dinner at Charlie Trotter's

Charlie Trotter's legendary restaurant in Chicago is now closed.

But before he closed up, I am one of the lucky ones who has dined at this place.

This dinner was one for the record books. Wow. Again, I dined with my pal, Dustin, who is the only other person in my life who is as enthusiastic about culinary adventures as I am. We clearly demonstrated our eagerness to be at Trotter's as soon as we walked in -- we're easy marks, I suppose.

So, we were rewarded with four ... yes, four ... desserts. Before that, we enjoyed lamb prepared sous-vide, duck and the most wonderful steak dishes.

There were many surprises at dinner. The one that stuck out to both of us was that one of the desserts was served with spicy chorizo...as in the sausage. It was a bold idea, to be sure, but it just didn't go with the ice cream as hoped for. We did eat nearly all of it, but we still didn't like it. Is that commitment to one's hobby or what?