#cafebabareeba

When desserts are only $3 you can order all of them!

TOTALLY CRUSHIN’ ON TAPAS THIS WEEK.

“Cafe Ba Ba Reeba” is one of Lincoln Park’s oldest gems, and chances are if you're from Chicago your parents went on a date here long long ago, or you’ve gone on a date here, or you’ve heard of it. I am not my parents nor am I dating anyone however I’ve been here twice in four days because it’s just THAT GOOD. One of my top ten restaurants is “Tapas Barcelona” in Evanston, and those tapas are more hispanic/exotic choices than Ba Ba Reeba, but in the end their tapas. There’s something so appealing about these dim-lit, exposed-brick and warm spaces that serve up small plates for relatively low prices making it fun to share and sample evvvvverything on the menu. Tapas restaurants are meant to create an experience together and focus on the food / sharing food, which is kind of an intimate thing! Not that you have to be feeing each other grilled quid dripping in lemon butter or licking pan de tomate off each other’s faces (that WOULD make for a memorable dinner though)… it’s just about being in the same place, same time, having a moment together. Food takes me there- for some, that is so not the case. 

ANYWAY. LOVE STORY FOR TAPAS IS OVER. Focusing on the food I freaked over this week: starting with the pajama brunch. On Sunday (SUPERBOWL SUNDAY! TESTOSTERONE! SPORTS! CHEESE DIP!) I decided to flip the game the bird and instead met with two of my favorite food friends to attend Ba Ba Reeba’s “PJ Brunch”, at which if you wore pajamas you got gift cards worth the final bill. AMAZING. We took advantage of the bloody mary bar in which you swirl up your own cocktail (the waiter pours the vodka for you before you go to the bar so you don’t pass out in your baked eggs before 2 pm) with 6 choices of tomato juice, spices, skewers of shrimp and typical meats, and OLIVES! So salty, so satisfying. (Mom, don’t freak out, I only had a little and STILL studied for six hours that night). The immense sodium filling my cells made me want to order something sweet so I went with the citrus-glazed french toast, served with goat cheese butter and candied fruit. It was STARTLINGLY GREAT. A) Goat cheese butter is way better than normal butter, and B) I’m super picky about french toast because it’s always too egg-y but this was perfection. Thick toast with an orange and grapefruit glaze? YEP. PUT IT IN MY BELLY. And only $5! 

I also got the baked eggs with pumpkin, seeds of some kind, tomato, and pesto that came with slices of garlic baguette covered in sweet tomato sauce and that was amazing but looked like a hot mess on the plate so I didn’t photograph it. Striaght up it’s not the most appetizing-looking thing but it had so many beautiful and fresh flavors packed in a little red dish I definitely burnt my finger on. The waffles were ordered as well and they looked incredible, and being surrounded by people in pajamas eating cute little foods on what felt like a holiday was pretty damn great. It was a perfect Chicago morning. 

OH! They gave us free OJ too, that never happens at brunch places… nice move, tapas. 

On Tuesday I returned and this time it was for a *light* dinner of seared salmon with dill sauce, market veggies, a brussels-sprout and almond salad that is my absolute favorite dinner thing there, and LOTS of bread in oil. My chosen dinner date got meatballs on little skewers that were too cute and smelled rich and hearty but sadly “meatballs” don’t fall under the “vegetarian” category so none of those for me. I’ve been dying to try their dessert menu since there’s a chocolate-kalhua cake and other $3 bites (that means you can get 3 desserts for $9 that’s as much as a single dessert anywhere else- MATH) and so if you’re a nice young man reading this and thinking “This all sounds so tasty and she seems chill” I’m ready to get sangria and cake on Valentine’s Day. Just a public notice. 

That’s it for this week’s tapas meltdown. I’m sure I’ll be back soon... this weekend for every meal… it’s fine. Until next time, Happy Eating!