|
|
|
|
|
|
| Show Notes
|
Willie Nile and Nick Tremulis
The
only disappointment of the evening was Willie's lack of mobility with a
torn calf muscle, which he injured while playing with Bruce Springstein a
week before. Willie said he would love to come back. Can you imagine
him mobile? I have read that he spends more time in the air than he
does on the ground.
Nicholas Tremulis was a fill in for Willie's
usual side kick Frankie Lee. I knew of Nicholas but have never seen him
perform before. Nick started the night out by walking out in the crowd and
serenading the audience which I thought was really cool. He has a show
on WXRT, one of the countries best and most independent radio stations.
He said he would mention us on his show. His musical connections are a
who's who of American music and he told me a couple of times that he would
share contacts with his musical friends.
Nick's WXRT page
Their sound check lasted a little longer than normal.
The two had played together before but it seemed like it had been a
while. Nick did not seem to know any of Willies newer music. As they
were practicing Willie would spout out a list of chords and with in a
few notes it sounded like they had been performing the song together
for ages. Watching professionals like this truly amazes me.
In
one of my conversations with Nick I asked if his music business has
taken a hit in the current downturn. He provided the observation that
if you play out people will buy your records. The ones that just record
and are waiting for record companies to sell their records are having a
hard time. He went on to say that his sales have been good through all
of this.
 Watch for an Alejandro Escovedo
show to be announced real soon with a date at the end of March. I am just waiting
to dot the i's and cross the t's. I had been working on this show and thought it was dead when on
Monday I got a call wanting to finalize it. This would be the biggest
event we have had yet. If you don't know of Alejandro he is worth
checking out. Coincidentally Nick and Alejandro have played together
extensively. Could these two events be connected?
Alejandro Escovedo Web Site
While speaking with Alejandro's agent, which is also Griffin House's
agent, he mentioned that Griffin has a new CD coming out shortly and
would soon be touring again. So look for that announcement soon.
 SELL
OUT ALERT - Jeffrey Foucault is already at more than 80 tickets sold. He has been
selling out routinely when playing in Chicago. His opener, and
accompanist, Andy Friedman also seems like an interesting guy. He
is touted as the "The
Hillbilly Leonard Cohen" His song titles seem to give you some
perspective on his outlook, I Don't Want to Die Like Andy
Kaufman" and "Guys Like Me Don't Get Grants". He's a
freelance cartoonist for The New
Yorker magazine. In that capacity, he's done caricatures, including a likeness
of Bob Dylan, as well as almost every major celebrity.
Friedman's Web Site.
Friedman My Space
Chuck
Prophet tickets sold out the first night they were on sale. I knew we had many
Chuck Prophet fans but this is a record. We never even got a chance to
promote it!
|
| Staff Notes
|
 It is always sad to lose a long time employee and
unfortunately Thursday ends the tenure of one of our best, Jen Love. All of
us here at Uptown wish Jen the best of luck on her future path.
Jen has
been with us since 2002 and is capable of doing just about everything.
She has been a server for the majority of her time, but can handle banquets, she can step
behind the bar, run the front desk, and most of you will miss her in the
Uptowns Playlist Theater.
I probably have had more people request Jen to wait on
them than any other staff member we have here. She has long been a valued
employee and she will be greatly missed. Good Luck Jen and THANK
YOU!
|
| Around the Advertising Industry
|
|
Super Bowl, Super Advertising
By Kris
I thought it may be interesting to everyone to find out what we
discovered today in our advertising meeting. After some discussion of
how or when we should be advertising for this Sundays' Super Bowl it
was brought to our attention
that advertisers cannot use the phrase "Super Bowl".
You can call it the Championship, the
Big Kahuna
and, most certainly, the
Big Game. It doesn't matter what you call the Super Bowl, just don't
call it the Super Bowl.
In advertising parlance, this is "ambush marketing," or piggybacking
an event without paying for the official right to do so. The Super Bowl
is, of course, the Super Bowl of ambush marketing.
