why we live here

As you likely know by now - we are lucky enough to be able to come and go as we please and split our time between two different communities over the course of a year. We live six months a year in the Sarasota-Bradenton area (lots of culture and great dining for a small city) and aside from travel time, the rest of the year in Chicago- a large city with millions of people and a top notch theater and dining scene on top of world class museums and a stunning lakefront location.

And last night we were reminded yet again about why we live here in the summer.... and this reminder is called 42 grams.  No matter where we have eaten around the world, including amazing places in Brussels (Comme Chez Soi; La Maison du Cygne) Amsterdam (Bord' Eau; Vermeer; Bridges) Paris and Lyon in France and Rome, Bologna, and Florence in Italy... yet we always come home and when we dine at our favorites here in Chicago we appreciate what we have here just as much if not more for the ease of access to the highest level of dining experiences.

The menu (most of which was new to us) held to the same exactingly high standards we know from Jake and the presentation of the courses by Alexa was even more informative than we have had before.

Here is the incredible menu with photos - an all out terrific meal that made us snap into action and book it for when Steve & Suzanne come to town next month.

these were the wines we brought to go with the fabulous food- the Sigrid was terrific and the Panther Creek showed well but not quite as well the last time we opened one-

this meal was so good I could go back tonight- except I will wait until next month when we can go back with S&S.... tonight's plans - with a new buddy of Phil's from his Ireland trip last month - we are meeting at a Tapas place- getting hungry LOL... then we have dinner planned at Restaurant Michael on Sunday with Sheila and next week gets even crazier with social plans - theater - goosefoot - several dinners out and a party here and then weekend company from out of town... never a dull moment around here.....