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Playlist Theater
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Roy Davis, Friday 13th!
by Ray
This is Roy's second appearance at Playlist
Theater (July 2008). He has a new album that  was released in
January. With "We Are A Lightning Bolt" something in his writing seems
to have
changed. Songs
from the new record range from experimental
folk to full on rave up Americana. To quote the Portland Phoenix "The
twang and the lilt of alt-country were always
there, but somewhere in the country's small towns and wide open spaces
Davis put his hands in the country's dirt, too, and his always-smart
songs have never been so fully realized, so full of actual people, as
they are here.....Maybe Davis does have a secret or two. He sings
with the depth of a man who's got a few skeletons in the closet. For a
songwriter, that can never be a bad thing."
Roy's music has been
described as everything from Rock to Experimental Rock, to Alt Country
to Indie or Garage music. It's hard to put any "label" on his
music. "Is late night music a genre? It should be. Get yourself a
drink, turn
off the lights, turn on "We Are A Lightning Bolt" and watch the storm
roll in." No Depression
Tickets
look like they could sell out so get your tickets today. We will have
at least one new show to announce and hopefully more. Friday, August 13th at 7:30pm. Tickets are only $15
advance, $18 door.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rl5n3hTd-yE
You Will Never Be Alone
http://www.youtube.com/user/wimpcombdelight#p/u/3/zhkfXweWgho
"Let Me Back In" Really cool video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlTW50VrhZ8
The Roy Davis Funeral Home - how little you needed love live at One Longfellow Square
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Around the UPtown - Below the scenes
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Basement Tour
by Jimmy
Most locals may know a little bit about the history of our building. For
those of you that do not, the site of the current Uptown Grill used to
house a 3 story office building erected in 1905. This remained until
Frank Woolworth purchased the building in 1956 and removed the top 3
floors to house one of his famous "five and dime" stores. Woolworth's
operated until 1994 when the store closed because of the incoming of
corporate mega-department stores.
In this article, I would like
to give you all a tour of what lies beneath you as you sit and enjoy
your dinner. We will call it a "below- the-scenes" look at how we
utilize this 10,000 square foot building to run a restaurant.
 Laundry Room
About 8 years ago,
we were tired of hauling table linens and napkins in and out of the
restaurant to be cleaned.
The cost was high and we figured we had the space to do it ourselves.
No more moving large bins in and out of the building. Complete with
commercial washer, dryer and press. We have a part time laundry woman
come in to keep our whites white, aprons
clean and chef jackets pressed.
 Walkin Freezer
There are several
items on our menu that can be done ahead and kept frozen in a deep
freeze to be used at a later time. For example, shrooms and goons on are
appetizer menu must be done ahead and frozen to be deep fried. These
items hold up well in a deep freeze. Like all restaurants, different
seasons are busier than others. Some we need 20 kitchen employees,
others you need 12 to get by on our day to day operations. It is not
really affective nor would we enjoy to lay off cooks during the slower
seasons. One of the highest costs of not only money but time, is the
retraining of new staff once you have to bring them back for the busier
seasons. Turnover in this industry is very high. We are proud to say
that we do not have anybody in our kitchen that has not been here for
less than 3 years. This is unheard of in many places.
How do we do it with the fluctuation of business? This 12ft by
15ft freezer allows us, in our slow time, to stock up on some of these
prep items mentioned above. Instead of laying off, we have them prep
rangoons, rumaki or shrooms. We consider it "money in the bank". (The
freezer is about as big as a bank vault). Not only does it help us
maintain a consistently trained work crew, it gives us the storage area
to buy in bulk, helping lower the cost of some items.
 Dry Good
Room
Shelves upon shelves of dry storage and carryout
supplies.
The
Stairs to No where. (sorry no picture)
These stairs are located along
the west side of the building, directly below the first few tables in
the bar room. If you remember the old Woolworths building, they used to
have small cafe diner bar where you can order food. There was a door in
the floor directly behind the counter that allowed the staff access to
storage areas below. We left the stairs and closed the door forever.
