Wednesday, December 14th    

Uptown Gift Cards  

A Perfect Gift When You Don't Know What to Give 

By Jimmy

If you are anything like me, this time of year involves one of those things that I never look forward to, shopping. There is an art to shopping and some people are really good at it. For others, the gift card is the way to go. This is why there are those on my list that a gift card is the perfect gift for. Gift cards give them the freedom to buy whatever they want and it alleviates the stress of trying to find the perfect gift. Are there those on your list that you never know what to buy for or do you always seem to wait until the last minute? I may be a typical male when it comes to this, but gift cards seem to be the easiest form of shopping and I know the recipient will choose whatever they like whenever they see it. Holiday shoppers will buy over $20 billion in gift cards and according to surveys, over 50% of adults actually prefer gift cards. These colorful pieces of plastic can buy everything from lunch to a vacation. So make your holiday shopping easy and stop in the Uptown and treat that special someone to a wonderful evening out. We present our gift cards in an attractive package that will be sure to look great on the tree come Christmas morning. Here are a few other reasons to purchase an Uptown gift card.  

-There are no restrictions, you can use them anytime, any day.  

-We are open 7 days a week, all day. 363 days a year  

-There are no expiration dates or maintenance fees. -They are good forever!  

-We have been in business for over 26 years, we are not going anywhere. We still except gift cards from 1985.  

-You do not have to use the whole balance. You can use the remaining balance for a tip or for a future visit.
-FREE SHIPPING. No extra cost.

Doors are open at 8 am if you would like to stop in. Also, you can call us at 815-224-4545 and we can send it to whoever you would like. Visit us at www.uptowngrill.com We hope to have our Gift Card page up and running today... We will let you know 

 

On Special  

National Bouillabaisse Day 

By Ryan

A little bit ironic, don't ya think? December 14th every year is National Bouillabaisse Day. Well, what is bouillabaisse you might ask? Up until last week I had never heard of this dish before. Then it was decided that it would be our new seafood special and it is fantastic. So good, it does deserve its own day!

Bouillabaisse is essentially a seafood stew with a variety of fish, shellfish, vegetables, herbs and spices. The dish was said to originate in the port city of Marseilles, France. The word itself is derived from two words, one french and one english; bolhir (to boil) and abaissar (to reduce heat).

The origin of bouillabaisse was said to be created by fishermen who had returned to port. Instead of using the more expensive fish that they had caught, they would use the fish and shellfish that were too bony to sell to restaurants. The fishermen would boil the dish in sea water on a wood fire with garlic and fennel seasonings. Over the years the dish has been "Americanized" with tomato and is often not made for less than a group of 10 people. The better the fish, the better the bouillabaise.  

So stop in today and salute our bouillabaisse on National Bouillabaisse Day. Our version includes a 4oz lobster tail, sea scallops, grouper, mussels, clams, shrimp, saffron, fennel and garlic. Remember, the better the seafood (see lobster, clams, mussel, etc....) the better the bouillabaise!

National Bouillabaisse Day 

 

December 23rd  

It's Festivus for the Rest of Us! 

By Andrew     

December 23rd marks the celebration of Festivus, a secular holiday celebrated by those who are fed up with the pressure and commercialism surrounding other December holidays. It was created by Dan O'Keefe in 1966 to celebrate the anniversary of his first date with future wife, Deborah. Dan's son Daniel, a writer for the show Seinfeld popularized the holiday by using his Festivus joke material on the show. Daniel amended or replaced some details of his father's invention to create the Seinfeld episode. That's when Festivus took off and became the holiday that some of us know today.  

In Seinfeld, the Festivus creator is Frank Costanza, known to be eccentric and angry, and father to one of the show's main characters, George. The decor of the holiday is an unadorned aluminum pole, the "Festivus Pole". It was selected because of its "very high strength to weight ratio" according to Frank, who goes on to say that the pole is not decorated because he finds tinsel distracting.

Traditions of the holiday include a Festivus dinner during which the "Airing of Grievances" takes place. This is where you gather your family around and tell them all the ways they have disappointed you in the past year. Dinner is then immediately followed by the next tradition, "Festivus Feats of Strength", in which the head of the household selects one person from the celebration and challenges them to a wrestling match (Festivus is not over until the head of the household has been pinned). Also peppered into the holiday are Festivus Miracles. A Festivus Miracle can be any easily explained occurance or coincidence, but on December 23rd these are referred to as Festivus Miracles. If the dinner invitation says 5 o'clock and all of the guests arrive at 5, this is a Festivus Miracle!

So whether you have observed this holiday in the past, or you just need something fun to do on December 23rd, maybe you should start thinking about planning Festivus 2011. It does fall on a Friday this year so if you plan on hosting your Festivus Dinner here at The Uptown, you will want to make reservations soon. Please understand that The Uptown will not have a Festivus Pole and Festivus Feats of Strength are discouraged. However there will be no shortage of Festivus Miracles.

