Strangers and Shoe Shines

Prime and Provisions

222 N. LaSalle St., Chicago

(312) 726-7776

primeandprovisions.com

Meets Goodman and Adelman were the first two to arrive and took a table near the bar, where the Cubs proceeded to lose a playoff game on a nearby TV.  Meets Mullen and Levy attended soon after. 

Levy and Adelman got into their usual patter, with Levy asking for small favors under the table.  Adelman suggested a new entry into the ‘Rolodex of Love’.

The Stranger is a move by which you sit on your hand (whichever one you toss off with) until it gets numb.  Once the numbness sets in, you start the self-abuse.  It’s supposed to feel like someone other than yourself is twanging your wire.

 

The attending Meets will inform me of their respective experience with this.  Now back to our meal.

Our server, Roxy, was attentive and kept our tumblers full throughout the night, not once having to wait for a refill.

We opted away from the usual seafood starters and took on some Thick-cut Bacon and Fried Chicken with a chili Bourbon Maple glaze for dipping.  The winner at the table was the chicken by a landslide, fried to perfection with a crispy, tooth-cracking skin of greasy love.  To a man, the Meets agreed that the only other thing that was needed was a side of waffles… and a bowl of the Bourbon Maple Glaze.

When it came to the meat, the cuts were satisfactory.  However, Mullen found his Bone-In Ribeye to be overcooked, closer to a medium than medium rare.

  

Prime and Provisions does have a game changer with the roasted garlic on the side, ready for smothering over our respective cuts.  Goodman took full advantage of this, extracting every last oily clove, smothering it on every bite of his 10-ounce filet, leaving an exhausted garlic carcass on his plate.

A dessert of Peanut Butter and Whipped Milk Chocolate Pie was buttery smooth and absolutely ravaged by all Meets.

Aside from familiarizing ourselves with The Stranger, the highlight of the night occurred post-meal as a derelict approached us outside at the valet stand, offering shoe shines and his own brand of gospel.  The man was ‘saved’ from the evils of drugs and gangs, choosing the straight and narrow path.

Meet Mullen, the most charitable of the Meets, obliged himself to a shoe shine from the man, with little regard for the lack of small bills in his fold.  Long story short, Mullen’s charitable nature cost him $40 for a shine that probably involved nothing more than wipe down with water and vinegar.