Gapers Block published from April 22, 2003 to Jan. 1, 2016. The site will remain up in archive form. Please visit Third Coast Review, a new site by several GB alumni. ✶ Thank you for your readership and contributions. ✶
Not only does DMK Restaurants know how to make great burgers, oysters and cocktails, they also have a charitable side. With Hurricane Sandy leaving a mess on the east coast, DMK is hosting "Drink Them Dry," a fundraising event to benefit the many people left without power, water, flooded cars and even the loss of a loved one. From today until Friday, DMK is donating 20% of all beverage sales from DMK Burger, Fish Bar and Ada Street to the American Red Cross relief efforts. To add to the pot, each restaurant will be raffling off a $250 gift card good at each location. (Drawing will be held on Monday, Nov. 5).
Since it is Halloween night, why not kill two birds with one stone and hit up Ada Street; they will be showing the original Halloween at 10pm tonight, and all costumes receive half-off cocktails. Best costume wins a $100 gift card. 50% + 20% = almost 100% awesome.
In addition to Lula's transformation into the Violet Hour tomorrow night, Antique Taco will be "dressing up" as The Max (from '90s-era Saturday morning required TV viewing "Saved by the Bell"), and Scofflaw will be showing up to the party as former Logan Square bar Bonny's.
If you forgot to buy tickets for the now sold-out Microbrewery Crawl, I've got a consolation prize for you: Drive-Thru is giving away two tickets to the upcoming Beer Hoptacular, which will be setting up shop Friday and Saturday, November 9-10 at the Riverfront Theatre (650 West Chicago Ave.). Unlimited pours from over 100 brewers (among them Bell's, Half Acre, Central Waters, and Revolution), music, and food await you!
Send an email to contests@gapersblock.com by this Friday, Nov. 2 at 9am CT to enter; your email must have "Beer Hoptacular" in the subject line. The randomly selected winner will receive a pair of tickets for the Friday night (6-9:30pm) session. Good luck!
(UPDATE, Friday afternoon: congratulations to our winner, Megan--and thanks to the others for entering!)
Passing out candy on Halloween? Boring! We pulled together this guide of the most fun Halloween activities. Here are a couple more restaurants getting wickedly creative on Wednesday.
A coworker of mine summed it up beautifully: no relatives. No intrusive questions. No shopping. No obligatory visits full of awkward conversations.
Yes, it's Halloween. The best holiday of them all. Here's a little guide for fun things to do this weekend in celebration:
Tonight
Lottie's Pub (1925 W. Cortland Ave.) sponsors a trip to Statesville Haunted Prison (register at 6pm, bus leaves at 7:30pm; $40 includes trip and house admission); Hamburger Mary's (5400 N. Clark St.) hosts the Rocky Horror Picture Show at 10pm; tickets $15.
Friday
Just stay in and watch Dateline NBC. It's scary enough.
"Who here hasn't had ceviche before?" asked the bubbly blonde behind the kitchen demo counter. A show of hands went up. "Now take that hand and slap yourself with it." So was my introduction to Nadia G, the feisty, three-finger ring wearing, looks-like-she-should-be-in-front-of-a-camera-and-not-behind-a-mixing-bowl Italian chef personality from "Bitchin' Kitchen."
Following shortly behind Bobby Flay, who was spotted in Uptown in late September, Nadia stopped by Chicago for a food and wine tasting event with Apothic Wines.
The ingredient: avocados. The challenge: a culinary transformation of the fruit/vegetable into something that will bless taste buds with excellent flavor.
The hilarious food takedown promoter, Matt Timms, is bringing the Avocado Takedown to Chicago. Twenty people will compete and Timms is looking for 10 more home cooks to whip up something awesome with a crate full of Avocados from Mexico. Participating in the takedown is free! Those interested should email Timms. Contestants will compete for fancy cookware and $500 cash.
This is one of the many upcoming Chicago Food Film Fest events (which we're totes looking forward to). Interested in watching it all go down? Tickets go on sale next week on the Food Film Fest website. The Avocado Takedown is from 1 to 3 p.m. on November 17 at Kendall College.