 Wine Cellar
Over
the course of the last 10 years, our wine list has really grown. We
take our list seriously. In doing so, you need to be able to store wines
in an environment that can enhance the flavor and not damage it, just
like the wineries do. In the last few years, shipping and storage of
wines has been receiving much greater
attention. All the wine merchants we currently purchase from guarantee
that their wines have been handled properly and brought to us at
the correct
temperature. Our wine cellar allows
us to store our wines at
the ideal 55-60 degrees.
 China Storage Room
Well, we need
to a place to store all of the dishes we use right? Over the course of
Rays restaurant life, he has been to numerous auctions. I
must say, he has come across some great finds. While on these many "business trips" or "work days" as he calls them, he has found all kinds
of different china and table top utensils. Ray says it is amazing at
what you find at auctions where the restaurant had only been open for 6
months. Plenty of deals out there. This room
allows us to experiment if you will with all different shapes and sizes
of plates, bowls, cups, etc to present different menu items.
 Concert Table Hallway
When there is no show scheduled in the Playlist Theater we store all of the small cocktail tables in the basement hallway.
 Draft Beer Cooler
We use what is
called a long draw, nitrogen based draft system. We store all 10 beers
we have on draft in a walkin
cooler in the basement. The beer comes cold off the truck and is
stored cold until it it is tapped. Not many places around here have the
space to do this, especially 10 different kinds. With a long draw
system, there is at least 50 feet of each beer line running from the
cooler all the way to the draft tower. The beer and coolant lines are
wrapped together for that 50 feet to maintain the same cold beer
temperature from the barrel to the tap
at all times.
 Tool Room
This
room here has become our own personal hardware store.Whatever you need, you can find it in
the tool room. In building this restaurant himself, Ray acquired many
different tools. I must say, when I go down there, I feel a bit more
manly. Everything from plumbing, electrical, painting, drywall and power
tools, you name it, we probably have it. Mackie, our on site Uptown
employed maintenance man, handles all of the preventative measures as well
as equipment failures that occur.
 Christmas Room
Decorating is a big
thing around here, ask Rita Anderes. She plays a big role in the
different themes and decorating. During the Christmas season, we try
to make the restaurant feel warm,
comfortable
and put you in the Christmas spirit. Well, where do we store it 10
months out of the year? The "Christmas Room" we call it.
I
hope you enjoyed your tour throughout the lower level of our building.
As you can see, not only has this building been turned into a
restaurant, its lower level has seen as much of a renovation as the
first floor. I hope it has answered questions on how we do things and
what lies below these 10,000 feet of space.
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Back on the Menu
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Heath Bar Cookies
by Ryan
 They're Baaaaaacccckkkkk!
Over the years the heath bar cookie has
come and gone. What once used to be a staple on our dessert menu was
removed a few years ago and replaced by the white
chocolate macadamia nut cookie. This caused an uproar in our
community. A petition was filed and signed by about 50 of our customers
to bring back the heath bar cookie. We did, but for just a short time.
Well
now, the heath bar cookie is back. We purchased a 60 quart mixer so we
can make large quantities of our own homemade batter. Our chef Chris
Plankenhorn has created his own heath bar cookie recipe and we will make
these cookies in house for the foreseeable future. We know this will
please a lot of our customers that have been flooding Ray's email box
with heath bar cookie requests.
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Not Your Everyday Special
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Wienerschnitzel
by Ryan
 Starting Wednesday, August 11th we will be serving authentic German Wienerschnitzel. This will be available every Wednesday night after 4pm. Served with roasted asparagus, speatzle and veal demi glaze it is only $11.75.
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Illinois Tourism
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Illinois River Road National Scenic Byway
By Ray
 With the fall season approaching it is probably the best time of year
for us as far as tourism is concerned. The fall colors, state parks, and
fall drives bring a lot of business to us and to our area. A few years
ago was when I first heard of the Illinois River Road National Scenic Byway.
We are smack dab right in the middle of it.
The Illinois River Road National
Scenic Byway unites more than 100
nature-based destinations and numerous unique communities throughout
the Illinois River Valley.
It stretches from Ottawa
to Havana Illinois on both sides of the river. The Byway showcases
great
places where you can discover and experience the
nature of the region. The Illinois River Road National Scenic
Byway website will guide
you through the Illinois River Valley. Recently to their site they
added some wonderful videos highlighting their six gateway communities,
of which we are not one of them and barely mentioned as a community.
