La Scarola was one of the first dates Laurie and I had in Chicago. It's got a great vibe and the food is outstanding. Apparently a lot of celebs think so too, as evidenced by the hundreds of photos that adorn the walls, most of which were taken in the restaraunt. Part of its charm is the location--off the beaten path on Grand Ave., near Halstead, in a fairly quiet West Loop neighborhood. Last February, when it came time for our first Valentine's dinner I could think of no better place to celebrate, so I made reservations. I thought of it as "our Italian restaurant" (A bottle o' red, a bottle o' white . . . ).On the night of our big date, they gave us a nice semi-secluded table in the corner near a window. We enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine, some outstanding food, dessert and coffee. I felt like the evening was going perfectly. But while we were enjoying our coffee one of the bussers came by and asked us in very broken English if we'd finish our coffee at the bar. Confused, I tried to divine from him why. It was about that time our waitress, apologizing profusely, came and explained. They had someone who wanted our table and the owner (turns out it was the maitre'D) was asking us to, in essence, leave so whatever bigshot they were trying to impress could have our table.
Kind of stunned, kind of pissed (they waited till I paid to ask), I refrained from making a scene and left. It threw a pall over what had been shaping up to be a very romantic evening. As the evening progressed, and the more we thought about it, the more annoyed we both got. The next day, Laurie shot a letter off to the owners expressing our disappointment, and embarrassment, at essentially being kicked out because we weren't famous or rich or influential enough to keep our table. On top of it all, we'd lost "our restaurant". I'd really looked forward to many more great meals and good times there, but no way would we be back now. We really didn't think they'd read the letter, we just wanted to get it off our chests.
About a week later, to our complete surprise, Laurie received a phone call from Armando--owner and, as I was to find out later, head chef. He said he was very sorry for the way we'd been treated and wanted to have us back for dinner for four on his dime. Due to schedules and life we weren't able to take him up on his offer until last night. We used the opportunity to have dinner with Katie and Mike who had just moved back up to Chicago.
I had a fantastic (as expected) Arabiata, a couple of glasses of Chianti and a coffee. Everybody else enjoyed their meals and we were able to relax and indulge in some pleasant conversation. During the dinner the maitre'D made a point to come by our table and make sure everything was OK. The place was hoppin' and he was really busy seating guests, so the fact he checked up on us was a nice touch. At the conclusion of our meal the waitress reminded us it was on the house. I got up to find Armando, so I could thank him personally. Neither Laurie nor I had actually met him, so we had no idea he was also the head chef. When I asked where Armando was, the maitre'D pointed me to one of the guys slaving over the stove. He stopped what he was doing and took a little time to thank us for coming back. Very classy. I let him know how grateful I was that he took the effort to make it right and that we'd be back for sure.
La Scarola is our restaurant once more. Here's the link to their site.
After dinner we were treated to a tour of the Cohen's new digs. I'd seen the pics that Katie had posted before, but they didn't really do the place justice. For starters you can't see the tree lined boulevard that goes down the middle of the street in front of the house. It's beautiful. Inside the house seems really big due to the 9' ceilings. I won't go into detail about the decor, because 1.) I'm a man and 2.) Katie was kind of self conscious about the fact it's not done yet. I can tell you it's shaping up nicely. It's got a great basement, too. That's all I'm sayin'. Katie has made Me UndeRstanD in no uncERtain terms she will kill me if I describe my initial impression of the BASEMENT. It's nice though. Really.
At any rate, it was just great to see the Cohens again. I look forward to seeing them again for the Shark Hunter's 30th. Oh, and if you get up there to see them, have them take you to the gelato (Italian ice cream) place. Goooood stuff.
8 comments:
I've been to that resteraunt. The food is awesome. I went for a buddy's bachelor party, that's awesome that you got to eat there for free! luckeeeeey!
Did you ever find out who got your table after they booted you?
- S
I think I caught a glimpse of the guy as we were leaving the restaurant that fateful evening. I didn't recognize him. As Chicken pointed out to me though, many of the "celebrity" photos on the walls are of people you've never seen before but--how shall I put this--seem to have an affinity for dark suits, Brylcream and, I would imagine, black Caddilacs. I may not want to know.
nice. you big meany.
Yeah, There are the usual pictures of Ditka and other Chicago celebs but then there are pictures of "family" on there as well.
Which is pretty awesome in it's own way.
next time try vivo. la scarola was really good. thanks for the yummy meal. but you forgot to mention you got the rock fist. but vivo is also yummy. http://www.vivo-chicago.com/websitedark/home.html
ask for the little nook when you make reservations. it's the old elevator shaft. it's really romantic. a little room to yourself looking over the restaurant. yummy gnocchi.
Next time you're up, we'll have a tall glass of Red Rum in that back room and play foosball.
time to update the blog mr.
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