What Do You Resolute?

What were you doing when you were 9 years old? I remember being the age of 9, and at that time, my passion was probably Andre Dawson and the Chicago Cubs (yes, I used to like the Cubs, but I think it was more of an Andre Dawson thing). That's what I did, loved baseball. I could not have dreamt of doing something to help the environment or begin to think of some idea to perhaps  better the world. But that's what 9 year old Milo Cress did.

Milo, a 4th grader in Vermont, started a school project in an attempt to get businesses to stop using straws. The simple reason for this was the amount of waste created by something so trivial. We are all fully capable of drinking without a straw, right? In fact, we use 500 million straws each day, enough straws to fill 46,400 large school busses daily. That's a lot of needless waste! So, Milo went from business to business and asked them to stop using straws. The project took on a life of it's own as businesses, media and even politicians across Vermont caught wind of Milo's venture. The 4th grader's project culminated with its very own straw-free campaign led by the "green" web company Eco-Cycle. What a motivated young man!

As for us, I'm not sure our customers would allow us to go entirely strawless, but that doesn't mean we don't try. Our servers tend to automatically put straws in water glasses. We've  attempted to put the kabosh to this over the years as we agree it's wasteful and who drinks water out of a straw, seriously? I admit that I prefer a straw to stir my cocktail with or drink my Pepsi out of, but hey it's a new year, a new pledge, and I can do my part no matter how small.

Well, what would the first newsletter of the new year be without a resolution article? Myself, I am not the most "green" of individuals. There are certain things I'm aware of, but I have to be honest and say that being "green" is not a daily part of my personal or professional lifestyle. Becoming a "greenie" probably is not in the cards for me in 2015, but that does not mean I can't do something, albeit small, to help our environment. Every little bit helps right? Will you? Just say, "no straw please."

In The News & On Special   Lemon and Macadamia Nut Crusted Cod Filet By Ryan This week on special we are serving a broiled cod filet toppd with a lemon and macadamia nut crust. Cod is probably one of the easiest things to sell because even those that are not sea-foodies tend to like the mild flavor of cod.  But, that mild flavor that everyone likes might be hard to come by in the next few months so if you are someone that enjoys cod, you better enjoy it while you can. After our most recent shipment of cod came in, we were made aware of some new happenings within the cod fishing industry. It's not always easy to stay abreast of everything happening within the food industry and this one got by us.  In the Gulf of Maine, Cod is the regions most iconic fish and it has provided for the lifestyle of numerous fishermen and their families for decades. In the middle of last month however, the region was effectively banned, by the federal fishing industry, from fishing cod until at least April of 2015.  Why, you might ask? Well, this has been something the powers that be have been monitoring for a few years now. Last year the agency that oversees fishing in the region lowered the amount of cod that could be caught by 77% over 2012. The number of cod in the region is estimated at around 2400 metric tons. In comparison, when fishing in the region first began record keeping in 1982, 2200 metric tons of cod were fished in that year alone. You can easily see the cause for concern.  Furthermore, it is the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association) that monitors the oceans species supply. They have surmised that the cod supply has dwindled to as little as 3% of what it would take to maintain a healthy popluation. Further complicating matters is that the young cod fish they were monitoring were producing well below average spawning rates. The two factors combined are what led to the cod fishing ban in hopes that the species can recover to sustainable rates over the course of the next 6 months.  While this is a devastating blow for the livelihood of many fisherman within this region, the NOAA hopes to have things up and running again in May. It's a short term ban for a long term gain. Fishermen may have to find other ways to make ends meet in the short term. But, if they were to eliminate the species from their local waters, completely destroying their way of life, 6 months doesn't seem like that long of a sacrifice.

Global Warming and Wine Changing

Not that anyone would remember, but you connoisseurs of fine wine may recall a massive heat wave that ripped through Europe back in 2003. It ruined months worth of work in the famous regions of France where some of the world's best wine comes from. Ever since then, it's been a growing concern and threat for farmers to find ways to fend off the inevitable,,, the world-wide threat of "global warming."

