![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Nov. 3rd, 2011 03:36 pm
Back in the old 'hood
I'm very glad I made the effort to make it to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
justmatt's show last night. Not only was the work worth seeing, he seemed genuinely pleased to have me there. During my lengthy internal debate earlier in the day, one of the things I told myself was He'll be chatting away with all his friends while I stand around feeling crummy. Far from it: he invited me to sit and we bantered, caught up, and talked about his ambitions until I announced my intention to get something to eat.
The deli-café next door, Deli Boutique, had raves on Yelp, so I gave it a try and was not disappointed. When I ordered the "Matador" (roast beef, bleu, caramelised onions, horseradish), the petite, personable, young Eastern European woman behind the counter told me, "It's always men who order that. Like 97%!" It was damn good; I told her I particularly liked that the crust wasn't too tough, indicating that it had been assembled to order and not hours in advance. And, hoo boy, was it generous. I took home almost half because I wanted something from the dessert case. Their "pecan cookies" looked and tasted like an oversized kipferl (a word she didn't recognise, strengthening my surmise that she was Balkan rather than K.u.K.); sadly, the "apricot walnut cookie", a crumbly underbaked mess, failed to live up to the promise of it.
Afterwards I hit Apple Market, my old corner grocery. (The eyeglass store wherejustmatt had his show was all of fifty paces from my old apartment on Belden.) I thought they would have the sweet-hot mustard monshu and I liked, and they did--not to mention lemon curd and andouille sausage. The whole experience left me strangely nostalgic.
Green Tea is gone. I discovered this from Google Maps. It's now an all-you-can-it sushi place called "Para Sushi". Yeah, no thanks. I'll have to get the skinny from Chef Jeff next time I see him--whenever that is. It's been something like a year since I've bumped into him on the street. I'm guessing he'll also know what happened to Blue Elephant, since it was opened by as fellow Green Tea alum; we just noticed the change of sign on Sunday coming back from Pilsen.
justmatt's show last night. Not only was the work worth seeing, he seemed genuinely pleased to have me there. During my lengthy internal debate earlier in the day, one of the things I told myself was He'll be chatting away with all his friends while I stand around feeling crummy. Far from it: he invited me to sit and we bantered, caught up, and talked about his ambitions until I announced my intention to get something to eat.The deli-café next door, Deli Boutique, had raves on Yelp, so I gave it a try and was not disappointed. When I ordered the "Matador" (roast beef, bleu, caramelised onions, horseradish), the petite, personable, young Eastern European woman behind the counter told me, "It's always men who order that. Like 97%!" It was damn good; I told her I particularly liked that the crust wasn't too tough, indicating that it had been assembled to order and not hours in advance. And, hoo boy, was it generous. I took home almost half because I wanted something from the dessert case. Their "pecan cookies" looked and tasted like an oversized kipferl (a word she didn't recognise, strengthening my surmise that she was Balkan rather than K.u.K.); sadly, the "apricot walnut cookie", a crumbly underbaked mess, failed to live up to the promise of it.
Afterwards I hit Apple Market, my old corner grocery. (The eyeglass store where
justmatt had his show was all of fifty paces from my old apartment on Belden.) I thought they would have the sweet-hot mustard monshu and I liked, and they did--not to mention lemon curd and andouille sausage. The whole experience left me strangely nostalgic.Green Tea is gone. I discovered this from Google Maps. It's now an all-you-can-it sushi place called "Para Sushi". Yeah, no thanks. I'll have to get the skinny from Chef Jeff next time I see him--whenever that is. It's been something like a year since I've bumped into him on the street. I'm guessing he'll also know what happened to Blue Elephant, since it was opened by as fellow Green Tea alum; we just noticed the change of sign on Sunday coming back from Pilsen.