George "Why do I smell like bacon?" D.'s Profile

Is it just me, or do French restaurants always have the best atmosphere? It's always the perfect blend of classy and laid-back. Mon Ami keeps that up with the traditional bistro decor: tile floor, intimate table spacing, mirror-backed benches, lots of warm colors, etc.

Anyway, the star on the menu, like it is at a lot of bistros, is the steak frites. Here, they do it six or seven different ways, which is great if you're looking for some variety. My personal favorite of the ones I've tried is the Steak Dijon, which is covered with a totally addictive dijon mustard butter--sounds like two things that don't go together, right? Give it a shot, you'll love it. And the frites... talk about addictive. Who invented the salted, fried potato anyway? Genius! I challenge you to name a more perfect food!

No way can you beat a $15 lunch prix fixe at Blackbird. I mean, seriously? I've spent $15 at, like, Pizza Capri for a takeout salad. Here, you get a three course, haute cuisine meal. Ridiculous. Since I was there with family, I got at least a bite of everything. I tasted:

...the mixed green salad, which comes with the prix fixe. A green salad is a green salad of course, but this one is seasoned well and comes with a really nice, light dressing. There's also some interesting greens in there that you don't normally see to keep it interesting.

...the lamb burger (prix fixe choice), which was wonderfully zesty with a spice I couldn't pick out (and no, it wasn't mint--chefs who put mint on lamb should be fired instantly, right in the middle of service, no questions asked). It's served with a pile of silly-good pommes frites.

...the whitefish sandwich (prix fixe choice), which was perfectly moist and saucy (I think it was an aioli) and had a great consistency--lots of times fish sandwiches are too mushy and they fall apart on you. It's served with a pile of nummy beet chips and other types of root vegetable (maybe turnip?) chips.

...the donuts, which are what you wish munchkins would always be like. Crispy on the outside, soft and warm on the inside, filled with some type of tangy marmelade and covered on one side with chocolate. Don't drool on the keyboard. And they're served in a cute little box with handles.

...the croque madame, which is not on the prix fixe, but since my mom and I are big croque monsier/madame fans, we couldn't resist. It was outstanding. Perfectly sharp ham and cheese, and seriously, shouldn't every sandwich have a yolky egg on top?

...the soup of the day, which was creamy parsnip. The soup itself was outstanding, but they served it with a little pile of something that tasted like duck and was too flavorful, so it overwhelmed the soup.

Also, you can add a glass of red or white wine to your lunch for another $5--also a good deal. They pick the wine, but the burgundy I had was pretty nice. Also, they gave me a glass of it for 5 bucks, even though I wasn't ordering the prix fixe. I thought that was pretty nice, since the cheapest glass of wine on their menu was somewhere in the $10-12 neighborhood.

Honestly, why is Blackbird not packed to the gills at lunchtime? Even my non-prix fixe combo of soup and sandwich only ran about $18 together. I'm definitely coming back.

I like drinking beer in dive bars while watching ballgames quite a bit. But when I'm in the mood to put on a nice shirt and overpay for alcohol, hotel bars are always my destination of choice.

Le Bar at Sofitel is one of my favorite. Sure, you do get some of that "tourist from St. Louis" type that you see at any hotel bar, but if you're looking to spot some foreign, euro-trashy dude entertaining his statuesque, blonde, female friend, while sporting clothing and personal effects that may cost as much as your car, Sofitel and NoMi are probably your two best options. And it's one of the only bars I know that has a guy greeting you as you come in, and taking your seating needs seriously. Normally, he'll tell you how long he thinks you might wait for a table, and he'll tell you which one to hover over. The last time I was there, he had a couple of people actually carry another table in for us to sit at.

As with any hotel bar, the drinks are pricey. But, whereas you used to be dropping fat cash on crappy drinks, they're good now. They must have hired a "mixologist" or something, because now you can get tasty, in vogue cocktails. So that's a bonus... go for the people-watching, stay for the drinks (and because you're out of money and can't afford a cab ride).

I've had season tickets to the Steppenwolf for about six or seven years now. I've seen a ton of shows at other theaters, and for my money, the Steppenwolf offers the most worthwhile season ticket experience in Chicago. It also doesn't hurt that it's right behind my building and I can get from my door to my seat in the theater in less than 30 seconds. The quality of the acting and directing is tremendous. The Steppenwolf is truly a treasure.

All theater is a matter of taste, of course, and usually one of the shows each season is a little bit of a dog. That's to be expected for a company that stages a lot of originals and some lesser-known works. But the nice thing about the Steppenwolf is that even the shows you don't like are interesting, thought-provoking and entertaining. And you will like most of them. Also keep an eye out for the shows that are not a part of the season series--one of the best values they offer is the rotating summer series of new plays that they stage in the Garage theater space.

They've got three performance spaces: the "Downstairs" mainstage theater (which is the most comfortable and audience-friendly of the larger theaters in Chicago), the "Upstairs" theater, which is a smaller, more intimate proscenium stage, and the Garage, which is a large-ish black box. In the last couple years, they've been including one show in the Upstairs theater in the season package, which makes a nice change.

I think they offer some flex ticket packages, if you're looking for a good gift idea. They're very customer-oriented if you're a season ticket holder--you can easily switch your tickets to a different night if you can make the show with very little hassle.

If you haven't seen a show here yet, do it! If you're thinking of pulling the trigger on a season ticket package, I can assure you, you won't regret it!

Skip it.

I'd say my experience with Soupbox should warrant about a two-star review, but I'm going to give them an extra star because of the customer-friendly policy of letting you taste the soup before you order it. I tried the "beef stew" and the potato bacon, and ended up going with chicken and wild rice. They all have that fast-foody, gooey sort of taste to them. They give you a decent sized hunk of bread, but it's pretty airy and cheapo feeling. I also had a salad, which was nothing special... and they didn't give me enough dressing.

