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Unadvertised Special -
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For your eyes only! In appreciation to you, our customers who subscribe to our rantings each week, we are offering unadvertised specials. Only those who receive the UPtown UPdates will be aware of these special offerings. Each week we will offer at least one unadvertised special. There is some "fine print" and they will only be available at certain times. So don't miss out, treat yourself, you deserve it. Our way of saying "Thanks for Subscribing."
Free cheese tray with cocktails at the bar, between 4 and 6 pm, any day between Monday, October 26th and Thursday, October 29th.
Service at the bar only. With cocktails only.
You must ask for the "free cheese tray" special.
Not available for carry out. |
From the Valley
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World Series
by Ray |
Since most of us local baseball fans do not get to watch good baseball
most of the season, I really love the post season. Most years it takes me
a while to decide which team and what players to cheer for. With the
Phillies in the last couple of years this has not been difficult.  It
was really cool to hear the announcers talk about J.A. Happ and Chad
Durbin (of the Phillies), both coming from Spring Valley. Another
famous Philly, and World Series ring bearer came from the Illinois
Valley. Russ "Monk" Meyer. I hope the Philly fans appreciate us. Russ
Meyer, a right-handed pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies'
pennant-winning Whiz Kids of 1950 and the Brooklyn Dodgers' World
Series champions of 1955, was notorious for hot-tempered displays. Congrats J.A. and Chad! Beat those Yanks! World Series ScheduleWe'll have all the games on. |
Halloween around the Valley
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Fright Night in the Valley
by Kris
 With "All Hallows' Eve" just around the corner, I thought it would be fun to research any "haunted" places in the area. I was surprised at some of the things that I found. Among those listed (see web link below) are the usual places that most of us are aware of like the Massock Mausoleum outside of Spring Valley and The Kaskaskia Hotel. One that I was not aware of is "Help Road". It is actually listed under Ottawa with a correction for Spring Valley. It tells of a motorcycle accident and the word "Help" written in blood on the road. The bloody writing keeps reappearing no matter what they do to make it go away. Of course, being the skeptic that I am, I mentioned to Jim Lannen that I thought this was bogus. He then proceeded to tell me that he has seen it with his own eyes. Apparently, he and a group of his friends took a ride out there to check it out and sure enough, he swears he saw it. Check out the list, it's pretty amazing. Illinois Haunted Houses On the same vane, however, "just for fun" we found a local event that I had no idea existed. I was discussing with friends that I wanted to take my grandchildren to a Haunted House. I was told about "Nightmare on Fairground Road" that is held each year at the Bureau County Fairgrounds in Princeton. My "middle aged" friend even gets scared going to it. They have a "Kids Fun Fair" for those that are a little too young to enjoy all of the scary events and a "lights on" early version also. Then the real fun begins with Haunted Barns and Haunted Hay Rack rides. Check the link below for dates and times remaining for this season. Nightmare on Fairground Road |
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| Behind the Bar |
| Wine and The Stelvin Screw Cap
by Ryan
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There tends to be a prejudice amongst the novice
wine consumer that a "screw cap" wine is a cheap wine. As with any prejudice,
the wine industry and the restaurant industry are doing their best to jump over
that hurdle. Over the last few years, several well known wine industries such as
Penfolds, Hogue and Beringer have moved to the Stelvin screw cap as their
main source of closure. They don't just close their "cheap" wines with the Stelvin screw cap, they close wines within a variety of price ranges.  There
are benefits to it and many wine-savvy consumers are catching on. First of all,
screw cap closures have been around for a long time, mostly for food and
beverage products where they've proven to maintain freshness. Secondly, being
that cork is a natural material, it is imperfect. Depending upon which winery's
research you trust, anywhere from 2 to 11 percent of a winery's product can be
effected by tainted cork. Mostly, what the Stelvin screw cap assures, is a
fresher, more flavorful wine. With the Stelvin screw cap there is a much smaller
percentage that your wine will have "turned." This makes it a popular
selection in the restaurant industry because obviously, you don't make any money
on a bad bottle of wine. So next time your server presents a wine to you by
screwing off it's lid, don't be turned off or disappointed, you are in all
reality receiving the same quality wine as if it were in a traditionally corked bottle. Read more about the Stelvin Screw Cap |
| Around the Uptown |
Good by Old Paint, Uptown gets new Point of Sale System
By Ray
Whew! I am so glad that's over! Last week we finally moved into the 21st
century and installed a brand new touch screen point of sales system. 
Our
old system dated back to 1991 and was getting increasingly hard to keep
running. What we purchased originally for over $10,000 a terminal (in
1991 dollars) can now be purchased on ebay for 50$. This entire system
operated on 256k of flash memory(about one quarter of the file size for an average
cell phone picture). It still worked fine, however was
difficult to train people on, order input was slow, and we needed to be
running several other programs to keep our books in balance.
Our
first Saturday was very busy and our "crafty old veterans" really
handled it in stride. I feel like we are already faster at order entry
than we were before. We can process credit cards at any terminal. and we
will be switching to gift cards real soon. The screens and steps are
much more intuitive. Thank You for your patience.
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Playlist Theater
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Past Performer Update - Charlie Mars
by Ryan |
Last February Charlie Mars performed at the Uptown
Playlist Theater. Many of you would probably remember him better as the man who
opened for Griffin House, but nonetheless Charlie is always on my IPod's
playlist. Last week my wife brought me a copy of US Weekly, a weekly magazine
updating the world on the trials and tribulations of our Hollywood favorites
(and yes, I unwillingly admit, I do occasionally thumb through the magazine to
find out the latest gossip). In the magazine was a picture of Charlie Mars and
his new girlfriend, the Weeds star, Mary-Louise Parker, winner of 2
golden globes and Broadways' 2001 Tony Award for "best actress" in
Proof.  
When Charlie played here, he told us he was going
to shoot a video with Mary-Louise Parker, but he never told us he had plans on
dating her. Earlier in the year, Mary-Louise Parker appeared in Charlie's video
for "Listen to the Darkside, " the first single off his most
recent record Like a Bird, Like a Plane. See Video Here |
Around the Valley
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Rocketmen
by Ray |
 10,9,8,
..... 3,2,1 Blast Off! What a fun drive this could be on a crisp
beautiful Fall day. Tripoli Quad Cities TRA #39, a local rocketry
group puts on a display next weekend,( In Princeton, Oct 31, Nov 1) with rockets 3 times as tall as a
man and reaching the heights of almost 15,000 it could be an awesome
display. They are an amateur rocket club that welcomes all who love to
fly and watch rockets. At the Commercial launches,They welcome all. Tripoli memberships are available at the field. Check out the schedule and the website. |
| On Our Specials |
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Deep Fried Veggies
Roasted Beet Salad
Blue Point Oysters
Roasted Antipasto Salad
BBQ Meatloaf Sandwich
Applewood Smoked Bacon Wrapped Cod Filet
Sap Sago Cheese Stuffed Ribeye
Rootbeer BBQ Glazed Baby Back Ribs
Ham and Provolone Stuffed Chicken Breast
Salmon and Applewood Smoked Bacon Risotto
Roasted Cauliflower
Lemon Mist Torte
California Cheesecake
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Uptown Grill
601 First St.
La Salle, Il 61301
815-224-4545
Mon - Thur 11 am to 10pm - Fri & Sat 11 am to 11 pm
Sun Noon to 10 pm
Uptowngrill.com
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You can read all of our past UPtown UPdates by clicking the link below.
UPtown UPdate Archives |
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