quote:

BUT i ask you to imagine yourself sitting on a tricked out deck on top of that building on a glorious summer night, enjoying a cold brew (or girltini if you prefer) and watching the sun set over beautiful GE. . . wouldn't that be great?

Excellent idea. I made that suggestion to Steve when he was running Firkins. I saw a couple of establishments doing that very same thing when I was in Charleston a few weeks ago. One even had Bill Clinton dining there the night I was there. The location you mention would have provided nice panoramic views of the GE downtown.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Yossarian,

I, for one, would like to hear the long story.

I'm with Pot Fan and would like to hear the story too. That had to be in the Wark era, no?

quote:

Originally posted by Amy:
I would have liked that. Especially if the beer was actually good.

I have eaten at Figo a few times and it's fine. I can see why a person could become a regular - everyone has different tastes. It is a fairly comfortable restaurant and each time I have eaten there, I found my food to be good. Probably wouldn't call it great but definitely good. And that's OK, I think. Everything I consume doesn't have to be great. I mean, it's nice when it is but good is fine too.

IIRC, the prices at Figo made me want the food to be better than the OK/Good category that I placed it in. Perhaps I'll stroll in tonight if all is well in the household.

Fish, that t.a. guy will never share the story with you unless you meet up. He is a gentleman and would not air his complaints in a public forum like you and I might. Might? Make that "would." That being said, I know the story and can repeat it with 92-93% accuracy. You may not want to hear it though, If memory serves me correctly, it involved a shady attorney or two.

If the story involves a shady attorney, then it is obviously a fabrication. We attorneys took an oath of some sort, I'm sure it included a promise not to be shady.

Some day I will have to meet JC, the bible tells me he was a pretty cool dude.

quote:

Originally posted by Clamato:

Fish, that t.a. guy will never share the story with you unless you meet up. He is a gentleman and would not air his complaints in a public forum like you and I might. Might? Make that "would." That being said, I know the story and can repeat it with 92-93% accuracy . You may not want to hear it though, If memory serves me correctly, it involved a shady attorney or two .

. . . eureka, you've found your 7-8% of inaccuracy.

;^p

quote:

Originally posted by t.a. superette:
in the end we did not open the GEBC. . . someone else did (long story).

BUT i ask you to imagine yourself sitting on a tricked out deck on top of that building on a glorious summer night, enjoying a cold brew (or girltini if you prefer) and watching the sun set over beautiful GE. . . wouldn't that be great?

the end.

Didn't those guys also try to build the roof deck, only to be stopped by a fire when the actual construction was going on up there? I remember being so disappointed that this ended that great idea.

That was actually roof work. Not a deck. They were having the roof repaired at the time.

quote:

Originally posted by Fish:
If the story involves a shady attorney, then it is obviously a fabrication. We attorneys took an oath of some sort, I'm sure it included a promise not to be shady.

Some day I will have to meet JC, the bible tells me he was a pretty cool dude.

Very cool.

The oath part...very funny stuff.

About the Figo Francesca's comparison that Mr. GE JRPOTTS FAN is making: Luca from Figo was a chef at a Francescas, I believe the St. Charles one. The carpaccio is the same at Figo as it was in St. Charles except for larger Capers.

A roof top deck at Figo would be awesome.

quote:

Originally posted by BlueEchoes:
About the Figo Francesca's comparison that Mr. GE JRPOTTS FAN is making: Luca from Figo was a chef at a Francescas, I believe the St. Charles one. The carpaccio is the same at Figo as it was in St. Charles except for larger Capers.

A roof top deck at Figo would be awesome.

Every other chef in Chicago has worked at Francesca's

OK. Went to Figo Saturday. Walked in at 7:30 and was seated immediately along the window. Good spot for those who enjoy watching cars disregard stop signs or reminiscing about the days when Citibank had a sign that told you the time and the temperature.

Waited on by a friendly and competent young woman named Vanessa. Ordered my usual, came to the table in the proper glass and at the correct temperature. Things are starting out well. The only problem I had was that were 3-4 ice cubes floating on top of my drink. Slight demerit for this mixology faux pas.

I thoroughly enjoyed my arugula salad with toasted walnuts (arugula is my favorite green and seldom seen on suburban menus). Parker had a salad of spinach with walnut orange vinegarette and citrus segments. Again, nicely done. So far, so good.

I always, always, always make the mistake of ordering one of the "specials" when I go out. Never fails to bite me in the @ss. Figo was no different.

