Day 163

The weekends are getting fewer and fewer here and we are running out of time. Crazy. It is really starting to hit me. Anyways, we had a solid weekend here. Friday night we went to Chinatown with Jessica and Justin. As I said in other posts, we are trying to get in as many different things as we can. Saturday we had another open house so we had to be out of the house from 12-3. Gregg and Dave had arranged for this to be the day of the Chicago Food Tour -I described it in detail in the last blog. The first place we went was Hot Doug's (www.hotdougs.com). As usual, the line was 45 people deep, out the door and around the corner. Gregg did all of the ordering at every place. At Hot Doug's, you pretty much only ate off of the specials menu. So here is what we ordered. 8 Sausages of the following mix:

Hickory-Smoked Pistachio Ostrich Sausage with Blue Cheese Dijonnaise, Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Smoked Almonds
Ribeye Steak Sausage with Horseradish Cream Sauce and Roasted Garlic Cloves
Smokey Cheddar Pork Sausage with Sriracha Mustard and Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Merguez Lamb Sausage with Harissa and Feta Cheese
Uber Garlic Beef Sausage with Chipotle Dijonnaise and Smoked Gouda Cheese
Kangaroo Sausage with Cassis Creme Fraiche and Purple Haze Chevre
2 orders of Duck Fat Fries.

Our move was to each take a bite of a sausage and rotate so we could each get a taste of the different flavors. My top two had to be the Ribeye Steak and the Kangaroo. All of them were good though. Our next stop was Johnnie's Beef (http://www.hollyeats.com/JohnniesBeef.htm) This is an out of the way place out in Elmwood Park, west of the city. It was a good 30 minutes. 290 West to Harlem, then go about 15 minutes North. They are known as the best Italian Beef place in the Chicagoland area. I'd say we got there around 1:45-2 and the line was at least 30 people deep. Here we ordered 4 Italian Beefs (2 dipped in au jus with Giardinara sweet peppers) and 2 Italian Sausages (one dipped with sweet peppers). I also buried a chocolate milkshake, which was more like a Wendy's frosty. I was surprisingly ok after Johnnie's. I was worried I would have no room left. The good news is that the next place was probably another 20 minutes plus away, which gave us plenty of time to recuperate. We headed straight South and East to Freddy's Pizzeria (http://www.freddyspizza.com) in Cicero. Gregg has touted this as the best Meatball Sandwich he has ever had. It is an Italian Market which is most famous for its Gelato and Sicilian Pizza. We buried 2 Slices Of Sicilian pizza, 3 Meatball Sandwiches, and 2 Gelatos. The Meatballs were amazing. At this point, even Gregg, who can throw it back like nobody I have seen since my father, was starting to tap out. We were supposed to go to a place on the deep south side for BBQ next, but had to call it a day. At was 4 PM at this point and the traffic at that point would have been terrible. Overall, it was such a great experience and so much fun. We took some solid photos, a couple are seen above.

Needless to say, I was planning on doing nothing that night, figuring I would be to full to move. Little did I know how much fun Saturday night would be. I ended up meeting Sean and P for some drinks. Dave, Sara, and Dave's friend Larry met us out and we ended up at Marquee Lounge. We took over the bad jukebox, had several drinks, and laughed it up. Shots of Jameson whiskey were flowing. Sean was in rare form, P was his usual classic self, and Dave never disappoints. At about 12:45, Leah called to tell me that her bachelorette party was moving from Howl at the Moon to Marquee Lounge - completely random occurrence. What is so strange is that I haven't been to Marquee Lounge in 7 years. The one night I am there, Leah ends up there too. It was a great, old school kind of night. Totally unplanned and unexpected. That right there is one of the things I will miss the most about the city. My days of going out with a big crew of my friends, or even going out for that matter, are for the most part going to be over. It was great to have a night like Saturday night as the days here dwindle down. Our going away party July 8th is going be so great, but it is also going to be so sad in the sense that it will be the beginning of the end of a great chapter in my life.

Sunday was a lazy day. Since we got home at 2:30, I took the dog out then figuring she would sleep late. Casey had other ideas. She had us up at 6:15, but went back to sleep after licking my face to death. At about 8, she was back growling at us, so I had to take her out. Leah slept later, but we had to go to a brunch down in Old Town at Bistro Margot with our Chicago family, The Rosenstein's. They are my in laws best friends and have been so good to us since we moved here. We are always invited to all of the Jewish holidays with them. They are such good people. After brunch, we essentially napped and watched Tribe ball all day. It was raining here most of the day, so I did not feel guilty doing that one bit. We had Turkey Taco salad for dinner, watched Entourage, and went to sleep. Overall, a solid weekend. We are down to two weekends left essentially, our last weekend is Leah's friend Jenny's wedding and rehearsal dinner. Crazy how fast the time goes.

The Tribe still sucks, but at least they brought up Jeremy Sowers. I can't take another day of Aaron Boone at third. Not one more. Bring up Andy Marte before I kill myself. The funny thing is, I am still watching every game. I am a glutton for punishment. My latest column was posted on Saturday morning: http://www.theclevelandfan.com/article_detail.php?id=512.

Days Until Leah Stops Working: 8
Days Left in Chicago: 21
Song of the Day: "Stranded on Death Row" by Dr. Dre