Chicago MMXIII: Walk Don't Run

whoa

i am thinking about dancedancing tonight if anyone wants to join
recent playlists look promising

Yikes!

I have a suspicion I'm going to be working v. late tonight.

We watched Queen of Versailles last night. Spoilers, more or less, I guess:

Y'all were right that the wife is fairly sympathetic. I was less sympathetic to the husband, or to their plight in general (sorry that high-pressure selling bullshit, subprime timeshares mortgages didn't work out for you, you big jerk). ALSO I nearly broke out in hives after they fired most of their domestic employees and the house deteriorated into piles of dirty dishes, discarded toys, and dog shit. Also did that one woman live in a kid's playhouse??!!?! WTF. Also heartbroken for the woman who came to the USA to raise someone else's children while leaving her own child behind to grow up without her.

Oh, also angry at the entire family for letting their lizard die.

Other reasons I am unsympathetic to David Seigel: his claim to have secured GWB's presidential victory and his shitty treatment of his kids from his first marriage.

oh he was definitely a jerk and they pretty much gave up on making him sympathetic during the excruciating scene where she tries to make him a family dinner for his birthday

where should we go for a family vacation this year?
* seattle & portland
* montreal

New Orleans

Both good options.

seattle/portland was the original plan but my sister and her husband have been persuasive in pushing montreal as an alternative

I've heard lots of good things about Montreal (haven't been there as an adult), would put Toronto on the list as it's also very good and easier to get to. Cheap direct flights on Porter Airlines.

Yeah, I priced flights to MTL recently on a whim, and they were a little more expensive than I remembered from having gone there in 2006.

^^^ I priced flights at the beginning of last year when the Fire's first game of the season was @ Montreal and yeah, sticker shock for sure compared to a lot of other places.

could theoretically drive, it's about as long a drive as driving to asheville, plus going a direction i've never driven before

and go through toronto

Driving in Canada is fun, the speed limit is 100 and everyone still goes faster.

xp to Nick - The family dinner scene was excruciating.

I went to Montreal on a high school band trip. There was a lot of underage drinking involved, so if that's important for you, I would say Montreal.

I've never been to Seattle but I would really like to go. I have been to Portland and I had a good time, but it's been a long time and I can't remember anything specific about.

Seattle was fun, but I really didn't explore it like I should have.

i have never been to pacific NW or canada at all

This is a screenplay apparently making the rounds in H'wood right now:

MAN OF TOMORROW
Jeremy Slater

In an alternate 1940s reality, the US Government makes a deal with an indestructible
gangster to kill Hilter in exchange for the city of Chicago, which he will build into his
own utopia. Unfortunately his model city never comes to fruition and both he and his
Bureau liaison get much of the slack for destroying one of America’s greatest cities and
now the government wants him dead.

I'm assuming that should be Hitler, not Hilter.

Alternate reality, he spells his name differently.

Frankie Hilter, German immigrant to Chicago and minor supervillian

I say Montreal because I imagine Nick walking by Les Foufounes Électriques and then, when folks say "How was Montreal?", saying "Well, we went to Les Foufounes Électriques."

FYI - dancedancing was fun -- music was acceptable, i had a good time
still putting the finishing touches on my mix and waffling over sequencing, though.

Anyone have opinions on the L0cal 0ption? I've never been, but I was looking at their website and it has some weird imagery (lots of skulls, lightning bolts, some quasi-stars-and-bars southern stuff, etc).

i don't even know what that is

I've been there a lot. Great tap list and it changes very frequently. They have some of the best beer events too, 30+ taps and get some really good rare imports. The aesthetic of the places is similar to Kuma's, but it's a nice bar.

Food is solid too, not great. I like their muffaletta and fish tacos.

Checking my stats, I've consumed 30 beers there.

I really like it. They have a really good beer selection and tasty, cheap food. The decor feels a little contrived, I think, but it's not terrible. My main problem is that they write their beer list on a chalkboard at the front of the bar, and whoever writes it has absurd handwriting, and between that, my eyesight and glare, it's really hard to read. Sure, write that shit on a board if you don't want to incur the costs of printing a new list (their selection changes a lot) but get somebody with legible handwriting to write it ffs.

While the bartenders have always been very kind and welcoming to me, I've seen them get a little attitude with other college-student-looking people in the bar. I chalk that up to its location in the middle of DePaul's campus and some subsequent gatekeeping.

But yeah, overall a good place. I would go more if it were a smidge closer to public transit.

Also, it is a good trick to go the day after a big beer event because they often have beers leftover.

The owner friended me on facebook for reasons unknown to me. I don't drink there that much.

Probably one of my top 3 chicago bars.

I'd like to try it.

Another thing to note is they don't put prices/ABV/descriptions on their menu. Most of the beers are going to be from 6 to 9 dollars. Some people will probably find this annoying. They do keep their Beer Menus page updated though: http://www.beermenus.com/places/1255-local-option

Needless to say, but LMK if you want to grab a drink there one day. I'll gladly go there just about any evening/weekend.

I've been once. My main gripe was that the beer list had no information beyond the names of the beers. Fine if you're serving fairly common stuff, but most of it was unfamiliar to me, and I'd have liked to know the style and the price, at the very least, if not also the ABV. As I recall, the prices were on the high side (average $7). Also the atmosphere reminded me of a divey rock club.

That said, the beer and food were both pretty good. I'd go back, with Beermenus.com loaded on a smartphone.

(xxpost)

My only complaint is when a bar isn't clear about whether a beer is served in a pint glass or a snifter. I like a good big pint o' beer.

I'd go back, with Beermenus.com loaded on a smartphone.

Whose smartphone, who knows.

You'd better take your wife or Jeff or me, just to be safe.

