Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Of Gluttony and Imbibing

Friday
This weekend was a mélange of gastric delight and the consumption of spirited beverages. Friday night, Jester, Kyla, Alex, Ari, Minnie (new to GMYH recaps, I believe), and I headed to the recently opened restaurant The Gage (on Michigan Avenue across from Millennium Park), where Tracey is now working in some sort of managerial capacity. Anyway, the food was really good. Since I have never come across something that starts with "Scotch" that I don't like (tape, whisky, guard), I decided to get an appetizer called a Scotch Egg. Praise Dionysus, this thing was unbelievable. It's a hard-boiled egg, covered with a layer of ground pork sausage, and then the whole thing is deep fried. It was orgasmic. I seriously thought about ordering three more as my main course. Instead, I went with the "locally crafted sausages," which comes with a side of "crisp brie potato." The smoked veal sausage proves once again that calves were meant to be raised in movement-inhibiting cages, and the potato was really good too. Ari and Minnie described the caramelized lobster as "the best food [they've] ever had," and everyone else had rave reviews as well. Overall, the food was excellent. Even though the portions were not huge, it was enough food to make you full.. It's a little pricey, but I would definitely go back. After all, I haven't yet tried the roast saddle of elk.

After our three-hour dinner at The Gage, we all headed up to The Waterhouse at Lincoln and Paulina. Meeting us there was none other than former City of Chicago resident Greg "Look Out" Bohmann and his friend Rich. As expected, someone was turning 21 there that night and had a party, which allowed Tracey and Ari to scavenge the remains of the giant chocolate chip cookie cake that was left behind. In other news, I was given a free shot of Patron by a waitress who apparently had an extra. It's amazing how much smoother good tequila is than Cuervo. On the cab ride back is when Jessie got feral and decided to use bad words to express her displeasure with some people getting into a cab in front of us.

Saturday
On Saturday, Jester and Tracey went shopping in the afternoon, while I spent most of the day doing yoga and finger painting while wearing nothing but one of those midriff football jerseys with "86" on it, while watching reruns of Hart to Hart and production outtakes from the filming of K-PAX. Absolutely brilliant, particularly the seemingly hundreds of takes where Kevin Spacey said "Your produce alone has been worth the trip," and the director kept making him redo it until "produce" sounded more like "protuss," and then Spacey flipped out and said, "I'm not saying it like 'protuss' unless I can eat an unpeeled banana on screen."

For dinner, Jester, Ari, Tracey, and I went to Pizza Capri at Belmont and Sheffield. Between the four of us, we ordered three pizzas and some ravioli. The "Thai Pie" was pretty good. Just ask Tracey. She's ordered it before.

Saturday night, Gregerson, Chenandler Bong, and I headed to The Store (it's a bar, rather than an actual store -- who knew?!?!) to see Pat Gemkow and occasionally Chris play some music for a crowd. It was good. After the show, I put on one of my spellbinding 15-song jukebox sets, starting with "Baba O'Riley," and culminating with an inspired version of "November Rain," by some band called Guns N' Roses.

Sunday
Sunday morning Jester and I went to some new waffle place on Clark (between Surf and Oakdale) called Baladoché. They sell what are called "zücker waffles," which are just like regular waffles, but taste slightly different. We both had waffles covered with Nutella. The deliciousness of the waffles and the use of umlauts overcame the fact that the restaurant's is dangerously close to rhyming with "bag-o-douche." Obviously the marketing geniuses behind this didn't talk to me before deciding on a name. Otherwise it would be called It's a Waffle, Motherfuckers, EAT! Interestingly, all of the prices on the menu are such that the total with tax for everything comes to an even dollar amount. They also offer gelato and are not afraid of explaining the benefits of gelato over ice cream. Apparently it tastes better and is better for you than ice cream, or so I was told several times.

4 comments:

Beth said...

Have you seriously never heard of a Scotch egg before? I would think that with the sheer number of bars and pubs you have been to, you would have encountered one before now.

Glad you enjoyed them. I think they look disgusting.

Anonymous said...

Since I don't have any original thoughts of my own:

"Ultimate 11 Most Annoying Bar People" - The Phat Phree

Honorable Mention - Jukebox Hero

Who puts a twenty in the jukebox? This guy. He has declared himself official DJ of the bar and we are all at his mercy throughout the night. The only thing this guy loves more than picking the music is describing to you in great detail what motivated his decisions and long rambling anecdotal trivia about each and every song. Did you know that Stevie Ray Vaughn wrote "Life By The Drop" based upon his own life-threatening heroin addiction? No? Do you give a shit? Neither do we.

Anonymous said...

Gellato? Did they have a flavor called "Ace"? Did Jessie have a taste of "Ace"?

Anonymous said...

You know who is also annoying to deal with at bars? Bitter nearly-27-year-olds whose names start with "R," end with "f," and have a "yan Christof" in the middle.

And to clear up any confusion: (1) I put a 5, not a 20 in the jukebox, (2) everyone in the entire bar loved every song I chose, (3) I did not describe my decisions, except to note that I thought the songs "rocked," and (4) my anecdotal trivia was short, concise, and well-received. I hate you Ryan.

Yeh, there was a noticeable lack of Ace at the place. But man, if there had been, Jessie would have smothered her face in Ace.