reclining and teenage angst

This past Monday night it was Mary’s turn to be in charge of the planning and for a change had a plethora of options to pick from. Last week was restaurant week sponsored by Sysco, Madison Originals and Madison Magazine. From what their website says they stole this idea from a number of bigger cities. Other than franchises, overcrowding and impossible parking I say we should steal more often. There were over 20 restaurants that were offering a $25 per person three course meal. However the downside as we found out was that many of the places are closed on Mondays. So after crossing off our first two choices Mary went with The Casbah. It was Mary’s first time there and neither of us had eaten in one of the booths downstairs. When we got there at 6:30 we had the place to ourselves which was nice since we both took a few minutes to figure out how to get comfortable with the traditional Mediterranean seating.

We quickly discovered that the $25 per person deal was not going to save us any money so instead we went with Ultimate Grill which sounds very un-Mediterranean but was a delicious and filling mix of grilled chicken, lamb, rice, hummus, etc. After stuffing ourselves we capped off the meal with some coffee and baklava or as it is spelled on the menu, baklawa. (Are both correct?)

The Casbah is a great place for a date since it provides the option of either private or public dinning and could give the impression one is cultured if early in the dating process. Unfortunately Mary already knows this is not true of me.

Then we were off to one of my favorite bars in Madison, Genna’s Lounge. The place is much better than their website. After having met with Jesse Russell who runs dane101.com a couple of months ago we were both intrigued by his excitement for Madison’s own version of What’s Your Damage. Coming into it I understood it to be a night where mostly 20-somethings come and read old high school poetry and journal entries to publicly exorcise past demons. It was sort of that but a lot funnier than expected and I found myself becoming increasingly of the cathartic process as each person took that stage to read another funny, poignant or embarrassing story from a time in life that was hard for all of us. This event happens on the last Monday of every month and I would highly recommend it.

So to sum up, another good date had and another chance to experience a little more of what this city has to offer.