VEGETARIAN MEAL #1: So What Does This All Mean?
As my girlfriend, Chelsea, and I sat down for lunch at Soul Vegetarian, a fantastic and unassuming diner down on 75th St., to which she brought me as a wonderful surprise, I started putting together a list of what I've learned from my meaty adventure. So here you go, everything you can expect to learn if you ever begin your very own Meat Week.
1) People want to know if this will bring me back to meat for good.
To answer that question, which I received at nearly every one of my 22 meals - no, I will not me staying on meat for good. I became a vegetarian for health reasons and I can't ignore the benefits it provided. Sure, the meat was delicious, but it's not like a drug with which you can fall off the wagon and be hooked again. Dropping meat was a choice and dropping it again is another choice I'm making. For all you meat lovers out there, I'm sorry to say, this was just a temporary romance.
More importantly though, Meat Week was very special. The circumstances surrounding it are what made it so much fun and I have no intention of changing those circumstances. I hadn't eaten meat regularly since 2006, I'm leaving Chicago and wanted an excuse to see the people I love, I had never been to a lot of these restaurants and I got to discover new things. If I kept eating meat or held another Meat Week, the luster would fade and I would just become a guy who happens to eat meat. To keep Meat Week special, I'll be returning to my old ways.
2) People are interested in my bathroom time.
So many people thought I'd get sick or have really sour poops. Nothing happened. I was totally fine all week. The only issue was a fairly significant fatigue, but all sorts of things could have caused that. Perhaps it is because I do eat fish fairly regularly, but I was and am completely fine. But thanks for your concerns.
3) People are passionate about meat.
Holy crap, do people ever love meat! It has been so much fun hearing stories from everyone about their favorite restaurants or how they like to prepare food or even just shops at which people buy meat to cook at home. Everyone has an opinion and a story to excitedly tell about meat and, as far as I can tell, they are all right. I received tons of emails and Facebook messages, some even from people I hadn't spoken to in years, just to let me know about a restaurant I should go to or a great deli or great recipes I could cook at home. I think people were having as much fun as I was and I'm really appreciative of that.
4) Nothing beats a home-cooked meal.
The two best meals I ate all week: Tim's chili and Ed's feast. Absolutely nothing beats a home-cooked meal. You can really taste the time and effort put in by friends who wanted this to be special for me. Something about restaurant food tastes just a little too uniform. Don't get me wrong, the restaurants you all brought me to were excellent, but hands-down the best food I ate out of 22 meals was made by my friends.
Having said that, many of you have asked what my favorite meals were. So here they are, excluding the home-cooked meals, a top 5 countdown (Bret, I'm doing this countdown the right way) of the best meaty restaurants I visited in Chicago:
5 - Franks N Dawgs
4 - Rub's Backcountry Smokehouse
3 - Au Cheval
2 - Honey Butter Fried Chicken
1 - Crisp
5) I have great friends.
I've loved every second of Meat Week and that is primarily because of my friends. You have all made this a very special goodbye to the city I've called home and the people who made it my home. The meats were great, the company was better, and that is exactly what I was hoping for. I love you all and can't thank you enough for making Meat Week a huge success.
Without further ado, I believe I owe some of you a few superlatives. Thank you all so much. Whether you received a superlative or not, you are all the best friends I could have asked for.
Most Meaty Meals - 5 in total - Ian
Most long-distance participant - Rochester, NY - BJ
Most Sacrificed For Meat Week - Bret
Most Educational - Maxwell St. - Pat
Most Exhausted - Hot Doug's - Megan, Kaitlin, Emily, Kaylie
Least Expensive Meal - Slim Jim - Liz, Jessie, Ryan, Mike
Most Expensive Meal - Fogo De Chao - Jessica, Eric, Paul
Best Surprise Meal - TIE, Hong Kong Buffet and Renaldi's - Joey and Eric
Best Post-Meat Activity - Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit - Peter, Sarah, Joey, Ian
Best Meat Week Theme Song - Beefburp - Courtney
Best Unwanted Guest - Ceiling Rain
Biggest Party - Kuma's Too - Eric, Liz, Michael, Steve, Aaron, Betsy, Mike, Ryan
Only Breakfast - Bakin and Eggs - Mary Beth
Best Between-Meal Hang-Out Location - Harpo Studios - Sean
Best Possible Way To End Meat Week - D&D - Brian, Ed, Peter, Joey, Steve, Eric












