Text 20807, 106 rader
Skriven 2012-02-03 13:01:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: dinner in chicago 182
=============================
We were supposed to dine with the Dodger and his lovely
wife Gina; they didn't feel up for entertaining us home,
so we agreed to meet at McCormick & Schmick, which
coincidentally was across the driveway from her hotel.

The Dodger is enjoying his relatively newfound fame and
to the envy of all is now United Global Services - this
is a kind of VIP status that was created to be above mine,
as people like me had been hogging all the upgrade space,
and they had to make some kind of allowance for the people
who actually deserved it. When this all started he was a
lowly Premier, and I used to get him into the club, but
now he has facilities open to him that are far more
prestigious than mine. I guess that comes from leading a
productive life or something. Gina, formerly perhaps miffed
at how much he travels these days, does admit to taking
full advantage of the reflected glory in the form of upgrades
and whatnot.

The Dodgers started by sharing the mussels, which were
excellent. Lilli doesn't eat much, and nothing from the
fishy kingdom, so she didn't have an appetizer.

Gina followed with the miso-glazed Chilean sea bass, the
second most expensive dish on the menu, next to the double
cut ribeye. It was quite large, done, as far as I could
see, just this side of rare. She pronounced it superb and
worth the price.

The Dodge balanced by ordering the cheapest main course,
which I would have discouraged, the cashew crusted tilapia
- he thought it was fine, but then he's an econometrician
and not a food critic. It was three filets (his eyes
popped when he saw them, saying that he could eat only
two; he ate all three) with a sizable serving of extraneous
stuff on the side.

Lilli's ribeye was medium-rare (ordered rare) but still very
palatable. It had a substantial gristle streak, though,
which I got along with some of the meat. I am beneficiary at
times of her small appetite.

I made up for Lilli's non-ordering of an appetizer and got
three (but no main course). In order:

Kobe carpaccio, though not really Kobe, nor quite carpaccio,
was very tasty: thin sheets of eye round, pretty well
marbled, topped with arugula, shaved grana, and a Parmesan
and olive oil emulsion.

A Maryland-style jumbo lump crab cake was a little bit
disappointing, as it had one jumbo lump and a lot of pretty
tasty but very salty shredded meat of unknown but crabby
origin, in a wet and salty substrate that must have had
eggs, mustard, and not enough crumbs.

Calamari "frito misto" [sic] - I actually coveted another
appetizer, but the Dodgers had almost ordered this instead
of the mussels (wondering as do we all what a "frito misto"
might be), and I ordered this, not unwillingly, of course,
with the idea of sharing some with them, but by the time it
came of course they had eaten most of their food and were
full. Also by the time it came, Lilli had given me her fat
and gristle and about a quarter pound of stray beef, and I
was happily chowing down. So this last appetizer didn't
work, as we were all sufficiently deappetized by this time.
Turns out that rather than being garnished with a mixture
of large and small corn chips, these squid were adulterated
with a frittomisto of artichoke hearts and hot peppers,
both of which appeared in profusion and both of which I
believe cost more than squid does. I ate all the vegetables
and what few tentacles there were and left the rest. Should
have taken the squid rings back for midnight snack, but I
was cowed by the gravitas of the company and refrained from
asking the waiter for a humany bag.

Wines:
We tried the Navarra Correas against the Gascon Malbec; they
both show similar characteristics, both robust, acid, fairly
tannic. The former is smoother, the latter more acidy, which
I thought would go well with a steak, but Lilli preferred
the Navarra, and so it was.

Sokol Blosser Evolution, a mishmosh of many grapes with a
large proportion of tropical fruity and floral varieties, I
suspect Viognier and Gewurztraminer, was a little sweet and
much appreciated by the Dodgers.

I had Goose Island Honkers Ale throughout though snitched
a little sip of Lilli's Malbec to cleanse my palate before
and after my first first course. The Dodger commented
approvingly that the founder or owner or something of this
brewery was in our class in school.

No room for dessert; just coffee, which smelled abhorrent.

At length we scraped ourselves off the fairly comfortable
chairs and wended our way to our respective homes.

As Lilli is Platinum in the Inter-Continental scheme, we got
a very comfortable near-suite but (sadly) no free breakfast.
So we slept in.

___ Blue Wave/386 v2.30
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
 * Origin: Since 1991 And Were Still Here! DOCSPLACE.TZO.COM (1:123/140)