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…