dinner with Judy

So we hadn't seen our friend Judy this summer until the recent dinner at Emilio's and since we weren't seated anywhere near each other we didn't get much time to catch up.  To make up for that we scheduled a dinner at Restaurant Michael in Winnetka.  This is a place we really like the food and we generally like the service but there is always a drama with them about the wine. It used to be you could go on any night and pay corkage (no problem) and then on Tuesdays it was "corkage free" like Oceanique has on Mondays.  Then with NO NOTICE whatsoever they changed it to Sundays only for the "corkage free" day and took away completely the corkage on other nights - just plain no BYO no matter what you are willing to pay. So we are pretty aggravated about the no notice thing and the Sunday only thing but here is their latest undisclosed rule- only one bottle of wine per couple.  It isn't that we are going to DRINK more than one bottle but for a high end meal like they serve there you may actually want both white and red wine with certain courses and this makes it impossible with only two people.... so each time they spring some NEW twist on you and that is just plain not cool. The food here is good but there are plenty of places between our home in the city and this place on the north shore in Winnetka... so maybe the north shore folks don't have as many choices as we do here but I can't imagine that wine collectors up there are any happier with this unpredictable policy changes than we are....

but on to the evening- we had a great meal and a great time and were so caught up in our conversation that we spent four hours there...LOL...

the white burg showed well -

we put this one back in the bag since Judy brought a red (also shown below) and we could only open ONE BOTTLE A COUPLE!!!!!

Judy's wine was an interesting blend called Machete- and apparently there are many different labels in a case of their wines- in the rather subdued light we thought it was a tiger on the car - perhaps an homage to the tiger in your tank commercials of yesteryear--- but no- upon closer view that is not exactly what it was LOL

hmmm well on to the food- Phil started with the wagyu carpaccio, Judy the mushroom terrine and I with the tuna tatare

quail - that Phil and Judy both ordered and Halibut for me-

Phil's chocolate dacquoise and Judy and I had the peach souffles

a leisurely dinner followed by a lengthy post dinner conversation at the table until there was only one other table remaining occupied... and we headed into the night - looking forward to reports on Judy's China trip and various dinners and plays we all had planned to attend.  I may have neglected to mention that we met Judy originally in the Chicago Gourmets group years ago and that she is a long time Chaine de Rotissuers member as well. However over time we found mutual interests in not just food and wine but in travel and tonight in antique silver as well LOL-  a prior hobby for Phil (and his ex)...

tomorrow a new restaurant to try with friends John & Barb before they leave for their Florida winter... so we will report back- meanwhile you know the drill- "stay tuned" LOL