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Ideas for Anniversary Dinner

Ideas for Anniversary Dinner
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  • Ideas for Anniversary Dinner

    Post #1 - May 4th, 2021, 12:06 pm
    Post #1 - May 4th, 2021, 12:06 pm Post #1 - May 4th, 2021, 12:06 pm
    As we come a bit out of this pandemic year, my wife and I are excited to actually plan a dinner date for our anniversary this June. However, as I started researching this, I was having difficulty finding a place that could work and so I figured I'd ask if there are places that I am just not thinking of. Here are our parameters:
    1) Needs to be open on a Wednesday (our anniversary is June 30th and due to some travel obligations around it, we kind of need to stick to the actual day of)
    2) Needs to have a vegetarian option (fine with tasting menu places but often they can't accommodate my dietary restrictions)
    3) Is good with special occasion type dining

    In the past, we have done North Pond, Spiaggia, Everest (rip), and places like that. I'm just running into the wall of places that have closed or aren't open midweek, at least now, or won't take a reservation at this time (Topolobampo falls into this category). Would love any thoughts this group may have.
  • Post #2 - May 4th, 2021, 12:44 pm
    Post #2 - May 4th, 2021, 12:44 pm Post #2 - May 4th, 2021, 12:44 pm
    Northcenter Joe wrote:As we come a bit out of this pandemic year, my wife and I are excited to actually plan a dinner date for our anniversary this June. However, as I started researching this, I was having difficulty finding a place that could work and so I figured I'd ask if there are places that I am just not thinking of. Here are our parameters:
    1) Needs to be open on a Wednesday (our anniversary is June 30th and due to some travel obligations around it, we kind of need to stick to the actual day of)
    2) Needs to have a vegetarian option (fine with tasting menu places but often they can't accommodate my dietary restrictions)
    3) Is good with special occasion type dining

    In the past, we have done North Pond, Spiaggia, Everest (rip), and places like that. I'm just running into the wall of places that have closed or aren't open midweek, at least now, or won't take a reservation at this time (Topolobampo falls into this category). Would love any thoughts this group may have.


    Not as fancy as some of the other places on the list but Anteprima is open on Wed. and is one of my favorite places to eat with vegetarians because I think their veg offerings, including most of the pastas and apps, are the best parts of the menu. You might want to let them know that it’s a special evening and that a veg menu would be needed when you make the reservation but they do a great job and the food is terrific. And the back patio is available every day, even when it’s chilly (they have a heat lamp for every table), and is really lovely. Happy Anniversary!!!
    Last edited by boudreaulicious on May 4th, 2021, 5:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
    "Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad." Miles Kington
  • Post #3 - May 4th, 2021, 4:28 pm
    Post #3 - May 4th, 2021, 4:28 pm Post #3 - May 4th, 2021, 4:28 pm
    My husband and I celebrated our first anniversary in lockdown, so we hired Mirepoix Gangster Kitchen to come to our house, and it was a wonderful experience. I'd highly recommend them.
  • Post #4 - May 5th, 2021, 5:25 am
    Post #4 - May 5th, 2021, 5:25 am Post #4 - May 5th, 2021, 5:25 am
    The wife and I are doing bistro campagne for our anniversary in 2 weeks. It will only be our third meal out since the pandemic (not counting eating culver's in the parking lot), and our first meal just the two of us.

    It's one of my wife's favorites (I really enjoy it too); and we debated trying something new but decided on an old standby... Especially since it's probably been more than 2 years since we've been there.

    Anyway, it has a nice cozy atmosphere; open on Wednesdays, and it has outdoor seating (although you can't reserve it with your reservation. I was told the outdoor seats are first-come-first-serve, but they'd make a note in my reservation of our preference).

    The one caveat, it does have a bunch of vegetarian dishes, but the majority of entres are not. I think there's only one vegetarian entre.

    Still, maybe that one is the one?
  • Post #5 - May 5th, 2021, 11:53 pm
    Post #5 - May 5th, 2021, 11:53 pm Post #5 - May 5th, 2021, 11:53 pm
    Brass Heart https://www.brassheartchicago.com/ is open Wednesdays and offers omnivore and vegan tasting menus. I'm not sure if you can specify the vegan tasting if booking through Tock, you might be better off calling 773-564-9680 for information or reservations. Happy Anniversary!
  • Post #6 - May 6th, 2021, 4:15 pm
    Post #6 - May 6th, 2021, 4:15 pm Post #6 - May 6th, 2021, 4:15 pm
    These are all great ideas! We have loved meals at Anteprima and Bistro Campagne before and Brass Heart and Mirepoix Gangster's food looks awesome from their websites. Going to talk with my wife about it this weekend.

    Thanks so much for all of the suggestions and feel free to chime in any others if folks think of anywhere else.
  • Post #7 - May 6th, 2021, 8:57 pm
    Post #7 - May 6th, 2021, 8:57 pm Post #7 - May 6th, 2021, 8:57 pm
    We loved our Anniversary meal at Monteverde last July. I don’t eat much meat and found many options. Service was excellent and the space was very open and well ventilated (at least in July weather.)
  • Post #8 - June 24th, 2021, 8:46 am
    Post #8 - June 24th, 2021, 8:46 am Post #8 - June 24th, 2021, 8:46 am
    Totally forgot to update this thread. We ended up booking a reservation at Anteprima (though we also went to Bistro Campagne a week ago based on this thread). We are excited to get back to a favorite, though, at least at the time my wife called, they mentioned they are not currently doing the prix fixe menu due to staffing issues.

    I will let you know how the meal goes and we have put the rest of these suggestions into our spreadsheet of ideas for future notable date nights.
  • Post #9 - June 24th, 2021, 10:57 am
    Post #9 - June 24th, 2021, 10:57 am Post #9 - June 24th, 2021, 10:57 am
    Another option is my neighborhood fave, Stefani Prime in Lincolnwood. Nice room, solid menu, good service, easy to get to and free valet.
  • Post #10 - June 24th, 2021, 6:56 pm
    Post #10 - June 24th, 2021, 6:56 pm Post #10 - June 24th, 2021, 6:56 pm
    Northcenter Joe wrote:they mentioned they are not currently doing the prix fixe menu due to staffing issues.

    One of the remarkable things about Anteprima is that it's such a high-quality meal at such a bargain price - and even if you can't get the three-course prix fixe, ordering a la carte still isn't terribly expensive.
  • Post #11 - July 7th, 2021, 4:34 pm
    Post #11 - July 7th, 2021, 4:34 pm Post #11 - July 7th, 2021, 4:34 pm
    Just to close the loop on this, we had a nice meal at Anteprima. The food was excellent as always. We had a couple of appetizers (beet sald and a cold cucumber soup that was excellent), split an order of ravioli with swiss chard in a brown butter sauce, and then my wife had trout piccata (which she loved) and I had a wonderful pasta dish with a slow cooked tomato sauce and some bright herbs.

    The one thing I will say is that they are definitely trying to turn tables (which I totally understand); they give you a 90 minute limit up front and work pretty hard to get your order in and to your table quickly. I get why they are doing it and it wasn't a big deal, but for an anniversary meal where we were looking to be able to chat and relax, it was sort of odd to be in and out in basically an hour. Additionally, there was very little recognition of the occasion; the host said happy anniversary but that was it. None of this is to say we wouldn't recommend it or won't be going back soon, but just a data point in an interesting post-quarantine world.

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