Come for the food, stay for the clientele

[muckefuck]

Tonight we returned to Massouleh to try the ghormeh sabzi. It was--as I hoped and suspected it would be--the best iteration of that dish I've had in Chicago. But it was actually another take on the same basic ingredients that I found even more of a revelation. monshu suggested kuku sabzi as an appetiser and I was intrigued since I'd thought we'd had the gamut last time yet I couldn't call up a memory of this dish. The description was unpromising--"baked mixed vegetables and egg with seasoning"--and the appearance even more so: It reminded me of nothing so much as a block of frozen chopped spinach straight from the box. Perhaps more people would order it if they billed it as "spinach soufflé", which is essentially what it is, although with more (and more interesting) greens in it than just spinach.

Another thing I didn't remember from our last trip was the high bear quotient, both inside the restaurant and out. In particular, there was a lovely older man, cutting an elegant figure even in matching denim shirt and jeans, who sat right behind my man where I could subtly steal glances at him. On top of that, we were sitting right up against the window surveying the passing scene (with its street traffic reminiscent of Sunday morning on Argyle), and a dreamy furball came by whose effect on me was such that even monshu, worn down after another irritating week at work, noticed immediately.

Boys and girls, we have a new favourite haunt!