Hole in the Wall

A few days ago, I met a friend from medical school in Chinatown for dinner. We met at this restaurant called Seven Treasures, which is at 2312 S. Wentworth Ave. We've always called this restaurant "the hole-in-the-wall" for its conspicuous lack of decoration, rock bottom prices, and vaguely unintelligible menu. When we first started going there over ten years ago, you could get a filling meal for about 4 dollars, which was great on our student budgets, and the prices haven't changed much since then. Over the years they seemed to have upgraded the decor ever so slightly, but it mostly still feels true to its name. Another great thing about the hole in the wall was that it stayed open till 2 AM. It was perfect for a quick snack on the way back to Hyde Park after an evening on the Northside.

A lot has changed since medical school. We both graduated and left Chicago for residency. I went to Boston, and A- went to New York. We came back, married, started our "real jobs", and, of course, Kelly and I had Julia. We can afford much nicer restaurants now. Still, after all these years and all the events that have occurred in our lives, its comforting to be able to get together with an old friend, at our old restaurant, and order from a menu with the exact same garbled English translation as before. Some things never change.