Province

Province recently opened in our neighborhood a couple of months ago and we've been dying to try it. It's so nice to be able to walk to dinner.

It was crazy crowded when we walked in at the bar. Luckily we were able to snag seats at the bar and then were seated quickly.

It's a very minimalist and modern vibe in the restaurant. I like the pink accent wall and pink lighting outside but I'm a pink lover in general. Very trendy crowd.

Dinner started off with an amuse buche of beef tartare. It was good.

Their menu is divided into food of different sizes. There's bites which are just that, bites of food or teeny tiny sandwiches. Raw which is oysters and ceviche. Soups and salads. Then small which is like appetizers, big which are small entrees, and bigger which is a normal entree size. We decided we'd just order a bunch of food and share it all.

From the bites menu we had the cuban pork bocadillo and peeky toe crab toast. We were able to split the bocadillo in half to share but the peeky toe crab toast was hardly bigger than a quarter. Really liked the crab toast. The Husband liked the bocadillo.

Then we each had a soup. I had the farmed baby shrimp chowder. The soup had a very good flavor. It could have used more of the shrimp in it though. I hardly found any. The Husband had the tortilla soup. He enjoyed it but I'm ashamed to admit he likes the tortilla soup at Max and Erma's better. The pulled chicken at the bottom of the soup was very good.

Next was a small portion of the slow roasted gunthorp farms pork ropa vieja and the melted spanish blue cheese fondue. The ropa vieja was very good and there was a lot of it for a small portion. The Husband raved about this all night. I much preferred the fondue but I'm both a huge fondue lover and a huge fan of blue cheese. I could see how this would be too rich for many people. I honestly might be back one night for a glass of wine and the fondue at the bar.

At this point we were pretty full yet we still had one course coming. We were sharing the grilled beef tenderloin with spanish blue cheese toast and buttermilk whipped potatoes. Very good. The meat was cooked to our specifications. There was just enough blue cheese that it didn't overpower the dish but it gave it a nice flavor. And I really liked the potatoes.

They had a nice wine list. Lots of very reasonably priced bottles to choose from. Service was excellent. Our waitress really knew the menu. My only complaint was sometimes there was too much time between the courses. It's also a green restaurant. It's in a LEED certified building. The tabletops are recycled cork. Even our wine bottle said it was carbon neutral.

Adobo Grill

We've been talking about going to this restaurant for a long time and finally made it for lunch this weekend. We'd been craving some guacamole so it was a great choice.

They have two locations in Chicago - one in Old Town and one in Wicker Park.

We decided to do a bunch of appetizers to share instead of getting an entree. It was only 11:30 in the morning, I'd only gotten up an hour ago, and my hunger hadn't kicked in yet. We started with the salsa sampler. Had 4 different salsas in the sampler - a pico de gallo (very fresh), chipotle salsa, tres chiles salsa, and the Chef's special. I think the chipotle salsa was supposed to be the spiciest but I was able to eat it without dying and I'm pretty wimpy about spicy foods. All in all a thumbs up for the salsa.

Next was guacamole. I looooove guacamole. And this stuff was good. The chips were good too. Homemade, not too greasy, not too salty.

Next we thought about sharing some tamales. We'd been visited The Tamale Guy last night at the bar for dinner so decided to go with the Empanadas Potosinas instead. Good choice. They were excellent.

Their drink menu looked very good but like I said it was before noon and I'd had quite enough the night before. So we may be back to try some of the delicious looking drinks.