Fondue with the boo

8:28 AM Unknown 0 Comments

When I lived at my old apartment, I had no cable. I lived on Channel 11, WCIU, and Netflix. The majority of my time was spent reading so the money for cable never seemed worth it to me. I grew to love "King of Queens" (you go Lea Remini on DWTS!), American Dad, and one of my favorites, Check Please! One night I watched an episode and someone picked Geja's Cafe. Everyone loved it  and I immediately added to my list of things to do in Chicago (that as a native, I never think to do). Thanks to my Groupon app, I finally got the opportunity to on Tuesday night.

We called earlier that week and made reservations for 9 pm with a polite, warm, and accommodating gentleman (that's really the only word I can use to describe him). We arrived and I loved the stairs leading down to this incredibly cozy restaurant. They sat us at the bar while our table was getting ready and I enjoyed a Shiraz the bartender recommended. It's definitely a wine place and Joey couldn't get his greyhound (grey goose and grapefruit juice) but he was happy with a Goose Island.

They sat us down where the tables were extremely close together, like inches apart, but when you sit down it doesn't feel claustrophobic at all. Whenever we go somewhere we always see some random person Joey knows and this time our seatmates was our friend Brian and his gf. We're closer to his brother David but it was awesome seeing him. They had been there a few times and were two courses into the meal so after we said our hellos, we went back to our own conversations which I really appreciated. I love running into people but it's great when you're doing something meant for two, that the other people respect that.

So we ordered the Connoisseur and the Deluxe seafood with a truly enthusiastic server. She was funny and explained everything about what fondue was, what to expect, and whatnot. The meals we ordered were a four-course meal and I was so glad we came hungry. The salads were devoured by Joey, who loved their dressing and then followed by the Swiss Gruyere cheese course with breads and fruit. What really impressed me was how fresh the fruit was, the grapes were plump, the apples crisps, and the bread fresh. Let's be honest, you can't have a bad evening with wine, fruit, cheese, and bread but when you are sitting in a warm, candlelit romantic restaurant, it makes it a million times better.

Our main course came with eight sauces that I couldn't wait to try. I loved the garlic butter, the bbq, and the spicy sauce. The meat was tender and the fish so fresh and succulent. My favorite part was the scallops, which can be really great or really bad and in this case were fantastic. Joey has an amazing sense of timing and so everything was cooked perfect. Before we went, I  read some reviews that people felt the food was greasy which I didn't really get, I mean, hello captain obvious you're cooking you're food in oil, it's going to be greasy! We cooked our food and then let it kind of drip dry so most of the oil fell off before we ate it, so that kind of circumvented any excess oil. Besides the meat, the veggies were yummy, being a weirdo my favorite was the onions and that worked well since Joey was all over the broccoli and peppers.

Finally to end this heavenly meal, we had the chocolate fondue. Pound cake, marshmallows, crushed graham crackers, bananas, strawberries, apples, pineapple and two cherries...seriously heaven. One of my favorite things about Joey is we both like different things and so it's easy to split things up. After pretty much every morsel was eaten, we were happy, smiling, and full.

Honestly, I would definitely go back and plan on it. Excellent service, quality food, no pretentiousness, just a wonderful evening with my boo. I definitely would classify this as a date only place, I don't think I would go with a friend or just a family member because it just feels like love. A group date would be nice though or an evening with a few friends would work as well.

$35 groupon for $80 plus an additional $34 plus tip. Definitely a North Shore Poor kind of night :)