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dorchadas
In 2024, Joe Hisaishi--and I just learned today that his stage name's given name is actually 譲, fortuitously for English-speaking audiences pronounced jō--came through Chicago to conduct a concert of his music put on by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. At the time, we didn't have a lot of money and ![[instagram.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/profile_icons/instagram.png)
sashagee's health was really bad, so I didn't get tickets--by the time I actually felt comfortable buying, any seat that would have been reasonable had been snapped up by scalpers and I would have had to pay close to $1000 to go. So when we missed it, I thought that was that and we had lost our only chance. Imagine my surprise when CSO emailed me that there was going to be another performance, and this time we had the money to buy tickets (still expensive but not four figures expensive). So, we did:
The concert was lovely! I hadn't realized that Hisaishi composed symphonies of his own, though it's obvious in retrospect--one movie every couple years isn't enough to get all the creative juices out. The pre-intermission section of the program was "Symphony #2," which included a movement based on a Japanese children's song that I almost recognized. I did recognize the motif that occurred multiple times through all of Hisaishi's work, though--you can hear it here, near the end of Mononoke-Hime. There were four movements and it took about forty minutes all told, after which Hisaishi bowed, walked off stage, and the lights came up.
The second half was his movie work, featuring the Laputa: Castle in the Sky main theme with a trumpet soloist and a medley from Spirited Away that included all the hits. When Hisaishi left to a standing ovation and came back for the inevitable encore, we heard the first notes of the ending theme from My Neighbor Totoro ring out, and I looked down and saw a seven or eight year old girl being held aloft by her grandfather and waving a Totoro plush almost as big as she was. When the concert ended and the last bow had been taken, Hisaishi walked off stage and the lights came on once again. He never said a word--normal for orchestra concerts, but I still was expecting maybe a brief speech after the intermission. We got some piano playing from him, though, it wasn't all conducting, and a neat moment when they lowered the conductor's podium on an elevator down below the stage and then it came back up with a piano.
The concert was great! The only disadvantage was that since I bought seats on the very edge of the balcony, my legs were too long to fit into the available space and I ended up having to sit at an angle to be able to fit. Next time we go to the symphony I'll make sure to get seats on a lower level.
I usually go to The Gage before going to the symphony, but this time when I went to go make a reservation there wasn't anything available after 3:45 p.m., so I went and checked Ema, since I knowsashagee really likes it. They had a bar seat at 5 p.m., so at 4 p.m., a few hours after Poppa came to pick up Laila, we got dressed up and went to Ema. We were a little worried they were going to seat us at the front bar, but they actually seated us at the back bar, where there was a wall behind it to muffle the noise and no one else seated there (at least when we were first seated). It wasn't exactly what sashagee but it was much better than she feared.
Greek Village: romaine, tomato, cucumber, kalamata olive, feta, red pepper, dijon vinaigrette.
sashagee got this because she loves Greek salads but we were not expecting this. I wouldn't even count those little scraps as "romaine," honestly, and tomato should have been listed at least six times since it was the majority of the salad. sashagee isn't a bit tomato lover so I ended up eating most of them, but we each took our chunk of feta and otherwise split the salad.
Not visible in the picture but there were some smaller green bits in here with a spongy appearance inside that we couldn't figure out what they were.sashagee didn't like them so I got to eat those too. Overall, tasty but really not what we were expecting. I'm remembering the quote I saw about restaurants feeling like they have to jazz up even old food standards to justify the cost, and this definitely seems like a case of that.
Faroe Islands Salmon: sweet pepper, red onion, lemon, olive oil, zhoug.
Good old zhug. Everybody loves zhug.
The big problem with fish in restaurants is that it's often tasteless and relying on the sauce to carry it. This is especially a problem with whitefish but I've had that problem with other fish too, which is why I was glad that this salmon actually tasted like salmon. The zhug was good, too, but I didn't save it for the fish, I used some of it with the dill rice, which I ate all of (sashagee did not, she was saving room for dessert). I'm always nervous before I get restaurant fish but I've been on a hot streak recently.
Slow Cheetah: dos hombres mezcal, fresno chile, pineapple, lime, coriander.
I ordered this after I saw some other people at the bar with it, based on the pineapple. It was sweet and spicy, a lovely compliment to the fish--it wouldn't have been good with the salad but I ordered it after I had finished that. When I pulled the pineapple out at the end and started eating it, the bartender said that was one of his favorite things on the menu. And honestly, I should eat more spicy pineapple.
