Be careful driving anywhere, all of you. It'd a ****ing mess out there

Backwards imo, I like drinks better at Sable, meh on the food (relatively). And I'm a sucker for all the Sodikoff places. Still good choices though, have fun.

it's thankfully not as bad as tuesday and wednesday. It took me almost 2 hours tuesdsay night to get from work in highland park back to my place (bucktown). This time it took me about 45-50 minutes. Still, it's ****ty outside and I wouldn't have driven if I didn't have to.

Isnt 2 hours standard? I was doing deerfield to south loop for a short while and it was a nightmare every night

When I open and leave at 6, I'm usually at about 45-50 minutes. When I'm off at 7, it's usually more like 30 minutes.

Damn, what route you take? It is definitely better that late. 5 is a nightmare.

I take the edens/jfk. Mind both work and my place are basically right off the highway

Yeah I was too downtown, but its like once you hit dempster its gridlock. Drove me nuts. I want to move back to the city but the commute is such a pain. I was hoping you had a secret route lol

Also live in Bucktown. Just went to Jewel, and it took like 20 minutes to get there cuz the neighborhood is just awful to drive in

driving on the other side of the road is confusing enough already.

Anyway gilt was A+ we are going to hit it up next weekend for some food and drinks def. Sable was great everything we had was fantastic, only super slight complaint was the food came out too fast, cocktails were excellent too. Also checked out some newish? cocktail/lounge place called Berkshire Room, the place itself was cool as in the building/interior but the cocktail I had sucked and the crowd was meh, didn't stay long.

Also had pequod's for the first time today, only other experience with deep dish is lou malnatis and thought pequods def > lou's

Also braved the weather to walk to wholefoods. It's like ****ing Siberia outside.

my company closed everything besides the main office tomorrow. and told employees that take the bus to just stay home, but hey everyone else, if you don't come in, you prolly wont get paid. what a croc of bull****.

http://gepperthsmarket.webs.com/ for meat.

**** got real:

@ChiHorseshoe: Due to inclement weather, Horseshoe Casino will be closing at 8pm tonight and reopening at 10:00am Tuesday morning.

Was at work and found out from corporate that we got to close early. Naturally we didn't get paid after 4, but, whatever. I wanted to gtfo from the moment I woke up today

I'm surprised you weren't a fan. I've been twice and thought everything was fantastic. What did you have?

The head bartender/part owner works out at my gym. He was the head guy at Sable and Boka group previously

Boka yes, Sable no, iirc. Not that that's important.

Can't remember what I had tbh, it was one of those choice things, I picked Gin iirc. Should have added my GF enjoyed her cocktail.

Also it's really cold outside lol.

Next - Chicago Steak went on sale a few days ago. Looks like either this particular iteration isn't as popular, the Next hype is starting to die down, or they're starting to hit a price point where people just don't think it's worth it anymore (or a combo of all 3). A two-top with only water on the cheapest night comes to about $212/person, which is borderline ridiculous given the quality steakhouses in the city. Anyway, there are tons and tons of tickets still available if anyone is interested.

Meh, $212/person =~ $167/person pre tax and tip.

Ignoring that it likely won't be directly comparable to all the excellent steakhouses that we have access to, it's really not that absurd of a price.

Normal steak = $55
Couple sides = 2x$8 = $16
Salad = $10
Handful of oysters = 3 for $10
Some lobster **** = $25
Dessert = $10

So that's a not unreasonable meal, clocking in at $126/head pre tax and tip? Toss some truffles, caviar, and wagyu into the mix, and bing bang boom, done. Pretty sure you could hit these prices pretty easily at Cut (either Chicago or Wolfgang Puck) or similar, or the trendier/more wagyu centric places.

All that said, the prices are definitely up from last year. They explained the pricing for steakhouse on the fact that they are getting "really good beef" which only really makes sense if you think that the other steakhouses are not, I guess? Idk, I'm going because I have seasons. I would guess that most people are honestly just not as excited about a Steakhouse themed Next.

Are steakhouses more the experience or the food? Honestly, steak is probably the ONLY food I like my homemade versions of better, so Im always baffled by 100+ dollars steakhouse visits. Not to mention when you go somewhere like n9ne if thats even still open here and the steak is 55 bucks and sucks.

Maybe not head? I thought he worked there though at least for a time. I may be confusing a couple of places where members of my gym have worked.

The key components of the one Gin drink I've had there were Grapefruit, Cucumber and Gin. Maybe not the most masculine of drinks but I really enjoyed it.

And yes, it is COLD!

I use very basic cooking techniques so actually would say the complete opposite. I might be a special case (I am pretty special in general when it comes to food) since I only really cook protein of eggs/chicken/salmon/steak, but steak is by far the most improved at a restaurant.

What are your ideal restaurant items that crush your homemade versions?

I have a Next Steak dinner Sun Feb 16 at 6:45 for 2. Can no longer go (won't be in Chi). Let me know if anyone wants it..steak guaranteed to be better than your homemade version!

i've been playing bar trivia for like 15 years and i've never seen anything as insane as state in lincoln park

~50 teams, $800/$200/$100 structure, and they gave away 10 raffle prizes worth between $50-$300 (rodeo tickets, cutlery set, magic bullet, coffee machine, 30" tv etc etc wtf). we didnt have much a shot of winning that night but the raffle degeneracy was almost worth it by itself. no entry fee.

its too bad that every other trivia i've enjoyed is also on a tuesday, dont these people understand market share!?

State usually requires that you correctly answer about 47+ out of 52 questions in order to earn even third place. The questions are certainly not gimmes either. The teams that win are usually made up of 6-8 people (8 is max) and they are die-hards - bringing legal pads and ****, getting there early, everyone is an expert in one specific category, etc.

But still worth going because you win the raffle prizes you mentioned. Plus, I think they do a $5 burger special or something on Tuesday nights.