asian flare and a sweet ending

Is there anything better than a good night with a great friend, good food, and amazing conversation? I’m going to go with no.

After work today, I met up with Lauren so we could do a little retail therapy and go out to dinner (our favorite pastime). Lauren needed a few new outfits for some of her new jobs, so we hit up Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg. I never typically go that that mall, so it was fun to walk around there for a while. Although as I was telling Lauren, it is incredibly easy to get lost in there. You can see a store, you can have a plan as to how you’re going to get there, and instead you end up on a completely different floor than you were going to. It’s a maze.

After we shopped for a while, we joined the senior citizens for an early dinner. Lauren suggested we go to Big Bowl, a restaurant I had never heard of before. Big Bowl is a Lettuce Entertain You restaurant and has an Asian theme – most dishes are either Thai or Chinese. Big Bowl is different from the rest – they are committed to buying local ingredients and naturally raised meat. I can tell you one thing – you can tell the quality of their ingredients is superb. The food speaks for itself.

Upon arriving, I asked the hostesses if I could have a gluten free menu. I was pleasantly surprised there were a handful of vegetarian gluten free options (doesn’t happen too often), and Lauren and I quickly agreed on an appetizer.

We ordered the Summer Spring Rolls, which were filled with fresh vegetables, wrapped in rice paper, and served with a spicy chili sauce on the side. Both of us agreed that this sauce made the appetizer. It had a bite, but wasn’t so spicy it left our mouths burning. This appetizer was gone quite quickly.

For my main dish, I ordered the Vegetable with Tofu Pad Thai.

Don’t be deceived by this picture. After sharing some with Lauren and putting a major dent in it myself, I still have about half left for some much anticipated leftovers. This dish was wonderful. It was a rice noodle base willed with tofu, egg, beans and coated with a light peanut sauce. Apparently I wanted some heat tonight though because I coated this dish with the chili sauce our server brought to the table.

Just looking at that picture makes me want to eat my leftovers for breakfast.

Big Bowl is definitely a place I would love to go to again. The service was great, the food was wonderful, and it would appease so many different palates. Great choice, Lauren!

After dinner, my date and I decided it would be an awesome idea to go get frozen yogurt in 20 degree weather.

sidenote – when I got home, I swore to myself that I left my cashmere scarf at Red Mango. After I frantically texted Lauren, I discovered I had hung it up in the closet five seconds before the freak out. ::sigh:: I need more sleep.

We could literally see the Red Mango sign from our table at Big Bowl, so we headed over there shortly after our food digested. We’re both sampling queens, so after we carefully decided on what flavors to get, we made our desserts.

Red Velvet and Vanilla frozen yogurt with a plethora of toppings – including (but not limited to): pomegranate arils, strawberries, coconut, chocolate chips, strawberry fruit bursts, mochi, and a lone peanut butter cup.

This definitely hit the spot.

After, we parted ways, but not after setting another date! I am loving having this girl so close to me. I am definitely going to enjoy this time she is here to the fullest.

Question: What is your favorite activity to do with friends?

Tagged as: big bowl schaumburg, friends, frozen yogurt, gluten free menu, lauren say what you need to say, pad thai, red mango, shopping