Saturday, January 13, 2007

In the Stiller of the Night


Chicago night snapshot I
Originally uploaded by Mazda6.

"But I have so many cocktail dresses, it seems a shame not to be wearing them," I wailed earlier this week. And Jenn, like the good friend she is, masterminded a plan to do a 'cocktail crawl' around the Michigan Avenue boutique hotels and bars this Saturday night. I was all for it, until Wednesday when I was hit by a craving for the cinema and crab cakes.

There is only one place in Chicago (as far as I know anyway) that can satisfy both of these cravings in one place. That place is 600 N Michigan Avenue - and so, having convinced Jenn to hang up the heels for one night, off we trekked on a clear but chilly Saturday night.

600 N Michigan is home to the Loewes movie theater on the top floor, and "Heaven on Seven" on the first floor. Having had some of Heaven's catering in the past at official events, I was already sold on their crab cakes and gumbo before I'd even walked through the door. Mmmm I could just about taste them already.

We bought our movie tickets at 6pm and took the escalators back down to the New Orleans-style restaurant that was all decked out in Mardi Gras gear (39 days early for the actual big party down south).

As an aside, New Orleans is still a long way from being like it was. A news report recently said that there had been 8 murders in the first 9 days of 2007. Pretty scary, huh? So perhaps for now, "Heaven of Seven" is as close as I'd like to get to Bourbon Street.

Anyway, the restaurant was in good spirits and one delicious margarita later, we split a plate of coconut shrimp and waited for our delicious crab cakes to arrive. The waiter first bought me a small bowl of gumbo to keep me happy until the piece de resistance, and when those little golden bundles of crabmeat got served up to me? Oh boy they were so good. But way too filling and neither of us could finish our plates.

By the time we stuffed ourselves and paid the bill, it was already time to be in the cinema and we were running late. Fortunately we only had to dash upstairs, and we did already have our tickets.

The movie was a lot of fun. We saw "Night At The Museum" with Ben Stiller - a guilty, silly pleasure for both of us. I discovered tonight that Jenn is as big a fan of Ben Stiller as I am, and she also loves the Wilsons (Owen AND Ben), which is scary but true. So we were in for a real treat watching the movie, and we had a good time with lots of laughs and escapism.

Walking south on Michigan Avenue after the movie, we stopped at Starbucks and then at Borders, just wandering with nowhere in particular to be. It was a gorgeous, clear night out there and the fairy lights are still up from Christmas, so the City looks so pretty and sparkly. But then our yawns took over and I put myself on the bus home. It was a great night, and the end of my first full week back 'home' - where has my time gone?!

2 comments:

glamah16 said...

Well then youll love the caterer at the my event this Feb. Same! Yummy.

Unknown said...

It didn't go anywhere, you lived it .... hmm too deep, even for me. It's seems as thought you've settled back into life in the windy city with a flurry of snow, food and cocktails - yeah you!