thank you, chicago diner

holy smokes, my belly is full. we had dinner at the chicago diner tonight and it was ah-MAY-zing. as per usual, i almost shut down reading the menu, because it's so exciting to have eleventy frillion options… but eventually i zeroed in on the sweet potato quesadilla, and it did not disappoint. black beans, spinach, mashed sweet potatoes, vegan cheese, guacamole, and salsa in a spinach tortilla. YUM. it was huge, and i could only eat three-quarters of it (my husband did his best with the other piece). my husband ordered the (vegan) roast beef & cheddar, along with a salad. and a side of mac & cheeze. i was really tempted to order the sweet potato fries as an appetizer, but i reeeeally wanted to save room for dessert, so i restrained myself.

for dessert, i was dying for a pumpkin shake, because i had one there last year and i haven't shut up about it since. apparently the seasonal shake right now is ginger molasses or something or other, but when i asked about the pumpkin, our darling server said he was pretty sure they had the pumpkin ice cream kicking around and they could whip one up for me. while he researched that option, i worked on picking out my second choice (a tossup between pumpkin cocoa mousse cake and a vanilla chai shake), but then he came back and gave me wonderful news: pumpkin shake ahoy!! after a year of extremely fond memories, i was thrilled to discover that it was every bit as delicious as i remembered. good lord, you guys, seriously.

now we're trying to decide if we should return for brunch (served daily, until 3.30pm!) tomorrow or the next day. mmmmmm, vegany goodness.