Celebrate the ‘Celtic Muse’ at Davenport’s, Wicker Park, 8 p.m. tonight and Friday, March 19, $15 plus two-drink minimum. Gillian Kelly and Claire Bigley perform Irish favorites such as “The Nightingale,” “Finnegan’s Wake,” and “The Rising of the Moon.” $3 Harps and Guinness, too.
Visit theIrish American Heritage Center, Irving Park, through March 20. Events begin at 7 p.m. tonight, Irish Dance Chicago, with more than 200 dancers, $10. From 1 p.m. to midnight tomorrow, the family-oriented St. Patrick’s Festival offers Irish music, dance, food and children’s activities, $15, kids free. At 7 p.m. Sunday, the hot Irish band Munnelly performs, $20. St. Patrick’s Day itself starts with Mass at 11:30 a.m. followed by Irish dancing, traditional and modern Irish music and food till midnight, $10, kids free. Events culminate at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 20, with “Stepping Forward,” a variety show of Chicago’s best of Irish music, step dancing and bag piping, $20 general admission, $30 VIP reserved seating.
Dig in at O’Donovan’s, North Center, through Wednesday, March 17. Corned beef and cabbage, $9.50; reuben sandwiches, $7; and corned-beef sandwiches, $6.50 — throughout. Friday fish and chips, $7.95; Saturday 10-ounce New York Strip, $9.95; and other specials nightly. Dan the Piper and Irish dancers entertain Saturday and Wednesday.
L. WoodsGo Bragh! festival, Lincolnwood, through Wednesday, March 17, no cover. Music, Irish dancers, children’s activities and an Irish menu in a heated tent. The food includes corned beef and cabbage soup, corned beef and cabbage, Guinness-braised beef stew, boxty and Irish organic salmon.
Watch the Chicago Riverturn green, Loop, 10:30 a.m. Saturday, March 13, free.
Watch it in comfort at Flatwater, in River North, no cover with reservations/span>. Riverside windows overlook the verdant Chicago River, and green beer and Irish food specials feature, with DJs Greg Bauer, John Curley and Bern spinning the tunes.
Be part of anew South Side tradition, Beverly, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, March 13, $10, $7 seniors, kids free till 4 p.m.; $25 after 4 p.m.
See aparade, north along Columbus Drive from Balbo to Monroe Drive in the Loop, noon Saturday, March 13.
Sample someBushmill’s in the South Loop, 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, March 13, free.
Enjoy the “Lux of the Irish” at Luxbar, Gold Coast, 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, March 13, $30. An all-you-can-eat-and-drink beef includes Irish corned beef, an array of sliders, draft beers, Guinness flights and Jameson Whiskey samples. The Shannon Irish Rovers Pipe Band and the Jimmy and Seamus Boyle Band perform. Proceeds benefit Misericordia.
Eat Irish stew at Cuna, Lakeview, p.m. Saturday, March 13, through Wednesday, March 17, $14. Chef Kendal Duque’s Irish lamb stew with carrots, peas, and mint is served over a traditional potato boxty. Drink specials include $3 16-ounce green Miller Lite drafts and $6 Jameson Irish Whiskey shots.
Shamrock and roll at Smoke Daddy, Wicker Park, Saturday, March 13, through Thursday, March 18. The Famous Carey Sisters Irish Step Dance Show kicks off the festivities 2 p.m. tomorrow; a Guinness, Harp and Smithwick’s beer tasting figures at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 16, followed by the Matt Stedman Band with blues, rock and Celtic tunes. Corned beef-and-cabbage sandwiches are $8.50 throughout.
See anotheranother parade, from 6633 W. Raven St. south down Neola Avenue to Northwest Highway, north to Harlem Avenue in Norwood Park, noon Sunday, March 14. After-party, 6211 W. Talcott Ave., 1 p.m., $10, $5 kids, includes a Danny Boy corned beef and cabbage dinner, beer, wine and soda.
Savor “Irish Stew” onstage at Village Players, Oak Park, 7 p.m. Sundays, March 14 and 21, $20, $15 seniors and students. A theatrical stew of the story, songs, music and poetry of the old village pub, featuring story artists Margaret Burk and Megan Wells, troubadour Gerry Dignan, songwriter, singer and Irish history buff Paul McKenna and young musicians from the Academy of Irish Music.
