Lately we've been driving home from work down Randolph Street, by all of the trendy restaurants in the West Loop. Today I said to John, "we should do 'New Restaurant Friday' and try some of these places." Being an instant gratification and spontaneous kind of gal, I meant we should try them NOW! John mentioned that he heard that one sixtyblue had great mashed potatoes. Cool! Comfort food! Sign me up.
Those of you who know me know that although I do eat Moroccan food, Indian food and I have been to a sushi restaurant (thanks Bonnie, Kat and Robin), overall I'm not a very adventurous eater.
The first look at the menu raised a huge red flag. There were only about 8 or 9 choices-- not a ginormous greasy booklet like at Cheesecake Factory. None of them Linda-friendly. No Happy Meals. No mozarella sticks. The descriptions included words only heard on Top Chef-- blah blah duck, blah blah something octopus, blah blah pigs feet. This ain't a restaurant, this is a trip to the petting zoo-- or Shedd Aquarium. I won't even talk about the prices. I like to spend money on lots of stupid stuff, but not on freaky food. Suffice it to say that for the amount of money it cost, I could go to Arby's every day for the remainder of the calendar year.
I decided to go with something that had the least amount of objectionable ingredients-- some kind of squash ravioli. When the plate arrived, there was some sort of hair-like thing on top of the pasta and I had a decidedly Clarence Thomas kind of moment. Not to mention that there were gross mushrooms and some slimy looking green stuff-- comparable to what floats in John's pond during an algae bloom-- underneath. My beloved spouse was chuckling audibly by now. Much to my surprise, though, the raviolis weren't half bad and I was able to choke most of them down. And the dessert was quite delicious-- pumpkin s'mores with homemade marshmallows and John had some sort of chocolate thing with banana ice cream.
I have to admit it was nice to do something different. Keeps life exciting. But next time, point me in the direction of the food court.