Maybe Al Gore was on to something when the inconvenient truth finally surfaced, but researchers are now believing that the many of the great wine regions of Europe will have totally lost their charm by 2050. If you noticed, it's "not gone completely," just losing their "charm." In other words, this region won't be able to hold its nose up to the rest of the world when it comes to wine making.

"Grapocalypse Now" is coming, and it will be within a period of time many of us could see in our lifetime. Places like Bordeaux, Tuscany, and the Rhone-Valley will become almost irrelevant when discussing the great wines of the world. This is, in part, because in roughly forty-ish years, the climate in this region will grow steadily warmer.  In turn, places like England, Baltic Germany, and much of Scandinavia will have the same climate of the Mediterranean areas and Southern France. Here is a breakdown of how the climate will effect the wine: 

Chain Restaurant Franchisee vs Franchisor Debate

There has recently been an increased media presence around chain restaurants and their labor practices versus an agenda proposed by the Obama administration and the National Labor Relations Board. We personally, being an independently owned and operated restaurant, don't really have much interest what happens with a particular chain or any ruling that may effect them. And we are certainly not here to argue for either side, because both sides of the argument could propose a limitless amount of reasons to support their cause. In a previous newsletter we had discussed the position that the National Restaurant Association has taken against this agenda and why. It now seems that the battle has really begun heating up and it will be a worthwhile follow and will be very interesting to see what the outcome is. 

In the most recent ruling, which fell in favor of the chain restaurant industry, the California Supreme Court rejected the idea proposed by the Obama Administration that franchise companies are the employers of the workers whom are actually hired, fired and managed by independent stores. Their ruling follows the ruling of many other states but goes against the agenda of the Obama Administration. 

The courts overturned a ruling that said Domino's should face a jury because one of their independent store operators was charged with sexual harassment. There you have one person, in one store, and they want to go after the entire operation. Doesn't quite seem fair. Also not fair... that any person has to deal with sexual harassment.  And that is where the great debate begins. Who is responsible, and who compensates for the mistreatment? There is also a ruling out there that makes McDonald's the general employer of the franchise, making them responsible for the unfair labor practices against striking workers at individual stores. 

I do believe that it is wrong for the mistake of one person in charge of one store in one town to bring down an entire chain of restaurants, which, in my opinion would be one of the goals of the Obama and NLRB agenda. They want the big money for the mistake of one small person. Not everything, in my opinion, can be made so simplistic. I do, however, feel that there is room for improvements in how these situations involving harassment, pay and other labor issues could be resolved. Those improvements should be met with compromise without completely dismissing the concerns of current chain restaurant employees or turning the entire industry upside down.

This issue is just beginning to scratch the surface and has the makings of a long fight ahead: Employee vs Franchise. It will be a very interesting battle to watch. So far the states are ruling against the Obama Administration agenda, and we will see how this story continues to unfold. Stay tuned!

Look What Nancy Brought Back to the Midwest

Sometimes it is amazing what a small world it is. Last week, my wife's good friend got a call from one her good friends who lives in Seattle. She has been here many times and I have met her on several occasions.

This friend of a friend apparently listens to the Seattle PBS radio station often... in particular, a show with a food critic by the name of Nancy Leson. Imagine her surprise as this food critic comments on a trip to Illinois, our eating habits and then goes into a spiel about one nice restaurant she went to in LaSalle, Illinois. She also talks about her enchantment with our digital menus!

Seattle Times food writer and KPLU commentator Nancy Leson serves up a bounty of information and culinary tips on Pacific Northwest food, cooking, dining and restaurants. A native Philadelphian, she spent nearly 20 years waiting tables before trading her apron and corkscrew for a writer’s notebook and keyboard. Nancy joined the Seattle Times as lead restaurant critic in 1998 and today keeps her finger on the pulse of the local food scene on her blog, "All You Can Eat."