Have Irish whiskey forbreakfast, 9 to 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, March 17, free.
Eat a Guinness pizza at Frasca, Lakeview, 4:30 to 10 p.m. Wednesday, March 17, $8. The wood-fired, Guinness-crusted pizza is topped with potatoes, bechamel and white onions.
The FamilyFarmed Expo began today at UIC Forum, bringing together farmers, financiers, locavores and others who share an interest in improving and supporting Midwestern agriculture. While the complete four-day, $350 event may be too intense for most of us, Saturday’s Local Food Festival offers a taste with cooking demonstrations, seminars, tastings, shopping and more.
Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door for that portion of the Expo, which runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, March 13.
Events include cooking demos from Rick Bayless of Frontera Grill in River North, Paul Virant of Vie in Western Springs, Paul Kahan of Blackbird in the West Loop, Jo Kaucher and Kim Gracen of the Chicago Diner in Northalsted and Gale Gand of Tru in Streeterville. Other speakers include: Locavore blogger Rob Gardner of The Local Beet, health-food activist Laura Bruzas of Healthy Dining Chicago, Chef Rob Levitt of Mado, Portia Belloc Lowndes of Heritage Prairie Farm in Geneva and Brewmaster Greg Hall of Goose Island Beer.
Farmers and artisan food producers will be on hand to sell their produce and talk about local food. A Local Food Court offers treats from Chicago Diner, Heritage Prairie Farm, Cousin’s and Chicago French Market vendor Chicago Organics.
What it is: After shamrocks and leprechauns, the most distinctive icon of Ireland in the world may be a glass of Guinness stout, a rich, dark beer made with roasted, malted barley and hops, topped with a creamy white head.
Where it comes from: Guinness dates to 1759, when Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000-year lease on a brewery at St. James’s Gate, Dublin, for £100 down and annual rent of £45 (about $67 at current conversion rates). That brewery is still the hub of Guinness operations, and all the Guinness sold in the U.K., Ireland and North America is brewed there.
Sean O’Brien
What to do with it: “Get your lip under the head and give it a good taste,” expert Ken O’Callaghan advises. Pouring the brew correctly to maintain its thick, foamy head is something of an art — a six-step tapping process that takes 119.5 seconds. Bartenders fill the glass three-quarters full, allow the beer to settle, and then top it off.
For home drinkers, Guinness puts a patented “widgets” into its canned and bottled products to maintain draft-style mouthfeel. The best serving method therefore depends on the variety. With bottled Guinness Extra Stout or Foreign Extra Stout you may either pour the drink into glass or quaff directly from bottle. Draught Guinness in cans, the brewery says, should be poured into a large glass in one smooth action, while bottled Draught Guinness should be drunk straight from bottle.
Guinness is served chilled in Ireland; bottles bear the legend, “Serve extra cold.” The brewery suggests chilling for at least three hours.
Guinness’ distinctive bitter-edged flavor also lends itself to all kinds of recipes. At Timothy O’Toole’s Pub in Streeterville and Gurnee, Chef Sean O’Brien uses it in everything from french toast to beef stew.
Timothy O’Toole’s Guinness french toast Chef Sean O’Brien
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons Guinness
4 to 6 slices Texas toast (thick-sliced bread)
Clarified butter as needed
Powdered sugar as needed
Beat the egg and whisk in the milk and Guinness. Dip the bread in the egg mixture to coat and soak, but do not oversoak. Coat a griddle or frying pan with clarified butter and fry the soaked toast until brown on both sides. 2 servings.
Timothy O’Toole’s Guinness beef stew Chef Sean O’Brien
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
Salt and pepper taste
1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
2 pounds beef stew meat
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup diced tomato
1/4 cup water
1-1/4 cups Guinness stout
2 cups large-diced carrots
1-3/4 cups large-diced russet potatoes
1-1/4 cups frozen green peas, thawed
1 sprig fresh thyme
Season the flour with salt, pepper and red pepper. Toss the meat in 1 tablespoon oil to coat, and then toss in the seasoned flour.
Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a large dutch oven over medium-high heat and brown the meat on all sides. Reduce the heat and add the onion, garlic, tomatoes and water. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes.
