Results tagged “review”

We've decided to cease apologizing for Weezer. The band is what it is. If you're looking for Rivers Cuomo to ever attain the heights of Pinkerton or The Blue Album you're always going to be sorely disappointed. And Jesus if the man doesn't make it hard to even enjoy his music when he throws garbage like Weezer Snuggies and duets with Kennny G into the mix.

Hockey insidiously worms it's way into your heart. We've heard enough dance rock bands in recent years to grow suspicious of any group that could be counted among that ilk. We don't wish James Murphy or The Rapture ill for influencing so many kids starting bands, but goddamn if have to suffer through another group of college kids caterwauling over a disco beat we're gonna start smashing 12 inch singles over somebody's carefully mussed head!

Like most, our personal budgets have tightened significantly over the past year or so. Not that cash burned a hole in our pocket before. It's just that we're being even more cognizant of closeouts and deep discounts at the wine shop than ever before. Rare is the wine that we'll buy at retail.

     

It was sometime after 8 Friday night at the Chicago Luxury Ice Cream Festival when Benjy texted me from one of the many long lines formed inside the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. The text read, "This is like going to Great America, only you have a small bite of ice cream waiting for you at the end instead of getting on a roller coaster."

One of the best things about visiting Uncommon Ground Devon's farmers market (every Friday from 4-8 p.m. ) is that you can walk around the vendors set up in the parking lot with a beer in your hand, if you're so inclined. They have a nice rotating selection of drafts and with August finally giving us a semblance of summer — humidity — that's been missing, a good fruit beer is in order. Maybe something that makes a good shandy when lemonade is added.

    

Much has been written about the splitting of former Mundial owners/chefs Kate and Eusebio Garcia and what they're currently doing. We've even visited Amelia's, Eusebio Garcia's new oasis in the restaurant desert of Canaryville. While the Garcias personal issues have been front and center, one fact remains: Mundial's third partner, Mario Cota, still has the doors open to the popular Pilsen outpost.

Went to Goose Island Clybourn last night for the Swan Creek Farm Auction-ending celebration; the online auction brought in over $14,000. All of the monies raised from the various benefits wil go a long way toward helping Swan Creek's George Rasmussen get a new truck for deliveries.

   

Eusebio Garcia's creative meshing of Mexican and Mediterranean influences was one of many reasons that Pilsen's Mundial Cocina Mestiza developed a steady base of customers. Recently, he and wife Kate divorced, and each sold their shares of Mundial to third partner Mario Cota. Eusebio Garcia then struck out on his own in, of all places, Canaryville, with a gleaming new restaurant, bringing his killer salmon al carbón, langostinos and homemade corn tortillas with him to Amelia's (4559 S. Halsted, 773-538-8200).

The big question with Graham Elliot's "Sexy Burger," besides recalculating your life expectancy with every bite, is what beer is bold enough to pair with it. Say hello to Mendocino Red Tail Ale, people. This amber ale, brewed with Caramel and Pale malts along with Cascade and Cluster hops, was up for the challenge.

New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni reviews L2O in today's edition of the Paper of Record. The true meat of the review lies not in Bruni's take on the food — he says Laurent Gras has "deftly filtered many worthy influences" — but in forecasting its long-term health. L2O has not been packing them in of late, and Bruni notes that gras' partner Rich melman of Lettuce Entertain You holds "plenty of moderately priced, unglamorous restaurants to support such divas as Tru and Everest." And L2O.

If you're looking for a beer to stimulate your appetite, saisons make a wonderful aperitif. The tartness imparted from Brettanomyce yeast prepares an eater for anything from barbecue to a multiple-course tasting menu. If sour is the new hoppy, then consumers should focus on diversity.

    

Our initial feeling upon walking into Sunda was excitement. Tony Chi’s dramatic décor, which includes eye-catching sculptures all over the ceiling, creates a sense of drama even when first glimpsed from the door. The menu, too, is an exercise in foodie “wow” moments, filled with unique twists on Asian fusion. Roasted duck hash salad! Truffled tataki salmon sashimi! Unfortunately, as soon as we got past the main entrance, our excitement turned to irritation.

   

Collaborative ales between breweries are nothing new. It's a wonderful chance for two (or more) breweries to put their heads together and give their customers something truly special. Collaborative Evil and Bison's annual Reunion ales are good examples. Meanwhile, Larry Bell and Dirk Naudts are hard at work with their planned Bell's/De Proef collaboration later this year.

Goose Island brewmaster Greg Hall has been telling anyone who will listen that "sour is the new hoppy." It's unsurprising to find Goose Island at the vanguard of what's becoming a shift in American craft brewing. Breweries like Goose Island, Dogfish Head and Jolly Pumpkin are shifting from boldly hopped ales to experimental fermentation, brewing with fruit, and aging for long periods of time in whisky or wine casks. The template now is not how thick a beer can be, but how tart can you make it. India Pale ales and Extra Strong Bitters are taking a back seat to lambics, saisons, krieks and brett yeasts.

