Drinks with former co-workers

I knew Don would pick someplace unique. How could a place that bills itself as "America's most beautiful restaurant and pizzeria featuring our world famous pizza and homemade Italian, Mexican and American foods" not be unique? Especially when it's "filled with the largest collection of turn-of-the-century antiques in the United States"?

To back up, I met up with former coworkers Don M.F.H. and Tom McP for dinner two weeks ago at a place called Gulliver's. I hadn't seen Don since he left Press Publications (then subsequently moved to the East Coast) back in 1999, and I hadn't seen Tom since before I moved (all-too-briefly) to San Francisco in 2000.

Don and I have kept in contact through our blogs and an occasional email, so when he visited Chicago this time, we made sure we connected in person.

Don and Tom are both confirmed urbanites, so I didn't bother pushing too hard to meet out in the suburbs. Plus, I figured this was Don's old stomping grounds, so he had to have some interesting restaurants to choose from. He didn't disappoint. Gulliver's has a really cool atmosphere, with a standout feature beings the dozens and dozens and dozens (or scores and scores and scores, if you prefer) of antique light fixtures overhead. The pizza wasn't half-bad either.

What really surprised me though, was even after all these years, Don, Tom and I had a lot to discuss, and very little of it was reminiscing about the good-old-days. (For a recap, check out Don's blog.)

When I worked at the newspaper, I saw (easily) more than 100 people come and go through the newsroom over the years. I've often wondered what those people are up to now. (See previous entries for Nick P. and Mike Siegel.) If you know me from the Press Publications days, feel free to drop me a line.

As for Don and Tom, it's been fun keeping in touch with them. And I hope that next time Don's in town, he tries to connect again. Perhaps he'll pick one of those Indian restaurants on Devon Avenue, or we could head back to the neighborhood in downtown Elmhurst.