Chicago is a complicated city. Very livable for many, though not for all. A grab bag of fascinating neighborhoods. With many exceptionally splendid, fresh and honest eating places scattered throughout. Madison, by contrast, has some great top end restaurants, and some very good midrange restaurants, but what it lacks is casual places -- brew pubs perhaps -- that serve creative and reasonably priced foods, ones that change with the seasons, ones that you could take your family to (outdoor seating would be nice in good weather) when you just wanted to have an interesting yet casual meal outside the home. It's not that we have none of this -- but we don't have much of this.
The young family in Chicago have in their neighborhood a brewpub that was a godsend for them through much of the pandemic. When you could not safely eat out, even outside, this place prepared meal kits for you to take home and finish off in the safe space of your kitchen. These days they go to it often and they are known, in the way that neighborhood joints love their regulars just as much the regulars love their fave eatery. Still, I'd never eaten there. There were always too many other options I suppose. Today, this changed.
A morning at their home: first, still in pj's.
Primrose is intensely working on her coloring project. The girl is very artistically inclined, but in different ways than Snowdrop. This four year old will labor for hours over one drawing or coloring page until it is all done. Every space meticulously filled. She does that this morning.
Will she finish before we leave?
Yes she will.
Time to get dressed!
Everyone ready? Yes!
We had eaten a quick breakfast earlier, but for brunch, or lunch really, we go over to Middle Brow. "Their" place.
It's a brew pub, but with excellent coffee and terrific bread to boot. And of course, some fantastic fresh and honest foods.
Outside.
("Hey, I want to get in on this!")
Really, it's perfect. So much so that I even picked up a four-pack of their beer to bring home. I haven't actually joined the generation of beer cognoscenti, but in Montreal, I caved and sampled some of these micro-brews and I decided that sometimes, if you just want to sip something for a prolonged moment, say with someone else, then a cold beer with notes of this and that, very light, maybe fruity -- well, it just hits the spot.
But not for lunch. This day I stay with coffee.
Oh, how I love this meal with the young family, as the warm sun makes me feel like suddenly, we have left spring and are plunging head first into summer.
This wasn't a super long visit to Chicago. We came up with the date just this week and of course there's lots going on now, what with Father's Day, and Bresse chicken possibilities, and flowers needing my oversight and care. And still, it was a fantastic visit. My daughter always makes sure that I get the most out of my time there -- food wise, chat-time wise, granddaughter-wise. Every minute is wonderful. Every meal -- delicious, every smile of theirs -- so warm and deeply gratifying.
I'm home now. I'm getting good at this drive between their place and mine. Too good: I put on my music and I enter some zone of meditative thought that is so all encapsulating that today I actually missed the highway turnoff for Madison!
Ed asks -- you want to take it easy and have pizza tonight? Sure! With a Middle Brow beer. White light. Belgian style, with (taste of) apricots and spices. Cardamom for warmth, crispy wheat for midsummer days.
And with love.
