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| UPtown UPdates |
First Anniversary Edition
By Kris  It's hard to believe that we have been "ranting" for
a year now. It's interesting to see how not only the numbers have
grown, but how the content has matured over that time.
Our first UPtown UPdates was issued on Feb,
11,
2009. It featured 4 short articles including an introduction to the
newsletter. It went out to 970 customers.
Last weeks UPtown UPdates featured 9 large informative articles and
went out to almost 2700 customers.
Over the past year we have addressed many topics, some maybe even not
so politically correct, however, we feel that many times these topics
would never be addressed if we did not make the effort.
Speaking of effort, we always take time to do the research. I am sure
that over the past 52 issues we have made mistakes, both grammatical
and factual. However, believe me when I say that we don't go into these
articles lightly. We spend a lot of time getting the facts as correct
as we can. The added bonus for us, is that we learn things that
actually can help us improve both products and service to you, our
customers.
We try to have at least one article from each of the managers each week
so that you get topics, views and opinions from all of us. We also
welcome input from other employees and customers. Any and all input is welcome. Since putting this project
together each week is my responsibility, it is always easier when you
have too much material to choose from than visa versa.
We feel that this newsletter allows us to have a unique link with a large portion of our customers on a frequent basis. Something that we could not do prior to this. Staying connected is important to us. Each week we get positive and yes, even not so positive, feedback from
many people. Fortunately the majority of it is positive. As it happens, just yesterday we were talking to one
of our regular customers who said that he deletes 90% of his mail, but
he actually looks forward to our newsletter.
This is exactly what
keeps us motivated to come up with new material each week. We hope that you have as much fun reading it as we do
putting it together.
Click here for a complete list of all archived UPtown UPdates.
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| Around the Holiday |
History of Valentine's Day
By Jimmy
Valentine's
Day. In the restaurant world, this is the 2nd busiest day of the
year for us. Second only to New Year's Eve. It is a day that restaurant
staff never get to share with their special someone because they are working. It has become the major holiday to show your love
for that special someone in your life that includes taking them out to
dinner. But who was Valentine and how did this holiday come about?
 There are a few versions on how this holiday was started. The
modern day celebration has been linked to Christian and Roman
tradition. St. Valentine, a Roman martyr is one for whom this day is
celebrated. He was a priest during the late 3rd century who held
secret marriages of young soldiers in the Roman army. It was during
this time that the Roman empire was under pressure from all sides. With
the need to enlist more and more young men into his army, emperor
Claudius II forbid young men to marry during this time because he felt
that they were too attached to their families and would not make good
soldiers.
However, "love" prevailed and these young soldiers secretly
met with Valentine to perform the sacrament of matrimony. When the
emperor found out about this forbidden act, he had Valentine arrested.
While in prison, the Roman emperor tried to convert Valentine to the
Roman gods, but was unsuccessful and Valentine even tried to convert
the emperor to Christianity. This angered the emperor and he was
ordered to be executed. It was during his time in jail prior to
execution, that he formed a deep relationship with the
jailor's daughter.
It is said that his last request was for a pen and
paper and signed the farewell message "From your Valentine." He was
executed on February 14th and he was martryed by Christians
for refusing to denounce his religion.
Over the centuries, the holiday
evolved into what it is today. It was not until the 14th century that
it was officially a holiday for love. By the 18th century, the
tradition of gift giving and exchanging hand made cards had started.
Today, the tradition still includes cards but also chocolate,
roses, jewelry and taking them out for a romantic dinner.
This year, with the holiday falling on a Sunday, it means the
entire weekend will be busy. If you are looking for just a little less
chaos in going out to dinner, make your reservations for Friday. It
will not be as hectic. You do not have to take your loved one out on
actual Valentines Day. You just have to make sure you take them out.
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| In the News |
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Job Creation -- A Small Business Owners View Point
By Ray
 What is it going to take to get someone like me to create jobs? I think
this is the most important part of the debate and I do not think anyone
is listening. I have never written anything like this before and
I am very reluctant to talk about anything remotely political here
because this is not the place, but I feel like it is time to speak out.