The Festivus

 

 

Around the Uptown   

The 2011 Food Art Ingredient Hot List 

By Ray   

My favorite food trade magazine is called Food Arts, www.foodarts.com. They seem to showcase the trendiest elements of our industry. Sometimes too trendy. Each year they put out their "Hot List" of ingredients. Some we have been using for years. Others I don't even have clue of what they are or how they are used. Some of these fads end very quickly and fade off into the night while others stick around forever. I find their list very interesting and compare it to things we tried in the course of the past year.

Here is my update on their update. Many of these ingrediants we have used in the past year either as part of a special or even on the menu. I listed some of the ways we used them. Other things on the list I had to look up. Here they are beef-tongue in halibut-cheek.

Aioli - We use them all the time
Almond butter - Pan fried rainbow trout with almond butter
Arancini - We will be having these tasty little rice balls sometime in the future
Beef tri-tip - This is also something we will be trying in the future either as a main course or a salad topping
Beet salads (usually with goat cheese) - Often on special here and usually with a goat cheese. You can't beat beets!
Black garlic - We did a black garlic studded strip steak
Blackberries - Fresh berry custard tart with blackberries, raspberry and blueberries
Boar (in pastas, pates) - I have never seen any type of boar commercially available
Cheeks of anything that moves - Pan fried halibut cheeks
Chestnuts- Roasted chestnut creme brulee
Chickweed - Chop common and star chickweed, and add them raw to salads, or cook them like spinach.  
Chocolate tarts - Chocolate yes, tarts no
Chorizo - In several soups and sauces
Chunks of dates in salads and sauces - Working on this also
Cocoa beans - No
Cod - Fresh cod is amazing. So white and flaky. We have done it with miso, red pepper cream sauce and spinach and even as a really great fish & chips
Compressed water-melon - Our watermelon compressor is on the fritz
Corn kernels in sauces, corn puddings, corn soups - In soups often, we use fresh for roasted and sauteed as side dishes 

Click the picture to see a larger view.

Duck ham - We currently have some duck prosciutto in house.
Enoki mushrooms - We are digging up recipes
Figs - Fresh roasted with mascarpone and honey also used dried on our cheese samplers
Flat iron steaks - Grilled with chimmi-churri sauce
Frog's legs - Watch for this to make a comeback here this year
Goat - Get your.......
Grits (including rice grits) - Shrimp and strawberry grits
Hard cider - We are working on getting one on tap
Hominy - We have used in several different soups
Honey - We had used a great artisan honey on our cheese sampler
Horseradish sauces - Since 1985
Huckleberries - Not yet
Kale - We love kale in soups and many side dishes
Lichen - We no liken
Little gem lettuce - Served with blue cheese. bacon, onion and heirloom tomato
Macaroons - No
Mac and cheese - The Swiss mac and cheese burger served on burger me Thursday
Maldon salt - English brand of sea salt
Mangos - All the time on many salads, fish tacos, grilled mahi and our black bean and mango salsa on our menu
Marcona almonds - On our cheese sampler for several years now
Marmalades - Inside out grilled del caribe cheese with red onion marmalade
Millet - This goes against the grain
Mussels - Many times with lemon grass or fresh fennel
Nutella in desserts - Watch for a wonton filled with nutella
Octopus - We tried a grilled octopus but could not sell it
Okra - A staple in many of our dishes
Olives in sauces - Often, puttanesca of course and several tapenades, relishes and sauces
Pain perdu desserts - The perfection of French toast
Pig's trotters - Trotters?
Pine tree shoots - If pine nuts are so expensive, I can't imagine how much the shoots would cost
Pistachios - In many stuffings and toppings. they are in our homemade biscotti right now
Poached farm eggs - On a holstein schnitzel
Popcorn in desserts - Sounds great
Pork belly - We have some in house right now and are working on the presentation
Potato skins - Hmmmm somethings come full circle
Preserved lemon in sauces for meat - Working on this one too.
Quenelles of pike the old fashioned way with sauce Nantua - It would be nice to see some of these classic dishes make a come back
Quinoa - We use all the time
Razor clams - We used them on a version of linguini and clams
Rillettes - A form of  country pate you will see here some day
Rosewater - We have used a dash of this in a gin based martini, very aromatic
Sardines (grilled, etc.) - Really?
Sea urchin - I have an itchin' for urchin
Smoked meats - We love to use them in sauces and soups
Squid - Several variations of calamari. Check out our current calamari with fresh sage
Succotash - Sufferin succotash, we are working on one now
Tripe - One of those things I do not think would ever sell here
Vegetable garnishes on drinks - We really deck our bloody marys out
Watermelon and goat cheese salad - A summer special we had was watermelon, feta, and fresh mint
Wheatberries - You will see in the future
Whey - We often have it left over from cheese making. We are wheying the options. As soon as we get off of our tuffet
Woodruff - Galium odoratum is a herbaceous perennial plant. What is it?
Woolly pig - www.woolypigs.com/
Yuzu - Thai catfish served with a Yuzu dressing

