Night Out in Lincoln at Dish with Friends and Laughs

Our vacation happens to coincide with Best Friends birthday, so we luckily found ourselves able to stay the night in Lincoln. I've been to Lincoln, and I dig it. I love the nicely manicured houses, the cleanliness and the friendliness.  And I adore my friend Chandra, who lives there, and her boyfriend Justin. I met Chandra last year on my one night in Lincoln, you may recall that I wrote about her before. She's the one who sparkles. She still sparkles, you'll be glad to know. I was just sweaty (but renamed it "luminous") because we were sitting outside and it was blazingly hot. Is that a word? I don't know, but I like it.

We decided for Kristi's birthday to have dinner at DISH in Lincoln with Chandra, Justin and Kristi's brother and sister in law (Ryan and Katy) as well as Katy's boyfriend Mario. They're new parents. They were enjoying themselves, but you could tell they missed their girl. It was nice to watch them as young parents and remember what that was like.

The company was outstanding, and the food was fantastic. I'd recommend it, though when it's blazingly hot you may want to choose indoor seating. Or you could melt into a puddle outside like I did. But at least I was a well dressed puddle. For those of you that I don't know personally, I'm the redhead. And from the left is Chandra, me, Kristi and Katy.   Katy lives in Austin and Chandra in Nebraska, so I felt very blessed to be able to enjoy a night out with these awesome people.

The service at Dish was very attentive, we had a redhead waitress so I liked her automatically. Plus, she brought me extra pita for the awesome hummus (tahini and spicy blue cheese, below). Who doesn't love someone how comes bearing pita?





I also got peer pressured into trying my very first olive. Yes people, I said my first. And I didn't even gag, I even kind of liked it. But I am very much like a horribly oversized child when it comes to trying new things, and it took an embarrassing amount of talking and convincing to get me to do it. But I did, and I promised to not run so fast past the antipasto counter at my food store from now on.  Generally, I walk quickly by and make a gagging face. I suppose it's due time for me to grow up. At least when it comes to antipasto.



I followed my olive up with the fried chicken (thanks to Justin's recommendation) that came with mashed potatoes and sautéed green beans. It was outstanding, and I would absolutely recommend it. I have started to refer to myself as the Mashed Potato Maven, given the bordering-on-repulsive amount of mashed potatoes I consume. But in addition to the potatoes, the breading on the chicken was very well done. And this, my friends, is not my strong point. Breading and I do not get along. So anytime I see it done well, it makes me want to congratulate the person right before holding them hostage while demanding they show me the correct way to bread.



And because I was so impressed, I took a close up.



Justin got the mango duck. Since his girlfriend is also a blogger, I didn't even have to ask him to wait so that I could get a picture of his meal. He just knew, I think he's developing a sixth sense for when he's about to be interrupted so that someone can take a picture to post.



Katy selected the chicken, and even cut and displayed it artfully (probably without even knowing it). She is an artist, after all.



And a couple of the boys decided upon the steak and fries. Errr.... I mean the pomme frites.



Again, should you find yourself in Lincoln, or live there, I'm giving DISH a big thumbs us. Plus, I got to break bread (did I mention there was bread? Carb overload on this meal!) with  wonderful people, and went to bed that night knowing how lucky I am for have great old friends, and being able to make new friends around each new turn.