Chicago! Seriously, my kind of town

What's not to love about this city in May? The weather is perfect, people are everywhere and the bars? SLAMMED! People come out in this city!

Last night I had the great experience of going to Sushi Samba on Wells in the city. Can there be this many pretty people in one location? Standing room only, forced my buddy and I to eat at the bar, which, when eating with chop sticks can be lethal as people are bumping into me and I'm stabbing various parts of my face. You want unusual sushi, you have to stop by this place. Bring a clear credit card, cause pretty people eat expensive sushi, but it's well worth it. I had a Kobe Beef roll, which was lobster on the inside and kobe beef on the outside. Are you kidding me? Just typing this makes me want to order in! I could eat this for breakfast! Amazing. It was also $18.00. Did I mention I travel on an expense account?

Ok, this is a vokda column, so let me get to that. The bartender, one "Clint" a handsome chap, who has been a bartender there for 2 1/2 years and I can understand why. He was amazing. He strongly suggested that I have one of his Vodka-based mojitos and I'm glad I did. The wizard squeezed, shook, strained and poured in less than 30 seconds and I had one hell of a great drink. Sour at first, but with a strong minty finish, this was a perfect match to our sushi. He made it with Chopin since they didn't carry Zodiac. it was awesome.

This is night one of 5 in Chicago. Look for more before I head back to Dallas!!

The True Magic of Vodka

I witnessed the power of Vodka last night. In Chicago, for the Restaurant Show, one of the biggest conventions in the world. 100,000 new people in town for one show. Anyway, it becomes a "Hump Fest" to see which company can outspend the other company to try and get the most Buyers out on the town. And what a town it is. Fishbowl, an online marketing company, started off the weekend right: they rented out the House of Blues. Shut it down and invited 300 VIP guests. So, while it's no Red Carpet, in the restaurant business, it's the Who's Who.

Now...feed the masses vodka.

Next thing you know, you have the CEO of this company locked in a showdown with the Food Manager of a competing company in a Battle of Geriatric Guitar Hero. And let me tell you, both are into it. Gray hair flying, somehow CEO boy has rediscovered his youth and is competely rocking out to "Hit you like a Hurricane" by the Scorpions. One look at this guy rolling back and forth and suddenly I need a drink myself. Martini please!

As I get to the bar, of course it's sponsored by one of the giant vodka companies and they have this contraption: at the top of a giant ice sculpture, there are two very nice looking young ladies, one has a litre size bottle of Skyy Vodka, the other has either Pomegranate or Prickly Pear "Finest Call" mixes. You get to choose. I pick Pomegranate, well of course, it's the Healthy Shot. They both begin pouring, in different holes, the product runs thru this very cool path on the inside of the sculpture and they have this mid-ice collision and then out comes your shot, red of course, chilled perfectly. A few of those and suddenly I want to talk politics.

Everywhere I turn, people are playing trivia games (What's the name of Maddonna's first book?) eating pretzels with rock and roll pepper on them, and just laughing. It's the bar. the bar made them do it. And what is one out of every 4 drinks made from: Vodka. Vodka made them do it