Not pictured: Triple Chocolate Torte: milk & white chocolate mousse, dark chocolate ganache, and Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta: orange blossom granita, rosemary meringue. We each got them and split them in half. The white chocolate mousse in the torte was a delicious surprise, in that I knew it was there but I didn't realize I would like it so much. I didn't expect to like the panna cotta as much as I did either, but all the fruit piled on top of it mixed with the vanilla was delicious. Honestly I'd come here for just drinks and dessert, which we saw two couples at the bar do. Worth it, especially since the cocktails are still $16-18 and haven't made the $20+ jump like so many places in the city have.
sashagee's health was really bad, so I didn't get tickets--by the time I actually felt comfortable buying, any seat that would have been reasonable had been snapped up by scalpers and I would have had to pay close to $1000 to go. So when we missed it, I thought that was that and we had lost our only chance. Imagine my surprise when CSO emailed me that there was going to be another performance, and this time we had the money to buy tickets (still expensive but not four figures expensive). So, we did:The concert was lovely! I hadn't realized that Hisaishi composed symphonies of his own, though it's obvious in retrospect--one movie every couple years isn't enough to get all the creative juices out. The pre-intermission section of the program was "Symphony #2," which included a movement based on a Japanese children's song that I almost recognized. I did recognize the motif that occurred multiple times through all of Hisaishi's work, though--you can hear it here, near the end of Mononoke-Hime. There were four movements and it took about forty minutes all told, after which Hisaishi bowed, walked off stage, and the lights came up.
The second half was his movie work, featuring the Laputa: Castle in the Sky main theme with a trumpet soloist and a medley from Spirited Away that included all the hits. When Hisaishi left to a standing ovation and came back for the inevitable encore, we heard the first notes of the ending theme from My Neighbor Totoro ring out, and I looked down and saw a seven or eight year old girl being held aloft by her grandfather and waving a Totoro plush almost as big as she was. When the concert ended and the last bow had been taken, Hisaishi walked off stage and the lights came on once again. He never said a word--normal for orchestra concerts, but I still was expecting maybe a brief speech after the intermission. We got some piano playing from him, though, it wasn't all conducting, and a neat moment when they lowered the conductor's podium on an elevator down below the stage and then it came back up with a piano.
The concert was great! The only disadvantage was that since I bought seats on the very edge of the balcony, my legs were too long to fit into the available space and I ended up having to sit at an angle to be able to fit. Next time we go to the symphony I'll make sure to get seats on a lower level.
I usually go to The Gage before going to the symphony, but this time when I went to go make a reservation there wasn't anything available after 3:45 p.m., so I went and checked Ema, since I know
sashagee really likes it. They had a bar seat at 5 p.m., so at 4 p.m., a few hours after Poppa came to pick up Laila, we got dressed up and went to Ema. We were a little worried they were going to seat us at the front bar, but they actually seated us at the back bar, where there was a wall behind it to muffle the noise and no one else seated there (at least when we were first seated). It wasn't exactly what sashagee but it was much better than she feared.Greek Village: romaine, tomato, cucumber, kalamata olive, feta, red pepper, dijon vinaigrette.
sashagee got this because she loves Greek salads but we were not expecting this. I wouldn't even count those little scraps as "romaine," honestly, and tomato should have been listed at least six times since it was the majority of the salad. sashagee isn't a bit tomato lover so I ended up eating most of them, but we each took our chunk of feta and otherwise split the salad. Not visible in the picture but there were some smaller green bits in here with a spongy appearance inside that we couldn't figure out what they were.
sashagee didn't like them so I got to eat those too. Overall, tasty but really not what we were expecting. I'm remembering the quote I saw about restaurants feeling like they have to jazz up even old food standards to justify the cost, and this definitely seems like a case of that.Faroe Islands Salmon: sweet pepper, red onion, lemon, olive oil, zhoug.
Good old zhug. Everybody loves zhug.
The big problem with fish in restaurants is that it's often tasteless and relying on the sauce to carry it. This is especially a problem with whitefish but I've had that problem with other fish too, which is why I was glad that this salmon actually tasted like salmon. The zhug was good, too, but I didn't save it for the fish, I used some of it with the dill rice, which I ate all of (
sashagee did not, she was saving room for dessert). I'm always nervous before I get restaurant fish but I've been on a hot streak recently.Slow Cheetah: dos hombres mezcal, fresno chile, pineapple, lime, coriander.
I ordered this after I saw some other people at the bar with it, based on the pineapple. It was sweet and spicy, a lovely compliment to the fish--it wouldn't have been good with the salad but I ordered it after I had finished that. When I pulled the pineapple out at the end and started eating it, the bartender said that was one of his favorite things on the menu. And honestly, I should eat more spicy pineapple.
Not pictured: Triple Chocolate Torte: milk & white chocolate mousse, dark chocolate ganache, and Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta: orange blossom granita, rosemary meringue. We each got them and split them in half. The white chocolate mousse in the torte was a delicious surprise, in that I knew it was there but I didn't realize I would like it so much. I didn't expect to like the panna cotta as much as I did either, but all the fruit piled on top of it mixed with the vanilla was delicious. Honestly I'd come here for just drinks and dessert, which we saw two couples at the bar do. Worth it, especially since the cocktails are still $16-18 and haven't made the $20+ jump like so many places in the city have.