I ordered something that sounded suspiciously like a roulade. Being a frog, this sort of appealed to me. Flank steak rolled with spinach and prosciouto and braised with some sort of tomato sauce. Could easily have been the single most overcooked piece of meat I have ever put in my cake hole. The polar opposite of Blue Echo's obsession. I tried to cancel/replace the mushroom polenta that was served with it, but it showed up anyway. They quickly brought me the potato I had ordered with their apologies. The polenta, simply put, looked like something a chef would never, ever put on a plate. Grey and lumpy does not conjure up thoughts of deliciousness. Yet, in this case, you'd be wrong. Easily the ugliest thing I have ever been served but tasted like the earth itself as mushrooms should. I really liked it. The garlic potato? Void of garlic and potato flavor. Very hard to do. Parker order the shrimp risotto. Flavor was good, shrimp done perfectly...the rice was way undercooked. And this coming from someone who enjoys al dente pasta and rice dishes.

Desserts and coffee were well above average. I had an apple tart and Parker had the tarimisu. Both were excellent. Hard to mess up tarimisu, though.

As I mentioned, service from waitress and bus staff was A-1. The place was never more than 40% occupied while we were there (7:30-9:00 on a Saturday night). If I had one reason why I probably have no desire to return (other than the roulade), it would have to be the room. Dark and sterile. That size room with and open ceiling should have foregone the giant ceramic tiles in favor of hardwood flooring. The lighting is unforgivable. I had forgotten my glasses and the waitress had to read us the menu. . .and we are only in our 40's. The maroon table cloths clash with the redish-stained chairs. Just a really unpleasant room, IMO.

I can see why people enjoy this place. Ordering the special was my mistake. Sending it out for consumption was their's. I really should have sent it back. The people are friendly, the food may actually be decent...but the room is an odd combo of dark and cold.

For the same price, Antico Posto...part of a chain (!!!)...knocks this place completely out of the water. Only problem with Antico Posto, it is in Oakbrook. I may go back to Figo if it remains afloat as it was a pretty OK experience, but only on Fish's dime.

here's a little ordering trick i've done at figo as well as other fine eating establishments: i simply look the server in the eye and tell them to have the chef recommend my entire meal. i don't want to know what it is until it's in front of me.

never fails to get an over-the-top, excellent meal that has been prepared with unbelievable TLC and attention.

Why didn't you tell me this before?

quote:

Originally posted by Clamato:
Why didn't you tell me this before?

it's hard enough to connect w/you as it is. emails, VMs, smoke signals -- you ignore them all. then when you do respond, it's usually sounds apathetic like "so, what did you want?"

where's the love and respect, bro? (i'm feeling so vulnerable and hurt)

btw, workouts start tonight. all the cool kids will be there.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: t.a. superette,

quote:

it's hard enough to connect w/you as it is. emails, VMs, smoke signals -- you ignore them all. then when you do respond. it's usually sounds apathetic like "so, what did you want?"

where's the love and respect, bro? (i'm feeling so vulnerable and hurt)

This is my formula for extreme popularity. The less you're available, the more people need you in their lives. Really quite manipulative, but it works.

T.A...you are brilliant. That is a great idea.

You can't be surprised that he finally responded to you after FOOD was brought up, can you? I know that if I ever really need him all I have to do is start a thread titled "Absolut Citron" and he'll be on in 2 minutes.

........Citronnnnnnnn

i know why he really ignores me: i don't drink. it's makes him visibly uncomfortable.

i know, i know. . . it's boring. but i can still hang with the best of 'em and -- so i'm told -- am really quite engaging.

whatever it is, i'm too SOMETHING for the clamster.

Too smart. And your wife is even smarter. Too intimidating.

I should mention as well, seeing that they have completely removed his name off their website, that Luca is no longer the chef there, the chef that was at the Rosemont Carluccis is now the chef. Don't know if this info was out there, and when I found out, they said they were trying to keep it quiet. But like I said, he is not on their website anymore. Luca is still an owner though.

Clam, never even heard of the flank steak thingy you talk of. Maybe it was a new thing the new guy was trying.

I don't know how many times we have been there and Brian turns the lights down or up or down and then up, or up then down.... Sit at the bar. They had plans to redo the room, making the back part elevated, but that was a while ago.

I LOVE ARUGULA.

We have seen one accident, and seen probably hundreds of near misses while sitting there! Why this town has a problem with 3 ways stops is beyond me, they have been there awhile, you would thing people would get used to it. But no, every time we sit there, we enjoy watching the driviing circus.

FYI on the sitting and watching bad GE driving. Sitting at Honey will give you a new fresh bad driver watching experience. I love watching wrong way driving on one way streets!