i love restaurants with good lighting.

sunday afternoon, in between hours at the job, i snuck into borders for some quick reading and snagged a copy of madison magazine, whose cover suggested an oodle of cheap eat options inside its pages.

i suppose madison magazine's readers make substantially more than i do.

still, the mag managed to highlight a few spots i figured i'd keep in my pocket for a cold winter's day. with a list of 6 or 7 taquerias in madison featuring $1.50 tacos, testing out a new place was an obvious no brainer. so come monday, jon and i went out on gammon past the beltline to visit el cabrito for lunch. it's kind of a clean hole in the wall, sitting at the end of a mini-strip mall, next to a laundromat, which is next to a supermercado. i had potato tacos, i think, which were surprisingly yummy, but jon was less than thrilled about his el pastor and steak tacos. the long and short is that it's not exciting, but it's a lot of food and it's decent. it's not necessarily cheap (i think our meals were about $15 total) and i'd be just as happy to visit chipotle.

but again, this isn't part of the real date night. so let's move ahead to the evening.

at about 6:30, jon picked me up to head up to cafe porta alba (yet another feature in madison magazine's cheap eats issue), on butler street up near the capitol. i immediately recognized it as the old espresso royale, though the waitress shared that it had been through numerous different hands since those days - a few more coffee shops, a pizza spot, and finally cafe porta alba. the decor was just what i wanted. relaxed, warm, totally unpretentious, and simple. the warm track lighting on the ceiling, the large wood-fired pizza oven in the back of the dining room, and the size of the room all contributed to a feeling of intimacy. it reminded me of my favorite spots in chicago - it may be a little out of the way, but once you're there, the vibe is quite obviously this: stay and linger and enjoy.

i ordered the margherita pizza, which was excellently light on the sauce, just the right amount of cheese, but a little too stingy on the basil. jon ordered the margherita con salame, which arrived with perfectly sliced large circles of salame on nearly each slice of his pie. i devoured the entire thing.

before we left, i asked for a cappuccino which came with a few tablespoons of coffee grounds at the bottom (ugh), but i couldn't mention anything, because the waitress was so nice and friendly, i just didn't care. i drank as much as i could anyway. jon had an espresso which was - thankfully - fully ground and drinkable.

afterwards, we walked a few blocks over to cafe montmartre for half-price wine night and selected a bottle of pinot noir. i love cafe montmartre but it always makes me feel a little self-conscious, like i'm suddenly exposed in the view of all the trendy, hippie-ish, 20-somethings in madison, caught wearing my grey wool sweater from gap's 1998 fashion line. i shake my head at myself, throw back the last sips of wine, and pour myself a fuller glass. i really like montmartre, but i HAVE to remember to get in the zone before i go, otherwise, my emotions begin to run high, and pretty soon jon is left with a silently crying mess of a fiancee.

maybe it was just the wine.

overall? cafe porta alba is DEFINITELY a place to visit again. i'd be a regular there if i could.
and cafe montmartre is always a good bet - just make sure you call forth your inner hipster before you enter the doors.

date night groupie style

Our latest date night was a prime example of not knowing when enjoying our mutual day off turns into what is considered a date. Last Monday was a beautiful, snowy day and after Mary made waffles at her place for lunch we headed over to the Arboretum to hike through the snow. There are few things I love more than a walk through the woods while the snow is coming down and covering everything in a white, silencing blanket.

But I don’t think any of that was part of our date night so I will move on. Things kicked off for real when we headed out for dinner at the Brass Ring. Our first impression upon entering was a good one regarding the overall feel of the place. I felt a dorky closeness thanks to their tagline Lord of the Rings reference. The place was empty as we sat down to eat dinner at 7 pm. Our server believed the slow night was thanks to it being Monday and so cold and snowy outside. She said it was usually much busier. Our dinner was good but not great. Mary ordered the Madtown burger and I had the steak sandwich both with fries. Mary said her burger was original which I think is a good thing and my sandwich was okay but a bit bland, even with the mushrooms and onions.

After dinner we played pool while waiting for the main event of the evening. I taught Mary how to play nine ball and then beginners luck kicked in and she proceeded to beat me. I remembered that I don’t really like losing.

Around 10 we went next door to The High Noon Saloon to watch our friends Jonathan and Joel Kramka front the band Mute City. There is something that feels very cool knowing the people in the band no matter how famous they may or may not be. I saw them play once before at the Klinic Bar but this was a much better venue and they have significantly improved as a band. We were both impressed with their sound and energy. The band before them whose name I can no longer remember was also really good.

Overall it was another great night together and a reminder of why I am thankful we have committed to this each week.

happy new year, date night.

it's quiet right now. and thank god for that. i've been going full steam since 7 am this morning, and now, eleven hours later, i'm thankful for this little breather and eager to type out details of our most recent madison date night (and keep the new year's resolution to write up our date nights before we're out on our next date).

phew. that's a lot of "dates" on one sentence. anyway, i digress ...

so last monday night, after an afternoon visiting a church (which may end up being home to our wedding ceremony) and writing up a potential guest list of 300+ friends and family members we'd love to invite to celebrate our vows with us, i was exhausted and eager for a night with jon ... sans talk of wedding hoo-hah.

and where better to avoid drama than the low-key, ultra-casual tex tubb's taco palace? the brainchild of eldorado's kevin tubb, this not quite one-year-old "palace" exceeds its classier relative in worth. how can you not love walking into a restaurant and spotting a sign offering $2.65 tacos? love it.

though the bill was far more expensive when we were done ordering (two two-taco platters with yummy rice and beans, some chips and perfectly spicy green salsa, one negra modelo and one new glarus IPA came out to about $25) , it was absolutely worth it. kitschy-texmex western music and some live songs from john hiatt played over the stereo, adding to the come-as-you-are vibe. the casual waitstaff was attentive, but relaxed enough to make you feel like you were just all hanging out together, watching the ohio state vs. florida championship game.

and the food? again, really excellent. jon thinks eldorado's food was still better, but i'm so swayed by environment that i'd hit tex tubb's again in a heartbeat before even considering eldorado. we ordered the same thing (in the interest of trying new things, we usually attempt to order different dishes, but we're just getting back into this date night thing again after the holidays and we just wanted what we wanted, you know?): one carne asada taco and one el pastor taco. i can't really say which one was my favorite, though the girl who took our order up front was right in telling us we'd be fine with just one taco each. i was pretty stuffed later that night.

afterwards, we walked 20 feet to our car (this is the advantage of a monday night date night - we don't fight many other people for parking lot spots) and headed to barnes and noble on the west side. we'd considered going to dejope since neither of us have ever been and learning their (evidently different) version of bingo, but ended choosing the barnes and noble on the west side near jon's house for coffee and games. jon found cheesy little "do you know your bride/groom?" quiz books and we spent the next hour or so discovering who knew more about who (or is it whom? sorry, i can't remember). i won't tell you who won because i think i got cheated. i'll just say that jon's questions were way easier.

so it was a good welcome back to date night. after two busy weeks of family, friends, and traveling, it's a pretty excellent thing just to spend the evening with the person you love most.