Results tagged “turkey”

Two years ago, we bought our first local turkey to serve for Thanksgiving. At the time, it was mostly an ethical decision - after reading far too much about turkeys that are too breast-heavy to walk and too stupid to mate on their own, we didn’t want any part of the turkey empire that is Butterball. We visited a farm near our parents' home in Iowa, picked out a turkey that seemed lively and drove home with it that very day. After brining and roasting, the turkey was presented to family and friends, and we realized the other reason to buy local - it tastes better. Much better.

Say you're Nick Kokonas, partner in Alinea and Daddy Warbucks to Grant Achatz's Little Orphan Annie, and you want to do something slightly different with the Thanksgiving turkey. Do you brine it? Deep fry it? Grind it and turn it into a giant pot pie?

One week from now we will be sitting at home, reflecting on the holiday while enjoying our favorite part of the holiday feast: the Thanksgiving Leftovers Sandwich. (Or at Best Buy purchasing ten plasma TVs, a washer and dryer, and thirty cameras for the Black Friday low, low price of $70.) But, we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Until then, expect grocery stores to be annoyingly crowded for the Thanksgiving preparation home stretch with anxious hosts fighting over the last cranberries, turkeys, and autumnal gourd centerpieces. Lucky for you, we composed our annual list of places-other-than-Jewel to purchase fresh turkeys - it’s not too late to place an order, so give ‘em a call.

As Mayor Daley heads east to join Pat Ryan in Turkey today to lobby the European Olympic Committee on behalf of Chicago 2016, the pair will be joined by President-Elect Barack Obama. Sort of. Obama has recorded a message which will be played at the meeting supporting Chicago 2016's efforts. Daley is hoping that at next year's final presentation in Copenhagen, the real Obama will join the Chicago delegation.

Now that Mayor Daley has addressed the Obama security issue and passed his 2009 budget, it's time for more important things: like a trip to Turkey to make a pitch for Chicago 2016. The Mayor's packing his bags as we speak because he'll leave tomorrow to attend a European Olympic Committee gathering and press the flesh to sway those members to vote for Chicago. Chicago 2016 Chairman Pat Ryan, who is already in Istanbul for the meeting, said, "It’s not critical that a government leader be at each of these meetings. But it’s important to be at some of them. We have very strong support from Mayor Daley and city government. It’s important that he be here to demonstrate that strong partnership." Ryan also added that the city's bid was aided by the Obama election: "The Obama election has been helpful in that it’s putting a very bright spotlight on Chicago. The acceptance speech in Grant Park, the multi-culturalism and passion of the people, the outstanding acceptance speech resonated around the world. The fact that President-elect Obama is managing the transition from Chicago continues to put a spotlight on Chicago."

We finally saw the Heavy Metal in Baghdad documentary last night and walked away rather stunned. It follows the one and only metal band in Iraq, Acrassicauda, from just after Saddam's defeat through 2006 when they are seeking refugee status in Syria. (Currently the band is in Turkey.)

In our experience, most people who eat at Costello's Sandwich and Sides get the same thing every time. It's their Costello's Match. Former Chicagoist editors Scott Smith and Erin Shea love the Heartland and Smokin' Turk, respectively. Our boyfriend's favorite is the Italian Grinder. For us, our Costello's Match is the Turkey Focaccia. Generally speaking, the Turkey Focaccia is a basic turkey sandwich — turkey, provolone, lettuce, tomato, vinaigrette. But what makes this sandwich...

Last year, perhaps a little earlier, we gave you a quick run-down of where you could buy yourself a turkey and at what cost. We felt that it would be nice of us to do that again for you ... not to mention the fact that we haven't had time to get a turkey for ourselves. So, without further ado, a decidedly skewed to the north side turkey roundup. Dominick's located at 6009 N Broadway...

In what's become an annual feature here at Chicagoist and a personal favorite, we canvassed the staff for some of their best recipes and put together a potluck of amazing proportions to fascinate your taste buds, amaze your family (even the ones entranced by the football games), and bring about peace on earth - or at least in your family - for a few hours through the miracle of tryptophan, simple starches, and sugar...

OK, you got us here: Ricci & Company really isn’t a market per se. Unless you’re a squirrel and this small River North spot specializing in hand-roasted nuts has everything you need for your daily intake and then some. But just because Ricci doesn’t stock edibles from all the food groups — who can keep up with that ever-changing list anyways? — that doesn’t mean it’s not worthy of a mention here. First off, there’s...

Red Hen Bread lacks highchairs, changing tables, a kid menu and a door big enough to comfortably squeeze a stroller through. We wouldn’t recommend going there with a large group and eating in, but with a long list of appetizing baked goods, a menu of innovative sandwiches, a friendly staff and an actual stroll-though window, this bread cafe should not be overlooked as a place to grab a bite with your kid. We recently tried...

We hope you're reading this weekend's blotter on a laptop outside somewhere. A homeless woman is being questioned concerning a fatal fire in Wrigleyville Saturday morning. Around 7 a.m. a fire broke out in a three-story apartment building at 3553 N. Fremont in a stairwell, quickly spreading throughout the structure. Three unidentified men and one woman, 24-year-old Jennifer Carlson, were found dead. Witnesses saw an unkempt woman hovering around three smaller fires the previous night...

