Humboldt Park

When: Sunday, January 17, 2010
Neighborhood: Humboldt Park
Restaurant: Flying Saucer
Church: Saint Mary's of the Angels
What we listened to on the way: nothing
Where did we walk: all around Humboldt Park
We had breakfast with: Matt and Tina

Best part of today: Sharing it with Matt and Tina... and Whiskey (their dog)

Today we started the morning with 8am mass at Saint Mary's of the Angels, an impressive 1,200 seat Cathedral on the northwest side near Armitage and Heritage. If you're into ultra conservative this is the place for you. Managed by the priests of Opus Dei, it's about as close to pre-Vatican II as we have found. You will be awestruck by the incredible artwork throughout. I ran into old friends from DePaul after mass. And got hustled for money by an attractive couple in the church parking lot. We were all hungry. It was really cold so I dropped Kate off at the door of Flying Saucer. In the nearly empty restaurant Kate asked if she should just take a table, but the hostess told her that the whole party must be there before she can be seated. We all thought that was pretty funny. An old brick wall is adorned with pedestrian art which, in this case, is a reasonable complement to the little linoleum topped tables and chromed legged squeaky chairs.

Matt had the Lime Breakfast Bowl, brown rice topped black beans, two eggs and Chihauhau cheese, sour cream and pico de gallo served with warm tortillas, for $7.95. He added the organic steak for additional $2.50. Tina had Corn Beef Hash Skillet, home fries topped with homemade corned beef hash, topped with cheddar cheese and toast for $10.95. Kate had a combination of Quiche (garlic, mushroom, spinach and feta), and pumkin pancakes.

Tim had the Black Bean Cakes: two black bean cakes with two eggs and smothered with roasted red pepper sauce served with mixed greens, cheesy grits and dark rye toast…$8.95.

Most of the food was very good. Kate’s quiche was “ok.” Coffee was extra strong, no decaf avaiable for Kate (big minus for us). Then somehow the bill was much higher than we expected. Total bill including tax and tip was $70. Yikes! (could that be right?).

Wrapped up our outing with a long walk around Humboldt Park.