Imagine this friend of a friend listening to her program, and then this connection comes up out of the blue. Thank's for sharing with us Finny!

Ray

Listen to the segment by clicking here.

The War on Small Business

Each week unveils more controversy in the business world. Some events are state related; some are federal. Some are just the nature of the current economy and uncertain future. But, this week the president and CEO of the National Restaurant Association used the term, "war on small business," in regards to a ruling by the National Labor Relations Board. A bold statement no doubt, but from someone with her experience and knowledge is eyebrow raising and worth sharing.

What is it that has the NRA so upset? This week, the NLRB overturned a thirty-year rule that gave franchisees the freedom to run their day-to-day employment practices as they desired, essentially independent of their franchisor. The franchisee has always been able to determine hiring, shift schedules, terminations, etc. as they deem necessary. The key here being that the franchisor, in the past, has not been held responsible for any missteps that the franchisee may incur. They operate their business independent of the franchisor. In fact, as recently as last month, a Texas franchisor was ruled not liable as an employer under the Fair Labor Standards Act because he did not control employment hiring, pay rates and schedules.

Restaurant Culture:What a Difference a Decade Makes

Earlier this week, I received an email that I believed to be just another random chain email, although once I started reading it, I became very intrigued. After I finished reading, I thought it couldn't be 100% true, but it made a lot of sense nonetheless. As it turns out, this email has now gone viral... from an anonymous Craigslist post to viral. With that said, we do have to be wary of an anonymous Craigslist post. But seeing that the post has gone viral, it means that there is some substance to it, and it might just be worth talking about. So here we go:

Essentially, an owner of a New York City restaurant was becoming increasingly concerned over some negative reviews and comments via social media. The restaurant had never received so much negative feedback and the owner, who felt that the restaurant had not changed much in the last 10 years, was very curious as to why. So he went as far as reviewing security footage from a weekend in 2004 and compared that footage to the same weekend in 2014. What he studied on the footage and the statistics that came from it were very interesting. At a minimum, very telling of how much has changed in just 10 years... 

Minimum Wage Hike

As more and more cities and states adopt an increase in minimum wage - or at a minimum discuss an increase - those of us running businesses in Illinois watch closely. An increase in the minimum wage can be tough for any business, but especially restaurants. We won't get into who would be receiving the increase because that only opens an entirely different can of worms, but rather share some numbers and hiring practices that have recently come from studies that the National Restaurant Association has conducted in regard to a minimum wage increase.

Already running on paper thin pre-tax profit margins, on the average of 4-6% for most restaurants, a minimum wage increase could prove to be the nail in the coffin for many restaurants. Consider already, the labor cost for the average restaurant runs at about 1/3rd of a restaurants sales. Yes, $0.33 of every dollar goes towards our labor cost. And in some weeks, much, much more.

The studies conducted have determined that your average full-time employee in an eating and drinking establishment represents about $84,000 in annual sales. Compared to a full-time employee at a grocery store where they may represent on average $304,000 in annual sales. So clearly, you have many, many more employees working within a restaurant's four walls... making it much tougher to absorb an across-the-board wage increase.

Feasting on Yeast

We've all been there. You had a few too many last night, and you wake up with the hangover of the century wishing you could take it all back.

Lately there has been a trend surfacing that says if you eat yeast a few moments before you start drinking, it will allow you to drink more, with less of a chance of having the "brown-bottle flu" the next morning.

Legendary brew master Jim Koch, who owns the famous Samuel Adams Brewery, is a professional drinker who tastes all of their beers before they are shipped out. While you'd think it'd be every guy's dream to have this job, that eventually equates to a lot of beer over the course of the day. Koch swears by the method of swallowing a small amount of yeast with yogurt before the start of any drinking. The thought is that the yeast will break the alcohol down in the stomach before it can be absorbed into the blood stream.

