Filet Rene
By Ryan

We recently updated a classic Red Door Inn dish and it will be on special here for at least the next few days.  We make a vegetable bouquet of fresh broccoli, cauliflower, broiled plum tomato, mushroom, yellow and green zucchini. Then we take a fresh artichoke, and stuff it inside an 8 ounce filet. We top it with béarnaise sauce and fresh tarragon.

The Filet Rene originated at the Red Door Inn in the late 1970's. It was one of the first creations at the Red Door that Ray was ever responsible for. My Grandfather Victor, who owned the Red Door, named the dish after my dad Ray, I mean Rene. Yes, his given name is really Rene Marcel Anderes. He was born in Germany, raised a year in Europe before coming to the states. He decided to change it when he was young and became a naturalized U.S citizen.

Illinois to Raise Minimum Wages to Highest in the Nation?
By Ray

There are many other problems I have with this high minimum wage.  

• You cannot put a single mother with 3 children in the same classification as the 16 year old looking to fund his first car and pay for auto insurance. 
• We have job poaching governors in every state that borders Illinois, who happen to follow the federal minimum wage which is $7.25, almost 30% less.  
• As an owner, I can tell you there are not many 16 year olds that are worth $5 an hour, let alone $10. For many it's their very first job. It's not until we get done molding and shaping them that they are worth 10$ an hour.  
• The last several times the minimum wage was increased, the pay of my lowest paid employees actually went down because of something called the server tip credit.    
• It does nothing to look at the whole benefit structure. In an effort to keep a consistent staff many years ago we instituted health insurance, paid vacations and a Simple IRA where we match dollar for dollar what the employee contributes. This is something that very few restaurants offer. This is not figured into the mix. In order to stay competitive do I have to stop these benefits?
• It has a terrible effect on productivity and fairness in pay. Some employees are twice as productive as others. From an employers stand point that person deserves twice the pay. We also know for every dollar we take in you can only afford to pay out so much in labor because of all your other overhead. Because the base is so high it brings down the pay of the more productive. Pretty soon the productive employee thinks why am I working so hard? It really hurts productivity.  
• The thing that stands out to me the most is that there is no way you can compare the cost of living on the near north side of Chicago to somewhere in Forgottonia, Illinois. (More on Forgottonia later).

The effect it would have on our business in our state would be profound. Since they have made it so difficult to make a profit, Illinois employers will start picking the least profitable parts of their business and shut them down or move them somewhere else. In our case for example, our lunches have been marginal for years. Something like this just might put us in the situation where it just becomes too hard to make money. We also do many things in house that many restaurants might buy pre-done, pre-packaged and pre-made. Buying products where the labor is done in different states or even in a different country will be the net result.

Chicago Sun Times Article - Minimum wage would go to $10 under Senate Bill   

Remembering Forgottonia
By Ray

Click to view Article on Illinois' Electoral Map

Now that leads me back to the map of Illinois counties and how

each one voted in the last governors race. In particular the one where the loser won 99 of 102 counties but lost the election. Somehow, those three counties have a governor representing them and the other 99 do not. Somehow, those 3 counties get to make the rules and the other 99 have to pay for their graft, greed, corruption, entitlements, dead fish and crisis's that should not go to waste. I started to wonder if a state has ever seceded from a state. What I found out was interesting......... 

Secession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. It has been part of our country's politics since our founding. It could be considered a "natural right of revolution". Two states have been created by secession from other states, Maine and West Virginia. There have been many attempts by parts of a state trying to secede from a state.  

Three of these cases actually happened in Illinois. In 1861, the southern region of Illinois, known as Little Egypt made a proposal to secede from the rest of Illinois due to cultural and political differences. In 1925, Cook County considered seceding from Illinois. The last was in the early 1970s, residents of Forgottonia protested for what they felt was a lack of concern for its needs, sparking a secession proposal.   

Forgottonia was the name given to a 14 county region that lies between the Illinois and Mississippi rivers, making it somewhat isolated from the eastern portion of Central Illinois. Some refer to it as the "rump"of Illinois. Many proposals for funding of transportation ways through the area were defeated in the U.S. Congress. Forgottonia was launched as a satirical secession movement to protest the region's stepchild status in Springfield.  

They had a governor, and a capital in an abandoned building. It was just south of Macomb, in Fandon, a microscopic hamlet hidden in the woods of McDonough County. Their official bird was the albatross and flower was the the forget-me-not. Now I am not advocating that we secede from Illinois, but with all of the differences politically, socially, and economically maybe it would be best for both parties. Right now it seems that we are so divided as a state that nothing gets done and leads us to the complete and total gridlock that we have now. But I don't think the idea is that far-fetched. Your fellow Forgottonian Ray

NewCity Article

Remembering Forgottonia   

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