avec

I chose for Book Club #1 to meet at Avec yesterday.  It just recently opened again after being closed for a kitchen fire.  We walk in and first of all, Biz and I couldn't even get in the door it was so crowded and TEENY TINY! It's a long room with floor to wall to ceiling wood panelling.  The bar is on the left and takes up the entire left half of the restaurant, while there is a thin walkway in front of the wood tables and wood chairs and benches on the right.  So Jess and Kaitlin put in our name (they don't take reservations) and the hostess informed us it could be upwards of an hour wait.  

We walked down the street to this little sushi restaurant and had a drink at the bar.  Poor restaurant, I believe most patrons were in there because they were either waiting for Avec or Blackbird.  Anyways, while in there, we saw Rahm Emmanuel getting out of his car to (I believe) go into Blackbird (I'll have to try Blackbird some other time...I heard it's excellent, yet pricey).  And we all learned how to use Twitter!  Tweet me: cecegroark :)  Yes, we were those girls at the bar, all four of us on the phone tweeting Avec with @ebeardman, @kait_wolfe, @JessicaMae214.  Ha oh well!  

Anyways, an hour and a half later we walk back over to Avec and see that the 4 person table in front of us had not yet been seated.  They were there since 6:05 - yikes!  We got there at 7, but really by the time we sat down, it was 8:40.  Once seated, we immediately wanted to order because we were hungry after the long wait, but I'm afraid we made some poor choices in our haste.  Biz and Kaitlin did not seem impressed with the food at all.  There was absolutely nothing on the menu that a pickier eater could eat.  We ordered: 

• wood-fired pisaladiere with caramelized onions, nicoise, anchovy and fresh thyme

                  this was essentially a carmelized onion, olive and anchovy pizza - our least favorite dish.  We're not into the hairy anchovies.

• chorizo-stuffed medjool dates with smoked bacon and piquillo pepper-tomato sauce

                  these were phenomenal.  i'll give you this one, avec. 

• "deluxe" focaccia with taleggio cheese, truffle oil and fresh herbs

                  Jess and I liked this.  The other girls did not.  You have to be a fan of truffle oil, which I feel like you acquire once you force yourself to try it enough.

• housemade black pepper and porcini pappardelle with braised lamb's neck sugo, celery root, rosemary and parmesan

                   I really liked this dish, and Jess did as well.  It was sweet, and I adored the feta in it!  The other girls did not even try this after the previous strikeouts.

• werp farms mustard greens with shaved black radish, baby carrots and warm leek-thyme vinaigrette

                  Kaitlin ordered this because she wanted something normal.  I guess you could consider this to be a normal dish. There was really nothing special about it, but I didn't try the baby carrots and she loved them.  Maybe I should've tried the carrots.

Shockingly though, avec really wasn't that expensive.  All of those dishes, plus a bottle of wine added up to $115! 

We actually liked Girl and the Goat better than this place, because the atmosphere at GatG was better and reservations are always nice.  Plus, GatG had something for everyone, where avec is definitely reserved for the foodie.  I'm really glad I tried it, but I wouldn't go back for another hour and a half wait. 

However, we may not have tried the "right" things.  The dates and the focaccia are the most popular dishes, so we did well there but perhaps we should have ordered the pork shoulder (which smelled delish!).  The girls next to us ordered it while having a conversation where one girl asked another, "Now when did you discover your passion for fashion?"  There were definitely some good lines during the night.  Another was when the hostess sat us (after the hour and a half wait) saying "it's not a science."  Oh god.  

I tear these places down that we go to, but I am really glad I tried it.  Usually these places are my idea!   Jess and I are usually ones who like to try random things so thank you Biz and Kaitlin for putting up with our food choices! I think next book club we may end up at a burger place.  

Oh wait, I'll leave you with another good line from the night...Biz: "Who's up for McDonald's after this!?"  I pray no one else heard her say that.