Although I tend to be a bit of a cynical person by nature, the holiday season manages to bring out a little of the child in me that believes in the magic of the season. Now, let's not get crazy, I am also a realist. The holiday season brings out a sense of joy, happiness, hope and annoyance. The stores are bustling with shoppers (that get in the way of my speed shopping), the beautiful Christmas lights in windows (after spending hours making my place look like the Griswold family Christmas house, the ones I put up inevitably have one light burn out, causing the ENTIRE strand to go out, and I can NEVER figure out where the culprit bulb is, so I have to throw out the entire stand and start over while cursing in a not-so-holiday-manner), and most importantly the restaurants and bars are packed with friends having a holiday drink, co-workers enjoying an after work cocktail, in other words, LOTS of potential candidates.
I met up with a friend after work at the Clubhouse in Oak Brook. We arrived at 5:30pm which is just in time to still find an actual seat at the bar. Once it gets late, this place is pretty full and standing room only around the bar area. It is strategically important to have a seat that provides a good viewing point, but also we MUST eat because it's been 5 hours since lunch and growing close to my feeding time. They have these super delish blue cheese fries and loaded nachos that you can only order at the bar so you have to get a seat. Ok, yes, I am on a research mission, but a girl needs nourishment too!
So we are having a glass of wine and quickly polish off the appetizers and ask the server to get rid of any evidence that we had just finished feeding our faces (because classy women don't really shovel greasy nachos down the hatch). So the place starts to fill up and people are ordering drinks and leaning in around us to put their drink orders in with bartender. By the way, this is an optimal position to start casual conversation. We chat up a few people as they stand around with drinks.
Granted, it took a little while to shoo away the 70-something little guy who wanted to paint my friend a self portrait, and the chubby little elf guy that obviously just escaped the north pole, but it seemed to being going well. Then my fatal flaw. I spotted a waitress passing by with the dessert tray she was showing some diners in the restaurant. Once I laid eyes on the chocolate cake with chocolate frosting I lost sight of the prize (chocolate caking being my krytonite). We had to order one.
It happened so fast. The waiter came and cleared away enough bar space to plop down the HUGE plate (so big it could also double as a turkey platter) with the biggest piece of chocolate cake I've EVER seen, topped with whip cream and chocolate sauce. The seated patrons around us were not happy with their drinks getting pushed away to make room for this monstrosity of a dessert. The standing herd of patrons lingering around our seats seemed to disperse and suddenly we were left alone, just the two of us and our freakishly large cake. I'm glad my friend convinced me that we should share one and we didn't go with my original plan to order 2!
After the momentum had been lost (and finishing the cake), we decided to call it a night.
Research findings: This place definitely has potential. I will put this on the YES list for a good place to potentially meet men, and plan a return visit in the future.
Lessons learned: Due to the fact that I admittedly get off track easily at the mere sighting of a dessert tray, I should get all of my eating out of the way BEFORE I commence my research. Noted.
As the friend who shared that enormous and entire piece of cake, your research findings are spot on---we definitely have to feed you first! Signed, Trying to have sex in any city
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