Traffic Jam

Last night was another Pops concert with our DSO symphony tickets, which always gives a good excuse to go out to eat. This time we went to Traffic Jam, which is located very close to Orchestra Hall. It probably has been 10 years since I've eaten here, but it used to be a favorite restaurant that a bunch of us would go to many years ago. It still looks the same with a funky eclectic decor with unique antiques hanging all over the walls and ceiling. (I apologize for the poor picture quality - with the dark lighting inside, nothing much turned out.)

All of our meals came with a house salad - nothing unusual, mixed greens with carrots, a cucumber piece, and a small tomato. We also were served the bread of the day - tomato cheddar - which was outstanding. Traffic Jam has its own bakery and is known for its wonderful homemade bread. I always enjoy a restaurant that makes really good bread!


My friends ordered the salmon (picture above, the only food picture that was half way decent), which she liked and the vegetarian lasagna, which I think they liked as well, except the one piece came from the end of the pan and the top noodle was very hard and crunchy. I had the crab cakes which were served on orange pecan rice. They were pretty good, nothing wrong with them, just nothing to make them stand out in flavor. You really couldn't taste any orange in the rice. I thought the presentation needed something - the plate was just these brown crabcakes with beige rice, with a cup of sauce on the side and a lemon wedge and a few sprinkles of parsley.

We couldn't resist the dessert menu and got German chocolate cake and butter pecan ice cream. Sorry, we had devoured half of it before I thought to take a picture! The ice cream was served with a cookie on top and was really really good! Not sure what brand they serve or if they make it, but I repeat it was really really good. I thought the cake needed more coconutty pecany gooey frosting - that's what I eat the German chocolate cake for! It only had some coconut on the top and some creamy filling between the layers. Of course that didn't stop us from finishing it off!

During dinner we had wonderful conversation about how cool the new Saturn Astra and Aura is! (DF, that last sentence is for your benefit :-) so I can claim that I blogged about the Aura, too. Everyone else please ignore this paragraph!)


By the way, I took a picture of the inside of Orchestra Hall. If you have never been inside, you should go to a concert just to see the beautifully restored ceilings. It really is a wonderful building! The concert of Benny Goodman music featured the 24 year clarinet soloist Dave Bennett, who was just incredible!