Chicago: Lula Cafe
After my friend's triumphant return from a day of interviewing for med school, we headed to Logan Square to celebrate with a girls' night out. (Then again, what night isn't a girls' night out?) Though we were incredibly late (sorry roomie!), we met up with my roommate at Lula Cafe:
After we placed our order, we were brought an amuse bouche to start with. For the life of me I cannot remember what was in that spoonful. There was dill and cauliflower for sure...and possibly some water chestnut and Asian pear. Sigh. Old age. My memory isn't quite what it used to be:
I've been wanting to check out Lula Cafe for a long time now. Their brunch is supposed to be fabulous. I don't know quite what I was expecting, but definitely not this casual yet upscale feel:
Though after seeing the prices for the entrées, I shouldn't have been all that surprised:
Though after seeing the prices for the entrées, I shouldn't have been all that surprised:
After we placed our order, we were brought an amuse bouche to start with. For the life of me I cannot remember what was in that spoonful. There was dill and cauliflower for sure...and possibly some water chestnut and Asian pear. Sigh. Old age. My memory isn't quite what it used to be:
It was an interesting mouthful that reminded me of autumn. If that makes any sense at all.
We were really curious about the baked French feta:
None of us had ever heard of a baked feta dish before. The feta came topped with basil oil, olives, marinated pepper, red onion, and cucumber. Spread on the bread...it was amazing.
None of us had ever heard of a baked feta dish before. The feta came topped with basil oil, olives, marinated pepper, red onion, and cucumber. Spread on the bread...it was amazing.
The three of us decided to split two entrées. We're all lamb lovers, so the roasted leg of lamb with puy lentils provencal was an obvious choice:
The lamb was encrusted in this crunchy breadcrumb-like casing and cooked to the perfect tenderness.
Out of the other options, the cavatelli with red wine braised octopus, oxtail, preserved lemon, sweet potato, currants, and saffron breadcrumbs sounded most interesting to us:
The cavatelli had the same texture as the octopus and while that was rather neat, the octopus got a little lost in the dish. So did the oxtail, for that matter. Due to the dim lighting, I'm not even sure if I'd gotten any shredded oxtail in my serving.
No celebration is complete without dessert. My friend picked the pumpkin tiramisu with creme fraiche, apple ginger compote, and sesame tuille:
Pumpkin and tiramisu happens to be two of her favorite things...and two of my least favorite. But hey, I'm open to trying everything. This particular tiramisu didn't have any of the alcoholic taste that I generally abhor about tiramisu. The texture itself was also slightly different. I especially enjoyed the fried pieces of pumpkin seed in the apple ginger compote.
After dinner we headed down the block to Longman & Eagle, where my roommate introduced my friend to her favorite bartender in Chicago. Overall, the night was a good way to celebrate a good friend.
Dinner at Lula Cafe is a bit too pricey in my opinion, but I still want to come try their brunch.
Lula Cafe
2537 N Kedzie Blvd
Chicago, IL 60647
(773) 489-9554
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