As
centrally located as we are between the major
metropolitan areas promoting the byway just makes sense in economic times like these. In
the tourism seminars I have attended, two hours is about the ideal amount
of time for a "getaway" whether that it is for a day or a weekend. The site is
very well done, easy to navigate, and the videos really show case our area
well. I have sent an email to their contact address to see what can be
done in order for LaSalle to become a gateway. As of now I have not
received a response. It is inconceivable that we are not part of it.
Anyway check out the videos.
Ottawa's Video
Princeton's Video
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Around the Industry
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Food Lover Links
By Ray
 We get a ton of food and restaurant
newsletters and magazines each week . We are going to post links to the
best and most interesting articles that we find each week. For you foodies
that really like to dig in here are some articles with an edge
Christina Perri: Waitress of the Month
- She began July 2010 waiting tables at
Melrose Place Café in Los Angeles. She ended it singing live on So
You Think You Can Dance and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
And she didn't quit her restaurant job in between until the manager
could replace her
Waitress of the Month
Diners Push Back Against
Molecular, Trend-Chasing Food - As the year 2010 dawned, SlashFood's Hanna Raskin made a perplexing observation. "If there
was one trend that defined the
first breaths of this millennium," she wrote, "it was a general
resistance to trendiness." Are you kidding me?
Diners Push Back Against Molecular, Trend-Chasing Food
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Employee Updates
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August Birthday and Anniversaries
By Kris
Happy BirthdayGeena Biccochi Chuck Messino Joel Lappen Erick Raya 
Happy "Uptown" AnniversaryTracy Robillard - 18 years Trisha Battaglia - 7 years Roger Konczak - 6 years Dan Miller - 14 years |
| Not Your "Everyday" Specials |
 Friday Nights, Seafood Mixed Grill
It
includes
a 4 oz lobster tail with
drawn butter, 4 oz salmon filet with basil
cream and 4 oz whitefish parmesan with lemon caper
butter. All for only $19.75
Monday Nights, Steak Diane
Every Monday after 4 pm, we will be serving Steak Diane for $13.75. This will be just like the Red Door Inn. With Victor's stamp of approval.
 Sunday, All Day,
Sizzling Sunday Fajita and Margaritas
You
get a chicken
fajita for two with a 64 ounce pitcher of margaritas for only $20! Imagine this on a Sunday afternoon on the patio or at a sidewalk table
with the sunshine and a nice breeze! No, your not in Cabo, but it sure
feels like it!
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| On Our Special | |
Almond and Roasted Red Pepper Hummus for Two
Deep Fried Mushroom Blend
Panini Sandwich with Raisin River Ham, White Cheddar Cheese and Caramelized Onions
BBQ Meatloaf Sandwich
Smokey Salemville Blue Cheese and Heirloom Tomatoes with Wedged Butter Lettuce
Blackened Redfish with Roasted Asparagus and Shiitake Cous Cous
Schnitzel a la Holstein
Spicy Shrimp, Arugula, Fava Beans and Whole Wheat Spaghetti
Roasted Baby patty Pan Squash
Sweet Corn Sautee
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Win a Free Lunch
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Foodie Fight Free Lunch Contest
by Kris
 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!
1. What is the name of the Swedish buffet tradiion that translates to "buttered-bread table"?
2. What food editor traveled the United States studying home cooks for her 1960 cookbook, "How American Eats"?
3. What should a butter knife not be used for?
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.
Participants are eligible to win a limit of 3 times a year.
Last Week questions and answers....
1. What restaurant is
the setting for the I Love Lucy episode "L.A. at Last, " where
starstruck Lucy embarrasses herself by gawking at actor William Holden? Brown Derby
2.
What Spanish dish is traditionally cooked outdoors, over a fire, in a
wide, shallow, two-handled pan? Paella
3. What square-shaped,
long-strand pasta is traditionally cut on a frame strung with wire, like
a guitar? Pasta chitarra
Last weeks winner of the free lunch ... Pua Borges-Smith and Jason Smith
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| Playlist Theater | |
Tickets on sale now.
Upcoming Shows
 Roy Davis
Friday
August 13th
Tickets on sale now
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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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Uptown respects your privacy and will not sell or distribute your personal information.
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