Happy 4th America, now go eat some BBQ brisket (photo by Joseph Storch)
In honor of today's holiday, I'm taking the day off. Go eat some barbeque! See you back here tomorrow.
Happy Fourth of July (bbq brisket style)
Jul. 5, 2010Happy 4th America, now go eat some BBQ brisket (photo by Joseph Storch)
Aldino's closing for good after just four months
Jul. 3, 2010
Aldino's in Little Italy: R.I.P.
In what has to be a record for the shortest length ever open for a semi-major restaurant in the city, Aldino's in Little Italy will close its doors for good after dinner service tonight, just four months after it opened its doors down the street from the UIC Pavilion.
Friday Foodie Forecast: Chicago Beers and Daiquiris
Jul. 2, 2010Fourth of July revelry, fueled by burgers, brats and backyard imbibing, seems to spill over not just to the rest of the weekend, but the entire month. Summer is in full-swing and Chicagoans are ready to kick back, preferably with a cold brewski. There are lots of beer and daquiri-related events on tap for July, but a few food events sneak onto the calendar as well.
Adam Seger's Ginger Hibiscus Freeze
Alfresco dining without the sidewalk smog
Jul. 2, 2010I get a kick out of seeing all of the outdoor patios that spring up this time of year.
photo by Dean Golemis
As much as I love seeing people enjoying the weather, I can never quite understand why they subject themselves to yapping dogs, out-of-control cyclists and worst of all, the incessant exhaust and noise from the adjacent traffic.
Revision Street: Tom Shepherd, late 60s
Jul. 2, 2010The store was going to be the beginning of five stores around the city that they want to open—now we hear they want to open dozens. Big stores, small stores, medium size stores. I’m a Vice President of the East Side Chamber of Commerce, and president of a small business council here in Pullman. We’ve been talking to business people and I think it really needs to get to the chambers of commerce who have been enlisted to endorse this Wal-Mart thing. This is a target to put every hardware store out of business, every shoe store out of business, every little food store and Wal-Mart-ize or whatever you want to call it, the entire city. You know, who has a need for anything else? When I traveled to small town America, I went to ask somebody, Where’s the post office in your town? She asked, What is it you need? I said I want to buy some stamps and send a little card. Oh you can go to Wal-Mart. I said, For a postage stamp? I don’t think so. I’m looking for the post office. I wanted to get an oil change in a town, Oh Wal-Mart changes oil. I’m like, well what a minute, that’s all you can offer here is Wal-Mart? It’s like that everywhere and now they want to do that to Chicago.
Forgive me for a sailing off into that… I’m living in Pullman. This is my second tour in the neighborhood.
The Pow-Wow's five words
Jul. 2, 2010
The woman was asking for five words, just five words, but she wasn’t liking the offerings. “If this is your first time at the Pow-Wow …” she was saying, instructing the neophytes.
The women in the audience at the Jeffrey Pub – old school butches and femmy femmes, hip hop bois and curvy belly dancers, young smartasses and stick-thin singles, cuddling couples and gangs of girlfriends – were eating it up: shouting back, heckling, jiving, laughing and applauding.
The Pow-Wow’s been around for more than a decade with a mission to support, develop and increase the visibility of women artists, particularly women of color. C.C. Carter, its founder and artistic director, performs here frequently, but Staceyann Chin, Tai Freedom Ford, Perre Shelton and E. Nina Jay and many others all drop in from time to time and rock the house. (In fact, E.
Happy Birthday America. Let's eat some sweets.
Jul. 2, 2010
Personal-sized apple pie from Angel Food Bakery (photo by Joseph Storch)
As you fire up your grills, make your grocery list and check to see if you have enough gas to make back from the Indiana fireworks stores, don't forget about dessert, America.
Nightclubbing: Silversun Pickups, FitzGerald's American Music Festival and more
Jul. 2, 2010You'd think that the July 4th holiday weekend would be prime time for concert-going, but whether it's a result of Lollapalooza and other festivals taking their toll in slowing down the rest of the city's music scene, or promoters writing the next couple of days off to people staying home and listening to tunes in their backyards as they fire up the grill, things are pretty slow -- with a few notable exceptions.
