Little Oak Park

That's what Peter used to call Oak Park. Last Saturday night we were back in business on a new Date Night. The weekend before, Peter and Claire were in New Orleans exploring haunted houses and attending VooDoo Fest. But this past weekend we were back together. We had a lovely, gentle evening that revolved around little Oak Park. Peter took us to one of our favorite local restaurants, Marion Street Grill, which is really a hidden treasure in our village. The food is delicious, and there is a calmness to the place that makes you feel very easy and safe. We like to go to the small bar in the back to eat dinner. We've had many great evenings of conversation together there.

We started with glasses of wine and some appetizers, shrimp bisque, marinated and grilled portobellos and crab cakes, all delicious and the perfect amount of food to take us through the next part of our evening. We walked over to our local theater, the Lake, and settled into a two and a half hour movie, American Gangster. Very interesting flick, but I found the lead characters a bit sketchy. I got the feeling the director couldn't put everything in he wanted to or the movie would have been a monster, but that's the way it goes I think when you are working with real life stories. I'm always delighted by Russel Crowe and his commitment to a character. Did we really think those bad haircuts in the 70s had any redeeming attractiveness?


After the movie we went back to the Marion Street Grill bar and had our second course, and a Kir Royale for me and wine for Peter. We both chose salads, mine with tenderloin and horseradish dressing, very yummy, and Peter's with seared tuna. It's always fun to just let the conversation flow. Towards the end we started talking to our exceptional bartender, Mike. We remembered that Mike is originally from Louisiana, and he always has stories to tell about growing up in the depths of the swamps. So he entertained us with some good ones.

One of my very favorite things to do in Oak Park is to walk at night. We walked home in the quiet under the trees holding hands. It doesn't get much better than that!