According to guidelines written by Leventhal, Senter
& Lerman, a Washington law firm that represents broadcasters, it's
permissible to use such phrases as "the professional football
championship game," as well as the date of the game, the name of the
cities of the competing teams but not the
team names . The firm also advises, "You can
make fun of the fact that you cannot say the phrase 'Super Bowl' (e.g.,
by bleeping it out)."
None of those restrictions, however, applies to news organizations,
whose use of copyrighted terms are legally protected. The NFL also has
no say over advertisers that buy time during the Big Game (current
price tag: $2.5 million per 30-second ad), as long as the commercials
do not imply an association with the league that doesn't exist.
Others say that this is a misuse of
trademark law. The point of a trademark is not
that you get exclusive control over the trademarked phrase, but that
you can prevent others from using it in a misleading or confusing way. No
one
could make a credible claim that an advertiser mentioning the Super
Bowl is somehow confusing people into believing that they're officially
associated with the Super Bowl.
So we decided that we would simply say that we will be open on
Sunday from Noon until 10 pm so that you can have dinner and watch the
Super Bowl. Let's see, I think that is a dozen times that I've said
Super Bowl in this article (please don't correct me if I'm wrong)
What's a few more.....SUPER BOWL SUPER BOWL SUPER BOWL SUPER BOWL
SUPER BOWL SUPER BOWL SUPER BOWL SUPER BOWL SUPER BOWL !!!!
Disclaimer... For those of you who may not know, we are not officially
associated with the Super Bowl!
|
Around the Valley
|
|
Ric Beach Karate Studio
by Crystal
|
 DoJo...a term you may not know unless you or your children have practiced Karate.
LaSalle is home to many businesses, some of which we have touched
on in our past newsletters. One place you may not know is The Ric Beach
Karate Studio.
Sensei Ric Beach has taught Karate for 30 years and has made
LaSalle the home of his DoJo since the early 1980's. He has made a
difference in many lives with his teachings. His students range from
the very young to the very old. In fact 2 of our employees children
attend class at the studio quite regularly. Pictured here are Anna
Plankenhorn, daughter of chef Chris Plankenhorn, and Jessianne
Theodore, daughter of Crystal Theodore.
Karate is a very traditional artform that has existed for hundreds
of years. It was passed down family to family in a small island called
Oinawa near Japan. It is a striking art using punching, kicking, knee
and elbow striking, and open-handed techniques such as the knife hand (
karate chop).
Ric Beach teaches his students this art, but it's much more. He
teaches children especially, about self defense and also of the
importance of staying healthy, excerising and getting good grades.
We are glad to have The Ric Beach Karate Studio as part of the LaSalle family!
|
Around the Food World
|
|
Pine Nuts -- Gone for now, but why?
by Jimmy |
 Fresh
spinach with hard boiled egg, bacon bits, pinenuts and our house
dressing, raspberry honey vinaigrette, has been the signature salad of
the Uptown Grill for over 20 years. For those that have been loyal to
this salad, including myself, you must have noticed something is
different. For the time being, slivered almonds have been substituted
for pinenuts on this salad. To me, there is no comparison in taste and
the salad is just not the same, but unfortunately, our hands are tied.
Currently, over 80% of pinenuts consumed in the United States are
imported from China and recently, a worldwide shortage has caused
the price to skyrocket. These imports are originally harvested in
Russian forests and brought to China for processing, packaging and
shipping overseas. Two important trends are limiting the availability
of pinenut imports. First, Russian forests are under heavy logging
pressure and the resources that provide this nut are being rapidly
depleted. Second, publication of the Russian best seller "Ringing
Cedars of Russia" by Vladimr Megre has boosted Russian demand for the
pinenut and pinenut products and consumers are willing to pay the prime
prices. Pinenuts are one of the most expensive nuts on the market. Over the last few months the price has gradually increased to the point that it has more than tripled. Going from $10 a pound in August to over $30 a pound in December we had to make a difficult decision and temporarily replace them. Currently, they are not even available to us. They
are known throughout the world as a nutritious healthy snack and
an essential ingredient in many oriental and Mediterranean dishes,
including pesto. They are cholesterol free and contain thiamine, vitamin
B1 and protein. To us they add the perfect
crunch and flavor combination to our house spinach salad. In time, I
hope the price and availability becomes reasonable again because I
promise, once they do, they will be put back on the menu. |
Win a Free Lunch
|
Foodie Fight Free Lunch Contest
by Kris
 As
many of you know we have trivia cards at the bar called "Foodie
Fight". We have been doing this for almost a year and many of our
regulars are getting pretty good at it. So we thought that we would
put out a challenge.