Our appetite has been out of control lately, you'd think we were pregnant or something. But, no Chicagoist Jr's in the picture just yet. We blame the abnormal appetite on the hibernating we have doing because of the cold. Well, we are helping you join us this weekend as we bring you some delicious events.

Alaska? Iceland? Actually, this is The Perito Moreno Glacier in Argentine Patagonia. And Lisa Lubin used to be there, but not any more. Let us back up to the beginning, though.. Lisa Lubin is a former TV producer at ABC7 who helped start the show "190 North." In her 9 years in Chicago she completely immersed herself in the city. She played in a summer tennis program, owned real estate, taught a TV production...

The political season is over for most of the country. Hell, it's over for most of the media, and all the other people that sit around and watch it like "Monday Night Football." For the next month and a half, most of us will be thinking about eggnog, latkes, Wild Turkey with grandma, and how to pick up that cashier at Jewel with the intriguing accent. But if there's one group of people that are...

Good news out of Fort Myers, Fla. this morning: the town’s annual Turkey Testicle Festival will be allowed to keep its name. And they just may have an Illinois town to thank for it.

Admit it, you’re a little naughty, aren’t you? It’s OK. We’re fine with that. In fact, Chicagoist supports your right to be as nasty as you want to be. As long as you’re smart about it, and it doesn’t result in any deaths or break any laws. Well, at least not any of the important laws.

There are some ideas, good ideas, that are so simple in theory and execution; we wonder why no one has thought of them before. Ideas like:

As you travel to far-flung corners of the country for Turkey Tour 2005, a few Chicagoans are returning home to visit for the weekend. We’ve had a bit of fun at The Lovehammers’ expense here and there but they’ve got the last laugh with a sold out show tonight at Metro, an appearance at Q101’s sold-out Twisted show in December and a series of sold-out dates with INXS in the coming year. Start collecting those...

Chicagoist is only going to give this a modicum of space because just thinking about this gives us such incredible, mind-numbing, back-breaking cramps and there isn't enough Vicodin and Wild Turkey in the world to put us out of our misery. Look. This whole foie gras thing is getting way out of hand. Seriously, people, we cannot believe that there is a possibility that the city council will ban it. And all of you animal...

Chicagoist's Bridgeport Correspondent earns his keep as a bartender. When we're on the clock we adopt the motto of "bizarro-world" Nick from "It's A Wonderful Life": "We serve hard drinks here for folks who wanna get drunk fast. And we ain't got room for 'characters' who give the joint 'atmosphere'." Actually, we've loosened up a bit over the years as we discovered the hard way that those same "characters" tend to tip very, very, very,...

Chicagoist can normally give or take pesto, to be honest, but sometimes things made from your own garden taste better. So when our basil plant started to get out of hand, we had no choice but to blend it with olive oil, parmesan, pine nuts, and a little bit of garlic.

Chicagoist can think of about umpteen million things they would rather do than go to the Taste of Chicago. At the top of this list is having someone take an Epilady and run it over every one of our hair folicles, dip us in a vat of nail polish remover, set us on fire, then douse our flaming, acetone-soaked, hairless bodies with gasoline.

It is tucked away, but once you find it you will know where to go when you need a break from shopping or a quick lunch if you work in the area. Café Nordstrom is hidden on the Fourth Floor of the Shopping Center between Kids and Juniors.

The Bears got the stuffing beat out of them once again, this time 21-7 by the lowly Dallas Cowboys. The offense played as imeptly as they have most of the season, again getting outscored by the Bears defense as the only Bears points came on a 45-yard R.W. McQuarters interception return for a TD.

Thanksgiving is supposed to be a time to reflect on people and things that have meaning in your life but for us it's another day off work and you know what that means: Par-tay! Tonight there are a ton of Thanksgiving-eve celebrations going on. Here's the rundown on a couple we think are a lot of bang for your buck - for more check Metromix!

The Bears defense was pretty much worthless on Sunday. Colts QB Peyton Manning added four more touchdown passes (now at 35 through 10 games) to his season total as he charges towards Dan Marino's record of 48 TD passes in a season. Edgerrin James ran for over 200 yards. The Colts scored 41 points against the Bears, and their stars all sat for the forth quarter. And the defense failed to score this week, as well.

For the 3rd time in less than 10 years, more than one University of Chicago student has simultaneously won the Rhodes Scholarships. Andrew Kim and Ian Desai were among the 32 Americans selected as Rhodes Scholars for 2005. Chosen from 904 applicants, they will study at Oxford University on scholarship funds for 2 years.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and Chicagoist is salivating at the thought of turkey, dressing and mashed potatoes. Can't hardly wait! To bide our time we've been surfing the interweb for all things related to preparing Thanksgiving dinner... and don't worry.. cooking Thanksgiving dinner from scratch can seem like a frightening task, but if Chicagoist can do it without making the entire family sick then anyone can!

Today marks the halfway point of the Chicago International Film Festival. So now’s as good a time as any to catch up with what’s playing in the next week and how you can catch all the films you want to see. If you haven’t seen anything yet, consider this your wake-up call. First, start with the official site. Under Films and Events, you can search for films by category, date or even country. As you’re...