EZ - the higher the alcohol content, the less likely you are to get it in a pint glass, if that helps.

Beer menus has the size of the glass too.

Just print out beer menus and spread it out over the bar when you get there.

I find it v irritating that there are no prices or abv on the menu -- would make me not want to go there but I am cheap and a lightweight.

i refuse to do homework in order to drink beer

haha OTM. If I didn't like beer as much as I do, I would be high fiving the hell out of you. As it is, I kind of enjoy beer homework, and also I have a Jeff so I just copy off him anyway.

However, please note that the bartenders are really nice about answering questions (as long as you don't look like a college student who meant to go into the football bar next door). I've gone so far as to say, "I can't really read your board, but I'm in the mood for a sour beer. Do you have anything along those lines?" And was then treated to a parade of interesting beers that I enjoyed very much.

Like, if I had to look up the toppings on an esoterically named pizza or hamburger bc the restaurant wouldn't put it on a menu, I would steadfastly refuse to go there.

i strongly dislike having to ask a gatekeeper for the thing i want to eat/buy/hear -- just make it easy for me to figure it out and find it by myself. (i realize this is my damage though, i hate to ask for help!)

I feel you. I dislike it, too.

badass

Temp goes above 32 for the first time in 2014 today. On my way to summer. Suck it winter.

this woman rules: http://voices.suntimes.com/news/humboldt-park-woman-sick-of-dibs-shovels-entire-block-nodibs/

I bet she was sore the next day! Bless her.

We've got a new washing machine! It's all fancy and HE and has actual working temperature controls and a real delicate cycle.

https://scontent-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/1511157_10152153229645056_1918672601_n.jpg

xp I was at sisut's family's place over the holidays and I swear their washer/dryer combo has some kind of wifi connectivity.

Snow --> deep freeze ---> rain ---> we now live in the middle of a lake of dog urine
so
gross
out there

Ugh and the appliance guy wore his boots to walk through the house.

Okay, can we go back to the -40 degree weather now? It doesn't seem all that bad in light of Slushpocalypse. Seriously considered just going ahead and taking my effing shoes off on the way home this evening.

i for one hope we get some more sub-zero weather, and not only because i just got my down coat

sweet fucking christ I think I went knee-deep in a slushpuddle

I wear 8" water proof boots. Slush is no problem. It's snow dying and I enjoy it.

well I didn't see you out at the bar so nyeah :P

No one told me where to go!

not sure how accurate this is, but its a map depicting the fate of former Dominicks

https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zYxrjPM9r5dw.kgZ1rPyFShok

the one in streeterville is turning in to a whole foods

as i suspected, closing or unknown :(

I walked by that one and wondered what was up. rip Dominicks, I guess

Only one that is relevant for me is the one off of Fullerton becoming a Whole Foods, which is great. Well it will be if they have a bar.

mh are you still here

jeff-- is that the one by the CTA red/brown/purple stop?

no, I left saturday

I will sneak off from this thread now, like a thief in the night

out with ye

so has anyone been to any cool wedding spots that were cheap and affordable and won't cost a lot of money? also cheap

my brother got a good deal here, but prob because of winter: http://ravenswoodeventcenter.com/

worth booking an appointment, the sales/management staff are cool people and will be realistic about your budget, etc

http://www.dankhaus.com/ was our first choice for a Chicago wedding before we decided on a destination wedding.

I've also been to a wedding at the Ravenswood center and it was pretty classy.

Jeff and I got married at marriage court in the county building in the Loop. So cheap it was free.

We had our reception at the Hopleaf which really was cheap - two (three?) hours of open bar and a really nice selection of food for I think 25 people (maybe 30?) for about $2k. I don't know if they still do that kind of private party anymore or if it would still be that cheap. This was in 2005, pre Check Please and remodel.

IME the best way to get married on the cheap was to keep it small.

jaymc and NA and their brides both got married in lovely locations that I think were budget minded, but they'll have to say where bc I forgot.

i just looked at this place for my brother's rehearsal dinner. their private party room is pretty great, but only big enough for about 45 guests total, and the food costs are way way lower than most event spaces:

http://bigbrickschicago.com/catering-and-parties

Big Bricks is good. I would get married there.

Private party rooms in restaurants are good bc you don't have to rent a bunch of chairs and plates and crap.

iirc the big savings at Dankhaus was on booze, because you could stock your own bar (i.e. not pay ridic inflated prices from their vendors) and they would provide a bartender.

at big bricks you have the option of an open bar or having a cash bar, and there's no bartender fee either way

the food menu is per item too, and not per person

keeping it small and keeping the rehearsal dinner very small are definitely the initial strategies. thanks for the input

Oh wow, the former Dominick's by my workplace is turning into a Whole Foods. And it'll be kitty-corner to a current Mariano's.

Gr8, yes.

http://www.chicagomag.com/dining-drinking/January-2014/Links-TapRoom/

I'd just like to say I had a vision for a bar almost exactly like this about 3 years ago.

You say to yourself, "It's good to be alive," when you make a reservation at C@tch 35.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoTdFb9QI1U

http://www.suntimes.com/news/cityhall/25080385-418/divvy-supplier-files-bankruptcy.html

Unlikely to affect anything here. Good post of a dumb site regarding it: http://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/comments/1vpm6k/divvy_supplier_files_bankruptcy/ceuoccc

I miss jibjabbin with you guys. Twitter isn't the same at all.

Maybe we need a new thread? It's not mmxiii anymore, after all.

guys last nite's snow was very pretty, i went for a long walk in it

That sounds lovely. I slept through it, then it killed my home Internet, then this morning I shoveled it.

xxp I did it ✶✶✶✶ Chicago MMXIV ✶✶✶✶