Sizzle but no steak....

So after taking a few weeks off, we, the Skaddenites, decided to pick back up with our dinner trips. We cast our eyes about, discussed amongst ourselves and set our sights on Petterino's. It seemed like a great place to visit next; delightful menu, charming decor.. plus, the restaurant had been hit by a car twice in the last month and was still open for business (apparently even the taxi cabs want a piece of their cuisine)! What more could we want?


So, mouths set for some tasty tasty goodness, we gathered our group at the end of the work day and set out for our destination. However, upon arrival, we discovered that the Skaddenites were not the only folks in Chicago who thought to try out the tasty tasty goodness of Petterino's; the place was PACKED and booked solid through the end of the evening. (note to self.. next time check to see if reservations are recommended).

Disappointed, and a little bummed, we headed back out to the street. We were not prepared for this sort of spontaneous decision making. Where to go now?? Italian Village? Ruby of Siam?? Greek Island???

In the end, due to time constraints and train schedules, we decided to go to Sidebar.

It was fairly close and, having been there before, we knew that they'd have some good happy-hour selections and that we'd like it well enough. (though we decided NOT to get their famous, and very delicious, skillet cookie)

To add the the glitches of the evening, I'd forgotten to put my camera in my bag that morning and all I had was the camera on my phone. Happily, it did do a fairly reasonable job; I'm actually quite impressed by the quality of the photos! Though, the close-up shots were a little fuzzy.


Not a total flop, Sidebar is a nice standby, but perhaps next time we should have a secondary backup plan.