Chapter 2: The Ring of Intent

Ryan Albritton
Jul 21, 2017 · 8 min read

The next day, a Thursday, we awoke around 9 or 9:30, freshened up and headed out to breakfast at Walker Brothers Original Pancake House. Recall, this trip was basically predicated on this breakfast, it was just a happy chance that we ended up at Elske and this whole thing you’re reading happened.

Nicole went to college very close to Walker Bros, at Northwestern along with the three friends that were with us, so I knew that I was treading into special territory. All the memories and college-aged silliness were recalled as we waited in line to be seated. We got to our seats, ordered coffee and I considered my options. The others already knew, as their orders had been codified by tradition and time. Nicole’s consisted of a Belgian waffle topped with fresh strawberries, a scoop of vanilla ice cream (on the side) and sides of cheesy hash browns and bacon. The lady can be impressively specific with some food orders — so we all mused about how that particular order had been discovered but no conclusions were found.

I ordered “wheatgerm granola” pancakes and to keep up with Nicole’s side game, also ordered bacon and hashbrowns, but I got the super spicy habanero hash. It was definitely spicy. The bacon was good and the pancakes were superior to any I had previously experienced at a “pancakes house.” I suppose you can’t beat the original. Did someone order cheese with that?

We drove separately from the group so we could split up after breakfast. Nicole wanted to show me the campus so we headed that way, and I had a secret plan forming for the rest of the day. Northwestern is a lovely campus on the shore of Lake Michigan surrounded by beautiful homes that I couldn’t possibly afford in my lifetime. As many campuses seem to be these days, it was a haven for tall cranes — new buildings everywhere. The students who were on break had been replaced by hard-hat wearing union men and women. I am completely fascinated by the amount of construction happening on campuses right now — just the stuff I am aware of is mind boggling. I even made the comment “Where are all these college kids coming from that every college needs to be constantly expanding?” It’s a big business. Upon checking out the brand-new, gorgeous and huge music performance building, Nicole made the observation that “This building exists to raise money. They certainly don’t need any more of mine.”

After a quick stop in the campus bookstore and some reminiscing, we got back to the car and I requested that we navigate to Lagunitas Brewery. The outer interstate was out of the question due to construction so we meandered to Lakeshore and headed downtown.

As we drove, I thought out loud, “Driving in larger cities makes me feel human. Everyone just…drives. Not like in St. Louis. I don’t even know what the fuck we do there.”

“Yeah, aggressive driving is so much more sane. So why are we going to this brewery?”

“They have some kind of special release today, just want to check it out.” This would have been fairly out of character for me in general, but I covered it up citing adventure, which is what we were there to do!

I love the approach to the North side of the city on Lakeshore, despite the traffic lights that are oddly placed on the drive. I couldn’t decide whether it was the traffic, my low gas tank, or my nervous anticipation of what was to come that was giving me more anxiety but I was glad to get off that road and head west. We careened through the surface streets in the Loop until we caught another highway, which took us closer to our destination.

Lagunitas Chicago is huge — I was unprepared for the city-block-sized warehouse that houses this operation. The main entrance leads to a reception desk at the beginning of a long hall. When we walked in the sound of “Pure Imagination” from the Willy Wonka soundtrack greeted us, which when mixed with the black-lighting and neon paint on the walls created a surreal experience.

“Are you here for a tour?” the man at the desk queried.

“No, we are going upstairs?” I said, unsure of the instructions I had been given.

“Follow the hall all the way to the end. Enjoy your stay!”

What were we getting ourselves into? As we walked down the hall, neon painted planets and rockets, undersea creatures and castles, all greeted us as playfully and mysteriously as the soundtrack. It felt like we were bobbing into a sequel to Bioshock II and it was the most perfect entrance for the surprise I had waiting for us upstairs. I couldn’t even have planned for that.

As we ascended the stairs at the end of the hall a few more hosts greeted us and inquired as to our destination. There was even a false door on a floor below the one we wanted that had a Star Wars quote painted onto it stating that “this is not the door you’re looking for.” Surely we were in some kind of nerd heaven and with each level that passed we got closer to the truth. Stepping out onto the floor that was our destination, we passed a full wall of glass which looked down into the secret room. It was full of strange objects and a few people drinking at another bar. The paint on the wall read “Lagunitas” in a 2-story font. Another glass wall overlooked the fermentation tanks below and then we finally made it to the bar. Inside two glass doors, there were several farm tables, and to the right a large U-shaped bar. I walked straight to the second farm table and found her.

“Are you Sara?”

