MINDY'S HOT CHOCOLATE - FTW

On the summer weekends I normally put something on the grill for me and my babygirl, but with us being cooped up in the crib lately, we decided to try a different move. For Saturday brunch, we met up with her cousin, Monique and go to one of my favorite nightime dessert spots in Chicago, Mindy's Hot Chocolate, located in Wicker Park. With the Wicker Fest being held this weekend just 2 blocks away, this turned out to be a straight up win. When I'm in that area, I normally stop by Hot Chocolate and pick up a few goodies to bring home, and they always wrap the fancy box with a brown bow, which definitely puts on win status for the night. See, the pastry chef, Mindy Segal is a nominee for the James Beard award for Outstanding Pastry Chef, and to those that don't know, that means she's kinda like a big deal.
Walking into this place, there is a huge waiting area, where there's a showcase of some of the sweets just to get you familiar, leather seats,
and a beautiful painting of a woman's ass. On top of all that, the music selection is a go!
I ask you, what guy doesn't want to wait in this spot? Needless to say I sat back and quietly enjoyed the artistry while the ladies chopped it up.
After a quick 7 minute wait we were seated. No need to look at the menu, I already knew what I wanted, I just waited for the ladies to decide. I went with the Warm Doughnuts and French Press Coffee for starters, then the BLT. Both girls went with the Grilled cheese and the Black & Tan Chocolate drink, served with house made marshmallows. The doughnuts came out first and did not disappoint. They were little too hot to handle, which is a good thing, otherwise I woulda' scoffed them all down in 10 seconds flat. I would've had them with just the cinnamon and sugar dust that was sprinkled on them, but they came with raspberry preserves on the side that made them even tastier. Only gripe, the serving of 4 was not enough. Being in the coffee business for a few years, I'm a coffee snob, so I'm crazy critical of coffee. Most restaurants use good coffee, but normally the wait staff doesn't take the time to serve it right. It's always either cold or burnt, sometimes both, but never like a coffee house or busy diner. Mindy's french press coffee was definitely top notch - hot, fresh, delicioso! If waiter would've asked if I wanted another, I would have said yes. It matched up nicely with the doughnuts, but as you can see, I ran out of coffee, so the leftover doughnut came home with the kid.
The sandwiches came out, and I was ready to get to business. Everything was fresh and upscale. Butter Lettuce, Tomato, Sugar Cured gourmet bacon, mayo, all on a toasted sesame bun. Me and my girl traded a half sandwiches so we could try everything. The BLT was good, but certainly not great. I'm not sure what didn't put this sandwich over the top, because it did nothing wrong. Maybe when I order a VERY simple sandwich at a restaurant this cool, my expectations are too high. But I wasn't totally let down, just not totally moved.
The Cheddar Melt on the other hand was bangin'! Aged cheddar on pumpernickel toast. Thats it. One bite into it and I knew it was serious business and not Cracker Barrel and Wonder bread. Cheese and bread done perfectly. right amount of crunch & perfect amount of cheddar. Both sandwiches came with a side shot glass of roasted tomato soup that I wished came in a bowl. A big bowl. Very tasty and spicy and matched up nice with both sammiches.

Overall, we enjoyed the lunch and as much as I would normally like to have a brewski or two, I opted out...I figured I'd catch a few at the Wicker Fest! On the way out, my girl went to the showcase and copped a few goodies for later on. For your buck, Hot Chocolate is not an everyday spot for lunch, but definitely one to keep in your books for dates and sweets for your sweet when you tryna make up! because you will get what you pay for. I will be back for dinner.

AM I MY BROTHER'S KEEPER?

Yesterday, I recieved the usual 4:00 call from the mailman, telling me he has a package and I have to come downstairs and sign for it. I do most of my shopping, trading, and selling via the internet, so this daily phone call is nothing out of the ordinary. Yet and still, I'm always excited when I get packages in the mail. As a kid, I used to just order all types of stupid sh*t just to be gettin' mail like grown folks! Anyway, yesterdays package was a far from the usual. It was from my baby brother, USMC Lance Cpl. Telley Vestal, who is fresh outta his 2nd tour in Iraq, and currently stationed in Hawaii, holding me, and the rest of the free world the f*ck down. F*ck going back upstairs to open this package, this one can't wait.

This is from my little brother. This is the one out of my 4 brothers, was the one that was born when we were all teens. This was the one that we faught over who was gonna hold him first, coddled and overprotected and basically never really wanted to see the day when this cat officially grew up. Our parents assigned us the job of looking after Telley and keeping him out of harms way, and we loved our job. So him telling us that he was enlisting into the Marine Corps, was like getting downsized from a job, but walking away with a serious severence package. The package is watching this boy grow from baby to man, and him announcing his joining the marines at a Thanksgiving dinner was like witnessing him step into grown-manhood right before my eyes. My Brothers and I were hurt, the 9/11 tragedy fresh in everyones mind and all, but we knew that was some grown man business that you just don't f*ck with. Our job was done.

Not having a knife, sissors, or the infamous crackhead stylee ball point pen, I wrastled with that damn indestructable Priorty Mail tape like I was in the WWF Smackdown...but, Hulk Hogan wins, and I, am him. I shoulda waited. I shoulda waited until I got upstairs to the safety of my apartment to open this package. I knew from looking at the return address, that the contents of the package would bring me to tears. A box of garbage would've been all good from this dude. But this, my friends, was no box of garbage. My lil' bro knows that I love to style on cats, and it's the lil things that set you apart. He knows that I rock Camouflage, but not in excess. Just the jacket or just the cargo pants, or just the shorts. Anything more'll have you lookin' crazy! Telley sent me the official issue, digital camouflage dopp bag, with the hanging folding toiletry kit, complete with soldier body wipes, for that outta town smashdown!...FIRESTARTERS!

Lance Corporal Vestal, you, my brother, are golden and I love you. You caught me off guard and the gift was top notch, B! And Word Is Bawn! I wanna fight you for real for making your big brother cry like that in front of my neighbors..HA! I know Ultramagnetic is ya favorite, so here you go ked!