The Spampinato Brothers

Click on the picture to view a video of the Spampinato Brothers

With only a few tickets left, we wanted to remind you the Spampinato Brothers will be performing here this Friday, March 4th. They have been referred to as the "Italian Beatles". This will be an excellent show, so make sure to come get your tickets before the last ones run out! 

Robbie Fulks and Nora O'Connor

By Nikki 

We found out we will be adding ONE more performance to the Uptown Playlist Theater. Robbie Fulks and Nora O'Connor will be performing here the day before Bill Kirchen, Thursday April 14th. Robbie Fulks was one of the best shows we have had here by far.  

He is widely regarded as one of the most gifted songwriters to ever play the trade. While it is said he started off a honky tonk smartass, it quickly became evident that Robbie was a monster talent and some of the songs he's written have been rightly elevated to the status of "classic." It is a damning condemnation of our world's musical taste that he has not been elevated to the ranks of the multi-faceted giants of songwriting like Nick Lowe, Dave Alvin and Harlan Howard. Lost in the deserved accolades for being a fabulously unique, clever, and a heartfelt writer is the fact that he's also one of the best guitarists around. The chameleon-like tall guy can whip it out in honky-tonk, country, bluegrass, power pop, or whatever strikes his ample whimsy at the time.

For a little background information, Robbie's good friend and go to musician when Robbie needs a partner, Justin Roberts ("boy wonder"), recently was nominated for a Grammy. Justin started writing music for children years ago. One day he sent his tapes to a friend, and they immediately knew the songs were fantastic, and it ended up being Roberts' first children's track. Taken from an article in the Chicago Sun Times, Robbie wrote on his blog "As his friend and fellow Chicago musician: Roberts is somewhat in the position of the token Welsh art film up for best picture at the Oscars -- which makes rooting for him all the more pleasurable." They have performed together many times, even with Nora O'Connor. 

Nora O'Connor was born and raised on the scrappy south side of Chicago. You may or may not have heard of her as "Nora Black", because she played with The Blacks for a while. She has also sung and played guitar as a member of, Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire, for five years and counting. She is an amazing singer with wonderful talent, and she will be performing with Robbie Fulks. 

Videos of Robbie Fulks and Justin Roberts 

Spaghetti Dinner ~ Monday Night March 28th ~ 4:30pm to 8:00pm
By Ryan 

Save the date. We are very proud to say that this will be our 12th year hosting the annual Lighted Way Spaghetti Dinner. It will be on Monday, March 28th from 4:30 to 8 PM. We will once again be serving spaghetti to the masses.  

Some facts and figures.....We cook 100 gallons of spaghetti sauce and 240 pounds of spaghetti. We serve 1200 meals in 3 1/2 hours, that's one meal every 10 seconds. All of these numbers add up to over $100,000 that we have helped raise for the Lighted Way over the years.

The donation is only $7 per person and it includes salad, Italian bread, spaghetti with meat sauce, cake and coffee. If you can't be here, we also offer carry-outs.

The Lighted Way Foundation is a school for students with developmental disabilities located in La Salle. They are a non-profit organization that services children and young adults ages 3 through 21. This spaghetti dinner is one of their main fundraisers with 100% of the proceeds going to  

the Lighted Way Foundation.

Thank you to all of the volunteers from the past and the future, we look forward to seeing you again this year.

Lent Specials
By Ryan 

There are certain things we do here that I always look forward to. Perhaps, the time of year that I look more forward to than any other is Lent. Maybe it's just my great childhood memories of having fried fish carryout with Grandma and Grandpa and taking in a Friday night Hall Basketball game or maybe I just really enjoy seafood. Whatever the reason, I believe we offer the best Lent specials in the area, not to mention, the numerous other meatless options on our every day menu. One could eat lunch and dinner here every Friday during lent and never have the same meal twice. But, these are so good, I'm willing to bet you would. Below I've highlighted the specials we will be having every Friday during this lent season. All lent specials are available all day for dine-in or carry-out! 

Southern California, San Diego in particular, may be the most popular place to find fish tacos in the United States.  They became popular in 1983 after Ralph Rubio, who tried them on spring break in Mexico, brought the idea back to his hometown, San Diego. He had tried to coax a Mexican vendor, Carlos, to move to the U.S to start a business with him. Carlos declined the invitation but did give Rubio a recipe. Rubio's current chain of 35 stores makes him king of the fish taco world. 

Come in and try for yourself. They will only be around through lent.

FISH AND CHIPS.....9.75 

Every year when Lent rolls around I always look forward to this dish the most,  "Fish 'n' Chips." Harp battered and served with malt vinegar, coleslaw, tartar sauce, lemon and "chips". I think we offer one of the more authentic "Fish 'n' Chips" around.

