One of the things I love about my job is all of the extra perks we get. Most people seem to appreciate all of the hard work educators do, and Naperville teachers get serious discounts at many area shops and restaurants, when we show our teacher IDs. Every once in a while, a new place will be added. Greg and I love eating out, but we have what one would call "champagne taste on a beer budget." (Although neither one of us drinks champagne. We do drink wine, though, so I could say that we have fancy wine tastes on a boxed wine budget. Or I could stop using cliches. Either way.) My employee perks allow us to eat at very nice restaurants while not breaking the bank.
For Mother's Day last week, Greg took me (and Nick, of course) to "Heaven on Seven," a New Orleans themed restaurant in downtown Naperville. (This restaurant gives a 25% discount for teachers!) They have bottles of hot sauce lining the walls, and mardi gras beads hanging all over the place. Really neat paintings of New Orleans line the brick walls, and the food is unique and just a bit spicy. We went there a few times while I was pregnant with Nick, because we had childbirth classes at Edward. So we'd stop and get a bite to eat before learning to huff and puff and push that baby out. (Although I suppose all of those classes were for nothing, since after twelve hours of back labor and no dialation, they knocked me out and did a C-section. But anyway. . .)
We did go with a reservation, since it was a Saturday night around 7 p.m. We only had to wait about five minutes, even though the place was super-crowded. Usually it might bother me when a restaurant is super noisy, but I was glad for the background noise because Nick was being extra-loud. He wasn't mad; in fact, he was quite chipper, considering we had him out so late. No, he was just singing. . . and yelling. . . and throwing his food happily across the table. The other diners didn't seem to mind. There was a bachlorette party and a couple of groups of adults being far louder than our toddler.
The food was very good. I always order a jalepeno corn muffin, which is simply amazing with honey butter smeared all over it. Greg had steak, but I had the prime rib. I love prime rib. My mouth is watering just remembering it. It comes on a bed of garlic mashed potatoes. It came with gumbo, which was just perfect. Nick even ate a bite or two. I also ordered mixed veggies on the side to share with Nick, but those came undercooked and covered in something so spicy that Nick spit a piece of broccoli across the table at me and tried to scrape his tongue with his fingers.
Overall, it was a really nice dinner. We're going to have to go back sometime soon. Perhaps the next time I get a craving for something a little spicy.
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