being there

I don't think I opened my fridge over the weekend. Actually, besides a brief apartment tour, I didn't step inside my kitchen at all. My friend Julie came in from DC for Lollapalooza and we didn't really schedule time for sleeping, let alone a trip to the market.


Friday evening, while perched on a hill waiting for Radiohead, we shared a benevolent burrito and spinach quesadillas from Crescent Foods. They were tasty, but the helpings weren't exactly generous. The carrot salsa was quite fresh and kudos for having both guac and sour cream on the side. We crashed a backyard birthday party after the concert that had an amazing spread with veggies, dips, and burgers. Marty, the birthday boy, generously showed off his garden. I love the cucumbers climbing the stairs (pardon the tipsy night photography).


Saturday we managed to get up and moving for lunch at Cafe Iberico, a tapas restaurant with really reasonable prices and generous portions that defy the distinction "small plate". We went a little crazy, sharing:

-Jamon Iberico. a cured ham and cheese plate
-Pincho de Solomillo. beef tenderloin with fries and caramelized onions
-Croquetas de pollo. chicken and ham puffs
-Pulpo a la Plancha. grilled octopus with potatoes
-Veggie Paella.
-Queso de Cabra. goat cheese in tomato sauce with garlic toasts
-a pitcher of sangria

But a few hours later, after expending too much energy for Okkervil River, I required reinforcements from Adobo Grill:


We split up for the headliners of the evening, Julie boldly braving the pit of Rage Against the Machine while I safely swayed and sang (probably too loudly) along with Wilco. Afterward we reconvened on the el and hit up Clarke's on Belmont to carboload for Sunday. The place was packed and they might as well have required lolla wristbands for entry, as the entire crowd reviewed the days bands and photos from each other's digital cameras. Julie had the skillet eggs and I had silver dollar pancakes.

Sunday brought us to The Bluebird for a tiny breakfast and the highly recommended bloody marys made with organic cucumber vodka. The food was impressive and not too expensive, and the drink (besides the garnish) was both not good and overpriced. Julie and I split the spiced pork belly with toast, kris had ham & gruyere crepes, and Frankie had an open faced croissant with chips. The bartendress didn't know the ingredients in the bloody mix, but something was off there. However, the garnish was crazy good:

-a peel and eat shrimp
-an orange wedge
-a skewer of cheese, olive, pepperocini, and a slice of mortadella with pistachios

We went straight from breakfast and an impromptu stop at a moving sale to Greektown for lunch. We settled on Venus because they specialize in Cypriot cuisine and I had been meaning to stop in since seeing a feature on Check, Please! We shared all of the food which was was fresh and had a lot of bright flavors - helped along by the plate of lemons on the table that I squeezed onto everything.


I managed to work off lunch dancing to Girl Talk, ending up hungry again. Here Greg Gillis crowd surfs on an inflatable raft to end his set.


A slice of sausage pizza and a cat nap during a particularly xylophone-heavy Nine Inch Nails song capped off the weekend. I also snuck in an oreo ice cream sandwich from 7-11 on the way home.