Some days I am reminded of what a vibrant city I live in.  I can walk to the post office and find inspiration that can be captured with my tiny camera.   The above quote was found on the door of an apartment building being rehabbed in East Village.  I am not sure why I like this quote, scribbled on a particle board door, but somehow it does resonate with me.  Just like the opera, I guess.  I can't really explain why I like it.  I just know that deep inside it strikes a chord.

Restaurants do that for me, too, sometimes.  I know it seems like I am always falling in love with a new restaurant.  That's because Chicago is truly a place undergoing an explosion of wonderful places to eat.  Tonight John and I went to schwa for dinner. Wednesday is date night, you know, and John and I are always happiest when the date night restaurant is within walking distance of home.  Schwa is Michael Carlson's new restaurant (he's recently been listed as one of Food & Wine's best new chefs).  Carlson is alumni from Trio, a restaurant that we never got to try, but that has been the proving ground for many incredible Chicago chefs.  (If you want to get a closer look at the current Chicago fine dining restaurant pedigrees, the Chicago Reader has an excellent "family tree").  Schwa is a small place (it seats about 30 people at a time) and the service is incredibly personal.  We had Michael Carlson standing at our table several times during the evening and wishing us well as we left.  It was almost like having dinner in someone's dining room.  And everything we had was wonderful.

What was on our menu tonight?

I had the spring salad, which was a beautiful mixture of strawberries, fennel, fava beans and goat cheese with some exceptional greens.  That was followed by an exquisite hot course of quail egg filled ravioli accented with ricotta, a brown butter sauce and parmigiano reggiano.  My main course was a beef ribeye with summer truffles, taleggio, and some scrambled eggs (which were light and divine).  And it was all followed by a strawberry shortcake with a strawberry foam, olive oil ice cream and basil accents.  Sounds strange, but was absolutely delicious.  All the food was! John had an equally exceptional meal.  The meal was also accented by two small amuse bouche courses and very reasonable pacing.  We got there at 9 and didn't leave until midnight.   I love eating at a restaurant where you can take time to enjoy the food.  And having a fine dining experience that's accented with a hip hop beat.

As we were finishing, we were told that they had a tasting menu as well...  John and I love doing chef's tasting menus and the special surprise of not quite knowing what is going to come out next.  We didn't need any more motivation to go back, but if we did, that would certainly be it. 

On a scale of 1 to 10, schwa was definitely close to that highest number.  Some might not like the BYOB thing with a restaurant, but it really wasn't a negative for us.  We just grabbed a bottle of wine from our collection and walked off on our date.   

Did I mention that I just love my city?