chicago pride

last night i bar hopped with Erin and Matt. we started at Jamesons, the new bar where Cafe Paradiso used to be. i had a dirty vodka martini, matt had a white russian and erin a beer. my drink was okay, though rather small...once i'd taken out the olives, it only filled about 1/3 the glass. and it was a bit too dirty for my taste. but the place has nice ambience and hip little bartenders. we went from there to Lucky's but didn't make it past the door where they were asking for $7 cover to see a live funk band. uh, eh. nah. so we hightailed it over to the Indigo District, which, still before the term starts, was relatively quiet and non-student-like. i got a campari soda because i'm so close to really liking them and just need a little push to actually get there. i did it with olives, i can do it with this! erin a very sweet manhattan (with muddled maraschino cherries?!?!); matt got beer and very creamy mac&c. we're sitting enjoying our second round of drinks (me a sidecar, erin a cape cod and matt a whiskey and soda) when this random young couple plunks down at our booth. both have giant blue drinks, called, i learn, AMFs (Adios Mother F**ker: vodka, rum, tequila, gin, blue curacao, sweet&sour mix, 7up) which are apparently the cheapest way to get drunk. it's crowded, they say, and they just need somewhere to sit, do we mind if they join us?

the guy asks where i'm from and it turns out, lucky me, that he's just gotten back from two weeks in Chicago and Naperville. Oh yay! [note: heavy sarcasm] he proceeds to share with me the following thoughts about the Chicago metropolitan area:

1. Don't go to an ethnic restaurant that is staffed by people of a different ethnicity. For example, he says, if a Mexican restaurant employs Arabs (pronounced "Ay-rahbs"), it's best to stay away.
   
2. Midwesterns, anyways, have no sense of taste. Every restaurant he ate at was crap. He's a chef, so he should know.
   
3. Midwestern girls are loose. Really loose! He had more than a few opportunities, but he "stayed true to his woman." What a man!
   

At this point, Erin realizes what's going on, leans over the table and asks me if i want to go get another drink. yes! please! help! so we leave.

what does this have to do with food? hmmm. not too much. except that food and drink was present. so i'll leave you with a photo from one of the best dinners i've ever had: a night at Millenium in San Francisco with some of my most favorite people ever, including Mrs. Delicious, Cindy and some (gasp!) non-bloggers.

there. just looking at myself with Mrs. Delicious, gazing over the plates, practically licked clean, makes me feel better about that stupid guy.