The Story Behind The Stinkburger

Over the years I've come to learn that when Ray gets excited about something he truly gets passionate about it.  And of course politics are no different. While I'm in no mood or position to ever debate politics, it's always entertaining to sit and listen to him rant a

Obama Calls Republicans' Healthcare And Economic Plans 'Stinkburger' And 'Meanwich'

nd rave over liberal and conservative issues that are making headlines. Just recently president Obama referred to the Republican Party trying to repeal Obamacare for the 50th time, and proclaimed that the information they are feeding us could be referred to as a "stink burger."  

Ray had been pitching a burger with Limburger ( I think he likes it ) for quite a while so what better opportunity to sell the "Stink Burger". He said just dedicate it to political discourse.  

Limburger is a famous German cheese notable for its pungent smell. This cheese became notable in America due to the German settlers settling in Wisconsin where the only two Limburger manufacturers in the us can be found, one of them in Monroe Wisconsin. Traditionally the cheese is allowed to age and ferment for 3 months so the cheese becomes spreadable and is served on rye bread with red onions. While we can't promise you it'll leave you with fresh breath, we can assure you that it would live up to the now infamous stink burger. Smell you later.

World's Top Trending Liquor

America, we have a problem. According to a recent poll, we are not the number one whiskey drinkers of the world. We're not even the number one caffeine consumer of the world!

Quartz, a news site from Europe has recently announced that we are no longer the world's foremost whiskey drinkers. Instead most people in America, when given the choice of whiskey, vodka, tequila, rum, gin, or brandy, prefer to choose vodka over any other drink.

One could argue that with the rising interest in making America healthy and the rising awareness of American obesity this would be the most obvious "health conscious" choice of America.  There is also an argument that says Americans are smarter than the bourbon drinkers of the world since even the worst vodkas leave you with less of a hangover than any other liquor.

Sticking to What You Know

A new study released recently has shown that many new "Limited Time Only" items on food menus will report very low sales for most restaurants. For example, the study shows that one in only five people will order the new Philly Steak and Cheeseburger from Carl's Jr.

It's not that the food at Carl's Jr is necessarily bad, but consumers will typically stick to items that they know or have been on a menu for much longer periods of time. As the quality of restaurant increases, however, the amount of people unwilling to order a special item dwindles.  It may be due to people being a little more adventurous than your everyday processed cheeseburger from a fast food chain.

When a consumer does opt for a newer food item, they typically go for something within the same category. So instead of that plain cheeseburger, they'll still likely get a hamburger of some kind. Although they may switch on a rare occasion, the study indicates that permanent menu items are more attractive than limited-time-only items.

Resolution Scares

With New Year's resolutions starting, it's safe to assume that most of them deal with changing diets and weight watching. While most of our diets fall through after only a few weeks because we crave the burger or french fries, I've stumbled across a recent discovery that might sway you from your temptations. The article explains that most fast food hamburgers contain less that 2% of meat!

In a breakdown of fast food, scientists have found that most of the content of a hamburger ranges between 32-65% water. The rest of the hamburger contains preserved skeletal muscle (which in some cases can be good), but the rest was composed of blood vessels, peripheral nerves, cartilage, and bone. This would mean that a half-pound burger from your average fast food joint would contain less than an ounce of actual meat.  And in some rare cases, some of these places showed signs of ammonia and intracellular parasites (one of the leading causes of food poisoning).

With New Year's resolutions looming over our heads, and with the temptation of a fast meal always nipping at our heals, keep the Uptown in mind. We proudly serve 100% angus beef gourmet burgers that are ready in minutes. With guaranteed fresh toppings, it's hard to beat something truly real and unprocessed.

Plus for those health conscious people actually sticking to their resolution diets, we have a large variety of healthier options to concur your cravings as well. While the fast food chains can give you a meal in 30 seconds, we can promise that our hamburgers are authentic and more satisfying than something that sits under a heat lamp.

Even though we can't beat 30 seconds on a hamburger, we can show you that a few more minutes of waiting means longer satisfaction in the end.

