"Real" chocolate blog.

No blogging for a while, got things to do. Will resume on Sunday or Monday, MLK Day according to federal three-day weekend style. I have proper admiration for Dr. King's work, but why couldn't he have been born late April, when we need another holiday to break up the calendar? Or even between July 4 and Labor Day?

Had lunch at Petterino's today, an downtown establishment next to the new -- a few years old now -- Goodman Theater, across from the Daley Center, right in the heart of the Loop. Petterino's came on line with the new theater, but I hadn't gotten around to trying it. It was a business lunch with Kevin D. and some others, fairly pleasant. The walleye I had was first-rate, served in a sauce that... was first-rate too, whatever was in it. I wasn't born to be a gourmet, but a gourmand.

The waitress persuaded us to examine the dessert menu. It's a hard sell at a business lunch these days; dessert is out of style, too decadent for hard-driving business types, a suspect in the swelling obesity crisis, blah, blah, blah. On the dessert menu I noticed "Real" Chocolate Pudding -- which was styled exactly that way.

We decided to order dessert.

I asked the waitress: "Why does 'real' have quotes around it?"

"Because it's real. We make it from scratch."

"But quote marks mean it isn't real."

Slightly confused look. Then she regained her composure. "It's real all right. And it's good chocolate."

Without further bothering the waitress, I ordered it. It came in a latte cup, or some small cup usually associated with Continental styles of coffee. Whipped cream on top adorned with bits o' chocolate, and a real good chocolate pudding in the cup.