Entries Tagged as 'pizza'

Jessica’s 8th Birthday

May 26th, 2011 · 3 Comments


Jessica

Last weekend I went to Oak Creek to celebrate Jessica’s 8th birthday. Jess wanted pizza for lunch. Instead of just buying pizzas or getting them delivered, Richard and Amanda bought all kinds of toppings and individual doughs. Each person made their own custom pizza and then my brother grilled them outside. Turned out great. Same goes for the dessert we had. Jess wanted ice cream instead of cake. Amanda got all kinds of toppings and we all made our own sundaes. Jess is holding her sundae in the photo above.


Got the memo

My brother also had a growler of beer from St. Francis Brewery nearby his house. I’m not sure which it was, but it was really good. Glad to finally try it.


Jason

It was a really nice day outside so we all sat out on the patio. I even got sunburned on my arm. It was so hot! Jess opened a bunch of gifts. Brian came over with his kids and they all played. Pretty laid back day.


Jessica

I was just looking at these photos from Jess’s previous birthdays: 7 years old, 4 years old, 3 years old, 2 years old. She is growing up fast!


Mom


Stephanie

Since it was just Mothers Day a few weeks ago, I gave my mom her Mothers Day gift. There were some prints she wanted from the wedding, so we gave her those and we also made a wedding photo book. I think she liked it.


Mom & Dad

Finally, yesterday was my mom and dad’s 37th wedding anniversary. Happy anniversary!

[Read more →]

Tags:··············

Famous Last Words

January 30th, 2011 · No Comments

“…. I’ll just go for one drink, maybe two….”

It all started with these delicious drinks at Gilt Bar. They were called Le Bar St. Germain and were made from St. Germain (a French liqueur made with elder flowers), lemon and prosecco. Brett, Annie, Jess, Kristin and I were all drinking them. They were so delicious.


Brett, Annie, Dallas


Brett, Annie


Jessica, Rachelle, Killian


Killian, Brett, Annie, Dallas

The drinks were potent too. And as if that wasn’t enough to confuse you, try finding your way to the bathroom in this place.

I’d never been to Gilt before, even though it’s about a block from my office. My coworkers had raved about it, so it was about time I finally got there. In fact, I even ran into some of my coworkers there. ha. The inside decor is gorgeous. Fancy, lots of wood, but still rustic and with a kind of old-timey twist that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The drinks were great and eventually when we ordered food, that was really good too.

There’s a section of the Gilt food menu called “On Toast”. I thought these things were going to be wimpy and lame, but when we ordered the triple cream délice de bourgogne cheese with apricot preserve and herb salad, it was awesome. Good-sized slices of thickly cut grilled bread. The cheese was a generous serving, unlike some places where you only get a sliver. The cheese and apricot was a great pairing. I don’t know that I’d really consider a few leaves scattered upon the cutting board it was served on to be a salad, though.

Later on we ordered the bouchot mussels with white wine, shallots, herbs & smoked paprika. Very good. Dallas loooved the bread so much, we had to ask for more. It was great dipped in the mussels sauce. We also got an order of the kennebec fries. I asked our waitress Kat (who was awesome) what kennebec was and she said it was a kind of potato that is starchier and makes a better french fry. She was right. These fries were served with garlic aoili and disappeared so fast from our table that we had to order more STAT!

After a while some people left. Brett and Annie had late night dinner reservations but it was still kind of early. Jess and Dallas and I decided to go back with Annie and Brett to Brett’s apartment for a bit, since she lives not that far away at Cityfront Place. Brett just moved to Chicago about a month ago and is subletting this place. The view is great.

In Brett’s fridge there were about 30 of these bad boys:

Grapefruits. Brett got them from her grandma in Arizona. So Brett used her huge guns to make us Greyhounds (freshly squeezed grapefruit and vodka).

Delicious!

And a dance party may have broken out, but after a while, we knew we had to go. Dallas and I dropped Jess off in a cab and then went back to our house. We stopped at Boiler Room and each got a slice of pizza to bring home and eat. I went to the bathroom there and took this photo of the unique bathroom doors.

I know we were drunk last night, but we may have changed our minds about Boiler Room. We weren’t totally sold on it the first time we went and we never went back until last night. But last night’s pizza was SO good. I had just a plain slice and Dallas had a pepperoni slice.

