The Atwood at last and an Iberian adventure

When I was in grad school, my friend Jill and I stopped into the Atwood Cafe for a drink on more than one occasion, but that's all we ever got because, being graduate students, even that was more than we could afford.  So when Teresa and I were deciding on a location between her office and my hotel for dinner, the Atwood was my first thought, followed closely by, "and now I can actually eat there (at least this once!)."

I was able to make a reservation online the night before and when we walked in for our early dinner, we were escorted to a great table, the seating for which was composed of blue velvet settees rather than chairs.  The Atwood has a simple menu that, while fairly small, offers lots of flavors nonetheless. This is great for me, as I easily fall prey to menu overload. Of course Teresa and I launched right into chatting and annoyed the server no end since she had to keep coming back to our table to see if we wanted to order.  Finally, we shelved the chatter and perused the menu.  Every possible selection looked delicious.  In the end, Teresa chose a beef brisket and goat cheese ravioli while I selected a port wine braised short rib.  Both meals were fantastic!  I attempted some photo taking, however, I only had my cell phone on me so the quality is pretty poor.

Beef Brisket and Goat Cheese Ravioli

Port Wine Braised Short Rib

While I was waiting in the lobby for Teresa to arrive, I had talked with my friend Nicole, who had worked at the Atwood Cafe when she was in college at Loyola Chicago.  As soon as she heard we were at the Atwood, she immediately blurted out, "get the bread pudding!"  With that gleeful a recommendation, Teresa and I decided we couldn't ignore it and ordered that to share for dessert.  Sadly, it's not banana season and some of the bananas in the dish, which is actually called warm-roasted banana, white chocolate bread pudding, were a little bit hard, but in general, the flavors were great and I see why Nicole holds a place in her heart for this treat.

Warm-Roasted Banana, White Chocolate Bread Pudding (I know, the picture is terrible!)

Since Teresa lives in the Chicago suburbs, she needed to catch the 7:40 train back home, so we parted on State Street, her for Union Station and me for the giant Filene's Basement to kill a half hour before meeting up with my friend and former Chicago roommate, Emily.

After perusing Filene's and a quick cab ride from downtown to River North, I was seated in the bar at Cafe Iberico with Emily, who had been Ben's and my roommate in Lincoln Park in 2004.  Since we'd both already eaten dinner, we opted for drinks in the form of the Cafe's well known red sangria.  The interest thing here is that I've had better sangria, even better sangria in Chicago.  But I have a soft spot in my heart for this happy tapas location (and if you decide to eat, they do have fantastic tapas), having spent a new years celebration here and several office happy hours, one of which ended with a stunning tale of a good friend of mine (who shall remain nameless) falling off a bar stool, a story still makes us both laugh.  The bottom line, while I could pay more for better sangria elsewhere, sitting in the bar at Iberico makes me smile.

Even better than the fun memories this locale evokes, was the chance to catch up with another old friend.  Over a half pitcher, we caught up on jobs, friends, men, you name it.  It was wonderful to see her again and I'm hopeful that it won't be years between visits this time. And now I'm trying to lure her to DC for a visit. (Come on, Em, you know you want to!)