She discreetly handed me a small wooden box that had been tied up with some twine. Nicole, behind me, looking fully confused in an excited-curious kind of way said “What’s happening?”

I handed her my phone, which had a note open on it, and said “Read this” as we walked back out of the bar and took a seat at one of the couches that overlooked the aforementioned tanks.

The box that Sara handed to me contained a wooden ring that I had ordered with the hopes of giving it to Nicole as a Christmas gift — a sign of the year we’d spent together and the commitment to many more. A conditional engagement of sorts. My plan was to make a surprise visit to their location before leaving Chicago but they had closed early that day and weren’t going to be in the next day. After some emailing, Sara agreed to take the ring with her to the happy hour they were all having at the brewery. The surprise worked out after all, the ring of intent had found its finger. Once we returned to the bar, we had a round of drinks waiting for us — more surprises! Ring makers are quite a bunch. Seriously, check out Simply Wood Rings for all your wood ring needs.

We finished up our romantic excursion and coordinated a multi-destination, meet-in-the-middle situation with our friends, who had gone home for some light work and napping after breakfast. Nicole and I headed to Dusek’s, our original stated destination from the night before, for some pre-dinner fare. We ordered two delicious cocktails, pretzels, mussels and fries. Everything was great — the fries are fried in beef fat y’all! Definitely will be going back there for a proper supper.

We left to meet the group again, this time at their suggested destination for pre-dinner drinks — a tiki bar. For some background, there’s a tiki bar about 200 yards away from our home in St. Louis. We’ve never been. But there we were, waiting in line for some Tiki in Chi-town. Eamon greeted us at the door to hand us menus so we could prepare while we were waiting. He had Christmas lights in his beard (no joke) and a jungle coming out of his drink. It was all just about perfect.

We found a table in a dark corner and the four of us drank from a couple bowls — I assume pretty standard for Tiki bars — basically giant sculptures dedicated to the drinking gods full of rum or tequila or whatever else. Keep your straw to your side.

When we had sufficiently pleased the gods, we packed up and headed a few blocks to the main goal of the night: dinner at Fat Rice!

Fat Rice offers Macanese cuisine originating in the Chinese city of Macau and is influenced by the Portuguese colonizers that administered the city until it was returned to China in 1999. We all ordered the Chef’s Selection — a kind of prix fixe tasting menu. There were no drink pairings but given our state, it was probably for the best. I had a glass of wine and the others ordered a round of cocktails to which they gave lackluster reviews.

The food began arriving and kept coming for over an hour. Prawns, curried veggies, dumplings, more dumplings, steamed buns, hot pots — the Fat Rice namesake — more curry, more seafood, it’s all a bit hazy. It was a fun meal with friends, no doubt, and all a bit more than delicious. We’ll be back for more I’m sure!

It was nearing midnight when we paid our check and headed back. When we arrived, Eamon (still with his gloriously well-lit beard), got a round of drinks, including glögg — a first for me. He then began frantically setting up his mobile karaoke rig so we could sing a round, beginning with some Hamilton. I was down and out by this time given all the food and drink and adventure of the day and the glögg had put me over the edge but nevertheless, they convinced me to be a good sport and sing anyway. “Come as you are” by Nirvana. A fitting end to the day and to our trip officially. In the morning we would wake up, grab a coffee and hit the road.

We came as we were, in search of a little bit of change of scenery, some escape from routine, and some pilgrimage. We left with something new, a few things in fact, and a deeper understanding of each other and of this life we are running through together. A last minute dinner decision has us buying web domains and me rekindling my desire to write about future adventures as well as planning for them. I feel excited about a project for the first time in more than a year.

We agreed to skip brunch on the way home in favor of getting dinner at one of our favorite spots in the St. Louis area, Cleveland Heath. They know us, they know what we drink — a Marty Robbins for her, a Rye Manhattan served up for me. They surprise us with dessert from time to time. It felt good to end the latest adventure at “our” place.

“Maybe we should end each 4 Courses In chapter at Cleveland Heath” I suggested.

“Maybe we can convince them to do a tasting menu!”

As I ate my shrimp tacos and fries, happy to be at home again, I contemplated the last 36 hours and the new things ahead. I decided to start writing this the next day and a few days later we were invited to a New Year’s Eve popup event with a six-course tasting menu, but that’s a story for another time. It’s funny how a path finds you sometimes.

4 Courses In

A celebration of a love story and an adventure together through food; and a restaurant review or two

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Ryan Albritton

Written by

Writing my way out one day at a time. Stories about food, rants about culture, Anti-Racism, some poetry too.

4 Courses In

A celebration of a love story and an adventure together through food; and a restaurant review or two

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