This was the first New Year's Eve in a long time that Jeremy and I were really excited about our NYE plans. Last year we hung out with our friends Josh and Diane at their place. It was a lot of fun but nothing really exciting. This year I had talked to her about kickin' it again into the 2009. Josh decided he wanted to go out for a "fancy" dinner. He checked some places out and made a reservation at ZED451 downtown Chicago. It sounded so good that our reservation ended up being for 14 people! We met at Josh and Diane's around 7 and a shuttle from the restaurant came to pick us up. The atmosphere was incredible. We hadn't even tasted any of the food yet and Jeremy had already decided this was a place we wanted to return to. Then we got to the business of eating dinner. I can't even explain to you how amazing the food was. I ate things I had tasted a thousand times before. I tasted things I had tried before and ruled out as nasty. EVERYTHING was amazing! We started out buffet style. There was a raw bar (which I did stay away from), a meat, cheese and bread bar, a dessert bar (I'll get back to that later), and so much more. We sampled a few things and thought it was all really good. Then we took the river stones out of the bowl and set them on the table. This was the signal to the chefs that we were ready for MEAT. The chefs come to your table with a tray or skewer of a particular meat. The chefs were coming so fast I couldn't eat fast enough. Everything was amazing!!! Did I already say that? Anyway, the only conversation around the table was about the food. It was so amazing! I didn't know food could even taste this good. I'm not even a huge meat fan and I LOVED this place. Jeremy ordered a second drink and that's when I thought to myself, the food is so good that I'm forgetting to drink my delicious drink. I recommend the California Crush. Finally, when we stuffed, I decided I couldn't leave without sampling everything on the dessert bar. Now keep in mind, all of the desserts are bite-sized. There were only two things on the dessert bar that I did not try. That means I came back to the table with about 10-12 bites of dessert. I can't even remember which ones were my favorite. This was by far the most amazing dining experience we've ever had! I say it again...IT WAS AMAZING!!!
After dinner, we piled back into the shuttle and went back to Josh and Diane's where we hung out for the rest of the night. We talked, danced, and sang very badly. Of course, at 11 pm I had to text all of my Michigan peeps a happy new year. We had a little champagne toast at midnight and Jeremy and I decided to head home around 1:30 am. Now we were going to take the L train home but with so many cabs and the cold weather, we hopped in a cab that would take us right to our own front door. What can I say, I'm a little bit of a wimp and it was really cold. Today, we're still talking about the amazing food at ZED451. We can't wait to go back. Anyone want to join us?
Happy New Year! Hope everyone has a healthy, happy, and wonderful 2009!