More business people need to speak out about what it is going to take to get them to create
jobs. All you ever hear is the opinions of financial analysts,
politicians and pundits, most of whom have never run a business, met a
payroll, created or "saved" a job. Whether you are a liberal, conservative, democrat or
republican, this is not political. It is about
job creation. This is how I feel and I am sure most of the people in my
situation are having similar thoughts these days.
Everything that has been done in the last 5 years has made
it harder to hire people. Recently President Obama held a conference on
job creation and did not invite the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
and National Federation of Independent Businesses, the two largest
business organizations in the country. How is it that they can not even give them a voice.
I
have been in business since 1985 and have never felt such uncertainty
in the future. We have cap and trade
legislation which would at least double our utility expenses and
add to the cost of every single item we purchase. The potential of new
health care mandates could add greatly to our labor costs. There is the
threat of skyrocketing inflation and interest rates. Currently
legislation refered to as "Card Check", which is possibly the most undemocratic piece of legislation our country has ever considered, is on
the horizon. If you survive all of this and some how are financially
successful, your already high income taxes are going up. However, the worst thing
of all, from my point of view, is government spending.
In
2005 fifteen cents out of every dollar produced in our country went to the
federal government. Now it is up to 24 cents. To me that means my
customer has 9 cents less out of every dollar to spend. Unfortunately eating out is one of the first things that
gets cut out of businesses and personal budgets.
In our
business and personal lives we have to balance our budgets. When our
income goes down we have to cut spending. In the present economy we don't feel that we can raise prices. We can only cut costs and get more efficient. We have
to make the difficult decisions about what we can do without. We focus on the parts of our business that are profitable and
discard the marginal parts. Unfortunately, many times this means cutting staff, thus adding to the unemployment.
In
this years federal budget the US government is borrowing 43 cents of
every dollar it is spending. We don't
think our politicians have the political courage to make the same
decisions we have to make everyday. I also realize that the further we
as a nation sink into debt the more certain our taxes are going up. The
only way out of this is going to be some cataclysmic financial event.
The single most important thing in the job
creation discussion is that the business owner, the engine of our economy,
needs to feel comfortable about the future. They are now talking about
spending another 200 billion dollars on a job program consisting of tax
credits for creating jobs and small business loan funds. There is no
tax credit that is going to make us hire people if we are not making a
profit.
 Why would someone like me be motivated to borrow money if we have little confidence in our government's resolve to cut
spending which in turn would make the future feel much more comfortable? If I were to wake up tomorrow and
find that our congress lopped off that borrowed 43 cents from the
budget I would be adding jobs and feeling much more comfortable investing in
the future.
Would
I vote for a member of congress that says" I am not going to bring
one dollar of pork, earmarks, or projects back to my district because I
don't think the spending is good for the country. Even if it is for my
district." You betcha! Just cut the spending and I will take care of myself. |
Playlist Theater
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New Show Announcement
By Kris
Alejandro Escovedo! Booking this was a huge accomplishment. He is one of the most nationally recognized artists that we have booked to date.
We had held out booking shows for a couple months in these economic times, however, the upside of this seems to be that we are getting more name recognizable acts to come out to "the sticks". We sold out Chuck Prophet before we even tried to promote it and now Jeffrey Foucault has also sold out.
Alejandro will be here on Wednesday, March 31st. However, tickets are not on sale yet. We are still waiting for the contracts to be finalized. Opening for him will be Megan McCormick.
Our faithful newsletter customers will be the first to know when tickets will go on sale.
Click the photo above for Alejandro's website.
Megan McCormick
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| Around the Uptown |
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The "Bridge Ladies"
By Crystal
 A couple of times each week, we have different groups of ladies
that get together to have lunch and then play bridge. They are affectionately known as the "bridge ladies". These ladies come in a group of
eight and sometimes twelve. They play in groups of four that
includes two sets of partners.
