Cruz Blanca – Wednesday, August 31
Mood Scale, Tears of Joy Edition: Two students from Les Roches returned with thank you presents for Todd and me, and to talk about our restaurants’ environmentalism. These students were so thoughtful with their gifts: catnip filled mice for my cat and a thumbdrive with a cumbia mix on it for me. I had to take a minute downstairs because I teared up from the gesture. I provided notes about Frontera’s sustainability programs, which will be helpful info for their final project on green restaurants / hotels for this class trip. They were most interested in the rooftop garden and Chef and Deann’s production garden. When I mentioned the living wall of succulents at QueBo! in Mexico City, they showed me photos of the vertical forest in Milan (worth googling.)
SG’s: Joe, a guest in CB2 who was not part of the party, used to work for Harpo studios and has lived in the West Loop for the past decade, was very excited to join us in CB for the first time and a joy to converse with (read: Oprah stories.) Restaurant industry folks enjoyed dinner and many beers at the CB1 bar, and Nosheen did a great job describing why we pair certain glassware with certain beers. A party of 4 returning CB dinner guests complimented Andrea and Leonard on their positivity and helpfulness in CB1.
Shoutout: JF must receive a shoutout for her funny Robert Deniro story in the AMM today. JF you are my Robert De-Besteva…
Shoutout #2: Joe our West Loop regular had an amazing idea. Joe suggested a dish, maybe queso fundido that featured some of JP Graziano’s big hits, like their spicy giardiniera, cured meats or cheese. I’m not sure about the execution, but I thought it was an awesome idea to find ways to show love to the neighborhood on the CB menu. If Joe were in JF’s story, he would be Robert De-RealMVP…
MVP: Daniel was amazing as the busser covering both floors: CB1 and CB2, and patio, were spotlessly bussed and Daniel communicated with the bartenders every time guests were ready for another round.
Tom Skilling says… expect late-September like temps with highs in the lower 70’s and cooler readings yet along the lake.
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