How to Funk Up Your St. Paddy's Day

St. Patrick's Day weekend in Chicago. You'd think it would be hard to find an Irish meal anywhere, but we did, quite unexpectedly. I had the lead on this date night, and I was prepared! I had tickets for the Chicago Flower Show and to see the New Orleans funk band extraordinaire, DUMPSTAFUNK, at Martyrs. But I didn't have dinner locked in on purpose really. It all depended on how the evening would unfold.

We headed to Navy Pier about 6pm to see the flower show. I admit to having a perfect picture in my head of what this would be. Endless vistas of color! A feast for the eyes and nose! Fantastic, imaginative displays of horticultural art! If you went to the Flower Show yourself, you would know I came away disappointed. It was my first show of this kind, so I obviously had a different concept of what a flower show is meant to be. What I found was an enormous space barely occupied by earnest but not very inspiring ideas for average Illinois gardens filled with dull, colorless Illinois rock. Peter, too, appreciated the adventure but came away without many new ideas for his garden. So, I rate it a snooze with a nod to the efforts of those who participated. I guess I'd better fulfill that dream of mine to be in Holland during tulip season.


Onward to the dinner portion of our evening. We decided to head to the Martyrs neighborhood and take our chances there. Dodging drunken 30 somethings in the street, we managed a decent parking space and started our search. Moments later we found ourselves on the waiting list at Mrs. Murphy & Sons Irish Bistro! We sat at the enormous bar amidst the revelry, and within ten minutes we took an elevator to the dining area. A surprisingly well appointed place. We loved the food! It was delicious! Peter got the corned beef and cabbage and said it was the best he had ever tasted. I got Shepard's Pie, and it was lovely. Instead of ground beef, my dish had tender chunks of meat. We topped it off with Banoffee pie to see what exactly that was. (Coffee and banana, duh). Neither one of us is a fan, turns out, but not because of the restaurant's version. Just not our thing.


Several doors down, Martyrs. We watched the beginning act which I am embarrassed to say I have forgotten because I am writing this two weeks after the fact. They were a young band of what looked like college kids who did (Tula! That's it!) a great job getting the funk going. But the real prize of the night came in the form of Ivan Neville's Dumstafunk. They were on that night! Just a swirling, tight emanation of funk from a group of fantastic, versatile performers. We've seen them in New Orleans. They did themselves proud that Saturday in Chicago. The capacity audience got it, too.

A full date night, some hits, some misses, and some surprises, the way I like 'em.

Catch Up

The weekend of March 7th came and went and a Date Night did happen. So here it is in brief: Never in my wildest dreams would I think that Peter, on his date night, would choose to go all the way out to Woodfield Mall, a mall period, on a rainy night to shop for clothing. But I'm here to tell you that it did happen. I witnessed it and participated in it. Sometimes a man needs his Lucky Brand jeans. What can I say. So we started at Woodfield, got the jeans, and after a half-hearted attempt to get something more out of the mall experience, Peter decided he was done. We moved on. On the way home we stopped at what we remembered as an Italian restaurant in Forest Park. Once we looked at the menu, we realized things had changed to...what else...a blend of Italian and New Orleans style cooking! Same chef, almost same decor, but new name and menu. Something like La Bella Bistecka? Oh dear. I'll find the right name and correct this entry. Since the place was packed from the Forest Park St. Paddy's day celebration, they gave us an out of the way table on a kind of floating platform above the restaurant. There were only three tables for two up there, and those were surrounded by cases and cases of wine. We liked it. My food was ok. I have better memories from the former menu, but we had a great time talking and eating a dozen oysters each to start. Overall, a very pleasant and fun evening without any need for extra trappings. Thanks, Peter!

Big Jones

It has been such a long time since the last post here on Date Night Diaries. That doesn't mean the Date Nights haven't happened. They have. In the midst of one of the most horrid winters in Chicago, we somehow managed to get out and go places. Many times dinner and a movie. But we kept forgetting the camera, and we kept forgetting to post!

This past Saturday, we remembered the camera, although Peter turned off the flash and claims the photos are better. You be the judge, Reader. Maybe my husband is trying to tell me something.

My Date Night adventure was minimalist, dinner at Big Jones restaurant in the Andersonville neighborhood of Chicago. Needless to say, it was a cold, dark night. It took us FOREVER to get there. The journey seemed endless. The restaurant is small but nice. I chose it because the chef serves Louisiana and Low Country offerings with organic ingredients. Despite a rather awkward table in the back, we had a pleasant experience. We liked our waitress, especially when she admitted to having interviewed to teach down in New Orleans. She confessed to needing a shot of courage to actually take the step and go do it! We gave her encouragement. New Orleans must still give off scary vibes even three years after the hurricane.

Peter and I completely finished off our entrees. No food left behind. I had pork shank with the most wonderful beans and a vegetable slaw on top. Peter had the tenderest of duck slices. The only thing I didn't care for were the beets I had as an appetizer. They were sweet which surprised me. I love beets, too. And for dessert, I had a very huge slice of delicious Red Velvet cake which was by contrast not very sweet. I liked it that way. Also, the redness came from beet juice (beets again) and raspberries instead of food coloring.

All in all, a fine meal. We will be going back again, I think. Maybe next time we will meet the chef. But we had to rush home afterwards because we had 20 teenagers at our house who whether they thought so or not needed adult supervision. Next week it's Peter's turn again, and I've already got my next Date Night adventure planned. Stay tuned.