Our Last* Dinner in Chicago

We can’t keep this pace up.  Since Saturday, we’ve been enjoying our last dinners in Chicago.  My goodness.

Saturday, we had our last* dinner with our friends Mark and Kathi.  It was our last gelato-themed dinner with Gelato Vero.  It was our last dinner at Kathi’s coach house (they’re moving).  But it wasn’t our last dinner with our good friends.

Then Sunday, we were in the mood for Thai.  We headed north to Opart Thai, where we had a last* dinner with our friends Ben and Gina a few years earlier before they moved away from Chicago.  We’ve eaten there together at least once since.  We’ll see if we can find good Thai food elsewhere — I bet we can.

Monday, we headed to Wicker Park for tacos at Big Star for our last* Mexican meal in Chicago.  It was delicious.  These tacos were what we were looking for in Burlington, VT (they’re not there).

Tuesday, we had dinner with Lisa’s co-worker buddies at Carnivale — our fourth awesome dinner in a row.  I plan on using my dish as inspiration on how to make proper beans and rice while on the road (the secret ingredient is crispy bacon).

Wednesday, we had dinner at Alinea.  It was wild and delicious — 18ish courses of tasty, culminating with an artistic dessert strewn across a silicone tablecloth complete with nitrogen-frozen chocolate mouse and table-side torched crème brûlées.

We can’t keep this up.  We’ll explode.

Our last, last dinner in Chicago will be tomorrow night.  Then we’re off to Wisconsin, infinity, and beyond.

*Last nearly never means last, last.