Each week in the newsletter we will ask
3 questions from the Foodie Fight cards. The first person to email us
(see link below) the correct answers to all three questions
will receive a complimentary free lunch.
The winner has to have the correct answer for all three questions, no
exceptions. The following week we will publish the correct answers and
the winner from the previous week. So come on in and have a drink,
study the cards, test each other and have fun. Good Luck!
This weeks questions are...
1. At what hour on a clock face does the vegetable go for a traditionally set dinner plate?
2. What has been called Argentina's ketchup - a must for grilled meats - and is made from olive oil, vinegar, parsley, oregano, onion, garlic and seasonings?
3. What is the term for a bundle of mixed herbs used to flavor soups and stews.
foodiefight@uptowngrill.com
Fine Print...
You must be the first person to respond with all three correct answers.
The response must go to the email address in the above link.
You must reply within 24 hours from the time the newsletter is published.
Last Week questions and answers....
1.Who
is the film director whose mother cooked for his casts and crews and
who published and Italian-American cookbook in 1996? Martin Scorsese
2. What seaboard do blue point oysters come from" Atlantic
3.
How many creases should be visible in a tablecloth for a formal
dinner? One - that runs down the middle length of the cloth.
This weeks winner of the free lunch ... Joanne
Sabotta
Newsletter was sent at 6:15pm and the correct answer received at 5:49am.
|
| On Our Special |
|
Conway Cup Oysters on the Half Shell
"Inside out" Grilled Cheese
Grilled Marinated Artichokes
Panini - Roasted Pork Loin with Caramelized Red Onion and Aged Gruyere Cheese
Roasted Vegetable Salad
Pan Fried Ruby Trout
Top Sirloin and Sauteed Shiitake Mushrooms
Shrimp, Roasted Tomatoes, Pesto and Walnut Angelhair Pasta
Teriyaki Infused Chicken Breasts
Miso Glazed Sugar Snap Peas
Creamed Swiss Chard
Sauteed Shiitake Mushrooms
| |
|
|
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
|
You can read all of our past UPtown UPdates by clicking the link below.
UPtown UPdate Archives |
|
|
Email Policy
|
Uptown respects your privacy and will not sell or distribute your personal information.
|
|
|
|
With Valentine's Day just around the corner we are preparing to make our annual batch of Jumbo Long Stem Chocolate Strawberries. Last year we started selling them Valentine's Day at 4pm and were totally sold out before 7 pm. 
So we thought that this year we would give everyone a chance to prepurchase them. In order to guarantee that we will have as many as you would like, we are suggesting that you call ahead and reserve them. 
This year you can also reserve them to take with you. Carry out orders will be packaged and wrapped in attractive gift boxes. Reservations are suggested for both dine in and carry out orders. 
Prices are as follows for both carry out and dine in orders. 
One of the legends of Midwestern and American dining is closing after
seven decades, or at least we think it is. As I was growing up probably
the best place to eat anywhere was The Pump Room. It was a Chicago
icon. Whether it was economy or just time marching on is unclear. I was
there on a week night a year ago and I think we we the only table they
served that night. 
For many years it was the place to see and be seen
in Chicago. Walking in their entry one could easily spend an hour
looking at the 700 photographs of famous people from the last 4 or 5
generations. 
Chuck Prophet
Martin Zellar