Tea lovers, beware! DAVIDsTEA opened its first Chicago store in Bucktown (1645 N. Damen Ave.) on Tuesday.
The Canadian loose-leaf tea company sells and brews over 150 kinds of tea, hot and cold, as well as tea-brewing accessories. One reviewer on Yelp described it the New York location being like the Apple store for teas. In other words, this is the high quality tea you might normally find in a crunchy cooperative, but there's more variety, slick packaging, and the shops have a cool, modern design aesthetic.
When I visited the store, the friendly employees offered me a sample of their tea of the day, Toasted Marshmallow, a black tea blend with real toasted marshmallows. The knowledgable staff will help you pick the perfect tea for you by pulling an assortment for you to smell or sample. The woman helping me selected eight teas I might like, based on the fact that I like ginger. Two of those included Organic Splash! (a cleansing mix of green tea, ginger, sea lettuce, cardamom, burdock root, peppermint and red clover) and Buddha's Blend (a fragrant medley of white and green tea, jasmine pearls and white hibiscus blossoms).
DAVIDsTEA is a fun experience - and based on the rave reviews this chain has garnered at other locations, I think they'll do well. Look for two more locations opening in the next few weeks at 924 W. Armitage Ave. in Lincoln Park and 3530 N. Southport Ave. in Lakeview.
This Sunday Drive Thru Editor Robyn Nisi and I paired up to judge the Eighth Annual Bucktown Apple Pie Contest. We sampled about 20 of the nearly 100-plus pies submitted for the amateur division, picking the best pies to be submitted to the semifinalist rounds based on its filling, crust, overall appearance, etc. The pies ranged from soothing and addictive to not fully baked and just discrusting! We felt like we were speed dating, getting to know each pie by judging it from its looks and personality in less than four minutes. There were some surprises: Red Hots mixed with apples, chocolate crusts, pulled pork, and creative designs made with crust. Here are some of our favorites.
The WTTW show "Check, Please!" kicks off its twelfth season this Friday at 8pm with reviews of Andies, GT Fish & Oyster and Midlothian's Hog Wild. Among the episode's reviewers is our own wonderful Andie Thomalla, so it will be an episode well worth watching.
Seven Chicago-area breweries and brewpubs brought home medals in the 2012 Great American Beer Festival this year, Brewers Association's annual award competition. More than 600 breweries entered a total of 4,300 entries in 84 categories; local breweries and brewpubs won nine medals in eight categories.
Revolution Brewing brought home a gold medal in the English-Style Summer Ale category for its Cross of Gold, and a bronze in the American-Belgo-Style Ale category for A Little Crazy.
Piece took home silver in the American-Style Pale Ale category for its customer favorite, The Weight, while Three Floyds won bronze for its Zombie Dust.
Remember the McJordan Special from McDonald's? It was a quarter-pounder with bacon, American cheese, onions, pickles and special "McJordan BBQ" sauce. It was sold in 1992 in Chicagoland as well as a few other markets. It was also known as the Big 33, for Larry Bird, presumably in Boston and Indianapolis.
When Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts were creating Charlie's Angels, the infamous television series showcasing women in roles traditionally reserved for men, little did they know they would be inspiring a future club of beer lovers called Barley's Angels to do the same -- toss out their cosmopolitan's and pina colada's and say "We want beer!" Self-defined as "a growing collection of individual chapters around the world that work with craft beer focused breweries, brewpubs, restaurants, alehouses and other public beer establishments to advance the female consumer craft beer enthusiast," it's obvious that Barley's Angels is adding to a growing trend in the Chicago consumer beverage scene. Given that Chicago is no stranger to craft beer and breweries, it's fitting that Chicago would have its own chapter that will be kicking off their first meeting this Wednesday at Local Option (1102 W. Webster Ave.) where beer is pronounced bier and skulls and the color pink combine in a beautifully strange collaboration that just may give Kuma's Korner a run for its money.
