€uroMeinke
02-10-2005, 11:07 PM
I lucked out tonight and didn’t have to have dinner with my boss. It would have been Ditka’s to be sure, close to the hotel, meat, sport-friendly – it’s his kind of place. Not that it’s a bad place, we’ve eaten there before, the food is good – it’s way better than Applebees (The place he suggested we eat while we were staying the the Time Square Hilton in NYC!). But, staying in Chicago a few times, my eyes have been set on swankier digs.
So I was on my own for dinner and earlier in the week I cam across Le Passage (http://www.lepassage.tv/index2.html (http://www.lepassage.tv/index2.html)) and I thought, “hey this seems kind of swanky.” Later when I realized this was in easy walking distance from my hotel, I realized I had to go and check out the swankness factor. I noticed they opened at 7:00 for dinner and while I couldn’t get through to make a reservation I figured it was close enough to just got there. Hey a frosty Thursday night, I ought to get in. Of course I took no chances, I doffed my jeans and put on some black wool trousers and my cashmere jacket – you gotta look the part if you expect to play it.
Anyway, I made it past the bouncer, who asked to see my ID (heh heh love my California Driver License). I headed down an alley, then down a flight of stairs to it’s basement home and was greeted by the mafiaesque manager, who took my coat and told me how lucky I was to be there tonight for the Lingerie show, and how the steak au puavre was exceptional tonight. The dinning room was a plush French-Asian fusion that reminded me slightly of Man Ray in Paris.
I was alone in a massive dinning room as techno lounge music wafted through the air and plasma screens and mirrors showed a subtitled version of “Last Year in Marienbad” (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054632/ (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054632/)). I indulge the swankiness, by ordering a mojito – which is excellent and is soon becoming my favorite swanky cocktail (Man Ray also served a tasty Mojito). So I proceeded to have an excellent Fraqnco-Chicago meal, just me and the wait staff. Wild Mushrooms in a tomato, garlic, red wine reduction sauce (didn’t I recently have a dream about this?) followed with the steak – I couldn’t resist, Chicago has ruined me in this respect in that I can never order steak anywhere else. It just is never as good as here – no matter how it’s prepared.
So, I come to find out that in Chicago it is very hard to get a liquor license if you don’t serve food – hence the restaurant at Le Passage. I was told that despite the raucous activity in the bar and disco it usually remains quiet in the dinning room and is a bit of a secret to those who go there. Cool, but it’s odd to only be joined by other dinners a full hour and a half after I started my dinner.
I extended my stay by ordering a cognac in the bar to confirm what I had believed about the “guest list” – Rich and/or Beautiful, the former for men, the latter for women. Had the lingerie show been presented earlier than 11:00, I might have even stayed. I weighed the options – stay to see scantily clad women and lie about to conceal my decadence, or return to my hotel and prepare for tomorrow’s meeting, and lie about it to conceal my lameness? Alas, you know the hideous truth – I returned to the hotel to post about my experience here.
Lame.
So I was on my own for dinner and earlier in the week I cam across Le Passage (http://www.lepassage.tv/index2.html (http://www.lepassage.tv/index2.html)) and I thought, “hey this seems kind of swanky.” Later when I realized this was in easy walking distance from my hotel, I realized I had to go and check out the swankness factor. I noticed they opened at 7:00 for dinner and while I couldn’t get through to make a reservation I figured it was close enough to just got there. Hey a frosty Thursday night, I ought to get in. Of course I took no chances, I doffed my jeans and put on some black wool trousers and my cashmere jacket – you gotta look the part if you expect to play it.
Anyway, I made it past the bouncer, who asked to see my ID (heh heh love my California Driver License). I headed down an alley, then down a flight of stairs to it’s basement home and was greeted by the mafiaesque manager, who took my coat and told me how lucky I was to be there tonight for the Lingerie show, and how the steak au puavre was exceptional tonight. The dinning room was a plush French-Asian fusion that reminded me slightly of Man Ray in Paris.
I was alone in a massive dinning room as techno lounge music wafted through the air and plasma screens and mirrors showed a subtitled version of “Last Year in Marienbad” (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054632/ (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054632/)). I indulge the swankiness, by ordering a mojito – which is excellent and is soon becoming my favorite swanky cocktail (Man Ray also served a tasty Mojito). So I proceeded to have an excellent Fraqnco-Chicago meal, just me and the wait staff. Wild Mushrooms in a tomato, garlic, red wine reduction sauce (didn’t I recently have a dream about this?) followed with the steak – I couldn’t resist, Chicago has ruined me in this respect in that I can never order steak anywhere else. It just is never as good as here – no matter how it’s prepared.
So, I come to find out that in Chicago it is very hard to get a liquor license if you don’t serve food – hence the restaurant at Le Passage. I was told that despite the raucous activity in the bar and disco it usually remains quiet in the dinning room and is a bit of a secret to those who go there. Cool, but it’s odd to only be joined by other dinners a full hour and a half after I started my dinner.
I extended my stay by ordering a cognac in the bar to confirm what I had believed about the “guest list” – Rich and/or Beautiful, the former for men, the latter for women. Had the lingerie show been presented earlier than 11:00, I might have even stayed. I weighed the options – stay to see scantily clad women and lie about to conceal my decadence, or return to my hotel and prepare for tomorrow’s meeting, and lie about it to conceal my lameness? Alas, you know the hideous truth – I returned to the hotel to post about my experience here.
Lame.