Bette’s Birthday 2008 – Hyatt, Tri-Delta

For her birthday, Bette wanted to go to the Green Zebra, a nouveau-vegetarian restaurant in River West Chicago. We heard about it, seen on Check Please, and talked about with friends, none of whom had anything bad to say. Sign me up!

Sara, Bette and I headed down on Wednesday afternoon on Metra, overstuffed heavy hanging bag in hand. Hanging bags are very hard to manage when overstufffed — bulky! Bette was attending the Delta Delta Delta convention at the Hyatt Regency Chicago, so we were staying overnight. Sara had to work the next day, so she was training back.

Since it was holiday weekend, the $5 passes were for sale. The train is so nice for going downtown. The Hyatt is a good 1.5 miles from the train, and there was no way I was carrying the bag that far without a shopping cart. So we hopped in a cab with a dour driver and were there in a few minutes.

We checked in, while I got over my feeling of deja-vu from being there the previous week for the Tufte seminar. We moved over to the assistant manager check-in desk since Bette’s Tri-Delta pals had only signed her up for one night, but things were settled, and we headed up to 2330. It overlooked the river and we could see the new Trump tower, Wrigley building, and other places. Nice room. I changed, Sara worked on her newly shorn locks for a few hours.

Plan A was to go to Chellie and Alberto’s new place, and check it out. Bette checked in with Chellie, and they were in the middle of finding a repair service to fix their A/C. So we would head over there after dinner. Plan B was the Big Bar downstairs.

Sara had been here before, and we pulled up to a table, noticing it was REAL hot there. I took off my sport coat and noticed the table was warm to the touch — maybe the sun was on it all morning, it was now cloudy. We ordered a large Cosmopolitan for $24. Well, it was large! It was a large martini glass about 1 foot tall and 8 inches in diameter with three straws. (No backwash!). Needless to say we were all a little tipsy leaving. And it was still early!

Had a little challenge getting a cab — waited too long, and the evening rush had started, soaking up most of the cabs that had been dawdling outside. We found one, called Chellie to warn her we were on the way, and called the restaurant to warn them we were late, and to expect Gemma, who is usually very punctual. As a matter of fact, she was already there!

We stopped at Chellie’s on Franklin to pick up her brother Brad who, a football player and big guy, would not fit into the back of Alberto’s Miata. 5 minutes later we were down Chicago Ave and at the Green Zebra.

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