zooming by

yes that would be time- since I last posted I have been on another trip and then moved north for the summer and been in a whirlwind social schedule for the six days I was in Chicago before heading back down to Florida to close the condo for the summer season.... so I will get back to my trip in a bit but for now this will be a post about the social whirlwind we have been in...

I arrived on Sunday with Lucy and eight cases of wine and the computers etc etc... crashed after the 20+ hours of driving... Monday we had dinner with Mike & Leslie who were in town for a meeting Leslie had for business... We went to Salero with them.  On Tuesday we met Ron & Mary at Anna's Asian Grill and then Wednesday we had dinner with Suzanne (in from Portland for business meetings) at Tanta and Thursday dinner with Steve (in for a visit with us! LOL) at Ruxbin and Friday dinner with Steve & Suzanne at Oriole which will of course be its own post... Saturday morning I am headed back to SRQ for ballet on Sunday and all kinds of other errands - car recall getting handled and the usual end of season clean up etc.

So here we go on photos-

The first dinner was Salero - with Mike & Leslie- and we had many good things but the wines were all that were recorded LOL-  we loved the suckling pig and the octopus and olives with manchego- liked the hamachi crudo and jamon serrano and marcona almonds - we also had the halibut and the paella and a couple of other dishes along the way so we definitely didn't go hungry LOL

the next meal on the calendar was Anna's with Ron and Mary- and of that I managed to capture the starter of stuffed avocado - but here it is- a work of art for your mouth! LOL

you can see we had many other dishes - all excellent - but we got wrapped up in conversation LOL so no photos-  LOVED the sake baby ribs and the buns with pork belly and peking duck.... all the rolls were excellent too- and they have a patio for outdoor eating in the summer! Definitely a place to return to!

Then on to Tanta with Suzanne on Wednesday night - two cebiches and two tiraditos as well as the corn cake and the Chaufa and octopus and empanadas and the very good chocolate mousse dessert with cocoa nibs ...that was yummy!

then Ruxbin on Thursday with Steve- LOL - this was interesting because they have redone the interior and I didn't think it was for the better- less intimate setting for dining -

we chose the wedge the foie gras and the pork belly and then followed with the fruits de mer and the duck and the steak and we all had the chocolate dessert

we all LOVED the foie gras course-

and the pork belly got three thumbs up-

 two views of the fruits de mer-

perfectly prepared duck was another fave

hanger steak was tender and had terrific flavor!

so to make it to our next meal we tried a neighborhood place for lunch of pizza - new to us and it was good pizza not brilliant but good pizza (I liked it better than Phil) and tonight we are all pumped for the big meal of the visit - ORIOLE- which will get its own post.... then I will go back in time and cover the DART trip with TB to Maryland and Delaware--- many things to recount with that travel... but I am off to a computer less location for the next five days - back in May to fill you in again...

sometimes it gets busy LOL- so stay tuned - eventually we will be up to date - we will get the DART done before we head to NYC and the NYC done before cousin Michele visits for memorial day and then Ireland LOL - so always something to report on....

new place! and good!

Last night we met up with friends for dinner at Salero - a relatively new place in the west loop on Randolph. We were very pleased with the menu and as we were looking over the choices a man approached the table and said "Victoria? Phil?" and we said yes- and he said I know you from way back at Jack's on Halsted! and it was one of our friends from there named Christopher!!! we had lost touch after he had lived over Socca and worked a bit there.  He is from Cincinnati like I am so we always had that connection- making him easy to remember.  We asked about a couple of common acquaintances and caught up a bit over the evening. Really wonderful surprise! And so was the food!

so here we go with the menu and our choices- the appetizers - pintxos - were all very good- the specific ones we tried are excerpted from the full list-

no photos because they were just too good to wait for...LOL

oh, and we had an amontillado to start from their list- Mon and I liked it quite a bit, Phil less so...

for wines we brought a 2002 Puligny-Montrachet and Mon brought a Lopez de Heredia Gravonia- also a 2002

the starter we chose were also very good!

Beth and I had the sweetbreads and Phil had the quail and Mon the octopus- we all were very pleased!

sweetbreads above and quail below-

then we moved on to the mains and our reds- we brought a 1985 Lynch-Bages which showed well and Mon brought a Rioja which was also quite excellent...

for mains I had the pork belly YUM YUM! Mon the venison, Beth the Lubina, Phil the Zarzuela...

and not that we weren't already stuffed but we had to try some of the desserts as well- LOL

the churros above and chocolate below and then the apple dessert that was a "special" last night-

the room is elegant and soothing despite being quite starkly decorated- the wood ceiling and the candles really give it a nice ambiance-

so this one is a keeper- we will definitely be back on the spring "comeback tour"... and if I didn't make it clear - we were just so happy to see Christopher again! What a fabulous surprise!!!!