Lula Café in Logan Square is lauded for its brunch and we definitely agree. (Memories of some delicious ricotta pancakes and thick cut bacon are wafting back right now!) But this weekend when the cupboards were bare, the spring allergies were making the lady miserable, and a general laze had descended upon us, we struck out a few blocks in search of a good meal and decided to hit up Lula for dinner.

Overall the food was good, but with one very big exception (the duck) … an exception probably big enough to keep us sticking just to breakfasts there from now on.

Our meal began with drinks and an appetizer. The lady stuck to something a bit fizzy (a solid standby in Leffe Blonde Belgian Ale) while the fellow tried an original cocktail, La Conquista, featuring tequila, yellow chartreuse and honey. The cocktail was refreshing and well balanced and the cilantro used as garnish was a rather nice, never-before-seen touch. Actually, Lula’s entire bar menu seemed quite extensive and well planned out given the size of the place. Foodwise, we ordered the baked French feta with marinated peppers, red onion, cucumbers, capers and olives, which was a bit rich, but comes highly recommended.

For dinner, we each picked our own entrée, but planned to share a bit.

The fellow got the grilled hanger steak which came with little potatoes wrapped in a speck-style ham, white asparagus, braised almonds and a mustard aioli. The whole dish was fairly simple in design (it’s just meat and vegetables), but still shined.

The lady, on the other hand, chose the pan-roasted duck breast and garlic sausage with artichokes, pearl onions and carrots. We had just had the most fantastic duck of our lives at Next, so we were aware that this, even if it were great, would probably not live up. We rolled the dice anyway, but this one, very sadly, came up snake eyes and was not worth its $22 price tag in flavor or execution. Supposedly medium rare, this duck came out much more like rare; it was chewy and unappetizing, not to mention lacking any sort of connection to the rest of the dish. (Duck and garlic sausage?)

Setting the duck-failure aside, we saved room for dessert. She chose a chocolate pot de creme with caramelized brioche and marcona almond brittle, and he tackled the goat milk panna cotta with blood orange caramel, lime, almonds and dates, sharing this with a healthy pour of Dalwhinnie 15 year Scotch, a drink which later proved to help ease the pain of losing to the lady in Scrabble. Again!