Menu of [delicious] Upcoming Events: UPDATED
Boy oh boy, have we got great things in store for our lovely Lushly customers! Check out the updates and new additions [in bold] to our calendar of events for the next two months:
August 20th: Jim Beam bourbon celebration and BBQ with Fred Noe, Booker’s son. FREE! 7-9 PM
August 23rd: Maryland-style Blue Crab Boil served family style with traditional sides and hand-selected pairings. Market Price, but between $50-100.
August 29th: Join Lush and Sonja from North Shore Distillery to sample their world-class, local spirits and their brand spankin’ new absinthe ‘Sirene’. FREE!
September 14th: Oysterbration. Buckets and buckets of ‘em, with wine pairings to boot. Market price.
September 20th: PAX and Pig. A vertical of highly acclaimed wine with succulent swine. Price TBD.
September 26th: Sine Qua Non. Super super super rare vertical tasting. Do not miss this. Price TBD.
September 27th: Champagne and Fried Chicken. Don’t knock it til you’ve tried it–a miraculous pairing! Price TBD
What I am drinking…right NOW.
Right now, that would be the Rogue Hazlenut Brown Ale. Wow. Perfect way to finish off my evening…watching the Olympics, chilling with the pup, and drinking a full bodied, sweet and nutty brown. Ah.
I also have a bottle of the new vintage, 2006, D’Arenber ‘Derelict’ Grenache from Australia. These kids found an old, derelict vineyard full of ancient, crochety vines. Thus followed a bit of pampering, coaxing, and convincing to produce a bit of fruit and juice to fit in a few bottles…and let me tell you, yum. Berries and spice and minerals, as well as that ‘old vine’ earthy taste that is just ethereal and tasty. The 2006 is already drinking beautifully, which is a bit surpising since I always except this bottle to be shy upon opening. The 2005 is rocking it out, too. Try one.
The newest, most exciting wine to hit the shelves at Lush has been the Dirler Pinot Noir Cepage…a WHITE Pinot Noir from Alsace, France. Holy crap. This made me stop, put down the glass, pick it up and sniff some more, and then taste again…then dump it into a real Pinot glass and repeat. Delicious. Weird. This is my kind of wine.
On another subject, my dear friends gifted me a certificate to visit ‘Foodstuffs’ in Evanston. I had no idea what the shop was until I walked in and wanted to plunk down and camp out. Spendy, yes, but super delicious treats all around in a tiny, boxy store. I’ve been munching through extremely fresh and uber ripe organic blackberrys, freaking awesome tomatoes on the vine, sugar peas, fresh mozzarella, and day old bread. We also picked up tomato/basil chicken sausages that were quite nice on the Lush Halsted patio with beer.
Beer. Wine. And food.
Oh, wait, I forgot the liquor…I just picked up the Square One Cucumber Vodka…organic rye and cucumbers from Iowa, distilled in Idaho. Fresh and fun, and vodka. But, TimeOut beat me to the punch. Grab this before the long summer days and lovely weather dwindle! Play with some cocktail ideas, too.
Good talk.
Cin cin,
Rachel
I’m having a hard time telling you what is in my mouth
It’s a red wine, and it’s a really interesting one. It looks different in the glass, an odd shade of red that makes me think “nuclear” even though that doesn’t make any sense. It smells, well, it smells a LOT; the kind of smell that gets stuck in the back of your mouth where your nasal cavity meets your throat. When I put the glass to my lips, I imagine a lit Molotov cocktail wrapped in velvet and landing in a vat of raspberries. I like it, even though it’s not really my preferred style. It’s a spectacle, like the TMZ show or when my upstairs neighbors fight. It’s the Brochelle Syrah, and I’m trying to tell you what I experience when I drink it.
Second Fridays with Lush
That art and wine come hand in hand is not often questioned: after all, what mental image of a gallery opening is complete without people schmoozing, admiring the artists’ works, glass in hand?
So, this and every second Friday, go check out the fantastic galleries just south of us on Halsted in the Pilsen Arts District. Then make your way back up and join us on the patio for a relaxing bottle or three. Cheers!
Doggie style.
Come celebrate the dog days of summer with Lush and your favorite canine! That’s right, we are hosting a doggie social on our grassy patio on Friday, July 25th. Well-behaved dogs and owners can come to Lush on Halsted from 6-9 PM. We’ll be featuring both dog and human treats; the latter will include Two Brothers’ Dog Days Dortmunder-style lager, and Dunham Cellars’ Four Legged White and Three Legged Red, among other themed bottles available for purchase to enjoy outside. Woof!
