Day 26: Libertyville, IL

High-speed internet again at last! Thank you, Quality Inn.

We left Wisconsin yesterday with Mom and Dad in our own little caravan. Traded the Hertz Buick Enorma for my folks' 1995 Jeep Cherokee (a red-hot bargain deal!), attached a small U-Haul trailer, and headed south to the greater Chicagoland area.

And great it is. Expansive. Neverending. The Bay Area is large, but nicely arranged around the bay with handy bridges that are much like the shortcuts in Clue: Fremont to San Mateo in one quick and easy five-dollar move. But everything here just starts out at Lake Michigan and spreads out for MILES in every direction (well, every direction but east). And then there are a handful of tollways to tie it together. Getting to and from the tollways is the fun part. Miles of suburban main streets linked together until you begin to feel like Fred and Barney driving past the same two houses and three trees, over and over again. Steak & Shake, McDonalds, Best Buy, repeat.

We stopped in Crystal Lake to see my mother's Aunt Sophie and her family. We got to meet a whole slew of great-grandchildren who thought Paul was the best thing since Playdoh, and their dog who seemed to think the same of Simon. Wouldn't leave the poor guy alone long enough for him to sit down. After a really great visit, we headed on to the western suburb of Geneva, though a literally torrential downpour. Rain blowing from multiple directions at once. The storm was a pain in the ass to drive in, but boy was it great to experience that kind of rain again.

Anyhow, our destination in Geneva was the restaurant Niche, founded last year by Chef Jeremy Lycan and Sommelier Jody Richardson. Jeremy is a former co-worker of Mike Weller's at the CCA in San Francisco, and Mike had told us it would be well worth our while to stop in while we were in the area. Well as it turned out, Geneva is a good two hours outside of Chicago, but we have to say that we'd drive it all again in a heartbeat. What a fantastic evening it turned out to be.

The folks at Niche have a real passion for creating a memorable dining experience, from the food and wine, to the dining room itself and the high level of service provided by a kitchen and house staff that have been working together for years. Their menu changes daily, and looking at it last night, we found ourselves facing difficult choices. But after talking with our server, we decided to splurge and enjoy the degustation menu: smaller servings of six selected courses, with paired wines. Not something we have had the opportunity to do before, but it sure was nice to indulge. It was all good, but each of us decided that the lamb chops were easily the best we'd ever tasted. Just unreal. There was also a delicious halibut course, a watermelon gazpacho, and a cheese course that was so much fun Paul could hardly contain himself. A Gouda with the consistency of cream cheese, served with hot pretzel rolls, fresh honey, toasted almonds, cherries, and a square of something that seemed to be a pistachio granola bar.

We ate and drank for three hours.

We were hoping to meet Jeremy to say hello, but he was out, unfortunately. Our server was very friendly and helpful, and the restaurant's atmosphere was quiet and soothing without being stuffy. Well, quiet until about 8:00, when an enthusiastically garrulous woman sat down at the next table with a party of four and proceeded to talk non-stop for the next 90 minutes. Honestly, we don't know when she actually tasted her food, she never shut up. And can we say loud? She was New Jersey kind of loud, but in full Chicago style: streaked hair, expensive eyewear, and a cubic meter of décolletage. We heard about business deals, romantic conquests, her favorite outfits (black capris with a white tank that reads "Cubbies" across her boobies - her words not mine). We'd had enough wine that we appreciated the entertainment value, but her poor dinner companions couldn't down it quickly enough. Dad was in a position to see their eyes actually glaze over after a time. They must have known her for a while, because it seemed to be a familiar drill. They knew just when to grunt and nod.

After that incredible restaurant, we were brought back down to earth by our luxury accommodations at the Motel 6 in Aurora. From here on out we're going to shell out a few more bucks and go with Red Roof Inn. They take dogs too, evidently. Anyhow, this one really took the award for low marks in service, general decor and hygiene. The smell in Mom and Dad's room was both funky and dank. I call it fank.

So, today we rose nice and early, sprayed the folks down with Fabreeze and Tinactin to fight the fank, and spent a morning enjoying cool sunny weather in the storm's aftermath. Said goodbye to the folks after breakfast and headed back north via several tollways to Libertyville, where we met up with David and Kathleen Pseja. Dave is a great friend of mine from college, a roommate and general crony, and we've only seen each other maybe once in the last fifteen years. So it was terrific to spend an evening with them, and to meet their spawn (David's words, not mine). Conner is five, and is more or less David's Mini-Me with that evil Pseja glint in his eyes and a good dose of the Goldin Good Looks©. He was listening to the Beatles at three years old and wanted to know whether we'd read all of the Harry Potter books yet. Daniel is less than a year old and looks a lot like a cute, red-cheeked adaptation of the Michelin Man. We ate Thai food and cheesecake (did I mention that I've gained just a bit of weight these last few weeks), showed Paul just a few photos from 1987-1991 or thereabouts, and did our best to catch up while enjoying another cool evening.

Tomorrow it's south to Indiana and my college campus at Valparaiso, then the Toledo and a Red Rood Inn. Hopefully it will be relatively fank-free.