Top 10 Diets of 2013

With each new year, everyone always vows to move to a healthier lifestyle for a better year. And every year, there are always new diets and dieting fads that people get duped into trying in order to find that magical cure to their weight issues. Last year, raspberry keytones were the "in thing" that turned out to be extremely hazardous to one's health. I just came across an article that shows the top 10 diets of 2013 that sparked the most interest by the American people.

10. Flexitarian Diet - Loose vegetarian diet where the dieter will occasionally bend and eat a piece of chicken or fish for added protein.

9. Pescetarian Diet - Vegetarian diet where the dieter is allowed to eat only fish.

Calorie Counting: But Who's Counting?

As we head into our day of gluttony, counting (or not counting) calories will be a choice we can all make. A choice we should all be able to easily make, counting calories can be a hard thing to do. Most of us rely on good ol' fashioned common sense.

As things heat up in almost anything involving Obamacare (or am I now supposed to say the Affordable Healthcare Act), one of the more overlooked aspects of the law is menu labeling. This part of the law states that any restaurant that has more than twenty units must include calorie information on the menu. While we, the Uptown, are not required to do so, I am sure at some point in the future we will be compelled to start. I think part of the thought process is that if the big boys are doing it, consumers will start asking all of us to follow suit.

I have started to see some of these calorie counts on menus. One one hand, it is nice; it can be informative. Sometimes looking at that "healthy salad," you realize that lean piece of meat might actually have less calories. But for me, this is where it ends.

Losing My Favorite Condiment: Sriracha

Do you have a single condiment that you find yourself putting on everything? It could be breakfast, lunch or dinner, it doesn't matter.  But it always tastes better by adding your favorite ________. I know you can fill in the blank.

About 10 years ago, I discovered my new favorite, and you will find a bottle always in my fridge. It is the spicy hot sauce, sriracha. I think my first experience was by adding it to a Butch's pizza while hanging out with friends and a few drinks at a local bar. The spicy pepper sauce really did wonders to that pizza and I found myself looking everywhere local to find it. No luck, and I ended up having to buy it online from the factory in California. A year or two later, you could find sriracha at almost every grocery store around.

We always strive to find hot new trends out there, and it surprised me one day when Ray said he had seen that sriracha was an up and coming food trend. It had been old news to me. The Uptown ended up bringing it in and offering the condiment as part of our burger bar. Sure enough, the sriracha trend was everywhere and you would even find it as a major part of some fancy dishes.

Well, demand has finally caught up, and in recent news, there is a threat of a sriracha shortage. However, it is actually due to requets by the city where the factory produces the sauce because the residents say the red hot jalapeno smell is too offensive. They claim, during the harvest season in the summer, the grinding of the peppers causes residents to have irritated eyes and trouble breathing outdoors.

Astroturfing Yelp Reviews

Just recently, an article came to my attention about the rising issue of restaurants creating fake Yelp reviews about themselves to draw people in. For those of you that aren't familiar with Yelp, it is an online website that allows you to write a review about any restaurant that you just visited so that other potential patrons can log on and read what other people think.

Referred to as "astroturfing," writing a fake review has become increasingly popular over the last year as researchers have noticed that our eating trends are now leaning towards "crowd-sourced" reviews instead of advertisement with flashy billboards and commercials. With over 24 million reviews having been written since 2004, researchers at Boston University are trying to find a precise answer as to why a restaurant would write a fake review about themselves when Yelp has a screening process to figure out what is fake and what is real.  The Boston study has found that people who face more regional competition are more likely to write fake reviews about themselves to boost their reputation and bad reviews about competitors within the area, and that ethics really plays no part in it at all. 

Wreaths Across America

With Veteran's Day upon us on Monday November 11th, we thought it was a good time to remind or inform some of you about Wreaths Across America. The goal of Wreaths Across America is to provide wreaths for the Veteran's graves of each community.

