Speaking of Eating for Entertainment

OMG, ya'll; Chicago so gets me.

Tonight we went with friends K & R to Halsted Tastes Better, the classiest street fest in all the land. This is considered the "kick-off to summer" in Lakeview, and part of Pride Month (the parade is this weekend!). Two blocks from our front door, the best restaurants in the North Halsted section of Lakeview set up tables in front of a jazz band and let loose.

Chicago is like a giant Russian nesting doll of adorable neighborhoods. Lakeview is a very large neighborhood which encompasses Boystown which in turn encompasses North Halsted. Lakeview also, for example, encompasses Wrigleyville. So much for the geography lesson; I'm terrible at geography. But I love the neighborhoods and their merchant associations that put on things like Halsted Tastes Better.

So we paid $25 a piece for 12 tickets a piece, each of which was good for one food or drink item. It was like a lovely outdoor tapas bar of many cuisines. We had duck eggrolls, pork dumplings, seafood salad, 'mini' pulled pork BBQ sandwiches (on a night of normal eating one of these and some coleslaw would have been enough dinner for me--these were GENEROUS tasting portions), cheese chimichangas, a caramel apple salad (!!), curried chicken salad croissandwiches, Italian meatballs...but there's more! Amazing bread pudding, home-made chipwiches, divine little brownies and chocolate covered strawberries. It was...very good. We were in pain on the walk home, but it was sooo, soo good.

It probably goes without saying that everyone working the booths was cheery, friendly, and wonderful. It was a much less rowdy affair than the street festivals I'm used to around here, which was perfect. It rained sporadically, but there was enough tent space for everyone and the tempature was as good as it can be for getting caught outside in a rainstorm--not nasty, hot, and muggy, but not chilly either. There was a double rainbow. There was a dog sitting at the table with his people but not eating any of their food. Very good times.