Lynfred Winery in Roselle is celebrating its 30th anniversary. Since its 1979 inception, Lynfred has grown to become the largest winery in the state and is a major force in trying to keep Illinois a "full reciprocity" state in accordance with the Supreme Court's decision in Granholm v. Heald, although distributors aren't making it easy.

   

After a less-than satisfying experience with Five Guys, there's been some reluctance to throw a hat into the ring with another chain from out-of-state as the next big thing in burgers. The Counter Burger, a California-based chain whose Lincoln Park location has been doing brisk business since opening late last summer, unfortunately doesn't do the trick, either.

One of the knocks on Greek diners is that there isn't much of a choice with regard to cocktails. like the food, they keep it simple but tasty: efficiency at its most basic. Wanting a beer with out Greek combo plate from Central Gyros last weekend, we were looking for Mythos on the menu, which is normally the go-to Greek beer at most Hellenic-themed restaurants. Then Toula, our waitress offered us a bottle of Aris, as Mythos was out of stock.

    

Hadn't had the chance to visit Uncommon Ground's Edgewater location (1401 W. Devon, 773-465-9801) since it opened last year. With an old friend visiting from Colorado over the weekend, it seemed like a perfect opportunity to see how the place is doing. Judging from the bustle in the dining room Saturday night the answer was "quite well." This was "slow food" without the pretense, served masterfully with a well-trained, informed and opinionated waitstaff. The bar is also an underrated gem, although the flashing blue light of the police camera outside may trick some into thinking there's a perpetual special running.

Obviously the high point of our week (besides clocking out for the weekend in an hour) was the Hot Chocolate anniversary beer dinner. One of the participating breweries at the dinner was Kansas City's Boulevard Brewing Company, currently unavailable in the market. That might change in upcoming months.

        

Since entering the market last autumn, the DC-based hamburger chain Five Guys has garnered the kind of media (over)exposure that fast food franchises crave. After hearing good things about Five Guys from Kevin and Marcus while they were in the District for the inauguration, and one fair-but-not-supportive review from Mike Nagrant, we knew that we had to find out for ourselves if Five Guys was worth the hype. in such markets as . The walls of its tiny space at 2140 N. Clybourn are loaded with testimonials lavished upon it from other cities such as Roanoke, Tampa and its home base in DC, apparently waiting for a glowing review from one of our own.

A "session beer" is described as follows:

We’ve already mentioned many times in this column our love of cozy, informal restaurants with great food. We don’t mean greasy diners or burger joints, though they certainly have their charm. We’re looking places with a stylish décor, unique and well-prepared food, a good bit of booze and a bill under $50 for two. La Madia fits the bill perfectly.

After Chuck visited Marc Burger last week we decided it was about time for us to revisit another of the posh food court offerings of the State Street Macy’s. Macy’s heavily advertises their celebrity chef-driven eateries, but we’ve had bad experiences at a number of their restaurants. The Walnut Room has never been known for its fine cuisine, and we’re still haunted by the memory of the food we ate when we were dragged to Infields, the basement sports bar.

Sabering a bottle of champagne gives you such a rush the first time you do it. So we had to try it with a bottle of beer.

A long time ago in a Chicagoist far, far away, we compiled a list of 12 favorite Christmas beers. Included on that list at #2 was Anchor's Christmas Ale. Fans of this yearly offering know that no two vintages are alike. From the spices to the label, there's always something to differentiate one year from another.

The rain of praise tumbling down upon Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion has been so grossly effusive it borders upon caricature. One would be forgiven for hating the band outright based on the over-the-top praise already being heaped on the disc, available only on vinyl until January 20. However, do not believe the hype.

There are some of us out there who don't like the taste of champagne; its understandable. But from the moment we tasted this week's "BotW" selection, we knew that no other brew we profiled this year would even come close to being named Chicagoist's "Beer of the Year." Well, Unibroue's 2002 Queleque Chose came close. But from Brouwerij Bosteels — makers of Kwak and Tripel Karmaliet — comes this unique offering that appeals to both beer geeks and wine snobs.

Goose Island's been working a lot with rye malt recently. Their Juliet ale, brewed with rye, marionberries and aged for six months in Robert Kraig cabernet casks, has been a popular selection among those Chicagoist staffers who've tasted it (Jacy and myself). This week, we're featuring another rye-based Goose Island offering that's been flying off shelves.

We're gonna focus December's "BotW" selections on new(ish) winter selections, including the new Goose Island "Mild Winter" ale and Lost Abbey's "Gift of the Magi" in the next two weeks. today, however, we're tuning our attention to back to Magic Hat Brewing Company.

In order to honor the spirit of (then-ending) National Vegan Month, we decided to go all-out: Raw Food. Raw foodists believe that important, life-sustaining enzymes present in our food are destroyed by cooking, and so food must be processed in alternative ways. The Raw Food movement has gotten a lot of play in the food press over the last five years, raving about freshness and health benefits . So, with an open mind and an inquiring palate, we headed to Karyn’s Raw.