  

The project began in 1992 by Morril Worcester. As a younger man, delivering papers for the Banger Daily News, Morrill won a trip to the Nation's Capital. Once he arrived at Arlington National Cemetary, he became overwhelmed. It was something, that once he saw, he knew he would never forget. So, in 1992, the Worcester Wreath Company of Harrington, Maine had found themselves with extra wreaths as they were approaching the end of the holiday season. Remembering Arlington National Cemetary, Morrill had an idea. He enlisted the help of then Maine Senator Olympia Snowe. With Morril's idea and the Senator's help, the wreaths made their way to Arlington National Cemetary. The beauty of the white, red & green made Morril vow that this same project would happen every year.

While this project has gone every year since 1992, it is now gaining steam. In 2006, Worcester Wreath expanded its wreath donations nationwide. Ceremonies were held at over 230 cemetery locations, from Alaska to Iraq. It was then that Wreaths Across America was born.

This a very worthy cause, we believed was worth mentioning and we hope it will lead to the donations of a few wreaths. Last year alone, 420,000 wreaths were donated and placed at over 800 participating locations including Forest Lawn Cemetery right here in LaSalle. If you would like to learn more about this project please click here for more information on this worthy cause. Donations can be made by individuals and businesses alike. 

  

To donate to Forest Lawn Cemetary in LaSalle, you can contact Toni Lucas at teddibera@gmail.com. So far they have met 11% of their goal, OR wreaths for 81 of the 705 Veteran graves at Forest Lawn. Their goal is to receive wreaths for all 705 graves. Help make that dream a reality in 2013. The ceremony will be held on Wreaths Across America Day, Saturday December 14th. 

A Phone App You Can Smell

With our digital menus, one of the questions we often jokingly get is, "Can you smell the photos?" Well, no... not right now at least.

It appears a Japanese company named Scentee has developed an app that lets you smell your food. The idea behind this app, and accompanying software, is to help people diet. Basically, the company says that the mind and the stomach act together for food cravings. They say that the mind can trick the stomach into thinking that it's satisfied.

What you do is eat something small and low in calories such as rice. But, you release the smells of something like barbecue, short ribs or cinnamon, amongst others. So while you are eating rice and smelling a nice braised short rib,  your stomach, is tricked into thinking that it's eating something else, something more fulfilling. Thus, you can always walk away from a light, low-calorie meal feeling like you indulged in something with some substance.

Overall, the jury is still out on this app, the software and the theory. But, to have an app out there that can distribute different scents is a pretty neat thing. If they have come this far, maybe someday technological advances will lead to smells on a restaurant's menu.

Offended by the Hamburger

Today's world is one of political correctness. One wrong word, one wrong comment made in jest, one slip of the tongue and people lose their jobs; they lose their sponsors; they lose their credibility. Today, there is a very fine line to walk. It seems like there is always a group out there, somewhere that is offended by something or offended by something someone does. It can be speech, it can be advertising promotions, it can be the team name or mascot of a sports team. It doesn't take much to offend people/groups anymore.

Locally, we have seen this with Chief Illiniwek at the University of Illinois and even the Chicago Blackhawks, much like the Washington Redskins, who have recently drawn criticism for their use of Native American names as their team logo. Even in grade school I remember having played a team that was forced to change their team name from the Redskins to the Lasers. I have "no comment" on how I feel about the political correctness of the sports team naming issues. (Taking one's own advice can sometimes be wise.)

But, I do however have a comment on yet another local issue, and this happens to be over food. Yes, food has finally offended someone. That's right, food! At a certain point, when does it become just too much?

A Chicago restaurant named Kuma's Corner has recently drawn fire over what they have put on their hamburger. This small restaurant names its hamburgers after Heavy Metal Rock Bands. The burger that has drawn the fire is named the "Ghost" burger. Now, I don't much follow Heavy Metal, but there is apparently a Swedish group out there that goes by the name of Ghost. The band's wardrobe consists of religious robes with the members faces painted as skeletons. Seems harmless enough, right?