The best meal I ever ate

Going out to eat was a treat when I was growing up. Except for the Friday night fish fry at either a local tavern or the VFW Hall, and pizza at Jacobi's or a sub at John and Mary's after a school event, going out also meant you got dressed up. Even for lunch at the Woolworth counter when you went shopping downtown. A couple of times a year my family went out for Chinese food or met friends at The Syracuse, our favorite restaurant. My mother was a great cook so there were always good meals at home, but any meal eaten out was special.

Hamburger joints were just emerging when I left for college, where I discovered a whole different world of dining out. My boyfriend was interested in the food service industry and the head of the dining service took him under his wing. One night he took us on a field trip to Chicago's famous The Bakery, with Chef Louis Szathmary. While I don't remember what we ate, I do remember the feeling of being a tourist in a new land. I still have the 6 oz. dark green bottle that contained my first fizzy water. My friend's boss also got him a job at Henrici’s, a popular restaurant in the Oakbrook shopping center, about 20 minutes from campus. There he worked in the kitchen and waited tables, offering diners gravy boats with toppings like bacon bits, chives and sour cream for their baked potatoes. Henrici's cherries jubilee was superb, as was their ice cream Brandy Alexanders. I sometimes went along and studied at a table by myself or occasionally at the bar, something Wheaton College could probably have expelled me for at the time. I have a blue water glass from that restaurant and fond memories of nibbling samples while I read and watched.

By the time I entered the workforce, going out to eat was much more common, and I gladly embraced that norm with coworkers for lunch or on a date or with friends on the weekend. A fish sandwich and vanilla shake at McDonald's was a once a week lunch out of the office. Supper clubs, like The Clubhouse Inn on North Ave. gave good value. They had a cart of appetizers like corn relish, beets and cottage cheese and interesting specialties like frog legs. Mr. Steak offered a great surf and turf for $4.99 but when there was a little more discretionary money for occasional splurging, friends and I enjoyed places like The Barn of Barrington where I remember ordering pheasant consommé. A challenge, and a big step, was my first meal out by myself. It was a Saturday breakfast at a familiar restaurant. As a primer on the single life suggested, I took along a book to help me look sophisticated and comfortable, not nervous, which is what I was. It was a good beginning for all the meals I've eaten alone in traveling for business or pleasure.

In the 1980s, Chicago was booming with 'in' places of various sorts and an 'in' thing was ordering a Caesar salad that was made table side. I enjoyed Gordon's off the Magnificent Mile, The Walnut Room at Marshall Field's, and Ceil Blue high atop some building by the lake. My housemates and I went out to dinner once a month and took turns picking. We went to little hole in the wall places in local neighborhoods and top rated spots, but once a week we went to Moody's Pub for a hamburger. I've still got an ashtray from the Ambassador Room and try to get to Moody's at least one a year.

By the 1990's, it wasn't so much the place as it was the type of food. Let's try Ethiopian or Afghani or Argentinian was the new challenge. Up until then, Thai was probably the most exotic food I'd had except for the reindeer sausage I enjoyed while working up in Alaska, where we also discovered this restaurant about a half hour out of Anchorage that served a mouthwatering steak covered with peppercorns. In New Zealand we learned we had to pay extra for a basket of bread but enjoyed lamb fresh from the farm where we were staying.

As take out or dine in grew as an industry catering to families and casual became the norm, I mostly settled into routines and today stick with favorites. Friends and I have dinner once a week at a Panera. Costco's hot dog is a real bargain and I allow myself one a month. If I want ribs, there are two places I suggest, another for Italian and so on. It's New England Seafood for a lobster roll or Demera for Ethiopian, both clients of Accion, where I work.

I guess this topic came to mind because my diet after surgery is very soft. I'm hankering for a salad, but need to wait another month. To get back to the title of this piece...the best meal I ever ate? While all the food mentioned here has been wonderful, it's taken a lifetime to learn that it's not the ambiance, the chef or what's on the plate that matters. It's sharing the meal with people I love.

Marilyn