That's Amore

In celebration of my upcoming nuptuals a bunch of my buddies and I decided to hit the town. I wasn't a bachelorette party as my friend Eric came with and that really throws that sort of party out of a wack. Lovely Eric with all his lovely testosterone is an important ingredient for making any party a real success. Also, I put a moretorum on anything phallus paraphenalia. We decided to just bar hop through Uptown.
The first stop was, of course, Dixie's for the soon to be famous Lemon Drop Martini. So, so good. I could write a sonnet about this drink and usually go on about it far too long. I'll try to control myself, but seriously. Do yourself a favor and go get one before the summer ends. The breeze off Calhoun, the silly exercising and occassionally beautiful people and this spritely little drink. There's some kind of lemon syrup in the sugar they use to rim the glass. Wonderful. The thing about Dixie's that always throws us off is the fried food at a place fully of skinny people. It doens't make sense. But we got over it with the happy hour specials. $2 for a plate of fries covered in cheddar, blue cheese, green onions and chunks of bacon. Oh, and lest I forget, these are best eaten smothered in their house ranch dressing. I know! It's like a heart attack on a plate. But, damn. The other yummy treat we had was a little big of fried mac and cheese. It's supposed to be included in this "country fair sampler" but everything else in there sucks. Fishy, oddly crunchy (like eating sand crunchy) catfish nibblers and uber bland fried chicken wings. But can you really go wrong with fried cheese? I've been to the state fair and I've been to Wisconsin, thus far the answer is no. You can never, ever go wrong with fried cheese.
Afterwards we had dinner reservations at Vicortia Amore a brand new restaurant on Lake Street and Irving, where the Giorgio's wine bar used to be. The place is so new that they've yet to even tell anyone that they're open. The website still says that they are nearing opening. Not true, they're open. This Thursday was only their second day in business. Because of that, our poor waiter (Jeff, great guy) wasn't ready for a barage of questions on the menu and wine list by a bunch of amateur foodies. Between the 6 of us, we did manage to navigate the menu. The three different bottles of wine were entirely drinkable. As Jeff filled my glass at nearly every opportunity they were perhaps a little more drinkable than maybe others thought them to be.
The calamari might have been better had someone not doused them in lemon juice beyond recognition. They were cut into little triangles that kind of freaked some people out. The olive oil that they serve with wonderful crusty bread was so fruity it was almost like you could just pour it down your throat and live in happy gluttony for years. It was the best olive oil I have ever tasted. My entree was a cornicoupia of seafood. More perhaps, than they meant to serve, because this was ridiculous, but it was good. They were out of some food and some items weren't entirely what they described on the menu. (I had a whole salmon filet materialize out of thin air.) But I, personally, loved the place in no small part because of our waiter. He was so kind and sweet to me, that I really appreciated the extra mile and will defintely be going back there soon.
Tummy's full we went to the Independent after dinner. I ordered my drink no less than four times before we threw in the towel and left. I do have a very unflattering picture of our waitress and drink ignorer that I will upload to this blog as soon as I figure out how.
My sister & I walked back to my apartment and ended the night on my stoop sipping on vodka lemonades and one of those few magically perfect summer nights.

**Disclaimer, I've had reports since posting this that the service has gotten even worse and my buddy Jeff doesn't appear to be there anymore.