I was expecting to really enjoy the soup at a place that specializes in it, so I was pretty disappointed. You can get better soups at other places, like Potbelly for instance. You can also get it cheaper. Five bucks for a cup of not-so-hot soup is a little bit of a rip-off. I probably should have had the lobster bisque, which I see is a little bit of a Yelper favorite. And I'd probably appreciate this place more if I was a vegetarian--they seemed to make an effort to have a solid number of veggie options. But since I didn't and I'm not... meh.

One of these days I'd like to go to Hot Chocolate for dinner so I can see what the food tastes like--it sure looks interesting on the menu.... But as of yet, I've only been there for the hot chocolate, which is absolutely out of this world. I'm not a huge sweet tooth, so I especially dig on the Half and Half: half chocolate, half espresso. And the hunk of homemade marshmallow on the side is sweet without making your teeth ache... perfect!

The atmosphere is cool, and if you're only going for drinks and a dessert they've got a nice big area at the front where you can sit and enjoy. If you are going for dinner, I do have one piece of advice: make a reservation. When we were there, there was a couple involved in a lengthy tirade with a waitress first and then a manager. They apparently had walked in and tried to wait for a table, and had been waiting twice as long as they were supposed to. It made for excellent entertainment while we sipped our drinks, but was probably not as fun for the two of them. But what do you expect at a small place on a Friday night?

The whole gastro-pub concept is about as good as it gets for a restaurant, don't you agree? I mean, you get to enjoy cool nouveau-ish cuisine, with interesting ingredients and preparations, but you get to wear jeans with holes in the knees and a hoodie. I love it!

Bluebird is cool on multiple levels. The wine list is vast and interesting, and there's always a handful of cool wines by the glass that are on special. They've also got a list of really good artisinal beers that you've never heard of, but you'll love. And they have great food that never disappoints, portioned just at the right size to encourage you to order a few "extras" for the table to share--go with the green beans with bacon in them and the tower of fries with two yummy dipping sauces.

Every meal I've had at Bluebird begins with a flatbread. They're outstanding, and the perfect shareable appetizer. For my main course, I'm pretty high on the buffalo meat "sloppy joe" and the mac 'n cheese with an out-of-this-world hunk of pork belly on top.

The only drawback is the fact that seating and service here often works like it does in a bar--you may find yourself standing over people for half and hour waiting for a table, and once you get one, you may see the waiter a little too infrequently. But that aside, if you haven't tried Bluebird, you should definitely put it on your list.

For the second time in less than two years, my front passenger window was smashed and stuff was stolen from my car while it was parked in Wicker Park. Both times, it was in broad daylight on a relatively active street, and it was only parked for around two hours. I'm never driving to Wicker Park again. At least this time, it was on a business day. Last time, it was New Years Eve, so with New Years Day and the following Sunday, I wasn't able to fix it for three days, during which I had to drive around in winter weather with a plastic poncho taped over the side of my car. Classy!

The really funny part about this particular occasion was that when I discovered what had happened, I was walking back to my car to drive over and pick up a friend of mine at Orlando's, because he'd had his car broken into the night before. So aside from the poncho thing, the other thing that made this break-in less irritating was that he knew exactly which police station to go to, and where to take it to have the glass fixed immediately. The police had a good laugh at our expense...

Anyway, Orlando's looks pretty shady from the outside, but don't let that deter you. The people inside are extremely friendly and helpful. The work wasn't cheap, but that's because I drive pretty much the most expensive car on earth to maintain, and everything I do costs me an arm and a leg. Compared to the last time I had the window replaced, it was about the same. The biggest reason to recommend Orlando's is that they're FAST. I had a new window installed in less than two hours, and that included a complete vacuuming and wiping down of the entire interior, even parts that weren't affected, like the dashboard. I'd been meaning to clean off that dusty dashboard!

It's nice to know that I have a go-to spot for immediate repairs the next time I decide to have lunch in Wicker Park.

There's not a lot of places you can go in Chicago if you're interested in taking playwriting classes without getting into a program at one of the universities. Believe me, I've looked. Luckily, there's Chicago Dramatists. I've taken the playwriting fundamentals course twice now, with two different instructors, and it's absolutely worth the money. They give their instructors a lot of freedom to teach how they want to teach, and so you get a different experience each time you take a class. And it will be a good experience, since the instructors are working playwrights who also teach at local universities, and have had their plays produced.

In the Fundamentals course, which is an introductory level class, you'll find students with a range of talent. Some are actually pretty good, some are beginners. If you're a beginner, don't be nervous. The environment is very supportive. Taking a class is a great way to develop your "tools", and a good framework to get you to just sit down and write.

For a unique theater experience, they offer a Saturday afternoon series, where playwrights workshop a play in progress. It's fun to see a staged reading and give your feedback, and it's a cheap (like $5) way to have a fun Saturday afternoon.

Now I've got to quit writing Yelp reviews, so I can go back to working on my play. It's good. I'm going to win a Pulitzer.

You'd think this place would be a complete tourist trap serving blah-Asian food because of where it's located, right? But you'd be wrong! It's a tourist trap that serves really good Chinese! So take that, you cranky tourist-hater!

I really dug on my curry noodles which were on special, and I liked even more the revolving table center that allowed me to eat half of everyone else's food. Mmmm... pot stickers. Mmmm... kung pao chicken. Mmmm.... mongolian beef. Mmmm... chow fun noodles! MMMMM... tasty drinks while I wait for my table!