What a great day yesterday, although it now officially feels like winter! Breakfast was 1/4 cup egg beaters, 2/3 cup diced canned potato, 1/2 cup egg whites, 1/2 ounce cheese on a low carb tortilla (I love these – La Tortilla Factory and only 50 calories each and 7 grams of fiber!! I drizzled it with spicy green salsa to kick it up a notch!
My usual work out buddies were all busy and when I saw this, I decided the gym would be best!
But when I went to the gym, the Dish TV was not working and the thought of jogging on the treadmill with no t.v. was not appealing at all. So I bundled up, and ran our usual 2.5 mile walk! Well, I walked the first 5 minutes to warm up and then jogged. I felt like stopping a million times, but then I remembered the look on Amanda’s face from Biggest Loser when she wanted to quit the marathon. I could do this! I even sprinted up the hills! :D I was glad I had Tony’s ear muffs – they wrap around the back of your head – and I had a scarf covering my mouth – I don’t like breathing in cold air when I jog.
My blood sugar was exactly 100 before I left, and I knew it would drop, so I decided to drink 1/2 of this – it worked great! After I got back my blood sugar was 95 – nice!
Lunch was what I call “what’s left in the refrigerator.” I had two chicken strips from the other night, black beans, corn, the last of the baby spinach and 1 ounce of Colby cheese. I had two tacos and they were so fricken good! Lot’s of Tabasco on these!
Then Tony picked me up to go out on our date!
When we walked in, we were given a survey sheet. The rules were pretty basic: We got one appetizer, two entrees and dessert. We also got 4 drink tickets for two drinks each of their Artisan beer or house wines. Anything outside of that you had to pay for. Tony is not one for hearty beers – so he stuck with Miller Lite! The lighting was really low, so my pics aren’t the greatest. I started out with a Belgian Pale Ale – so good!
The only other rules were that we had to get two different entrees and you couldn’t substitute anything. For instance, I wanted to try the Italian Sausage pizza, but it had onions on it, and since they want to teach the kitchen how to make the exact dish, they couldn’t leave the onions off, so I got jumbo pepperoni!
But first we split this – warm pretzel trio!
They had three dipping sauces: Wisconsin Cheddar Fondue, a tomato sauce dip, and a dijon mustard dip.
The pretzels were just slightly crunchy on the outside, but oh so chewy on the inside. While we both loved the mustard dip, the tomato sauce kind of tasted like jarred pasta sauce, and the Wisconsin cheddar fondue tasted like nothing. Almost like warmed heavy crème! So we noted that on our comment card!
The menu said that their signature pizza was “Crispy New York Style Pizza.” When I see crispy I want a crunch to my crust. While the edges were crisp, the inside of the dough was pretty chewy – but I loved the big slices of pepperoni!
Since we each had to get a different entree, Tony went with the burger – there were two sizes, 6 ounce and 9 ounces. Tony went with the smaller burger – um, pretty sure there is nothing small about this burger!
Holy yum, hands down the best burger I’ve ever had! The meat was so flavorful, cooked to a perfect medium with Tillamook sharp cheddar cheese and apple smoked bacon. They served it with hand cut fries which were also amazing. When we go back, this is definitely what I am getting!
Since you can’t smoke indoors in Illinois, they had a large fire pit outdoors:
They had about 10 signature beers on tap:
For dinner I had their house zinfandel – it was really good!
So had we paid for everything, Tony with three Miller Lite’s, me with a beer and two glasses of wine, one app, two entrees and dessert – it would have been $67, which I don’t think is bad at all! I almost forgot to tell you about dessert! I forgot to take a picture, but they were fresh baked chocolate chip cookies with a chocolate sauce for dipping. Tony gave me a tiny bite and it was perfection – first bite crisp, then gooey on the inside. Five cookies came in the order!
My step-son Joe was working down the street, so we boxed up the remaining four to bring to him. Our night cap – scotch rocks for Tony (so gross!)
Glass of chardonnay for me. I love how this picture turned out – you can kind of see the reflection of the bottles in the glass!
So for a restaurant that isn’t open to the public yet, the service was terrific. We will definitely go back! For any readers who live in the Chicagoland area, here is the link to The Lucky Monk. Thanks for my sister for giving us her certificate to go! 😀
And then when I got home I got this!
A $10 gift card to Starbucks for my BSI – win for my Flax Seed Mac N Cheese! Thanks Holly!
Don’t forget BSI this week is Cinnamon! I am actually going to try to make more dog biscuits – I thought it would be a great addition to gift baskets for our friends and neighbors who have dogs! I’ll post it tomorrow.
I have my office Christmas party tonight, so probably won’t post again until tomorrow. Have a great Saturday! 😀
what a fun night! i am craving a burger now!
Nothing like a whatever is in the fridge taco. I did a similar run on Saturday and felt like a champ.
What a great place!!
Holy Moly–whataburger. Looks like you had a great night out. I admire you for jogging those 2.5 miles… especially in the cold, cold weather. This is the first season I have ever watched of biggest loser and last weeks marathon really inspired me as well.
You make the most appetizing meals ever. Have a great weekend.
Brr it definitely took a turn for the cold today! Fantastic on the jogging!!!! I had to read that twice to make sure I understood! haha I can’t believe you mustered up all of that will power, that is great!
Wow! That pizza and burger look great!
What a great opportunity. I love doing these (been lucky enough to have been invited more than one). I think that bill was amazingly inexpensive. I sure wish them well. Difficult times right now for established restaurants, let alone new projects.
And scotch is a great after dinner drink on a cold night!
Yay for dates 🙂
Where exactly did you get this amazing burger?? I must go!!
Hello Mrs. Mara!!!
Do you know where Millrose is in Barrington on Barrington Road?? It’s almost right across the street from there – in front of the AMC Theater.
It used to be a restaurant called Brass, but now its called The Lucky Monk. The grand opening is tomorrow! 😀
Yeah! I’m so glad you could go since I couldn’t.
Have fun tonight at your Holiday Party!!!
What a fun thing to do, try out a new restaurant for free! Loved that they wanted feedback – this way you don’t feel so bad telling them exactly what you thought!
Nice work going for a run in those temps – I am impressed!!!
Your dog biscuits will be a big hit, I’m sure…what a thoughtful thing to do for your four-legged friends!
Sounds like an awesome date night, and definitely a cool opportunity to test out a restaurant!
Awww, glad you had a nice date night!! 🙂
Looking forward to seeing your BSI recipe!! 🙂
Have fun at your party tonight!!