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Review: Damien Rice/Sugar and Brown's
Before catching Damien Rice's utterly haunting, sold out show at the Civic Opera House, we stopped into new River North eatery/deli/grocery Sugar and Brown's, which is about a 15-minute walk north. The spot was spacious and comforting inside and features a funky gadget to help servers deliver items to the right place: After ordering at the counter, we received a plastic card to slide into a port at our table, indicating that we're expecting order 55 without having to post a card on the table, a la Corner Bakery.
Unfortunately, there was still confusion about our order--our Tuscan chicken panini was initially brought to another table--and Sugar and Brown's takes a relatively liberal approach to "quick-serve," which means those looking for a bite before the opera might be biting their nails if they're worried about getting to the show on time. The panini and mixed field greens salad took about 20 minutes to come out, though we did receive a sincere apology while we were waiting. Thankfully, both the sandwich and the salad were tasty, despite the somewhat disappointing quantity of goat cheese on the salad. (Of course, for us cheese lovers you can never have enough.) Regardless, it was a smart pick for a pre-opera, under-$20-for-two dinner in the area with a bit more sophistication than, um, The Rock and Roll McDonald's.
As for Rice, he kept the audience transfixed throughout his hour-and-45-minute performance as he vacillated from heartbreaking ballads to angry, you'll-never-screw-me-over-again jams. Snow and shadow lighting effects were particularly effective for Rice's palate of lonely, gorgeous drinking songs, which would have felt all the more timely had we exited the venue into a blizzard, rather than a burst of warmth and humidity.
What did you think of the show? Where do you like to go before a show at the Civic Opera House -- opera or otherwise?
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