Classic seared whitefish sandwich with lemon and herb aioli, gribiche, roasted tomato.
Olivia @ Blackbird, West Loop, Chicago
Olivia is one of those friends that I have always meant to hang out with more, but just have not. We have had a few failed dinner dates and have hung out numerous times in groups of friends and online, but not just us face to face. So, when she contacted me yesterday saying she was going to be downtown and asking if I’d like to go to lunch I jumped at the chance. We decided to go fancy (it’s the holidays!) and dine at Blackbird, which is actually pretty reasonable for lunch. I mean, it’s too much to spend every day on lunch, but priced really well if you want to try Blackbird without going broke.
Each of us got the prixe fixe which included a salad, sandwich with pomme frites, and doughnuts for $15. As you can see in the photo, we got some kind of fancy chips instead of frites.. and there was no explanation as to why, which was kind of how the service was overall. I thought the food was good, but I not what I expected, and the service wasn’t rude, but it wasn’t very friendly or informative either. Very different than my last experience at Blackbird, granted that was a special invitation sort of thing. Still I’m sure I’ll be back for dinner or lunch again.
Every time I talk to Olivia I think we should hang out more and get to know each other better and then we don’t. Yesterday we made a pact to have lunch once/month so hopefully we will finally follow through! Also, it’s nice to hang out with a friend who will take photos with me (hers from yesterday are here and here), which is something I often miss from when I lived in New York where many of my friends were hobbyist photographers.
