a bit much.  The dessert was a slice of cheesecake.  I appreciate all the fresh berries on the plate, but the cheesecake itself didn't need them.  It was smooth and rich and tangy, and the berry sauce it came with was enough for it.

But please.  These are not bad things, not missteps.  It was a fine choice for our first dinner, and I would be keen to go back to see what seasonal items they were working with at another time.

And, as a nice bonus, we encountered the owner - she had been at the host stand at dinner - after brunch at our hotel the next day.  She remembered us, and we had a nice chat about our dinner and the hotel.  It was really sweet to be remembered.

Palm & Pine

Tracie had told me that she had had a good dinner at Palm & Pine earlier in the conference.  I always appreciate a recommendation, and a glance at the menu online suggested that I would be happy there.  So when my meetings ended on Monday, I decided to just enjoy a dinner by myself at the bar there.  I got there shortly after opening and parked myself.

It wasn't too far from the hotel, so it was a nice little walk over.  The place wasn't too busy that early.  It was loud.  Interesting music, as far back in the 80s as Asia, of all things.  I read news and such on my phone and sipped my first drink (essentially a variation on a New York sour). 

I was almost done it when the sticky grilled rib tips came out. 

Yep, sticky.  Also, tasty.  And a nice, little heat to them.  I finished my drink, ordered another, the House of the Raisin Sun (I didn't get the name of the first, alas, and I cannot find it online). 

The corn babies came out,

and I started on them.  Then I nursed the (not as sweet as I thought it might be) second cocktail a loooong while.  The restaurant lagged a little, I have to say.  Small kitchen, they were busy, but the third item (from the small bites menu) I ordered was the corner store crudo. 

I read, and sipped carefully, and waited.  Finally, it came.  The crudo was tasty, truly, but wow, three small bites and two cocktails, and that was almost an hour and a half.  I paid up politely and left.

I appreciated Tracie's recommendation, to be sure, but I am glad I wasn't ravenous.  I'd go back, though - good food and interesting drinks.  Next conference, perhaps.