Mindy, Evanston and a deli

So I take off from work around 4 p.m. and begin the drive down 90, then north on 294 for a few minutes, before a long drive east on Dempster. For dinner, I thought about Flat Top Grill, or a local Asian place (Evanston is littered with those). Maybe Tommy Nevin's, a local Irish pub. But on Mom's recommendation, I went with Kauffman's deli in Skokie. Since Skokie is a very Jewish town and has a famous bakery, it seemed like a good idea. I went with the the NJ bypass special, a double decker loaded with hot pastrami and corned beef and I added Swiss cheese and brown mustard on caraway rye bread. But they have four different cuts of corned beef, a fattier cut and two leaner cuts, something I had never seen before. And good job by the staff, throwing in free pickle spears. The only thing missing was cans of Dr. Brown's soda. Most Jewish delis carry them. I remember at Harold's, Katz's, or on the 86th St in Brooklyn, Dad would always go with the diet black cherry, I was fine with root beer. In his case, I went with Coke and BBQ chips.

The sandwich wasn't as huge as I thought it might be, so I finished it pretty easily. I liked the grainy mustard as well as there being several slices of cheese. The meat was very juicy, not too much seasoning, so I added some black pepper.

As I was eating at this tiny countertop in the bakery section of the deli, this woman comes from behind the bakery and places something wrapped in plastic next to me. I thanked her and took a look as she walked away. It was a brownie, so since I'm no chocolate guy, I took it to go. As I scoured the numerous shelves in the bakery, I noticed this golden brown twisting stick. I asked what it was and they told me it was a puff pastry, I can't remember the exact name. But they gave me one for free and I enjoyed it. Of course, I walked out with a dozen bagels as well! Just a shame they had already run out of rye bagels.

So then I headed 5 miles east into Evanston. I parked in a Jewel Osco, and there aren't many space to grab, about a block down the street from SPACE. I thought it was pretty cool that the Jewel Osco had a Whole Foods right across the street from it. So since I hadn't spent much time in Evanston before, I walked north on Chicago Ave and around the city for about a half hour. I was struck by how much it felt like a major city. A lot of high-rise buildings, fancy restaurants, a lot of very unique architecture. The gothic look of many of the churches caught my eye as well. It felt like Boston, to an extent. It was just a bit nippy out, I did have to tuck my hands inside my Jets jacket.

Eventually, I walked back into the building that includes SPACE as well as the Union pizzeria. The place was already mobbed and I spotted 2 empty seats out of 30 at the U-shaped bar. Well, one empty seat, some corporate dude had one reserved for his laptop. I don't know, maybe the computer had been overworked and it needed a rest, whatever. So I took a seat, next to this one woman, who immediately offered me a slice of her Neapolitan pizza, which included shrimp, pineapple, cilantro, and jalapenos. I can handle spicy, but these peppers were really hot! I felt the burn for at least five minutes after just that one slice! And this girl was from Texas, so I guess she is used to that kind of thing.

So we chatted for maybe 45 minutes about work, my Kentucky trip, her kid, heat in Texas vs Illinois, etc. I guess she's an occupational therapist and is in town for 10 days for a conference. Around 7, I got in line for the show. I got a GA ticket, and got a spot off to the side about 8 feet from the stage. I chatted with a few couples around me, most of whom had never seen Mindy Smith perform live. Unlike the show in DeKalb, where she had a full band, she did this show alone, with just an acoustic guitar.

Set list
1. Out Loud
2. What Went Wrong
3. Highs and Lows
4. Raggedy Ann
5. Hurricane
6. Love Lost
7. If I Didn't Know Any Better
8. What Love Can Do
9. One Moment More
10. Tennessee
11. Fighting For It All
12. Jolene

Encore

13. Ahead of Myself
14. Santa Will Find You
15. Long Island Shores
16. Come to Jesus

There were plenty of guitar tuning issues, but whatever. The best part was one drunk in the back calling for "Jolene." Mindy mutters "Ugh, I have to sing about that bitch again!" For songs, I was hoping, but didn't expect to hear "Surface" and I didn't.

I would have liked to have stayed and chatted with her again, but with 200 people packing the room, I felt the night had lasted long enough. I took off at 10:45 and got in home just before midnight.