This next post in the series is shamefully overdue, but finally here!

Last Saturday, my boyfriend and I defied the downtown crowds gathered for the Michigan Avenue Lights Parade and dined at The Gage. As you’ll remember from previous outings to Graham Elliot, Girl and the Goat, and the Special WINE COUNTRY! Edition; the requirements are that I don a fancy dress for a fancy dinner.

The Dress: The weather was strangely warm and a bit windy, so I chose a look I’m often found in these days…a tunic over tights or leggings with tall boots. In this instance, I’m wearing a very old (circa 2004) and cheap (I think it was $30!) tunic from H&M with black scrolling on a solid taupe background. I paired the tunic with a black camisole, opaque black tights, a brass bead necklace from Forever 21, and my new black boots from Enzo Angiolini. I also brought along my black oversized Coach clutch and wore my black “walking” coat.

Now that I look back at my outfit again, even though it was comfortable and easy to wear, I wish I’d worn something fancier to show you. The truth is though, I really wanted to wear those boots!

The Dinner: The Gage on South Michigan Avenue and just across the street from Grant Park. I’d been once before with Fancy and we had a lovely dinner. During this visit, the dining room was just as bustling and loud as I remember. The menu has since changed though and the tart that was so memorable is now nowhere to be found.

Nonetheless, my boyfriend and I sampled five separate dishes designed to be shared, and forewent the pricier “fourth” entrée options. Descriptions of each follow and the photos are included in the gallery below.

• Seared Fair Haven sea scallops served with pickled jalapeno, bacon, apple cider, and cilantro on top of a pile of spaghetti squash. The scallops were seared well, but the spaghetti squash- while an interesting texture- proved difficult to eat as it didn’t wind round a fork as a noodle would and didn’t cut well either.
• The tuna tartare special in olive oil with arugula, Chimichurri sauce, and an aioli I didn’t catch the name of. They provided baked crackers with sea salt to eat the tartare with, however, what the tuna really needed was a bit of spice. Wasabi would have helped!
• “Three Rivers Greens” with dried cherries, pistachio, blue cheese, and a sweet sherry vinaigrette. I picked around the greens as they are no friend to my digestion and ate the cheese crumbles, dried cherries, and walnuts instead. While the salad was tasty, there was far too much! The portion size here was ridiculous in comparison to everything else we were served.
• The mussels proved a very popular choice restaurant-wide and were the highlight of the meal for me. I quickly devoured them and made a mess of my plate with the pastel orange curry infused “Vindaloo” sauce they were served in.
• The grilled Wagyu sirloin in a smoked shallot vinaigrette and was served with its own bit of mixed greens, apple slices, radishes, and aged cheddar.

The Verdict: The meal was adequate, the bill was $130 with gratuity, the wine list is better if you buy a bottle (your choices by the glass are severely limited, I’m afraid), and the service…the service was this Dressing for Dinner outing’s undoing. Whereas the water refills were abundant, our waiter abandoned our table for upwards of 25 minutes from the time the mixed greens salad was removed from the table and the mussels and sirloin finally appeared. In fact, I wondered if we could simply cancel the order and leave as we were already fairly full from the other offerings.

In the end, we declined to look at the dessert menu and left without much fanfare. With so many other restaurants to try, and indeed so many others where service is more reliable, I don’t see us returning to The Gage anytime soon. That said, I can hardly see them hurting for it as they are exceedingly popular (likely owing to their location) with tourists, business travelers, and even the pre-theater and Symphony going crowds.

Filed under: city encounters, dressing for dinner, educating the masses, poor choices, questionable attire, shoes by Nic