Stir in the Guinness, scraping all the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the carrots, potatoes and thyme. Simmer covered for 2 to 3 hours, until meat is tender.
Stir in the peas until heated through. 4 to 6 servings.
The Chicago River will be dyed green at 10:30 a.m. Saturday March 13, starting east of Wabash Avenue, and west of Columbus Drive.
Who cares if they don’t tint beer green in Ireland?
I don’t know who first thought of green beer, but in a town that has — despite canceling one — still boasts twoother St. Patrick’s Day parades, I shouldn’t have to tell you why green-tinted beer is a Chicago thing, or when and where to find it.
Therefore let us turn to other green things. The Irish don’t dye any rivers, either. That uniquely Chicago practice dates to 1962. I’ve always assumed that green beer was inspired by the river, but when the Chicago Journeymen Plumbers, Local 130, first dropped their dye into the water on that historic March day, the city already had a Green River — a much tastier one — a refreshing soft drink dating to the start of Prohibition.
Having introduced the lime soda in 1919, Chicago’s Schoenhofen Edelweiss Brewing Co. turned full-time pop bottler after the Volstead Act went into effect on Jan. 16, 1920, pouring its bright green lime drink into old beer bottles. The drink was such a hit that Eddie Cantor sang about it in that year’s Ziegfeld Follies.
If you don’t start in the morning, you can’t drink all day. Binny’s Beverage Depot celebrates St. Patrick’s Day from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, March 17, with a free breakfast open house featuring Irish scones and coffee made with Feckin’ Irish Whiskey, plus music from the City of Chicago Pipers. The event takes place at the River North, South Loop, Lakeview and Willowbrook locations.
Gearing up for St. Pat’s, the South Loop Binny’s also hosts a 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, March 13, open house with an Irish band, free corned beef and cabbage, giveaways and tastings of Guinness Beers, four Baileys flavors and a full range of Bushmill’s Irish Whiskey samples including Black Bush, 10-year-old, 16-year-old, 21-year-old, and the 1608 anniversary bottling, led by Whiskey Master Martin Duffy.
The Chicago Flower & Garden Show blooms at Navy Pier beginning this weekend.
Do you need a breath of spring? The snow’s still piled up and we’ve weeks of mudtime ahead before things start turning green, but you can get a preview of the coming season starting tomorrow during the Chicago Flower & Garden Show on Navy Pier through Sunday, March 14.
The 2010 show’s theme, “Cultivating Great Performances,” highlights Chicago’s reputation as a theater town by celebrating the Goodman Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre and Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Garden pros have worked with creative teams from each theater to design garden plots combining the drama of the stage with the artistry of horticulture. Plays, including “Wicked,” “State Fair,” “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” and “Miss Saigon,” provided further inspiration. Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences takes on children’s theater with an activity garden and readings from “Jack and the Beanstalk,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” “The Three Pigs” and “Billy Goat Gruff.”
Along with 25 gardens, the show displays garden and green products and services of more than 125 exhibitors, and features a lineup of educational speakers. Highlights include:
Joe Lamp on how he fed his family for an entire summer with “The Twenty-Five Dollar Victory Garden” (11 a.m., Sunday, March 7).
Authors Jean Ann Van Krevelen and Amanda Thomsenco on “Plant or Purchase: Which Edibles and Why?” (1 p.m., March 7).
“Garden Gourmet” culinary sessions, at 11:30 a.m. and 1:30, 3:30 and 6:30 p.m. daily, include cooking demos from top Chicago restaurant chefs including Gale Gand of Tru in Streeterville, Randy Zweiban of Province in , TV personality Bill Kurtis with Paul Katz of Harry Caray’s in River North; Carlyn Berghoff of The Berghoff Cafe in the Loop; Roger Herring of Socca in Wrigleyville; Hell’s Kitchen season six contestant Tony D’Alessandro of Big & Little’s; Jill Barron of Mana Food Bar in Wicker Park; and Bernard Laskowski of Park Grill in Millennium Park.
Tickets are $15 weekdays, $17 weekends, $5 for kids, available online or at the door. All-day discounted parking is $14.
