Our Big Night Out

Living in a big city is a double-edged sword. There is always so much going on, that you could see a new show and eat at a different restaurant every weekend if you wanted to. But, after fighting the crowds to make commutes to work all week, the thought of doing anything but sitting inside the calm of your own home seems a bit overwhelming at times. In any case, Jason decided to get brave this weekend and informed me that he was taking me out on a date. One of his bosses had already recommended a play being put on by a small theater company which meant we were only left with figuring out where to eat.

After much searching on the internet we had narrowed it down to a place called R.J. Grunts, a safe looking place whose online menu and pictures suggested that it may be a bit like an Applebees (although better I'm sure), and a place called Chalkboard for which there was no website, just a review article in in the Chicago Tribune. We decided to gamble and headed out to Chalkboard. When we got there, we realized we still have a thing or two to learn about big city living. Here's how the scene unfolded as we walked into the very small, very fancy looking dining room:

Host: Good evening, may I have your name please?

Me: Green (I prefer to use Jason's last name in these types of situations, there's a much smaller chance of confusion in spelling, pronunciation, etc. and if any confusion does arise, all I have to say is "Green, like the color," and everything is crystal clear!)

[The host scans a list of what I assume is reservations]

Host: What time was your reservation for?

Me: Oh...um, we don't have a reservation...

Host: Oh! Walk-ins!...Let's see, ah...um...just a minute...

[He proceeds to run around the room a bit, whispering 'Walk-ins!' to the other staff he passes. Then he quickly returns to us...]

Host: I can set you right over here, is this good?

Moral of the story, when in doubt, call ahead and make reservations! We ended up getting really lucky because everybody else that came in after us had a reservation. Aside from that bit of confusion at the beginning though, the dinner was fantastic and the service was great too. The place was called Chalkboard because they didn't really have menus...all of their offerings were written on large chalkboards on the walls. Jason had their "famous" fried chicken and I had pork tenderloin...both were delicious. For dessert, we had their "egg roll cookie dough" - it was cookie dough that had been rolled in a sweet pastry crust and flash fried. It came topped with ice cream and caramel sauce and it was AWESOME! In the end, we were glad we tried something new and exciting - we definitely ended up paying for it, but being that we don't venture out too often, I'd say it was worth it.

The play was fun too. It was called Insignificance and had only four characters - Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, Joe DiMaggio, and Joseph McCarthy. The plot was pretty random, but I definitely got a laugh out of hearing Marilyn Monroe explain the theory of relativity to Einstein - FLAWLESSLY!

We had such a good time that we decided we might actually venture out again sometime!