I don’t know what happened after we left. Brett and Annie went back out and some of our other friends met up with them. I can’t imagine how late they were out (we were home by 11 or so) or how drunk they got. I’m so glad we went home when we did! I was feeling rough the next day and had so much to do!

[Read more →]

Tags:··················

Boiler Room

September 2nd, 2010 · No Comments

Boiler Room, formerly known as Nice Slice at a preview I went to, opened a couple months ago very close to our condo. We didn’t attend the opening night party, but we did visit within the first week or so.

Since that time, several of my friends have also visited Boiler Room. I like the inside. It is very unique and reuses a lot of things that probably might have been thrown out. Some people think it’s a little overdone, but I think it’s interesting.

The bathrooms are made to look like the CTA and use doors and other things salvaged from the trains. There’s a recording that also plays and it sounds just like the recording that plays on the trains. “Next stop, Logan Square” or whatever..

Behind the bar there are some metal panels salvaged from a boiler… hence the name of the place. In the center area they were playing a Hitchcock movie.

This is “The Dirty Bird.” Dallas loves wings, so when he looked at the menu he asked the waitress, “are these the wings?” and she said yes so we ordered it. It’s more like a whole chicken with drumsticks and everything. It tasted good, but we didn’t really expect to be eating so much chicken before we ate our pizza.

For pizza we got a whole pie of The Purist ($18). This was fresh mozzarella, basil, and
balsamic. It was good, but I kept feeling like I wanted to put salt on it. Maybe it was a little underseasoned?

Overall, I think the Boiler Room is a good addition to our neighborhood. Our food wasn’t good enough to write home about, but it was fine. I want to go back and give them another try, but just haven’t had the time yet. From the friends we’ve talked to who have been to the Boiler Room, the reviews have been all over the place. I actually think the pizza creations at Revolution Brewing, are more interesting… but the pizzas there are on the small side. The Boiler Room would be good for bigger groups eating pizza. Also, they sell pizza by the slice so probably a good place to get a later-night slice. WIll have to test that out soon!

[Read more →]

Tags:····

Motorino

August 26th, 2010 · 2 Comments

When we saw Adam at Tien and Shannan’s wedding, we couldn’t help but ask him what his favorite pizza is these days. He is the pizza king, afterall. Without hesitation, Adam said “Motorino” so we decided to try it out for lunch on Sunday, our last day in New York.

We skipped any sort of antipasti and went straight for the Neopolitan-style pizza.


Stracciatella : basil / olive oil / sea salt


Prosciutto di parma : mozzarella / garlic / thyme / pecorino


Cherry stone clams : garlic / parsley butter / olive oil


Soppressata Piccante : mozzarella / spicy soppressata / garlic / oregano

Motorino’s pizza was really great. I loved all the flavors. I think we liked the soppressata the best, maybe followed closely by the clam pie and the prosciutto di parma. The stracciatella was good, but I didn’t realize it was a white pie when I suggested it. I wished for something more. Still pretty good though. And hot. When the first pizza came out, Dallas and Yvan took a bite, so I did too. And I burned the roof of my mouth. 3 days later I can still feel it! I didn’t notice that Yvan and Dallas did the fold so the scalding toppings were not directly touching their mouth at once. Oh well it was worth it.

The crust on Motorino’s pizza was really delicious too. We all ate all of our crusts. Usually there is someone who can’t finish their crusts, but not this time. They were that good. It was like baked bread with a nice wood-fire char. We even asked for olive oil to dip it in. So, all in all, great pizza, but here’s the catch. We were hungry so we got 4 pizzas for 4 people. Each pie is $14 – $18. That might have been the most expensive, per person, pizza dinner I ever had! But it was totally worth it to try Adam’s recommendation. Like Jeannette and Yvan said, it’s a good splurge, but not like they’ll be back there every week or something.

P.S. Dallas also tried this NY pale ale, Pork Slap. It came in a can and had this awesome label.

[Read more →]

Tags:········

Gino’s East on Wells

July 14th, 2010 · 1 Comment

Does anyone eat at this monstrosity? Besides tourists?

[Read more →]

Tags:···