When my friend Jeff and I get together for one of our “Man Dates” two things can be safely assumed, a) we are going to get in a long workout which will be followed by b) a huge meal. Jeff will often take the Red Line after work to the Howard Station where he can easily transfer to the Skokie Yellow Line. I receive the same text every time when he’s getting close to the Howard Station signaling to me that I should make my way over to pick him up about 15 minutes later. Occasionally we’ll change the location of our workout and I’ll drive to the city and meet Jeff at his apartment after work, but the structure of the evening remains pretty much the same every time.

Once we are together we hit the gym for a torturous workout where we completely disregard our bodies, coping with the pain by telling stories and planning the meal that will follow in between sets. After a couple hours of weight lifting we often enjoy a steam and grab a shower before making our way over to our food destination of choice. Two examples of our favorite post-workout meals are, a) indulging in large pizzas (pepperoni with black olives for Jeff and sausage for me) from Barnaby’s or b) grabbing a couple double orders of bbq wings and multiple cheese fries from Buff Joe’s.

Jeff works for CNA in the loop as a Business Analyst Specialist. I’m not exactly sure how to explain what he does for a living but I can confirm he’s good with numbers. Jeff is social with many of the other employees at CNA and has a developed a number of solid work friends during his tenure there. Around the same time I moved back from Hanover in late-March one of Jeff’s work friends mentioned to him that her sister was a hostess at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse and was therefore entitled to a 50% group discount. Needless to say, the wheels in Jeff’s head quickly began turning and soon after that conversation my cell phone was ringing with a dinner invitation and all the arrangements for the four of us to eat at Ruth’s Chris were made and confirmed.

When our “Ruth’s Chris Day” finally arrived Jeff and I of course started off with a lift at a gym near his apartment. From there we went back to his place where we got changed and met the girls. Once all four of us were together we walked over to the train and caught the Red Line getting off at the Chicago stop where Ruth’s Chris is located. This is where Phase 2 of our plan went into effect as we had successfully completed Phase 1 by getting through our hunger-inducing workout and arriving without any problems at the restaurant.

Earlier in the week Jeff had conducted a poll of his co-workers regarding their recommendations on what steak we should order. Since the consensus was far and away the Cowboy Ribeye we shifted our focus to the rest of the meal. We decided to start off with oysters for us and carpaccio for the table. When the waiter returned to check on how we were enjoying our appetizers and take down our main-course orders Jeff and I put Phase 3 into effect. 

For most people enjoying a finely aged piece of marbled red meat and good company at a nice restaurant is enough for them to have a great evening. Jeff and I however required a slightly more indulgent menu in order for the Ruth’s Chris eating experience to meet our lofty standards. Earlier in the week Jeff had convinced me, through flawless logic, that we should order a Filet Mignon on the side of our Cowboy Ribeyes. His explanation for this seemingly outrageous suggestion was that you have the opportunity to get 50% your meal at a place like Ruth’s Chris one in a lifetime therefore we owed it to ourselves to go all out. He rationalized that since a Filet Mignon was $37, and we were getting it for $18.50, that breaks down to an additional $9.25 per person added to our final tab in order to enjoy a few ounces of mouthwatering Filet Mignon.

Though slightly apprehensive at first I was quickly convinced that this was a good idea and we decided that Jeff would order the two Cowboy Ribeyes and then I would ask for the Filet Mignon. Risking humiliation we proceeded to carry out the ordering of over 40 ounces of red meat and patiently waited for our medium-rare bliss to be delivered. A short time later the waiter served the four of us our meals with one glaring omission. There was no extra Filet Mignon. Jeff and I argued whether we should say something to the waiter, while simultaneously professing that the other would have to do it cause of how embarrassing our glutton appeared. In the end we decided that we should let it go and our dream of having steak with a side of steak died.

We proceeded to have a tremendous meal and fantastic evening, but the thought of what we had lost in not receiving our “side of Filet” was clearly in the back of our minds. We each professed our regret over the lost Filet Mignon during the next few times we hung out, wishing in retrospect that we had been able to say something about the oversight and contemplating what had gone wrong. You see to hardcore food enthusiasts like Jeff and myself the thought of missing out on such a delicious opportunity to over indulge in all forms of bovine glory was going to take some time and several gut-busting meals to get over.