June goes on-

 So another busy week was scheduled for social butterflies... LOL. On Tuesday night (after dining at home for two nights LOL) we met Lee at Tango Sur for a nice meal and then had DQ afterward. 

On Wednesday night we met up with Mike and Frank to have another go at Lao Der. It was again excellent. Thursday Phil went with Mike and Ron to the baseball game (Cardinals won) and I cooked when he came home. Friday we met Ron & Mary for dinner at Sochi for a pre concert meal and the three of them went to a concert at The Vic. So more photos to remember the good dishes.... least you think all we do is eat, we both had doctors appointments this week and I did two sessions with the trainer while Phil did one and had tow Physical therapy appointments  LOL - it's a bitch getting older.

then Sochi...

And then we came to the weekend and dinners at Hermosa with friends and Bayan Ko with former neighbors... busy busy...

Another fabulous evening with friends at Hermosa. Kudos to Ethan Eang Lim for such a wonderful meal with some old favorites and new dishes as well.  Lots of good wine. We started with champagne and went on to four or more whites and a number of reds. I did get a photo of the terrific 1994 Alsatian. Two Sine Qua Non wines at least one a blend of white wine and an Aubert along with a Pernand Vergelesses. Also an Albariño - I may not have all of them noted because they came around quickly. Plus the conversation was too engrossing and food and wines so good that I just wasn't up to the task.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY EVIE!

  

 Just a few of the dishes we enjoyed tonight at Bayan Ko Diner. Love that we can choose a half-portion or a full-portion for most menu items. Shown here the lechon, crispy chicken and lumpia. We had many more courses but since we don't get to dine with Bob & Lorraine that often we were too busy catching up to get photos of it all. Lorraine had the pancit and Bob had the fab fried rice and I had ropa vieja. We also had the terrific cubano sliders. Thanks to the great staff for making us feel welcome!

Grabbed a quick dinner the following Monday night at a neighborhood Kyrgyzstan cuisine restaurant Jibek Jolu on Lincoln. Started with the carrot salad (which was called by a different name when I was traveling in Uzbekistan) then had Cheburek and Manti before having two meat based mains (I had the Lula Kebab Plate and he has the beef skewers). We took home a piece of honey cake for dessert later!

We have some plans for this week before Phil leaves for Ireland but those will go into a different post. 

Chicago times

Caught up with friends Ron & Mary Monday night at Alcove in Evanston. This place is a hidden gem. Excellent food and open on Monday nights when our first choice ended up being closed. All menu items marked. #dinnerwithfriends

Then we had another full week of social engagements - La Bouchon on Tuesday and Guatemala Tikal Sabor Chapin on Wednesday with Frank. 

Le Bouchon might be Phil's favorite restaurant in the neighborhood - hard to say - but it's for sure his favorite French restaurant in the neighborhood. Service is relaxed and friendly even though it's never less than fully packed with diners and the din of happy customers.  I know it will surprise everyone to read that Phil ordered the duck and the foie gras. We split the fabulous toast of morels. Since we are seated as if in Paris, conversation with neighbors is a part of dining here. We met a young Russian woman who came here as a child and her dining companion a Floridian living somewhere in Indiana. Before they sat down the couple who occupied the table advocated heavily for the morels. We took their advice. It's not exactly a place where everybody knows your name but we have always had fun interactions with other diners, which just enhances the friendly vibe. Now if only we could enlarge the menu to carry some favorites from Lyon. 

We went for some Central American (Guatemalan) food at Tikal Sabor Chapin. IMO the best choice were the Garnachas, but both the meat dishes were excellent, as were the picaditas chapinas. The ceviche was very tasty. Weak link IMO were the tortitas de camerones. BYO, Frank brought an excellent white riojas from Mugal. Our white burg showed very poorly but the red burg showed very well. So we were fine in the wine department.

We had leftovers one night and I cooked a couple of nights and on Saturday we met Ron & Mary and Mike & Leslie along with a musician buddy of Mike's for dinner after a concert by the friend (Jason Wilber is his name). We dined at C'est Bien Thai - not my favorite but it had a later night reservation available for seven!

Thus was our week during mid June in Chicago.