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Saturday, January 24, 2004


The Green Mill, part 2

What a wonderful evening! The kind of evening that makes a newcomer say to himself, "Wow...I am really in Chicago now." Though Caroline and I had originally selected a Vietnamese restaurant at which to dine, we discovered upon arrival it was no longer open. So, we walked around a few blocks looking for something else - apparently we were in Chinatown as all the restaurants were Asian in nature. Fine by me; I've not had Asian food I disliked yet. We eventually happened upon a hole in the wall restaurant, Vietnamese by the sign, and decided to check it out. In Caroline's words, "It's cute." So we go in and are greeted by a young girl no older than twelve. She seats us and brings us a pot of hot tea, flavored with a fruit that was hard to determine, but I think it was leechy nut. The menu took some time to peruse as there were 261 items, but we eventually decided and placed our orders with the same young girl. Conversation came easy, always a plus! I find first date conversations to be pretty easy anyway - as National Lampoon's 'Van Wilder' puts it, "First dates are interviews." Turns out we both have an inordinate love for movies, and many of the same kinds! The food was served, again, by our young waitress. It wasn't long before we discovered that she was the only one working there. She served approximately seen tables of customers, and, given the time it took to get the food, I believe she also cooked. In the midst of all that, she was busy trying to get her homework done. God bless her, but that's amazing to me. Her tip reflected by appreciation. The food was great, mine being quite spicy. I had curried beef with lemon grass and sticky rice. Delicious. Caroline tried stir-fry beef with water grass and we both enjoyed some spring rolls. After dinner, we headed over to the Green Mill, which was awesome. The John McLean Septet was playing and they were quite fantastic. This was the part that made me really feel like I was in Chicago. A jazz club. A famous jazz club. There was a line outside the door of people wanting to get in, and we were in! It was amazing. All in all, it was a most wonderful evening, concluding with a promise for a second date, likely involving some films. I look forward to it.

-R

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