Where did the concept of "fish 'n' chips" originate? One would probably guess Britain and you would be correct. Originated around 1860 in the United Kingdom, the British brought this dish with them to every area that they would colonize in the future. They even brought it to the Faroe Islands during World War II, where it is still a popular dish today. 

TORTELLACCI.....14.75

None of our lent specials have more of a local tie than the spinach filled tortellacci. With the large number of Roman Catholics in the area, it just stands to reason that a meatless Italian pasta would come to the forefront during this holiday season. Our tortellacci are very light because they are made from very thin hand rolled dough, unlike some of the store bought products that are very heavy and have very little filling.

We prepare them with a white wine cream sauce and top the dish with fresh Reggianno parmesan. We started this dish a few years ago and by popular demand, it is now one of our annual Lenten specials. 

SEAFOOD TRIO.....19.75

No story here, just a great deal. Every Friday, not just during lent either, we offer our version of a Seafood Trio. We serve a 4oz portion of broiled cod with a basil creme sauce, a 4oz portion of our whitefish parmesan with lemon caper butter and a 4oz lobster tail with drawn butter. All for under $20.

History Gone ~ Last World War I Veteran
By Ryan

Click on the picture to visit his website

February 27th, 2011 will always be remembered as a sad day in American History. We all knew the time would come when there would no longer be any members of the Great World War I generation. Frank Buckles has died at the age of 110. Frank was the last remaining WWI veteran. Five million Americans served in World War I. Frank never did see any combat in WWI, but he did in WWII until he was captured in the Philippines and was taken as a POW. He was the only WWI veteran to visit the WWI museum in the Liberty Memorial in Washington D.C.

It's hard to imagine living to be 110 years old. Frank must have been an amazing man as was that entire generation. We are now left with what is being called the "Greatest Generation." Those brave men who risked their lives and fought in WWII. Please take this news and use it as a reminder to thank anyone you come across who risked it all during WWII, to better all of our lives. It's estimated that by 2020, all remaining WWII veterans may no longer be with us as they are dying at a rate of more than 1000 per day. It is truly difficult to even comprehend what it was these generations gave up for us. They all were, and are, truly selfless individuals that no matter what we do, will never truly be given the gratitude that they deserve. Please don't waste anytime in thanking them and showing them your gratitude. May Frank and all WWI veterans rest in peace. And may America never forget what they sacrificed.  

Video on Frank Buckles 

"Pershing's Last Patriot"  

Bourbon Whiskey
By Jimmy

With over 200 items on our back bar, chances are there will always be something you like. We try to bring in a selection of just about all the different types of liquor. One of the categories we take pride in is our single malt scotches and small batch bourbons. Bourbon is a type of American whiskey that is made primarily from corn. The name derives from an area known as Old Bourbon, located in Kentucky. It has been produced here in the States since the 18th century and although it can be made anywhere in our country, it is typically associated with Kentucky. Just like the fine scotches of Scotland and the aromatic cognacs of France, every one has a distinct character. There is a process that should be followed to enjoy all forms of the spirit. Color, nose, taste, each one is unique.

When it comes to styles of distilling high quality bourbon, it comes 3 fold. Single Barrel, Small batch and Small Scale. All bourbon whiskey is produced and stored in barrels. However, each barrel is a little different and it acquires a slightly different flavor from each. Not only does the barrel give it a flavor, where it is stored in the warehouse may affect it as well. So in order for the end product to be the same flavor you expect each time, hundreds if not thousands of barrels are blended together to get the final product. This results in a uniform product. Now there are a few barrels, usually in the center or "heart" of the warehouse, that contain a very high quality whiskey. These are handled with extreme care and aged longer than the average. These are then bottled, one barrel at a time. This is called single barrel bourbon. An example we carry on our list is Blanton's Single Barrel.

Another type is called small batch bourbons. While bottling one barrel individually at a time can be time consuming and very expensive, the distillers still want to offer the superior quality whiskey it gets from those select barrels. Following the same procedure up until the bottling process as the single barrel, small batch bourbons blend only the high quality barrels to get this product. Basil Hayden, Knob Creek and Booker's are a few of them we carry that come from these small batches.

The third style of producing high quality bourbon is to make sure all of the bourbon that is taken is the highest quality of each barrel. Makers Mark follows this approach to its bottling. While only bottling from 54 barrels a day, it can be viewed as the "micro distiller" of the bourbon whiskey.

Whichever approach, there are some great quality whiskeys out there. Next time you are in, try one of these styles of bourbons we offer. It can be fun trying a few of them and discussing the different characteristics each one has. Here are a few steps to help in picking your favorite.

How to Taste a Bourbon  

Click the picture to watch a Spampinato Brothers video

Click on the Picture to see a video of Robbie Fulks and Nora O'Connor

Robbie Fulks

Nora O'Connor

Click the picture to watch a Bill Kirchen video

Tickets SOLD OUT!

If anyone has any extra Bill Kirchen tickets, we would like to buy them back!