we go gogi

so tonight we went to Gogi (named by Chicago Magazine as one of the top new openings in town in the last year)  it is a neighborhood place so we felt like it was worth a try-

we had the starters of- Japchae  - Sweet Potato Noodles with sliced vegetables and beef.

 Pajeon - Pancake - Haemul Pajeon (Seafood)

and - Mandu - Dumplings (Fried)

these were all good and tasty- Steph and Phil had beer to drink and I had a delicious raspberry wine

then we went into the cooking phase - here is our brazier of charcoal- (at the end of the evening of cooking)

here is the griddle- for the Bulgogi (Marinated Beef) and the Dwaeji Bulgogi (Spicy Marinated Pork) and the Samgyeopsal (Sliced Pork Belly)

the grilled (Galbi 갈비 Marinated Beef Short Ribs were made in the kitchen because you can only use either the grill or the griddle at a table with one cook top- they served them up nice and hot-

then first on our griddle - the pork belly

then the marinated beef -

finally the spicy pork-

after the meat was all cooked they made fried rice on the griddle so it could incorporate the little meaty bits into the rice dish-

I only got a little on my shirt- LOL

so not unlike many places I liked the appetizers the best- would return for any of those - the meat not so much and the rice not at all- but the raspberry wine was a find to keep an eye out for again!

after dinner we came back home and shared a bottle of Bonarda and relaxed - just chatting about whatever came into the stream of the conversation... a nice evening getting to know the neighbors... next we thought we might go to Sun Wah- right about now Walnut Shrimp and Peking Duck sound fabulous! it's been too long since we have been there---

being social

so we went off to goosefoot for our anniversary and found flowers on the table for us from the owners and staff of the restaurant (really sweet and the flowers were fabulously lovely!)

we celebrated with our last bottle of really high end champagne- a vintage grand dame-

the burgundy was closed but opened up nicely when decanted and aerated -

the scallop course-

the custardy egg course-

Chris's always amazing soup!!!!

the salmon with the espelette-

the "wascally wabbit" - LOL (unbelievably tender chunks of rabbit in a creamy polenta)

the beef-

the cheese and fruit course- blue cheese beignets and cherry soda-

palate cleanser of yuzu and beet juice - so good even Phil likes it! LOL

the fruity dessert followed by the chocolaty dessert-

and a final touch- a passion fruit filled chocolate made by Chef Chris!

a lovely evening - fun to see everyone! - and next up was seeing Kathy & John at Himmel.  The food was only OK there but it was great to catch up with the two of them, since I hadn't seen them since last fall- schedules being what they are... Kathy had some surgery in the spring which had her off the calendar for a bit but she looked good last night (as a matter of fact she looked marvelous!- which is good news)

tonight we explore Korean BBQ with Steph & Emma... then we head into July-

July promises to be quite a bit busier than June - two trips planned (Michigan and Oregon) and two special dinners (42 grams and EL ideas) three different concerts (Mark Cohn, Jackson Browne, and Christine Lavin) a wino party here and two parties "there" (Irene & Richard's and Mon & Beth's) and a visit from our Israeli cousin Iddo!

August brings two more trips (my DART trip with TB and our Canadian Maritime Provinces trip) then we get home - already well into September and have our friend Mac visiting, in the middle of the month, from India (yeah!!!)  and likely other house guests near the end of the month- and Phil has concerts and ball games---

October we have a trip to Italy with Trieste, Venice and Bologna as our destinations, and we hope to see our friends Claus & Evi in Frankfurt on our way back home (we have one night layover there)--- pretty soon it is time to return to the seaside (while I don't want to be in the 90*heat and high humidity weather that they are having now, I do miss being so near the beach and water, outdoor dining without the fumes of Chicago traffic and grouper sandwiches! LOL)

so stay tuned for more fun and games along the way- I promise photos- and will give you the complete run down of the Korean BBQ experience after we have been to Gogi... it sounds wonderful, hope it turns out that way-

oh and I did promise the awning saga but since that is still in process I think I will let it play out before airing my grievances (however I do hope to have that post ready well before Festivus where the ritual airing of grievances is a part of the holiday tradition)

onward and upward....