Friday night at Crisp

If you are given the choice between staying home to watch the Numb3rs season premier or grabbing a beefed up bimbimbop at Crisp – I would recommended putting on your best regular-guy polo shirt along with your Air Jordan Pumps (retro is back) and heading over to Crisp (2940 N Broadway) .

Lincoln Park, especially North Broadway demands a little more and a little less at the same time. For that evening I chose a chipper ‘Summer’s Over’ attitude that had been serving me well for the past few days but I came across an ‘Angry Man – old lady just ran over my foot with her tricycle’ attitude that I might want to try out next time. It turns out cursing at old people in foreign languages is far more satisfying.

Chittlins showed up late so I had to improvise when I got there. I wanted to take my critique seriously so I started testing out the confortability of some of the wooden benches when I began to get looks. Crisp went with the communal sitting concept, which is great except its communal. If you’re lucky you’ll get the bench partners we did and they will spend the entire time it takes you to eat to decide what they want to order. They will look at your food and point commenting on how they think they may like your order but without the carrots because carrots are for rabbits and they would add more egg and tofu because they need the protein, they’ve been working out recently and need to double their daily intake and … f’ing Lincoln Park.

Sorry, got carried away. Chittlins finally rocked up in what I gathered was a new O’neill hoodie; it still had that pre-wash sheen. It’s the type of anonymous apparel you see guys wearing when they walk out of the theater after watching Julia & Julia on their own. I never did get a reason for his tardiness. [NOTE FROM CHITTLINS: I HAVE THE TEXT FROM TOUCANSAM THAT HE WOULD BE THERE AT 7pm...HE ARRIVED AT 6:45pm. I ARRIVED AT 7:05pm. IT IS DIFFICULT TO SEE WHICH WAY THE BLAME ARROW POINTS IN THIS CASE] We ordered. I got the Original Bad Boy Buddha with Organic Brown Rice and Tofu. It came back all covered in Sesame seeds. I hate Sesame seeds. Why don’t people put that on the menu? Sesame seeds are like Bed, Bath & Beyond coupons, tasteless.

I’ve always had bimbimbop that is served unreasonably hot, this one is served cold, as if it is a brown rice salad. Despite my complaints, it’s a solid vegetarian option. The debate however continues, do you mix a bimbimbop or eat it by vegetable? Chittlins ordered the Seoul Sensation burrito and a side of Myon’s Kimchi. The burrito was had without too much comment so I’ll take that as a recommendation. It was also not the first time Chittlins had been to Crisp and had the Korean burrito. As for the Kimchi, it is apparently good enough you’d want to eat it off the sidewalk. Walking home Chittlins tripped over a leaf and dropped his plastic container of homemade Kimchi on the sidewalk. After having to pull out and throw away at least one piece of cabbage that leaked out, my friend couldn’t bring himself to throwing out more. So it ended up where so many other rotten cabbages have…