food as fun

Not to say that I'm off foodasfuel, but it's nice to go out to some fun places.

First up, a Valentine's Day fondue dinner at Geja's Cafe.

(all photos found online, not taken by me)


We ordered the cheese and chocolate courses for two. First up, the cheese. Although you can't really see it, the cheese is a rich gruyere sauce, with a taste of wine. I enjoyed dipping the bread and apples, and we also had some mushrooms, onions and peppers.


We were pretty full after that, but here comes the chocolate. It's topped with a orange liqueur that you can't taste, but is there so it can be lit and you can roast a marshmallow. Which turned into a beat the clock, as the flame is only there for a minute. We both got our marshmallow's on fire once and didn't really get a good roast, but that's okay. The chocolate sauce was even better than the cheese. Here I dipped pound cake and apples, while Mrs. Hoagie Central loved the strawberries covered in chocolate.

Valentines' Day dinner at one of Chicago's most romantic restaurants, with tax and tip: $50.

Why so affordable? We went on the 13th. If you go on the 14th, it's at least $200, although you do get more food. (But we were both pleasantly full afterwards anyways.)

Next up: A President's Day Brunch at Bongo Room in Wicker Park.

We decided to get two orders of pancakes and split them. But these aren't any old pancakes. I ordered the pumpkin pancakes covered in a maple/white anglaise. Very good and very rich. Tasted more like cinnamon than pumpkin, which pleased me very much.




Mrs. Hoagie Central opted for the banana pancakes made with toffee bits covered in a white anglaise and more bananas. I enjoyed the toffee bits but found it was too banana-y for my tastes. She enjoyed them.




We both enjoyed our orders. An order of pancakes was 9.25, but considering that we could only eat two, and had the third for dinner, I consider it a good value. With a hot chocolate, tax and tip, brunch for 2 was $31. Of course the secret here was going on a weekday and avoiding the 2 hour wait that is there on the weekends.

Although, after looking through flickr, I saw some pancakes that weren't on the menu today that sounded even better (oreo, smores). Perhaps they are at the other location, or more likely they change the menu often. Hmmm. Oh well.