Whining and Dining

Though I'm not usually one to frequent your your run of the mill franchised dining establishments, on Friday night Garrett and ended up at Mimi's Cafe. Shut up! Don't judge me, their French Onion Soup kicks ass and means I don't have to spend hours in my kitchen in tears slicing onions and then caramelizing them (although I did get new soup crocs for my birthday and I am dying to use them!) Um, Quick sidebar: I'm pretty sure all of my birthday presents involved food or the preparation of food, is that weird? Wait, don't answer that.
Anyway, back to Mimi's...Our meal was only ok, but I have to say the environment was what was most entertaining and almost a bit Twilight Zone-ish. Did you know that the only people who go to Mimi's on a Friday night are members of the Red Hat Society and men and women who are meeting their Internet Blind Dates for the first time? Well it's true. And although the last one made for great people watching, I can't say I'm dying to go back there on a Friday night -- oh and did I mention the parking lot smelled like sewage? Yeah, so if you are interested in that, you should really head over there pronto. Me, not so much.

On the other hand I am quite interested in eating at the following three places, in no particular order. Not only do I have coupons but they're NEW! And who doesn't love new restaurants? Well okay, not all of them are new, but at least new to downtown:

*Chicago Fire - okay so it's not new -- anyone who has had a drunken night at Powerhouse Pub in Folsom knows of the delights that are Chicago Fire Pizza, but now instead of the trek to Folsom, there is one on J Street. Yay. That one is a bit more in walking distance, if you know what I mean. On a totally unrelated note, did you know that you can have the World Famous Giorodano's Pizza in Chicago overnight you a pizza in dry ice for only $16? My God, I love the internet!

*Stonegrill and Bar - Okay, so I pretty much HEART Nishiki Sushi, and since they are the masterminds behind this restaurant, I am definitely interested in giving it a chance. And cooking on stones? Ok, maybe. That could be fun. But did I mention I have a coupon for a free entree? FREE. DINNER. That did it. Now I'm definitely interested in giving it a chance. The weird part though, check out the "menu" section on their website. I hope they're using that term loosely...Pretty informative, eh? And no I'm not from Canada, so shut up.

*Three Monkeys - The idea that they serve Modern American Cuisine, Sushi, and have a "Saloon" has sort of piqued my curiosity. How are the owners going to get these ideas together under one roof succesfully? And do they hang out with Guy Fieri eating Rock-n-Roll Sushi/BBQ on the weekends? Because I think we all know how that turned out...

Any other must-eats that you recommend?