Bridge is an age old card game of trick-taking and is derived from
a game called Whist. Bridge is actually the English pronunciation of
Biritch (also known as Russian Whist). The oldest Biritch rule book has
been dated from 1886.
This week one group happended to be short a player. So, we saw a
man participate in the bridge game! (One of the bridge ladies was kind
enough to lend her husband.)
We not only see bridge games in the afternoon, we also have euchre players come for dinner and cards. Whatever the game or choice of time, we welcome these groups.
In "the old days" these card games would be held at each members houses on a rotating basis. I think that they have found out that it is not worth the time nor effort to clean, cook and host them in their homes. We do the cleaning and the cooking, they just sit back and have fun.
So, when planning your next card party, think about hosting it with us. Have a nice lunch or dinner and play cards. We will even try to seat you where you have the least distraction and the most light!
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Behind the Bar
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100-Year-Old Whiskey Found 'On The Rocks
by Ray
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 We have some 12, 18, and
even 20 plus year old scotches, but nothing on our list approaches the
age or heritage of this scotch. This story really caught my eye because
I am a fan of non-fiction. I don't know why but unless a story is true
I just don't have any interest in it. For those of you that do not know
the story of Earnest Shackleton I think it is the greatest non-fiction
story ever told. He was an adventurer that tried to be the first one to
reach and to cross the South Pole in the early 1900s. To keep the story
as short as possible, his 2 year adventure started by having his ship
crushed by sea ice. The expedition lived on
the Antarctic ice flows until they were able to find refuge on an
island near one of the northerly tips of Antarctica. To save his men Shackleton sailed with five of crew members almost 1000
miles in one of the salvaged life boats with limited navigation capabilities, across the most treacherous
seas in the world. He then had to cross
the mountains and glaciers of South Georgia Island on foot to reach a
whaling port. Shackleton returned in a ship to
rescue the rest of the crew after almost 2 years. Of the 27 crew members he did not lose a single
man.
 Just this week it was
announced they found his cache of whiskey from 1908 and
furthermore it is thought that the century old treasure trove of booze
may still be drinkable. Now a team of explorers has been sent out by
whiskey makers to retrieve samples from the bottles,
with the aim of recreating the blend. In a statement Richard Paterson
of Whyte & Mackay, the distillers of the whiskey, declared the find "a gift from the heavens" for whiskey drinkers. David Stewart,
master blender at
William Grant & Sons Ltd, believes that it all depends on how the
bottles were kept: "If these bottles have been stored upright there
is
every chance they will be drinkable". Yes, we are now looking to add
any Whyte & Mackay whiskey to our already extensive list. Tech eye.net articleYou Tube VideoYou Tube Video 2 |
Win a Free Lunch
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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. What sweet red pepper spread is a picnic-sandwich tradition in the southern Untied States?
2. What fast food promoter wears a size 14 1/2 shoe?
3. What ancient thistle is a cousin to the artichoke and has a similar flavor in its giant celery like stalks.
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. At what hour on a clock face does the vegetable go for a traditionally set dinner plate? 2 o'clock.
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? Chimichurri Sauce
3. What is the term for a bundle of mixed herbs used to flavor soups and stews. Bouquet Garni
This weeks winner of the free lunch ... Steve Wroczynski
Newsletter was sent at 4:50pm and the correct answer received at 8:04pm.
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| On Our Special |
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Country Pate
Pizza Caprese
Grilled Marinated Artichokes
Panini - Roasted Pork Loin with Caramelized Red Onion and Aged Gruyere Cheese
Open Faced Sirloin Steak Sandwich
Roasted Vegetable Salad
Broiled Haddock
Top Sirloin and Sauteed Shiitake Mushrooms
Butter Garlic Infused Chicken Breasts
Miso Glazed Sugar Snap Peas
Creamed Swiss Chard
Sauteed Shiitake Mushrooms
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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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Email Policy
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Uptown respects your privacy and will not sell or distribute your personal information.
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Chuck Prophet
Martin Zellar