 

Three Things to Try 

By Andrew - Chips and Salsa - We recently changed our chips and salsa set up. As always, you will receive a large order of our incredibly flavored tortilla chips, freshly housemade and served right to you. Normally restaurants serve the every day salsa along with their chips. At the Uptown, we have made a set up for you with three different dips to enjoy the tortilla chips. In this trio you will find of course our tomato salsa, adobo, and mango pineapple black bean, all which are also housemade. Come in for the better version of "chips and salsa."

By Aly - Fresh Salmon Burger - This week on specials we have a fresh salmon burger that won't leave you disappointed. Chef Chris has created something really special and hard to come by. I have never seen a salmon burger on any of the menu's around this area which led me to try this interesting burger concoction. Our salmon burger starts with freshly ground Norwegian salmon patty that is pan seared and served with alfalfa sprouts, our house made chipotle mayonnaise, cucumber and tomato on a challah roll. The salmon is prepared medium. A challah roll is a traditional Jewish bread that is consumed during sabbath meals and holidays. The term "challah" refers to the process in which the dough is separated before braiding it. With that said I encourage you to come in to try this mouthwatering burger!

By Nikki - Stuffed Chicken Breast - We have changed our stuffed chicken breast on special. Now you can get this juicy boneless chicken breast stuffed with fresh broccoli and tillamook cheddar. We bread and stuff the chicken breast in house, and it is served with our rice blend. When I first had this entree, I was very pleased with how flavorful the chicken breast is. As you keep digging in, you get the delicious taste of the bold and rich tillamook cheddar as it oozes out onto the meat. Get a taste of this exceptional meal.

"Not Your Everyday Specials"

Monday Nights, Steak Diane

Every Monday after 4 pm, we will be serving Steak Diane for $15.75. This will be just like the Red Door Inn. With Victor's stamp of approval.

Fish Taco Tuesdays

Every Tuesday, we will be serving fish tacos. The taco includes panko breaded tilapia, red cabbage, chipotle mayonnaise, and a mango pineapple black bean salsa. They will be served with corn chips and adobo sauce. Available for dine in and carryout. 3 for $6.75 or 2.50 each. 

Wienerschnitzel Wednesday

Every Wednesday after 4pm, we will be serving authentic German Wienerschnitzel. Served with roasted asparagus, spaetzel and veal demi glaze, it is only $11.75.

Burger Me Thursday - Taco Salad Burger 

Each week we change our bizarre burger and serve it all day with any beer in house for only $10.00! This week, our gourmet half pound burger is going to be topped with Western dressing, shredded cheddar, black olive, tomato, green onion, sour cream and our housemade tortilla chips. Topped with green chilis

Friday Nights, Seafood Mixed Grill

4 oz. grilled lobster tail with drawn butter, 4 oz. grilled tuna with tomato caper relish, and 4 oz. whitefish parmesan with lemon caper butter. All for only $19.75

Prime Rib, Friday and Saturday Evening 

Available after 4pm every Friday and Saturday night is our herb crusted prime rib of beef. Our prime rib is slow roasted for several hours in our 1980 alto shaam. It is served with au jus, mushrooms and your choice of side dish. Available in 12oz or 16oz. 

Sunday, All Day, Sizzling Fajita and Margaritas

You get a chicken fajita with a 64 ounce pitcher of margaritas, perfect for a relaxing Sunday! Serves 2 for $20!

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Foodie Fight

Each week in the newsletter, we will ask three 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 lunch. The winner has to have the exact answer for all three questions, no exceptions! The following week we will publish the correct answers and the winner of the previous week. So come in and have a drink, study the cards, test each other and have fun. Good Luck! 

1.   What cultivated mushroom, sold in a cluster of slender stems and tiny caps, is often used as an uncooked garnish? 

2.   Where is the female guest of honor seated at the table?   

3.    What is the process called that involves exposing food to radiation in order to retard ripening and spoilage to kill contaminants? 

Email your answers to 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 weeks questions and answers...

1.  Who was the first President to hire a French chef for the White House?  THOMAS JEFFERSON 

2.  What is the general term for cheeses made with milk from animals that live on the farm where the cheese is made?  FARMSTEAD  

3.  What fortified wine is a classic match with Stilton Cheese?  PORT 

Last weeks winner of the free lunch  .......  Tony Sorcic 

Uptown Grill

601 First St.

La Salle, IL 61301

815-224-4545

Monday - Thursday

11AM -10PM

Friday - Saturday

11 AM - 11PM

Sunday

12PM - 10PM

uptowngrill.com 

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