Attendees will taste five stylistically unique beers focused primarily on wheat-based styles paired with artisanal cheeses from Pastoral Artisan Cheese, Bread & Wine. For all you hop-loving, barley sipping ladies, if you like it you better go buy a ticket; a limited number ($25 each) are available and can be reserved at Local Option's webshop.
While the crew at Eleven Madison Park took over Alinea this past week, the staff at Nellcote is heading to the James Beard House in New York City this Wednesday for an evening of foie gras, charcuterie, agnolotti and baba rhum. Tickets $130-170.
Picture by me from the Drive-Thru Flickr Pool. If you love apple pie, head to Sunday's Bucktown Apple Pie Fest at Holstein Park (2200 N Oakley, 2-5pm); music, fun for the kids, and pie--lots of glorious apple pie--await you (as you can see from the above submission from last year's event).
DT Staffer Clarisa Ramirez and I will be among the judges, along with Hoosier Mama's Paula Haney, pastry chef Malika Ameen (ByM Desserts), and Alpana Singh (of the forthcoming Boarding House). Event benefits Friends of Holstein Park.
In the last couple of years, Andersonville, Ravenswood and North Center have become one of the centers of Chicago's craft brewing scene. We at Gapers Block thought it would be fun to put together a "microbrewery crawl" to showcase the great beers being produced in the area, taking advantage of the close proximity of so many breweries and beer-oriented venues.
For $60, participants will get samples of at least one beer at each stop, and get a tour of three very different breweries. This is the first tour Metropolitan has offered since May, and we'll get one of the first tours ever at Begyle. Be a part of this unique experience -- get your tickets now!
As the temperature starts to drop and you swap your pale ales and sangrias for stouts and bourbons, Bridge Bar, 315 N. LaSalle St., is going back to the old days and bringing you the hooch. For October, head bartender, Kevin Schulz, has created handcrafted "Hooch" bottles with a bourbon base carefully mixed with selected spiced liqueurs. Each glass pint bottle will be hand labeled, numbered and free for guests to take home with them (you know, to remind you of exactly how you got that 10am hangover). And, as the October cocktail of the month, the hooch will be half off on Tuesdays. What better way to epitomize cool but other than to walk up to a bar and say, "I'll have the hooch."
Roughly 4,000 beer enthusiasts united in the Grand Hall for three hours of taste-tasting fall seasonal brews from all across the country and around the world. In total, there were 54 breweries, offering around 200 different brews.
There were two sessions scheduled for attendants to get their drink on. The first round was from 1 to 4pm and the second round was from 6 to 9pm. Some brave, beer-loving folks opted to do both.
Tickets were $40 and had to be purchased ahead of time. There was also an option for designated drivers to attend Chicago Beer Festival for $10. I volunteered with Eventbrite, scanning tickets, and was lucky enough to be able to enjoy all of the hoppy glory -- and silly drunken people -- all day long.
There was plenty of activity to entertain the attendees in between swigs of beer, including a DJ and a free photo booth. There was a lot of tasty bar food available for purchase, through Stefani Catering. I had a very yummy Italian sausage with peppers and onions on top.
It was easy to tell who was experienced with beer tastings by their level of preparedness. Many people wore pretzel necklaces to munch on in between different brews to cleanse their palate. One lady even adorned hers with jewels to make it fashionable as well as functional.
Though all of the brews were tasty in my opinion, there were a few that really stood out.
Destihl's Pumpkin Porter was exceptional! It was full of in your face fall flavor. Destihl is a gastro-brewpub with two locations in Illinois, pairing craft beer and artisan food.
The Widmer Brothers' SXNW (South by Northwest) brew also made for a very unique kick to my taste buds. It is an interesting combination of pecans, cocoa nibs, spice, and green chilies. It was as dark as black coffee and tasted like a spicy chocolate beverage.
There were a few different ciders to wet your whistle. I tried out Virtue Cider's Redstreak, which tasted extremely sour after drinking so many dark, rich beers.
Many familiar breweries, such as Goose Island, Bell's, Summit, Shock Top and Anchor Steam, were also on site.
