B-day evening Part 1: Chicago Diner

If you read my last post (insert stern look), you'll know I turned 29 last weekend. For my birthday, we decided to drop the kids off with Gramma and Grampa for the night and head up to Chicago. It was the first time since the night my daughter was born that I had been without a kid! I sometimes try ro remember what my life was like all that time ago. I sometimes get weird flashbacks of a time where every other sentence out of my mouth wasn't, "Because I said so!" But it also didn't have sloppy baby kisses every night at betime, either...

I'm not a steak dinner by candlelight kind of gal, in case you hadn't already figured that out. So where did my amazing hubby take me? A vegetarian restaurant!! If you live in a city near veg establishments, it's probably not that big of a deal to you. But I live in Superhillbillyville just outside the city, and I'll be lucky if our grocery store even carries Amy's Kitchen food in another 6 months. So when we were making plans for going out, and the [non]VegHusband found a veg restaurant just a few blocks from our theater, I fell just a teensy bit more in love with him. It's called the Chicago Diner and if you are ever anywhere NEAR Chicago, GO THERE. Seriously. Even if you aren't vegetarian, you'll love it. And your arteries will thank you.

http://www.veggiediner.com/wp/

I first noticed the adorable mid-century diner decor, then I noticed there was no cooking flesh stench! We were given the option of sitting out back on the patio or inside and after saying inside I immediately wished we'd gone outside to enjoy the perfect late summer evening. Oh, well. Inside we got to look at the awesome artwork in our booth where the artist had done some awesome things with a Wonder Woman comic book.

I have to admit real quick I think Deidrich Bader is kinda cute, in a goofy sort of way.

Wait, not there.
There.

Our waiter looked like him, only not so goofy. So I got the blueberry basil limeade and hubby got the iced chai tea latte. They were both awesome, and certainly not shy in the flavor department. His latte was like drinking carrot cake, and my limeade was like drinking... super awesome blueberry basil limeade. As a vegetarian, when I go out to eat, it's not super fun. I mean, not having to cook or do the dishes is fun, but looking through the menu is not. The first thing I do, after skipping the "beef", "chicken", and "fish" sections, I scan over the salads and pastas. Ususally, there isn't even a SALAD that doesn't have meat. So I pick the salad/pasta that sounds most likely to just have some cut-up chicken thrown on top. Then when I order, I have to specify just enough that I want the meat LEFT OFF. But I can't stress it too much, otherwise the chicken breast will be replaced with spit. Not appetizing. That's what is so incredibly terrific about veg restaurants, though. I can open the menu and order ANYTHING! If you are a meat eater, you have no idea what that's like, because I'm sure you take it for granted. Everyone I know does. And this menu was so huge, I had to send Diedrich back a couple times because I couldn't make up my mind.

Finally, though, I decided on the "Pulled pork sandwich" and French onion soup.

Hubby got the reuben and sweet potato fries.OK, so I'm not a food photographer. These dishes looked much better in person, but I was trying to take the pics before anyone saw me being a total nerd. Of course, I was prepared to retort with, "It's ok. I have a blog." Because that makes everything ok.

Oh, and before eating I visited the restroom to wash my hands, because I was not born in a barn. I was a little overwhelmed upon entering said restroom, because the decor of the dining area is somewhat understated. But if a color can be described as GIGANTIC, the color of the bathroom walls certainly warrants that description. Think of the most blinding flourecent green you can imagine, now imagine that with a toilet. Pretty rad. And one wall was a screaming flourecent blue. Plus, they have one of those explosive high-powered hand dryers that makes the skin on your hands look like you just jumped out of a plane. "Feel the power." Coolest public toilet ever.

Now, the actual food review. It was AWESOME! So amazing. My BBQ "pork" sammich was on a pretzel roll that would almost make be believe there is a god. The onion soup was pretty good. I get all crazy when I see there's a soup I can eat. Pretty much every soup you get in a restaurant is made with chicken or beef stock. I hate when I'm out somewhere and ask if they have any vegetarian soups and the waitress says, "Well, we can bring the potato soup out without any bacon on top." Uh, no thanks. Since you can choose your side from a list of like 10 different ones, I just had to go with the soup, even though I forgot I don't like French onion soup. So "it was pretty good" is a rave review from a girl who doesn't like onion soup. Had I been able to get a pulled pork sammich as my side, I would have done that.

The hubs' reuben was equally amazing. He's a meat eater, and he even loved it. Obviously I took a huge bite out of it and loved it, but he said was great because it didn't have that super overwhelming corned beef flavor that sometimes makes him explode with rage. And why more places don't cut up sweet potatoes and fry them is a mystery. So friggin delicious. I want to come back every weekend and try every single thing on the menu. I was so sad when I looked down at my plate and noticed my food was all gone. Since it's not socially acceptable to pick up a plate in public and lick it, I refrained. But hubby cheered me up by getting me one of their gigantic signature cookies. Vegan sugar cookie with cherries. Oh, my...

The cookie isn't red, I just don't work well under pressure and was all nervous I'd get caught taking a photograph of a cookie. Sorry.

I ate it on the walk over to the theater and a stinky vagrant gave me a sad look that said, "Can I have some of that delicious looking vegan cookie?" Yeah, right. I barely shared it with my husband.

Stay tuned for part two of my evening: Cinematic Titanic!