Friday
April 27
Jon and
Lois love to go to Chicago for theater, ballet, and opera. This time we joined them for a
fantastic presentation of Handel's "Teseo" at the Chicago Opera
theater.
The
picture shows Renée Tatum as Medea with Teseo, Cecelia Hall - the latter one of the best voices,
not to mention most believable in a pants role, we've ever seen. But kudos also go to the Baroque Band,
to Manuela Bisceglie as Agilea (the love-interest), and to Gerald Thompson
(Countertenor, Egeo) for the most hair-raising aria ever sung by someone
without hair.
After the
performance, we walked a couple of blocks to The Gage for dinner. Jon and
Lois are well known there, so they were greeted with acclaim.
Excellent
fresh bread and sweet butter came to the table, and our server recommended a
Benegas Lynch Cabernet Franc 2005 from Argentina. It was very fine, as was a Blue Rock cabernet sauvignon that
followed it.
We
ordered a tableful of appetizers to graze from: locally foraged morels,
asparagus, and egg; spicy chickpea fritters with a ginger-chili bagna cauda; a
rabbit salad, savory chunks of bunny on arugula scattered with crisped arare
rice, and horseradish vinaigrette; caramelized lobster with lobster curry sauce
and basil on the tastiest jeweled lemon quinoa; and an excellent bison tartare with
l'Amuse gouda and giardiniera emulsion, presented with a little quail egg in
its half shell and slices of apple and pear on the side, mixed up tableside in
the traditional fashion by our nice English server, with rye toasts to eat it
on.
For
mains, we shared a huge bowl of mussels in creamy vindaloo sauce, and a thick
(and slightly dry) slice of roast saddle of elk with honey poached figs,
ricotta, and cardamon syrup. But
most things were of a high order of tastiness, and it added up to a magical evening (thanks, Medea!).
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