date night: sick leave

This last Monday, Mary was not feeling well so after wrapping up the first round of wedding registry, I was surprised that she wanted to reward us (or if we are honest, mostly me) with a steak dinner.

I suspect the idea came from the store manager we were working with when he mentioned that I seemed to have a better than average attitude than most in my position and that my bride-to-be could thank me in man fashion with a dinner of red meat. Shortly after he made his comment Mary announced that she knew what we were doing that night.

So thanks to a free Bucky book, we headed to George's Chop House. George’s is attached to a hotel on the west side of Madison. It was surprisingly busy on a Monday night - we've grown fairly accustomed to relatively empty restaurants. We even had to wait to be seated. Despite hearing mixed reviews of George's, we thought this was a good sign.

Within minutes we were seated and told one of the specials of the day was their burger and two Miller Lites. This special did not match the image of "classy steak house" which their atmosphere and prices appeared to strive for. Our time there was a mixed experience. We both ordered the New York Strip; the meal was excellent. And the service? Okay but not great. After dinner we agreed that if it were not for Bucky Book's $20-off-meal it would not have been worth it despite the good food. It was the little things that left us wanting.

And with that Mary headed home to get to bed early and try to recover while I reclaimed a favorite bachelorhood activity (hey don’t jump to any bad conclusions) and went to watch a movie on my own. I finally saw The Departed. It was good although the art house geek in me preferred the original, Infernal Affairs.