It’s been nearly four years since I first wrote about the sizzling trend of bacon, and presenting — only slightly tongue-in-cheek — my signature recipe for bacon-wrapped bacon. That was just after John Scalzitaped bacon to his cat.
What it is: Rarely seen on Chicago restaurant menus until now, cobia (Rachycentron canadum) is a rich, buttery tasting, white-fleshed fish, mild, firm and flaky. Other names include black kingfish, black salmon, crabeater, cubby yew, kingfish, lemonfish, ling, prodigal son, runner and sergeant fish. Large fish, they grow up to 30 pounds and more. Cobia is a low-fat source of protein, high in riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, magnesium, and potassium.
Jonadab Silva
Where it comes from: Cobia are found in tropical, subtropical, and temperate waters around most of the world. The U.S. catch comes out of the Atlantic, from Massachusetts to the Florida Keys, and the Gulf of Mexico.
About 90 percent of wild-caught cobia are landed by recreational fishermen, who prize them as feisty sport fish. They tend to be most available from March through May. The commercial catch is not plentiful — the fish tend to move in small pods or alone instead of in the big schools that commercial fishermen like — but cobia sometimes turn up as bycatch of fishermen fishing for species such as mackerel.
You’ll be seeing more of cobia at Chicago restaurants, as it’s starting to be more readily available as a farmed fish, and researchers are working to make aquaculture of the species environmentally and economically sustainable. You probably won’t find cobia in supermarkets, but better local fishmongers can order it.
What to do with it: At Jacky’s on Prairie in Evanston, Chef Jonadab Silva recently marinated cobia with mango and served it grilled with a pineapple glaze. Some local sushi bars serve it raw as sashimi or nigiri.
Jacky’s cobia with mango marinade and pineapple glaze Chef Jonadab Silva
Silva serves the fish over a warm new potato and wilted arugula salad, drizzled with a syrah reduction.
Pineapple glaze
1/2 pound pineapple, finely chopped
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2/3 cup sugar
4 tablespoons butter (1/2 stick)
1/2 star anise
Marinate the fish: In a blender, combine the dried mango, boiling water, soy sauce, tumeric, ginger and sake. Blend until well mixed. With a whisk, beat in the olive and mustard.
Spread 3 tablespoons of the mango marinade on each fillet, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before grilling.
Make the pineapple glaze: Put all ingredients in a heavy bottom pan and cook until golden.
Cook the fish: On a preheated grill at medium heat, grill the cobia, making even diamond marks on all side of the fillet, until the fish just flakes. Place them in the oven if you want the fish cook to more than medium.
Put the glaze over each fillet and serve immediately. 6 servings.
Theatre Sans Fil performs “The Hobbit” Saturday in Schaumburg.
Journey with Montreal’s Theatre Sans Fil to J.R.R. Tolkein’s Middle Earth, as the company performs “The Hobbit,” the wonderful adventure of Bilbo Baggins on his epic journey to a new level of wisdom, staged as a marvelous adaptation with 48 giant puppets bringing to life Bilbo, Gandalf, Gollum, a 25-foot dragon and others. The single performance takes place at 4 p.m. Saturday, March 6, at the Prairie Center for the Arts in Schaumburg. Tickets are $20 ($10 for children and students with advance reservations — call the box office and ask for the “Curtain Call” discount.).
The puppet theater company, whose name means “theater without strings,” was founded in Quebec in 1971 by Andre Viens. It takes its inspiration from the classical Japanese bunraku theater in which puppets are directly manipulated by camouflaged performers, rather than traditional marionettes, adding larger-than-life-size puppets, black lights, lasers and quadraphonic sound.
“The Hobbit,” created in 1979, toured Canada, the U.S., Mexico, Vietnam, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore in the 1980s and ’90s. This revised production brings a new look to the show, suitable for adults and children over age 6.
For pre- or post-show dining, well, you’re unlikely to find any of the food and drink of Middle Earth in Schaumburg, but you can stay a little exotic at Indian Garden. For Saturday lunch, they have a $9.95 buffet.
Along with hor d’oeurves prepared by the students, the event features desserts from Eli’s and Illinois wines. Proceeds go to the Chicago Foodservice Marketing Club Culinary Scholarship Fund and the Greater Chicago Food Depository.
Tickets are $50. Call (630) 561-8371 for reservations.