Saturday Morning Shiraz
Contrary to what people must think about us lushes, there are times and places when we just don’t want wine. Saturday morning, when I’ve just arrived at work, is one of them. Coffee? Yes. Water? Yes. Wine? Not so much. Highly alcoholic fruit bombs? Especially not.
That’s why I wasn’t exceptionally thrilled to be given two new Aussie wines to try this past Saturday morning. Australian red, bless its heart, tends to be big, bold, fruit forward, and peppery. DELICIOUS, but aggressive and in-your-face, nonetheless. Read the rest of this entry »
St. George Absinthe: Drink GREEN!
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The cowbell playing howler monkey and the Lush staff presents…St. George Absinthe Verte! Drink green, trust me. It is legal, and back with a mean, green vengence. Check it out at swanky Chicago bars or ask your favorite, trusty bartender to snatch up a few bottles of this baby and make you delectable, delirious green cocktails. St. George, the first and perhaps only American-made Absinthe, is made by the master distiller behind Hangar One…seriously limited production and availability on the verte. The flavors are intense, complex, and balanced.
Official tasting notes:
St. George Spirits Absinthe Verte is made with fine brandy, star anise, mint, wormwood, lemon balm, hyssop, meadowsweet, basil, fennel, tarragon and stinging nettles. This infamous liquor reveals seductive flavors of anise complimented with sweet grassy tones, light citrus, white pepper, and light menthol notes.
‘At 120-proof, the sage-colored spirit is a monster, but cut with some cold water it revealed complex layers of hyssop, lemon balm and all sorts of anisey, licoricey action derived from star fennel, tarragon and—naturally—wormwood. For anyone who’s only drunk sweet, synthetic-tasting ersatz “absinthe,” give the spirit another chance. It took Winters and his team 32 tries (and eight official rejections from the TTB, which approves all alcoholic-beverage packaging) to get the bottle and label for his Absinthe Verte approved. One of the earlier versions featured a howling monkey beating a human skull with femur bones. The TTB rejected this display of primal percussion, so Winters swapped a the skull out for a cowbell—a reference to the most-quoted Saturday Night Live skit of the YouTube era. When the TTB rejected the human skull version, Winters said, “I asked them: ‘How about a monkey wearing a suit, reclining in a wingback chair?’ They said, ‘Fine.’ The TTB doesn’t have a tremendous sense of humor. They’re like a bunch of nuns. I don’t think they got the cowbell thing, either.”’ (http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/mouthing-off/2008/3/12/St-George-Absinthe-Now-With-60-Percent-More-Cowbell)
Give the green fairy a high five for me! Get creative with your cocktail skills and try it yourself…throw an absinthe party and get wild. Love it. Drink it. Share it.
Cheers,
Rachel Lea Driver
Vive la France!
We at Lush like the quirkier holidays. Join us this weekend for a three-day-long Bastille Day festival. Here’s the lineup:
Friday 11 juillet
French cider, beer, and sparkling wines to kick off the festivities and heighten the mood at our Roscoe and Halsted locations. Getting artsy at the Chicago Arts District’s Second Friday Art Walk? Head a few blocks north on Halsted afterward and get boozy on the UV patio with your favorite Francophile Lushes.
Saturday 12 juillet
Think pink! French rosé is all the rage. Come see what it’s all about at both shops, and taste the most refreshing, versatile, food-friendly wine out there.
Sunday 13 juillet
The peasant uprising! Who needs aristocratic Bordeaux and Burgundy when the unsung heroes of Languedoc, Rhone, Cotes Catalanes, and Loire are the true heart and soul of French winemaking? Celebrate the Third Estate; come storm LUSH and nosh on homemade crepes, only five bucks apiece. Extended hours for celebrating: 2-7 PM.
Baguettes will be on hand all weekend. Berets are, of course, encouraged.
A bientot!
BYOB: Earwax Cafe
Earwax Cafe
After spending most of yesterday ducking the heat (and saving money!) by hanging out in the libarary, the gym, and our neighborhood pool, my fiance and I decided to take a break from cooking and grab a bite to eat elsewhere. Not really concerned with the type of cuisine, we instead prioritized that the place be 1) inexpensive (saving for the wedding!), 2) a BYOB, and 3) airconditioned. Well, two out of three ain’t bad.
BYOB: Mundial Cocina
Just as Lance was repping Mado (and, by proxy, his neighborhood) I too would like to talk up mine, and one of my favorite new restaurants.
On Sunday I took a short trip down 18th Street, past some of my usual stops. Joined by a dear friend from out of town as well as a great bottle from Lush, the 2005 Jaume Mesquida, a floral, light-bodied red from Mallorca, Spain, we headed over to Mundial Cocina Mestiza, still full of pleased-looking diners at 8.30 on a hot Sunday night. Read the rest of this entry »
Lance
Jane
erin
Rachel