Despite the cold, all in all, it was a fabulous day at Union Station -- especially after I got a few beers in me!
I haven't been back to Kuma's in a while, too scarred from a previous visit when they forgot to put in my food order (the hungriest, most desperate three hours of my life, I tell ya); however, it looks like all I needed to do was follow the directions of the sarcastic "Hippies Use Back Door" sign they proudly hang to avoid the often colossal wait. From Kuma's Facebook page this morning:
I encounter an older gentleman with [long] grey hair coming in the back door. Upon asking him, "can I help you?" he says, "is this the back door?"
"Yes, what can I do for you?"
"Well, the sign says, 'Hippies Use Back Door,' so, here I am."
Next Restaurant is out of ideas. Well, not really, but they aresoliciting suggestions from future themes on their Facebook wall. As of this writing, 686 comments have been posted, but that doesn't mean it's too late for you to throw yours into the mix.
So far, South Indian, African, historic period American, Grant Achatz's first day at the French Laundry, and an all-vegetarian theme are some of the more popular suggestions. Time Out Chicago and Chicagoist have selected some of their favorite comments, good and bad, so I guess I'll join the fun. Here are a few of my favorites:
How about elevating middle-brow American cuisine? TGINext would be hilarious/amazing.
Next: Elevation. Start at sea level, each course features cuisine of city at increasing altitude of 1,000' or whatever. Finish with dessert at 10,000' or on an airplane or in space.
Atlantis (under water version - seafood from the deep with advanced culture and technology) or Atlantis the Lost City with the Lost recipes, Mayan 2013- Post End of the World (if we live thru it), Swiss Alps circa 1960. If you pick mine, can I get a table for 2 :). Mars or Moon base circa 2050.
I would try anything but "the delicacies of Donner Pass"
I'm thinking taste the rainbow, not because I love Skittles (I DOO!! lol) but because I think it would be fun to start a menu at one color (red) and end at another (violet) and have a lot of fun along the way.
Parenthood
Drive-Thru contributor Brandy Gonsoulin adds, "one fan suggested the chef recreate the experience of regaining his sense of taste by depriving a sense per course (an interesting hybrid of 9 1/2 Weeks, and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly comes to mind, but I'm curious why you would want to take away taste). Next hasn't responded yet, but I vote that they do a spin on verb tenses."
Logan Square's Lula Cafe takes Halloween to a whole new level, dressing up their staff and space as a totally different restaurant for the night--Hot Doug's and Taco Bell come to mind--but this year seems to be going in a different direction. Perhaps to make even more use of their recent expansion, which included a massive new bar space, they are transforming into "The Violent Hour" on October 31st. It looks like a cocktail-heavy menu is in store.
Brew Camp, the North Center-based home brew supply store, announced today that it is moving to 4639 N. Damen Ave., after its former location at 2039 W. Belle Plaine Ave. was closed by the City earlier this week due to improper licensing.
"It's a great space -- twice as big as the other one, and a much better location," co-owner Jared Saunders said.
The 5th annual Chicago Gourmet hosted by Bon Appetit last weekend offered the usual to the gourmands of Chicago -- delicious and well executed small plates, unlimited wine, beer and spirits and up close looks at some of Chicago's favorite chef personalities; all on a fantastic beautiful Chicago day, exactly what I had envisioned Taste of Chicago to be when I first moved here. While you may have gotten a nice report on the who, what and the wheres, here are some snippets from Saturday that you probably won't be reading elsewhere.
Chicago is a city steeped in tradition and history, a town full of allegiance to memories and what we love. Whether you grew up in Chicago or not, once you live here you have those first places you visit in the city that, for the most part, remain favorites. It's the type of city with pride where you'll find multiple generations eating the same food, shopping at the same stores, and cheering on the same teams for years to come. This week in the Dog Show, we visit one of those family institutions on the West Side, Jimmy's Red Hots.
