New and improved City of Chicago Thread (Check OP for Recs)

Discussion in 'The Mainboard' started by Truman, Apr 23, 2018.

  1. user15000

    user15000 Well-Known Member

    Every single show? Or just the main stage? Because the side shows are all good.
     
  2. Bert Handsome

    Bert Handsome I'm sorry, the card says Moops
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    "Neither a breathalyzer nor sobriety test was performed"

    "The superintendent addressed the media Thursday about the incident and said he forgot to replace his old medicine with his new medication, which left him lightheaded, which is when he pulled over at a stop sign before he "fell asleep."


    ...right
     
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  3. Anison

    Anison Fair and square
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    To be fair, Johnson underwent a kidney transplant like two years ago. He also immediately requested that an internal investigation be held on himself over this.
     
  4. gordon bombay

    gordon bombay magician's alliance enthusiast
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    Went to Galit in Lincoln Park a few weeks back, the head chef was previously at Shaya in New Orleans when it won best new restaurant.

    Anyways, it was unbelievably good, one of the best meals I have had here in Chicago. Cannot recommend it enough.
     
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  5. COVIDiskilingme79

    COVIDiskilingme79 Well-Known Member
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    Just made reservations. Thanks for the heads up, that menu sounds amazing.
     
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  6. wes tegg

    wes tegg I'm a Guy's guy, guys.
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    Doing Logman & Eagle. They have a family-style price fixe thing.
     
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  7. gordon bombay

    gordon bombay magician's alliance enthusiast
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    Enjoy. I got the tasting menu and it was perfect, don't hesitate to ask for more pita bread. Also, the kitchen counter seats are fine if you are concerned about sitting there vs a regular dining room seat.
     
  8. ohbluefan

    ohbluefan Well-Known Member
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    Staying at the wit all weekend, give me somewhere good and close for lunch when we get in...
     
  9. Bert Handsome

    Bert Handsome I'm sorry, the card says Moops
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  10. Jorts

    Jorts "Ask about my Mortgage Services"
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    Chicago, I am in you.
     
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  11. Jorts

    Jorts "Ask about my Mortgage Services"
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    Reservations set

    Parachute
    Blackbird
    Fat Rice
    The Little Goat for Sunday brunch
     
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  12. Truman

    Truman Well-Known Member
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    Bring The Florida weather, take the snow with you
     
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  13. COVIDiskilingme79

    COVIDiskilingme79 Well-Known Member
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    Sully's House is the Gator bar if you're looking for somewhere to watch the game. You have to get there pretty early to get a table or a seat.
     
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  14. Jorts

    Jorts "Ask about my Mortgage Services"
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    Breakfast spots? We’re near Wildberry, but need options. None listed in OP

    Truman it was damn cold when we left Jax this morning.
     
  15. visa

    visa Well-Known Member
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    Sweet Maple Cafe
    bongo room
    kanela’s
    Eleven city diner
    Beatrix
     
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  16. visa

    visa Well-Known Member
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    These are great choices. Parachute and Blackbird in particular are both outstanding.
     
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  17. COVIDiskilingme79

    COVIDiskilingme79 Well-Known Member
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    Yes
     
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  18. Juke Coolengody

    Juke Coolengody One name. Two men?
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    Wildberry is really good and has huge portion sizes. Definitely get pancakes or crepes on the side with their special filling.

    Southport Grocery is one of my personal favorites. And while it's not necessarily a breakfast spot, Roost has a pretty elite breakfast chicken biscuit.
     
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  19. nofatchildren - cissp

    nofatchildren - cissp Free Da Guys
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    I'm always annoyed at how busy Wildberry is. I've been at Prudential Plaza these past two days and haven't even bothered to stop in because it's just flooded with people every time I check.

    And I love Wildberry.
     
  20. Juke Coolengody

    Juke Coolengody One name. Two men?
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    Have you tried the Yelp wait list option? That usually works best for me.
     
  21. wes tegg

    wes tegg I'm a Guy's guy, guys.
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    Anyone been to Ciccio Mio yet?
     
  22. FTK

    FTK Well-Known Member
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    Going to the girl and the goat for the 1st time tomorrow. Is there anything I have to order? I’m assuming everything is fantastic but don’t want to miss out on something
     
  23. gordon bombay

    gordon bombay magician's alliance enthusiast
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    The pork shank with ranch and buffalo and naan is always great. All of the goat dishes.
     
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  24. Lyrtch

    Lyrtch My second favorite meat is hamburger
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    goat belly was probably my favorite dish
     
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  25. visa

    visa Well-Known Member
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    Going this Wednesday

    goat liver mousse
    Pig face
    Sugo

    And at least one of their bread options.
     
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  26. Truman

    Truman Well-Known Member
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    Second the Pig Face.

    Loved the Lamb skewers too.

