Driftless Appetite

Why is it that we love to eat out?  What is it we’re really looking for when we go to a restaurant?  It can’t be just the food.  I can cook for myself.  It can’t be because we don’t have to do the dishes if we eat out (although that’s part of it).  It’s not for the conversation; we have the same conversation we would have had if we stayed home (except we might try to sound more posh so anyone overhearing our conversation would think we’re more sophisticated than we are).  So why do we go?  It’s a question I can answer easily only for a handful of restaurants.  Places so special that the more obvious question is: why wouldn’t you eat here?  Cafe Porta Alba (or CPA for short), which was in downtown Madison, before recently relocating to Hilldale, is one of those places.

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We were meeting some friends for lunch in Chicago.  After they found out that we were stopping for smoked fish, they suggested we meet them at Hot Doug’s for lunch, another entry from the No Reservations Chicago episode.  Among other things, Hot Doug’s is famous for it’s long lines (see above).  There’s no better feeling in the world then seeing a line this long and then getting to cut in halfway because your friends have already been waiting in line for 30 minutes (thanks Christine & Mark!).

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So we were driving back from Toledo yesterday and we stopped off on the south side of Chicago at Calumet Fisheries for some smoked fish.  We’ve both lived around (not in, around) Chicago for 15 years, but we heard of this place on Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations.  I was never a huge smoked fish fan until 6 months ago, when a co-worker brought in some Northern his brother had caught and smoked up in Minnesota.  Since then I’ve been hooked (haha, pun).

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