Listen to the Rain

So, we actually didn't do a lot last weekend because sashagee was sick for most of it. She went out with friends on Friday, but not with all of her friends--rubyleon1090 broke her ankle a few days before and was unable to go out, so she stayed home on what was going to be the Galentine's Lana night. I was invited to go with maptekar and her boyfriend and some of their friends, but after some thought I declined because I was worried I was getting sicker and didn't want to get anyone else sick. As it turned out, I wasn't the one getting sick, sashagee, making it now about two months of her being on and off sick.

We did manage to get out for a date, though! A restaurant one at Travelle, the restaurant attached to the hotel that's in the building I work in. The weather was extremely cold, -8° but with a howling windchill 10 degrees colder, but we braved it to the L, skipped the L because the train arrival times were all --, took the bus, and made it to the restaurant. And when we got there, things were a little weird. Every other time I'd went for dinner, the dining room was open, but not this time, even on a Saturday night. The bar area was open, and they were serving food, but it was open seating. We looked around for a bit, saw that all the tables near the windows over the river were taken, and asked a waiter if the table off over in the corner halfway between the bar and the dining room was taken. It wasn't, and even if the lighting wasn't quite as moody and the view wasn't the river, the noise level was much better.



The cocktails were 50% more expensive than what I think of as an expensive cocktail--I'll order one without thinking if it's $12-$14, think twice if it's $16-$20, and here it was $25 and up--but it was incredibly good. Light and smooth, what I would think that the strawberry cordial they're always talking about in the Redwall books would taste like. When the waiter asked me if I wanted another one, I did think about it for a moment, even at $25.


I've often said that the best way to get me to buy pizza is to call it flatbread and charge twice as much for it and that's exactly what this was and it was not a good decision. And it wasn't even that flat of a bread, it was pretty puffy (maybe not that visible in the picture due to bad lighting). It tasted...fine. I'm pretty sure it cost $22 and was worth maybe $5. The pizza at Pizza Mania on Ridge, that sells pizza by the slice, tastes better.


This, on the other hand, was excellent. I was talking with sashagee about how I often order fish at restaurants because there's no worry about mixing milk and meat and fish is very hit and miss, because it'll either be very good or it'll be totally tasteless and they'll have tried to cover it up with a strong sauce. This was the former, a contender for the best salmon I've ever had in a restaurant. Flaky and full of flavor, with both the celery purée and the sauce to add to it rather than cover up an overdone fish. I all but licked the plate clean it was so delicious. I'd go back just for this.

I also ordered some truffle fries, but they just looked like fries so I didn't take a picture. And I didn't take a picture of the dessert that sashagee ordered. It was a chocolate cake and she gave me the ice cream.

Despite the chill weather, I think I convinced her to go back.