94 West

I work Valentine's Day, which also happens to fall on Saturday this year, so celebrating on the day was out of the question. It's also usually really crowded when you celebrate on the day, so we opted for Thursday this year, instead.

Johnny took off from work, and I wasn't working so we had a chance to sleep in. Always a nice start to a day.

After lunch, we headed the the Art Institute of Chicago. For my Chicagoland readers out there - the entire month of February has *free* general admission to the museum. But, we weren't there for the main part, I've been dying to see the Edvard Munch exhibit. It opens to the public on February 14, but they had a special members viewing on the 12 and 13, just show your card!

It was really fascinating, we spent about an hour and a half in the exhibit and exited with just enough time to make a quick bathroom trip and grab some water before heading into a lecture I'd gotten tickets for. The curator for the Edvard Munch museum in Norway was at the Institute to talk about the paintings we'd just seen, and discuss them further. She was a bit hard to understand because of her accent and a cold, but overall it was only an hour long and pretty interesting.

Once we got back to our "neck of the woods," we went out to a fantastic local restaurant called 94 West. This is the third time in three years that we've eaten there and each time is just unbelievably delicious. We walk out stuffed to the brim!

The meal starts with two types of fresh bread and famous green noodles. I love a restaurant that gives you stuff to munch on pre-meal.

They have a full bar, so I ordered my favorite, Singapore Sling! Our waiter, Frank, whom we love and have had the past two visits, joked that I'm too young to know what it is! I had no clue it was a 70s drink. I just love it, but now might feel a little cheesy ordering it in the future.

Last time we were there I had the lobster bisque, which is to die for, but this time I started with the coconut shrimp. Johnny tried a tiny bite, but still holds strong that he doesn't like shrimp! Weirdo! I tried to get the Seared Ahi Tuna (yum!), but Frank told us it hasn't been available for about a week because the supplier keeps sending poor quality tuna. Congrats to them for keeping only the finest quality seafood! I really applaud that, especially since I love getting seafood there.

Last visit, I ordered the Mahi Mahi, and the visit before that I had lobster! Yum. Both times I really enjoyed my seafood, but was secretly jealous of J's sizzling steak! So, this time I mimicked his order, and we both got NY Strip, medium rare, with a salad and choice of potatoes. J chose his coveted garlic mashed, while I ordered a much-too-rarely-found favorite of mine -- sweet potato fries! They also had mashed sweet potatoes as an option, too! The plates were hot and sizzling, with the juicy meat and melted butter. Delicious!

Last, we wanted to end with the key lime pie! It was out the last trip, so we were so excited when we could order it this time around! The slice was HUGE, at least 4" squared, so we split it. Sooo scrumptously tart with a deliciously complimentary raspberry sauce drizzled on the plate. When Frank brought us our bill, he joked that he was watching to see who'd get the last bite and had to laugh when we cut even that in half!