Last Monday was my birthday and the start of a week long celebration. On Labor Day, we bought a Prius and the only option we picked was heated seats. They gave us a car but we needed to bring it back in for the installation of heated seats. Schaumburg has more to offer than Woodstock, so we took the car in Monday night and went out for some delicious Indian food. I made a reservation at India House, although it wasn’t needed on a Monday night.
To drink I had a peach martini, which was good, very sweet.
We started with a couple samosas. They brought out some bread, which has butter on it but they swapped it out for some butter-free bread upon request.
I ordered Chana masala, one of my favorite dishes, and aloo gobi. Both were good. I asked the server which vegetarian dishes didn’t have butter or cheese and he named quite a few.
Whole Foods sells slices of cake from Chicago Diner’s vegan bakery, so after dinner we went over there and picked up two slices of cake -peanut butter chocolate and cookie dough. They were both good, but the peanut butter was my favorite. The frosting was more like a mousse- light and creamy.
On Tuesday we picked up the car and went to Bombay Chopsticks. On Wednesday, at H’s request, we went to an Italian restaurant in Crystal Lake, da Baffone Cucina Italiana. On Thursday, we went out with our neighbors to Mixteca for a joint birthday celebration (her birthday was the 15th). Way too much eating out! On Friday, we went into the city and had dinner at Gilt Bar and saw a show at Second City.
We stayed at the Radisson Blu at the Aqua Tower.
On Saturday, after a huge lunch at Native Foods, we went to a cooking class at Karyn’s. With the exception of the cider, I was not blown away by the menu, but I got a lot of good tips. I would definitely take another class here. The menu included barley and mushroom soup, lentil casserole, stuffed portabellas, baked apples and cranberry cider.
For dinner, we went to Acadia in the South Loop. I called ahead to see if they could accommodate a vegan and they said that would be no problem. They made a note on the reservation and I didn’t have to say anything when we arrived. There are two vegetarian dishes on the menu (a starter and a main course). Unfortunately, the soup has cream in it, but the entree could be made vegan. Instead of the soup, they put together this salad garnished with a small forest.
The bread course is a buttermilk biscuit, but they gave me some potato chips instead.
The entree was a mix of roasted vegetables, raw vegetables, and two oat cakes (I think?). There was also something called vegetable dirt that was kind of like the Oreo crumb topping on a Yocrunch, except not sweet. Anyway, this is how a restaurant should handle a vegan – don’t put some vegetables on a plate and call it a day. Put together something creative and flavorful. Well done, Acadia.
So then there was dessert. They offered to put together a fruit plate, but I had no interest in that after they told me the chocolate sorbet was vegan. That’s all I wanted. At the end of the meal they brought out little bite-sized desserts (a flavored marshmallow and a mini whoopie pie). Those aren’t vegan, so they brought out a bit of chocolate air. The server described the process, but I don’t remember how he said it was done. It was light and crisp.
I used Rent the Runway again this weekend. On Saturday night I wore a Yigal Azrouël dress with a Kenneth Jay Lane bracelet.
On Sunday we went to Karyn’s on Green for brunch (amazing French Toast) and I wore a Missoni dress.
