Everyday Gourmet

Ratings Guide:
Half handshake, half chest-bump hug – 5 stars
Chest bump – 4 stars
Fist bump – 3 stars
High five – 2 stars
Handshake – 1 star
Manly ass slap – ½ star
Fone and fone – 0 stars



Restaurant: Everyday Gourmet
Location: 1216 Waukegan Road, Glenview, IL


When I knew I was going to have a kid I thought, “No sweat. It won’t change my life that much. I’ll still have plenty of time to do the things I want to do.” Any father (or parent) out there is giggling like a schoolgirl right now. That’s because they knew having a kid does change your life. Completely. (Some would say it doesn’t change your life – it ends it. But we’re splitting hairs here.) So my free time has been more limited than I thought it would be. Sure, I still have time to eat. A lot. But now I just don’t find as much time to write about it. I apologize. To all four of you reading this.

Anyway, my friends Denny and Megan got married a couple of weeks ago, and the wedding and reception were at A New Leaf on Wells in Olde Towne (or is it Old Town? I feel like I always see it as “Old Town”, but if it were really old then wouldn’t it have the bizarre spelling with the “e” at the end of each word? Should I even care?). Here are my quick-hit thoughts on the event:

- A New Leaf is a great venue for an event. It’s small enough to feel cool and intimate, but big enough with a cool floor plan to allow everyone to spread out so you’re not on top of each other. Plus they have an outdoor area that wasn’t even open, which looked really cool as well. If you’re having an event for 150 people or less, it’s worth checking out.
- When you’re wife is wearing a dress and heels, making her walk five blocks in the cold and extreme wind is not a good idea. Unless you don’t want to have sex. Then it’s a great idea.
- Denny and Megan only had hors d’oeuvres for the reception, which terrified me. Especially since I didn’t have time to eat before the wedding. No way it would be enough food for me, let alone the other people at the event, right?
- A New Leaf doesn’t serve food, so you have to bring in an outside caterer. Denny and Megan went with Everyday Gourmet.
- I love open bars. They involve the words “booze” and “free” (not necessarily in that order). All-you-can-drink free drinks combined with hors d’oeuvres leads to, well, you can guess. Mostly bad things.
- The Chicken Chipotle on Tortilla Chip with Avocado and Crème was great. I had at least three of these. Not my favorite HD (hors d’oeuvres, which is an extremely hard word to type) of the night, but it was a nice change of pace. Felt like chips and dip, except someone did all the work of dipping for you, so all you had to do was take the chip and eat it.
- Bowties are making a comeback. Take my word for it.
- The other problem with being a dad and not getting a chance to write as often as I want is that sometimes I forget things that I ate. So some of this recap is my best guess.
- I loved the Virginia Crab Cakes with Roasted Red Pepper Lime Aioli. They were really easy to eat, kind of filling, but light enough that you could quickly down two or three before the HD lady tried to walk away so other guests could get a taste. I had somewhere between 8 and 14 of these. And that’s only because they stopped bringing them out.
- I was on the treadmill the other day (no joke) watching TV and listening to my iPod (which is this cool little device that stores all your music in “digital” form. That’s right, no more Walkman strapped to your arm and 12 cassette tapes stored in your fanny pack while you workout. They’re really convenient, these iPods. You should think about getting one.) when an iPod commercial came on. I really couldn’t believe my eyes. How the hell did Victoria Beckham (a.k.a. Posh Spice) get her own iPod commercial? Was it because the Spice Girls were getting ready to tour again? Did she have a new solo album out I didn’t know about? I really was amazed. And a little bit impressed. Maybe she did have some talent I wasn’t aware of. Then the end of the commercial comes on and it says, “Mary J Blige Work That”. My jaw dropped. Um, what? What happened to Mary J Blige? She used to be the Queen of Hip Hop Soul. And now she’s ripping off Posh Spice’s look so bad that when you silhouette the two of them you can’t tell ‘em apart. I had to watch the commercial again (on youtube.com, which is a website filled with tons and tons of videos. Again, if you haven’t checked it out, you should) just to see if my eyes failed me. They hadn’t. Not only that but Blige was just about as skinny as Posh. I’m not sure what to make of Mary J anymore. Do I give her a mulligan? Was it a coincidence? Or did Mary J try to make herself look like a white pop chick from England? I can’t talk about it anymore. Every time the commercial comes on I get sick.
