Date Nights...Kith and Kin & Vincent

I love date night!  Tonya and I had two great dinner dates in a row.  A few weekends back we finally got out of our neighborhood and headed to Lincoln Park. Kith and Kin, where several of my friends work and was winner of Best Neighborhood restaurant, was our first choice.  We had some of their best... The pimento cheese spread, foie gras, smoked oysters, mussels, fried chicken and steak.  Everything was delicious.  The fried chicken was the best I've had in the city, hands down.  It was served with dirty rice- chicken livers included, amazing!  Service was great, atmosphere and soundtrack was fun too.

Last night we went to Vincent, a newer spot in our neighborhood.  At first I was hesitant to have Dutch influenced food because most of my experiences with it have been dull however this was outstanding.  We had the caramelized cauliflower soup with bread, cheese, and pickled onions-it was a touch weak on the seasoning but no biggie, once all mixed up the bacon which had settled on the bottom brightened up with the onions.  The traditional Dutch mustard soup with crab salad and tarragon pesto became one of my new favorites so much that I had to come home and immediately look it up.  I had beer battered haddock on snert-a thick split pea soup with sausage that was more like a mash and I didn't have faith in it until I tasted it.  She had steak and frites, also perfectly seasoned.  I wouldn't recommend this place as a first date because the strong garlic accents are still lingering today however when you become use to your partner's smelly garlic breath, indulge.  I love both and still have many new places to try.
Still checking in on Next tickets daily to no avail however Tonya is now working at Aviary so maybe someday she'll be able to pull some strings.  I can't wait to go to ING, right next door to next and Aviary and then there is always Girl and the Goat and GT oyster, man-what a list!  And I don't get much time off so this may take another year.  But even with all of that I still have a favorite go to right here in my neighborhood, Ante Prima, if you haven't gone you must.  It's affordable and so so so delicious.