Folks attending the Dirk Flanigan (Henri, The Gage) and Tony Priolo (Piccolo Sogno, Due) chef demo at Chicago Gourmet on Saturday learned an interesting piece of trivia about one of the best pasta makers in the city, courtesy of WXRT's Lin Brehmer.
Earlier this week we provided you a rundown of how Chicago Gourmet fared, but in addition we'd like to provide a visual tour those of you without $173 to burn.
Considering most of these bites are flash prepared outside, without heating or cooling elements; quickly dished out and then snagged by hungry, mildly intoxicated attendants, I'd say we fared decently this year. You judge for yourself.
Being invited to sample brunch at one of Chicago's best beer bars isn't an entirely enticing endeavor. The man behind Small Bar on Division, Phil McFarland, beyond a shadow of a doubt knows his beers. They make collaboration brews; they cellar; they find obscure kegs and have one of the most dynamic beer lists in the city, but brunch? I know everyone's doing it and it's a great way to repurpose some of the ingredients left over from the night before, but am I the only one in Chicago who isn't wild about the meal? Most of the time it's just not that great.
However, if those brunch-loving folks know what's good for them they'll be headed to Small Bar soon. And in droves. Last January, Justin White (previously sous chef at The Bristol and Custom House) was hired to do a complete overhaul of the menu, taking what was a frozen-to-fryer sort of enterprise to a scratch-based, locally-focused, integrity-driven menu. And overhaul he has.
Once I was ensconced at our beautiful Millennium Park, it was apparent that the lines in front of each "tasting pavilion" at Chicago Gourmet were going to be arduous in the hot sun of a warm fall day. Off goes the sport coat and "where's some water?" comes to my mind. Lines the length of 200 people inch their way towards a limited selection of 3-4 items per station only to grab said bites and start over again at another of the 20 or so tasting stations. The lines for the drinking stations weren't quite as chaotic, but there has to be a better way.
I felt bad exercising my media all-access pass and in solidarity with my peeps, no lines were jumped. That decision would haunt me but I wanted to glean the full on experience of the 99% of the ticket holders who shelled out $173 for a day pass (or $288 for the weekend). An additional $200 bought you a two hour Grand Cru wine tasting sponsored by Southern Wines and Spirits. Bring a date and you're in for nearly $800 -- pretty rich for most blood. For the money there were demos, tastings, seminars and exhibitors but even with a freebie press pass dangling from my neck, thoughts of value in regards to expense colored my experience.
In 2009, food blogging, social media and Yelp were gaining popularity, and America's revered gastronomic magazine Gourmet shuttered after 68 years in business. Former Cook's Illustrated editor-in-chief Chris Kimball followed with an editorial, stating that "The shuttering of Gourmet reminds... Read this feature »
Passing out candy on Halloween? Boring! We pulled together 
The ingredient: avocados. The challenge: a culinary transformation of the fruit/vegetable into something that will bless taste buds with excellent flavor. 
Tea lovers, beware! 
DAVIDsTEA is a fun experience - and based on the rave reviews this chain has garnered at 
This Sunday Drive Thru Editor Robyn Nisi and I paired up to judge the Eighth Annual 
The WTTW show "
Seven Chicago-area breweries and brewpubs brought home medals in the 2012 
Picture by me from the 
In the last couple of years, Andersonville, Ravenswood and North Center have become one of the centers of Chicago's craft brewing scene. We at Gapers Block thought it would be fun to put together a "microbrewery crawl" to showcase the great beers being produced in the area, taking advantage of the close proximity of so many breweries and beer-oriented venues. 
I haven't been back to 
Next Restaurant is out of ideas. Well, not really, but they are 
Chicago is a city steeped in tradition and history, a town full of allegiance to memories and what we love. Whether you grew up in Chicago or not, once you live here you have those first places you visit in the city that, for the most part, remain favorites. It's the type of city with pride where you'll find multiple generations eating the same food, shopping at the same stores, and cheering on the same teams for years to come. This week in the Dog Show, we visit one of those family institutions on the West Side, 
Once I was ensconced at our beautiful Millennium Park, it was apparent that the lines in front of each "tasting pavilion" at 