    There's nothing bad there lol
     
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  27. Anison

    Anison Fair and square
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    Was just there on Saturday night w tjsblue goblue31602 and our wives.
    Get a couple of the breads; the cauliflower; green beans; short rib; octopus & pork belly; scallops.
     
  28. ohhaithur

    ohhaithur e-Batman
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    I embarrassed my girlfriend by ordering a second order of naan but it was really good

    Everything was nice but that was my favorite
     
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  29. tjsblue

    tjsblue I was right at the time
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    Good times.
    Obviously I was in town for the weekend with my wife. Had Windy City with Anison Friday AM then went to Bavette’s Friday before Hamilton. Best meal I’ve ever had in my life. Thanks Anison for the suggestion.
    Also went to Beatrix for breakfast Saturday since it was so close to the hotel. Thanks visa. I enjoyed probing your insides Chicago.
     
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  30. TheFreak55

    TheFreak55 He should keep his mouth firmly shut
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  31. wes tegg

    wes tegg I'm a Guy's guy, guys.
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    How was it?
     
  32. visa

    visa Well-Known Member
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    It was good. Brendan/Hogsalt don’t fuck around too much (though Anago was a complete bust). Four of us shared Robiola and prosciutto starters, Orecchiette, ribeye, polenta.

    You’ll enjoy Longman and Eagle. Had Michters 10 bourbon and Michters 10 rye pours at $15. Insane.

    You can probably find hawks tickets fairly cheap for Friday night if you want to see Dach.
     
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  33. FTK

    FTK Well-Known Member
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    Girl and the goat was amazing by the way. Got the pork shank, pig face, goat empanadas, goat liver mousse, focaccia, green beans, and tempura walleye. Pork shank and pig face were by far my favorites. The walleye was the only thing I wasn’t wowed by, nothing special so wish we’d gotten a different fish or another meat. Only other thing I would have done differently was asked that the pork shank came earlier. It was our last dish and I was fucking stuffed so I was kind of forcing it down. Can’t wait to go back.
     
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  34. Bert Handsome

    Bert Handsome I'm sorry, the card says Moops
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    Police Super driving home from fucking Ceres

     
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  35. Anison

    Anison Fair and square
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    :facepalm:
     
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  36. visa

    visa Well-Known Member
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    Kane, Toews and Keith have to be on that list. Rizzo and Rose I guess.
     
  37. Bert Handsome

    Bert Handsome I'm sorry, the card says Moops
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    Bryant over Rizzo

    Urlacher was around just as long as Cutler and still is on every billboard in the city with his hair plugs
     
  38. ohhaithur

    ohhaithur e-Batman
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    Urlacher retired in 2012
     
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  39. Brewtus

    Brewtus Got dat juice
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    Woke up to surprising beer news... Ballast Point was purchased by a tiny brewery in Highwood (Kings & Convicts). There's already a BP taproom in Chicago, but it'll be interesting to see how much bigger of a footprint they'll have now.

    Ballast Point sold to tiny suburban Chicago brewery Kings and Convicts in beer industry stunner
    Tiny suburban Chicago brewery Kings and Convicts stunned the beer industry Tuesday afternoon by announcing the acquisition of California’s legendary Ballast Point Brewing. Terms were not disclosed.

    Ballast Point was famously bought for $1 billion four years ago by Constellation Brands, whose Chicago-based beer business owns the American rights to top Mexican brands that include Modelo, Corona and Pacifico. Ballast Point quickly became an albatross for Constellation, struggling to grow and adapt to its larger owners.

    Multiple Ballast Point locations have closed or else been paused while in planning in recent years. The deal nets six Ballast Point locations for Kings and Convicts — five in California and a taproom in Chicago’s Fulton Market neighborhood.

    Kings and Convicts co-founder and CEO Brendan Watters said the price was less than $1 billion, but declined to elaborate, citing details of the agreement.

    “I don’t have that sort of cash lying around," he said.

    Industry newsletter Beer Marketer’s Insights reported that the deal was consummated for a “surprisingly low price.”

    Watters, a former hotel executive who sold his chain of Boomerang Hotels in 2015, said he recruited two new investors — one of whom lives in California — into Kings and Convicts ownership to pull off the deal, which is expected to close in 2020. The investor group is now six people, including Watters and his partner Christopher Bradley. Watters declined to identify the rest of the investor group.

    “Most of them love Ballast Point, but don’t want notoriety and want to remain quiet,” he said.

    The optics of the sale are as unlikely as they are unprecedented. Kings and Convicts, which opened a small brewery and 400 square foot taproom in Highwood in 2017, is a tiny brand unknown to most Chicago beer drinkers. It will make a mere 660 barrels of beer this year.

    Ballast Point is one of the nation’s most recognizable brands, on pace to make about 200,000 barrels of beer this year.

