March 4th

Thawing Out

Oak Park had their annual Jazz Thaw, and since we'd never been, we thought we'd see what it was about.  I think it's a good idea...various restaurants around town have jazz bands and you can go and listen while enjoying the local restaurants.  We originally thought we'd try a couple other places, but everywhere was so crowded we couldn't even get in.  We ended up getting a table at Bar Louie.  It was nice hearing the jazz, but I think the event needs a little tweaking.

Bar Louie
Oak Park, IL

When Doug and I first moved in together we lived in Hyde Park and there was a Bar Louie in our building.  So, every time I go there, I can't help but think of our first apartment.  Those great memories keep me going to Bar Louie...and their food is usually pretty good.
I think the Jazz Thaw event is a great concept, but I feel like all the restaurants were too crowded.  So they either need to add more restaurants, or figure out some other locations to add besides restaurants that can hold more people.
Also, Bar Louie didn't seem prepared for the crowd.  It took forever to even get someone to come over to take our order.  The waitress warned us that the food would take a while, but geez...it took forevvvveeeeer.  Luckily Noelle is awesome and was able to hang out with us while we sat for a very long, long time waiting.  We were so proud of her!

Grades:

Megan - C- (We had bacon cheeseburger sliders and they were delish.  I also had an awesome cocktail called Effen Good, which was a cucumber martini.  It was so effin good I decided I NEED to buy cucumber vodka to try and make my own.  I would've given the food/drinks an A, but the service was terrible.  We've been there before when there wasn't an event and the service was fine...I think they were just unprepared for some reason.)

Doug - B

Noelle - A- (Noelle had pizza and scarfed it down and wanted more.  I just knocked her grade down a bit because I don't think she liked all the waiting...even though she tolerated it for pizza.)