As we walked alongside Greystones and converted churches-to-gym-community-centers on Altgeld, my cravings were overwhelming. I was practically drooling on the fresh mowed lawns under my feet. And then something clicked. A tiny sliver of rational thought seized me and I checked the hours of operation. My heart collapsed under two common words used here in Chicago restaurant land: Closed Mondays.
I literally sat down on the curb and almost cried. Joel offered up suggestions - all places I've eaten at over and over again since being diagnosed with Celiacs. All now overplayed on my palate. I wanted tamales. I wanted them more than anything. I wanted to punch a wall with my misplaced anger and hunger.
At last, we decided to triple our budget on dinner and go to Longman & Eagle, who apparently had listened to the complaints of the hipster hippies of Logan Square and added an entire vegetarian menu. It was surprisingly gluten free friendly.
Overall the service was extremely pleasant. Everyone was kind, suggestive and polite. The drinks took longer than expected. We ordered two courses each. Pretzel Rarebit for the Mister and cured olives for me. I finished with a lovely tomato preserve risotto topped with baby broccoli (the food runner said dandelion greens, which they were not), garnished with black garlic puree. It was al dente and creamy and all encompassingly tamale crave staving. Joel's ricotta gnudi with preserved meyer lemon, miscellaneous sauces of green and cream, was too sweet for his taste and less memorable than our hostess implied when she recommended it as a departure hint for our dinner. I could definitely see how it would be nice on a hot summer night, but with the cooling temperatures of late, it fell short.
A pretty good dinner, no? You would think so. Had they not accidentally fed Joel pork rillettes for his amuse bouche. Really. They said "vegetarian" as they presented me with mine and we both nodded. When he said "pork", we both heard "port". It was pretty loud in the restaurant and it slipped between the dark wood rafters overhead.
Apologies abounded. Everyone was very sorry. It came down to the food runner's neck, who understood his blunder since his "roommate is a vegetarian". But here's the thing. Two appetizers. One whiskey flight for the now pork eater. One $6 whiskey for him again, and two Gin Fizz cocktails for his lady, plus two entrees. And not one single apologetic removal of anything from our bill.
I'm trying to be nice here. After 7 years working in restaurants, and comping entire meals when people made fusses, I feel like this instance would have made me at least taken off his $6 (which means $2 to the house most likely) whiskey. I rarely, if ever, expect comps or free things when dining out. But feeding someone pork - and only his girlfriend telling him it was meat when she tries it and stops him from eating more - is not kosher (no pun intended)! It just seems careless - surprisingly so since there is obviously so much concern for the menu and spirits offered up here.
We have been trying to like this bar. It's 5 blocks from our house. The owners are local and nice and left a "Thank You 60647" sign out front. It is everything we want from a neighborhood restaurant. But it has already earned two strikes (they offered literally nothing vegetarian but a salad on our first visit). Maybe three. I just don't know if we'll be coming back again.
Chicago is full of restaurants, it's true. I've said it before, but you could eat at a different place for every meal, every day, and still not try them all. But finding one that is done well (which the L&E is, in theory) is hard. It just needs to try harder to forget that pork is delicious and realize vegetarian money is pretty tasty as well.
Wishing you a nice night out...with no bad surprises and no apologies...
Love love love,
K.
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