    Watters, who is in San Diego Tuesday to announce the deal to Ballast Point staff, said he told workers there not to worry about the fact they haven’t heard of Kings and Convicts.

    “I said most people in Chicago don’t know us, either,” he said. “I think that that’s what makes it quite interesting.”

    Brewery sales have become common since Anheuser-Busch bought Chicago’s Goose Island Beer Co. in 2011, a deal that sparked an era of consolidation as large beer companies sought to get a piece of the growing craft beer industry.

    Tuesday’s deal is a striking example of the opposite.

    “This has been about the conglomerates buying up the independent breweries but we’re doing the opposite,” Watters said. “We’re saying, ‘Let’s bring it back to independence and innovation and see what happens.’"

    Seeds of the deal were planted in July, when Watters golfed with someone he declined to name from Constellation Brands and asked the company’s plans for its foundering craft brand.

    “I said, ‘What are you doing with Ballast Point?’” Watters said. “They said, ‘Why?’ I said I wanted to buy it. It was as simple as that.”

    [​IMG]
    Kings & Convicts Brewing launched with a modest 400 square foot taproom in suburban Highwood in 2017. Tuesday it announced plans to buy legendary California craft brewery Ballast Point with the help of new investors. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune) (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
    In a statement, Bill Newlands, Constellation Brands president and chief executive officer, cited trends in the U.S. craft beer market that have "shifted dramatically since our acquisition of Ballast Point” as a reason for the sale.

    “Ballast Point remains one of the most iconic craft beer brands in the country and we’re pleased to transition the business to an owner that can devote the resources needed to fuel its future success," Newlands said in the statement. "At the same time, this decision allows Constellation to focus more fully on maximizing growth for our high-performing import portfolio and upcoming new product introductions, including Corona Hard Seltzer, scheduled to launch this spring.”

    Watters said Ballast Point was never formally shopped by Constellation so far as he knows, and that he and his partners had long admired the beer and the brand, even as it struggled in recent years. He was already familiar with the brewery’s inner working from consulting with Ballast Point during the last two years while trying to get an ambitious new brewery launched in Southern Wisconsin for Kings and Convicts.

    “They’re a great bunch of people we need help from for to help us grow,” he said.

    Ballast Point is distributed in 49 states. Watters said the brand will honor existing distribution contracts, but will focus efforts on core markets, including California, Illinois, Washington state and its international business. All existing Ballast Point facilities will remain open, he said, and sales, marketing and human resources staff — all gutted under Constellation — will be rebuilt, he said.

    [​IMG]
    Ballast Point's Chicago taproom will remain open after the brewery is officially sold to the founders of suburban Kings and Convicts Brewing. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune) (Brian Cassella / Tribune File)
    Despite its recent struggles, Watters said he believes the brand has plenty of upside. He wants to see Ballast Point “act like a small brewer again and see where it goes.”

    “It’s really about focus,” he said. “We will build up a new Ballast Point sales force and let the innovation go and get back to the roots. I think it just needs some love and focus and it’ll be fine.”

    Earlier this year, Kings and Convicts announced construction of the brewery in Southern Wisconsin. Watters said Ballast Point beer would eventually be made at that location and Kings and Convicts beer would be brewed at Ballast Point’s San Diego location for export to his native Australia.
     
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  40. theregionsitter

    theregionsitter Well-Known Member
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    Adam Dunn
     
  41. gordon bombay

    gordon bombay magician's alliance enthusiast
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    It's a strange story but also a little misleading. Basically a group of investors who also own Kings & Convicts bought BP. It is more common than you think, I know a number of breweries that are silently owned by extremely wealthy people.
     
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  42. Kevintensity

    Kevintensity Poster/Posting Game Coordinator
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    In town for the next week, staying in the river North area. Any good places to check out that you all recommend?
     
  43. visa

    visa Well-Known Member
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  44. Bert Handsome

    Bert Handsome I'm sorry, the card says Moops
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  45. Bert Handsome

    Bert Handsome I'm sorry, the card says Moops
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    These are dark times

     
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  46. Truman

    Truman Well-Known Member
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    If any of you live is IL District 3, please considering primary-ing POS Dan Lipinksi, and vote for Marie Newman. TIA.


    Im in district 5 and will be voting for Anthony Clark. Also if anyone has any insight into the judges on the ballot, Id like to hear them.
     
  47. Bert Handsome

    Bert Handsome I'm sorry, the card says Moops
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    This is the best insights into judges I've seen

    https://blogs.fangraphs.com/fangraphs-audio-the-contemptible-necessary-dayn-perry/
     
  48. Anison

    Anison Fair and square
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    I used this guide to decide which judges to vote for
    https://www.injusticewatch.org/interactives/judicial-election-guide/2020-primary/
     
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