1417 West Fullerton

So, we went out the night before A Related Article for our Anniversary Dinner which was actually the day before the day.  Neither of us is really sure why we did that, so to make things right (and not spend the day on the couch) we headed off for Brunch - as late a reservation as allowed, just for the record.  Sprout was on our To-Do List the List... but technically for the Dinner, but after getting a great review from a trusted Brunch aficionado, we signed ourselves up.

It's easy enough to find with some banner type things going on outside, and had we been just a bit braver we could have parked right outside the door (seems like there's a lot of closed up shops / restaurants in the area and we hope that isn't any sort of bad omen for Sprout!) but instead took an easy spot about 2 blocks away - still nothing to complain about.

It's not a complicated space.  A short 'hallway' off the street to the entrance in the middle of the side, a host stand and bar to greet you.  From what we saw, there's two spaces.  The area around the bar we called the inside and back towards the front (remember we had to walk down the side to get in) to the area we called outside.  'Inside', dark woods, low lighting.  'Outside', bright and airy with big windows that open onto the street and exposed stone walls. If inclined, it does look like you can just grab a cocktail at the bar, but it might just be used for waiting?  We'll find out one day...

We thought it might be busier, but being almost the last ones in it was apparent the rush was over by the list of items we were told were no longer available - and this list appeared to grow with each incoming table.  I'd be cranky with a list of 86'd items this long at Dinner, but for Brunch almost not at all and this menu is of a good enough size and variety that it didn't bother me at all - although we did squeeze in for the last of the Bacon Buns which might have upset us to miss out on.

Brunch Servers are different.  Almost no chatting, and almost a little embarrassment when pointing out the 86'd items, but she was polite and able to answer questions.  However, when we asked for her thoughts on two dishes the one she chose as her preferred was not the same one she told the table next to us.  I think I was on win - win with the two dishes in question, so not holding it against her.

Our meal went a little like this:

• Rumaki Fizz (bacon infused vodka, pineapple, honey soy reduction, ginger beer) - different and a lot going on.  Perhaps a little heavy on the bacon, but no reason to send it away.
• Afternoon delight (frenet, raspberry, basil fennel syrup, prosecco) - refreshing and moorish.
• Lithuanian Bacon Buns - these are fun. Not sure what to compare them to. Just get them!
• Lamb: "Eggs Benedict" (green tomato, goat cheese, broccoli, baby turnip) - Eggs Benedict in the loosest definition of the word, but really really tasty. The lamb the pleasant highlight, the turnip the pleasant surprise. I could have had 2, but that would be greedy...
• Skirt: "Steak & Eggs" (crab, fingerling, sunny side egg, thai basil, sambal) - a nice piece of meat with a bunch of yummy stuff. No complaints when asked for a non-sunny side egg.

We enjoyed it, and although technically off the To-Do list, we'll make sure to get ourselves back some time soon for Dinner because that's really how the Chef caught our attention on Top Chef.

Stay JOLLY!
D

1113 West Randolph

We had an early dinner A Related Article and were certainly not ready to go our separate ways. We had a couple of maybe-we-can-get-in-for-a-cocktail places in mind, but weren't particularly optimistic. Market was a close by emergency backup.

The place is easy enough to find with a bunch of security and 'important' people milling around out front.  There's a restaurant (maybe even two) down stairs, but we were only here to get up on the roof and have a cocktail.  Sorry, no idea what they serve in the Restaurant or how good or bad it may be. 

Past a couple of security type people who think they are far more important and useful than they really are and somehow my shorts and sandals didn't keep us out.  A quick chat with the host in the restaurant, and then off to the roof we go.  A supposedly broken elevator meant a quick jaunt up 5 or 6 flights of stairs - ultimately not too stressful.  Greeted by a big beefy security dude in a fancy(?) suit, and again my attire was somehow acceptable but I was easily the least dressed up in the whole place.  A short negotiation and we got a booth.

On a very clear evening, it's a pretty cool view back to the city skyline and getting the booth gave us some room to stretch out.  I certainly felt the urge to take a peek more than once.  The music is fairly loud (no idea what was playing), but they had the Bears game on - I wonder what was on later in the evening?  We needed a credit card on file just to order a round of drinks, they add a service charge on, and it was a drama to get the check split - ultimately not what we requested.

No food up here, not a lot of cocktails, but they do have a number of Vodkas (perhaps other things too?) by the bottle which has a moderately annoying process for delivery - firework type devices attached to the neck while parading it through the place.

We had some cocktails

• Cocktails - nothing special, nothing memorable

I don't need to go back.  The view from the roof back towards downtown is pleasant enough, certainly photogenic (many times, actually!), but the 'view' in the place does nothing for me.  It clearly serves a niche of evening revelers (not sure how we'd define it exactly), but I'm clearly nowhere near that niche in cocktailing needs / wants / expectations. 

Stay JOLLY!
DKate, Pete & Kris