People Lounge Part II ~ Chicago

The second excursion to People Lounge was for my Birthday. Upon hearing that my Birthday (Aug 12) was upcoming a friend of mine who is a waiter at People, mentioned that he would be working that very same day and that it being a Sunday and not super- busy, would be the perfect time to come by. I will forgo the description of my entire day and skip to the meeting of my friend Danielle and I. Outside of People Lounge about 9:20pm on a steamy evening in August the night was already a busy one…I had just got off the phone with Danielle who was biking to the restaurant from her house in Humboldt Park, when not 2 minutes later she came around the corner of Damen / North Streets onto Milwaukee, even from half a block away I could see the searching expression on her face as she looked side to side in search of me and/ or the restaurant, this operation was not excatly the safest thing to be doing when biking on a busy street, but... you do what you have to. Finally after a minute of searching I caught her eye and she rolled up to the curb next to me. After securing her bike to a street sign and assessing the patio seating outside we decided to venture into People with me leading the way. Upon entering the space the door was opened by Daniel (My waiter friend) who took us directly to a table situated in the middle of a long narrow space. Narrow being about 25 ft. wide and the length, possibly about 45-50 ft. So let me lay it out for you. The entire front façade is glass, be it in the giant picture window, or in the glass door that leads into the close, but still airy interior. This airiness is attributed to the soaring ceilings, exposed ductwork and the white ceiling juxtaposed with the faux finished buttery latte colored walls. Please note the fact that although I said buttery colored latte this is in no way indicative of the actual existence of such a drink as a butter latte, although I have seen one made [on a joke] and consumed it is not something you should try, at home or abroad. The atmosphere of People Lounge is somewhere between loungey and a more upscale Bistro…both are sure to please, if the expectation is a comfortably intimate restaurant with the trendy, bar vibe going on. The walls are contrasted by dark espresso stained wood elements that are manifested in the bar, and the long wooden trestle tables that take up much of the front half of the restaurant and the 5 ft dividing wall/ banquets that housed additional small tables and chairs. Oh, and did I mention the several wrought iron round chandeliers? Well all I can really say about them is that they hearken back to a more ‘rustic’ Spain, which may or may not be a good thing. Well, enough about the décor, on to the food! Since both Danielle and I’d eaten previous to going to People we both opted to do the whole dessert thing. I got the Pastel de Chocolate AKA the Chocolate Cake (5) and Danielle got a new dessert that hadn’t even made it to the Menu yet, while my first choice [the apple cake] had drifted away. But before she had a chance to drool over the description given of the caramelized banana with pistachios and vanilla cake batter ice cream, Daniel came out with a pitcher of Sangria with red wine and fruit , along with a very large glass for me and a more manageable wine goblet for Danielle. Apparently birthdays are taken seriously here because when I received the cake I ordered…It was amazing, in more ways than one, I mean, what would you think if you got a plate roughly the size of a platter that was a deep shade of ocean blue almost navy but not quite, and on top of this plate directly in the center, was a little cake about 3” in diameter with rings of berry and cream sauces encircling it, not to mention the entire plate being sprinkled with confectioners sugar and to top it all off, coming out of the center of this personal sized cake is a spiraling piece of crystallized sugar that is several inches tall. Beautiful! And the same goes for Danielle’s dessert, the presentation was spectacular and given the glowing reviews from her, I’m guessing it tasted as good as it looked. All in all, this place is so good that no matter what I say about it, it won’t be enough. So go, enjoy! The next post will be my latest foray into local Chicago bakeries, starting with one called ‘Sweet Thang!’ and then hopefully do a retrospective review of a Mexican bakery I stumbled upon about a month ago…

People Lounge ~ Chicago

Mmmmm, food… Why is it so wonderful? That is what this discussion is all about. I think that my first real food post should be concerning the Wicker Park Restaurant that goes by the name People Lounge. It is a Spanish Tapas Bar & Lounge in short…it is amazing. I have been to this place twice now and on both occasions it has been memorable. My first time at People, was at the end of July, the day had been quite hot and the day long. I was meeting an old friend for a light dinner; neither of us was exceptionally hungry so a Tapas restaurant in trendy Wicker Park seemed like the perfect choice. It was. We walked in on a Monday night around 6:oo pm or so, the guy who seated us was a trendy fellow with an interesting faux hawk- mullet thing going on with his light grey t shirt and dark washed skinny jeans with the hem turned up in a 2” cuff. Water was brought to our table at once by the smiling and friendly wait staff, and within 2min of our being seated we were joined by a cute and friendly waitress who was more than helpful with food and drink suggestions at the beginning of our evening and this was accentuated by her bubbly personality stopping by to see that we were taken care of throughout our whole evening. I have to take a moment to describe this most lovely individual, whose sense of style was most appreciatively commented upon by my friend Amber and myself, several times throughout the evening, and culminated in our stating it to her at the close of the evening. Our waitress had her hair pulled back behind an elastic headband of sorts and was shorter, dark brown and curly. She had on a dark neutral colored flowing sundress, a chocolate patterned, ‘V’ necked empire waisted, if I remember correctly. And a pair of stylish brown knee-high leather boots and several appropriate necklaces about her throat. We ordered the Shirtsteak - that comes in a pristine white serving dish in a sherry glaze with manchego and tomatoes. (8) Manchego, as I’ve found, is a Spanish hard cheese made from sheep milk. Along with the steak we also ordered the Flan - which is a custard that is baked in a caramel-lined mold and served chilled with the caramel side up. (5) It too was served on top of another of those creamy white plates and encircled with a ruby-red berry sauce. I can’t praise this food enough. The steak was so tender and moist that you just had to touch it with your fork and it just fell apart and if that wasn’t enough, the moment it touched your tongue it just burst in your mouth, filling it with a warm and flavorful infusion of the juices created by the meat and sherry mixing with the tomato and manchego cheese. It was beautiful! It would be perfect for a light dinner, with an appetizer of their assorted Spanish olives, or their grilled vegetable platter in sherry & herb vinaigrette. For dessert we shared the Flan, I had never had this dish before and tried it upon the urging of my friend, who promptly declared it to be the best she’d ever had. We discussed the reasoning behind this statement, and she told me that oft times Flan is overdone, in that the caramel ends up crystallized and more than occasionally the custard is rubbery…but this was definitely not the case at People. It was smooth and rich, but not heavy, the caramel was a warm note to the creaminess of the custard and the berry sauce added just the right amount of tang. Amber said that it was too bad that my first taste of Flan had been so spectacular because, as she said, “you will be disappointed from now on…[by others who cannot make it as well as was had at People]”. After all that…and I haven’t even discussed the interior or my second visit. No worries! I will post a second installment of my experience at People Lounge.

My First...

My first food blog. Not of all time of course, just the here and now. I am amazed at the wonders of food and drink and their capability of adding to human interaction on so many levels and in so many different ways. I tend to critique everything, and I mean everything, it is in my nature to analyze so I am hoping to coherently lay out the quirks and qualities that I find in culture and in the places I go, namely establishments that serve food and drink… Fashion is a whole different beast of culture so I will try to leave it for another blog, but don’t be surprised if a little bit of fashion found in the aforementioned establishments, creeps into these posts, because people are followers of fashion and it in turn seems to follow them wherever they go. But I will do my best to stick to the food, drink and the interiors of said establishments.