- If someone sends you a video called “2 Girls, 1 Cup”, don’t watch it. Even if your life depends on it. You’ll never eat again.
- The first thing I ate that night were the Phyllo Purses filled with Spinach and Feta Cheese (or was it the Artichoke Hearts on Toasted Bread Round with Parmesan & Onion? I can’t be sure. I just know that it tasted a lot like spinach and artichoke dip, which is a good thing.). I loved ‘em. I think I had five on the first two passes. Then I started going out of my way to find them. Luckily there were plenty. Either people feel bad eating a lot of free food (though they don’t feel bad drinking a lot of free booze) or I’m extremely fat. It’s one or the other. Or both. Either way I got my fill. If I ate less than 14 I’d be shocked.
- Thank god the Bears god rid of their Defensive Coordinator and their #1 running back. All Ced Benson had proved in his (brief) time as a Bear was that he wasn’t that durable, wasn’t that quick, wasn’t that fast, and didn’t hit holes that well. Why not make him the #1 back? Oh, and I was really pumped up about Adam Archuleta. A safety that can’t cover anyone but is known for being a big hitter. Except that he’s missed about every tackle he’s attempted this year. They are almost unwatchable right now.
- And the Bulls. Yikes. I still think they’ll be OK (they never play well in November), but I’m concerned. I was thinking a #3 seed in the East. Now I’m hoping for a #7 or #8 seed.
- The Seared Scallops on Cucumber Round were also enjoyable. Scallops are a lot like pork chops in my opinion. 90% of the time they’re good, fine, enjoyable, etc… 8% of the time they are holy-crap good. And the other 2% they’re terrible. These fell in the 90% range. Nothing special, but good enough that I enjoyed about five of them.
- I think there was another HD that I can’t remember. Maybe a tuna something? Maybe served on a radish slice? I can’t remember. Probably says a lot about whether or not it was any good.
- I’ve never seen anyone dance like Denny’s brother, Tim. His legs did things I’ve never seen before. From now on he’ll be known as Licorice Legs, whether he likes it or not.
- I think he gets it from his mom, who was tearing up the dance floor at will.
- And Marty’s enthusiasm on the dance floor can’t be matched. Moves pretty good for a big man.
- I hate Joakim Noah. Can’t explain it. No reason other than looking at him makes me want to punch him in the face. I feel the same way about Brian Cardinal.
- The last HDs of the night were the “sliders”. I feel like every place calls mini cheeseburgers/hamburgers “sliders” now. Let’s get one thing clear, the only “sliders” are from White Castle, and their called “Slyders”. Now that we’ve cleared that up, lets get back to the mini burgers at the reception. Were they good? Were they great? Were they terrible? Well, I was somewhere between 8 and 52 drinks into the night, so as far as I’m concerned they were the best things I’d ever eaten. All five of them.
- There is nothing more fun than doing the Soulja Boy to Kelly Clarkson’s “Since You’ve Been Gone”. It just works.
- The dessert buffet was done by Bittersweet. There was a lot of chocolate. It was good. I was happy. And they had mint Whoppers (well, probably Whopper impersonators, but still good. And I mean the candy, not the burger), which I’ve never had. And I couldn’t stop eating them. We even got a little parting gift which was a small box filled with them.
- I was terrified that the HDs weren’t going to be enough. And they weren’t. They were more than enough.


Everyday Gourmet gets a solid Chest Tap. A New Leaf gets a Chest Bump. Alcohol gets a half handshake, half chest bump hug.



Got a question? Send it to josh@borntofork.com.