Rule 59

I doubt Michael Pollan meant his Rule 59 to include the meal my family indulged in this evening, but certainly none of us ate alone.

I grew up in one of those mythical families that had dinner together 99% of the time.  I won't pretend that every dinner was a cozy family experience.  Sometimes I didn't want to be there, especially when Mom made Egg Foo Young.  As is expected with young children, I don't think any of us appreciated the work my mom went through to make us (non-processed, real food) dinners and I don't know that any of us appreciated the company we were privileged to have either.  Still, I can remember meals that were delicious and meals that were hilarious and meals where everyone was happy.

From my fifth grade journal (click to enlarge):

I still like Brussels sprouts.

So tonight my family ate at Il Gatto.   The Parasole "family of restaurants" seem to be maligned by the foodies of the local community.  If you look at my list of favorite restaurants to the right, you will see Salut! listed.  I'm not sure it's always for the food.  We have celebrated many meals together at Salut and tonight at Il Gatto for the first time, we celebrated my birthday.  As we children have become adults we have come to really appreciate the time we spend together, especially over meals.

Unless we're at Dad's place, it's usually out if we want to have a big sit-down dinner.  Both Salut and Il Gatto can accommodate us.  Whatever the foodies say, it's better than Applebee's or TGI Fridays, less expensive than La Belle Vie or Heartland.  Although the din my family creates would be only part of the noise of a chain restaurant used to family diners, I doubt we would be appreciated at a fine linen and chef-driven establishment.  We save those places for smaller, quieter times and we rarely congregate at a chain.  (For some reason, there are a couple members of my family that really like Red Lobster.)

We were seated in an area just to the left of the front door, but the traffic was rarely noticeable because the area was so secluded.  At first I was a little disappointed because I hardly saw the restaurant before we were ushered in (never got to see the kitty pictures), but this turned out to be a great place for us.  It had a table large enough to seat all of us including a high chair, but still comfortable enough that we could talk and be heard and easily pass plates.

The high chair was needed for my year-old nephew who amazingly sat through the entire meal.  For a good deal of the time he also occupied most of the adults' attention.  He is hilarious and loud and hungry.  (He's also about the cutest kid I've ever seen and I cannot tell you how much I love that little boy.)  I think if he could talk he would recommend the olives, chicken wings, gnocchi, asparagus, french fries, roasted potatoes, fried egg, and lemon from the water.  (What's up with the fried eggs?  Why are they everywhere?  I'm kidding, I know...maybe.)  He would also especially recommend the spumoni sundae that was brought to me (second free dessert of the week--this one with a sparkler!)

All told, my family ordered olives and salted almonds (good, but could do at home), two orders of wings (one of the two sauces was awesome), raw oysters (ehh), fries (mmmm), grilled asparagus (that's what I get for ordering it out of season), roasted beets (were enjoyed), sausage grinder (agreed to be very good, especially by the person who ordered it), Get the Porchetta (I do think she liked it), the gnocchi (is there any other way to describe good gnocchi other than pillowy?), bistecca (cooked medium rare perfectly, but the gorgonzola "crust" was more like a bunch of cheese just thrown on top), cavatappi (good, but chicken was virtually non-existent), marlin (a very nice piece of fish, but I thought the breading was unnecessary), and two orders of scallops, one simply grilled and one seared (both very good.)   Also ordered were two dirty martinis (what's up with all the fruit in the "special" drinks?), various beers, three glasses of wine, strawberry lemonade, bomboloni (little too much cinnamon), and three chocolate bundino (loved that ice cream!)

We all had a great time and I think the only person who was bothered by us was the girl seated near the opening of the enclave that I caught shooting us dirty looks whenever the little one would squeal.  Evidently she mistook Il Gatto for some place she could have a sophisticated evening out.  It's Uptown and it's loud, a little crowded, and we were having fun.

(What's up with the tiny bathroom litter box?)

Service was great and friendly (as can be expected 95% of the time from the Parasole family.)

I got ID' again.

And my family had a great time.

(Pictures tomorrow.)

Food Rules: An Eater's Manual