Skate Wing Cheeks

by Josh Theisinger

This week, we're combining two dishes that have previously appeared on our menu as separate entrees.

In the past, you've seen the likes of sauteed grouper cheeks over angel hair pasta. We've also had pan-fried skate wing with a lemon parsley butter. They both sold extremely well, so we thought, "Why not combine them for one great dish?"

Pairing up these two menu favorites, we introduce: Skate Wing Cheeks

We begin with the cheeks from our fresh skate wing fish and saute them in a white wine and lemon-parsley butter. We then place them over a generous portion of angel hair pasta. The dish is topped and finished with the sauteed wine and butter blend.

While not limited to just fish, the cheeks on most any animal are uniquely lean and tender. This portion of meat is considered a delicacy in many parts of the world. You can get a better idea of what raw fish cheeks are like here

I could make a cheeky pun here, but that would be much too easy. Instead, I leave you with the thought of getting a two-for-one dish that I guarantee will skate right out the door...

Fistmas Holiday Ale

by Jim Lannen

As winter moves in, our beer list moves on. Just like our wine list, our beer selection continues to grow... so much so that we almost need to evaluate our selection the same as we do our wines.

With each season, we need to address the different styles on our list. We like to have the variety along with the styles are hot right now.  We may not have 30 different tap handles (but at least we can turn them over), but we do have a pretty nice bottle and draft selection... one that's better than ever before. 

This week, we are bringing in a draft beer from a brewery we have yet to feature. Revolution Brewing is Illinois' largest craft brewery that began in early 2010. Their seasonal Fistmas Holiday Ale is one you will surely want to try. Tis this season?

Fistmas is Revolution's red ale, and it's brewed specifically for the holiday season. Normally, when you think of a seasonal beer like this, you will expect to get notes of pie spices or brown sugar. This one is much different, featuring sweet and toasty malts with hints of ginger root and orange peel. The orange is subtle, yet it balances the bitterness where the hops might otherwise overpower the finish. (Might I add, it's got a phenomenal lingering finish.)  It has a deep reddish amber color and aromas of baked bread, caramel and stone fruits. This is a different take on the traditional holiday beers you may be used to, so come experience the Revolution. At 6.1% ABV, this beer has a bit of bite as well.

Located on the northwest side of Chicago, the Kedzie Avenue brewery is a 60 barrel brew house. Revolution produces about 50 different beer styles each year. Founder Josh Deth started by cleaning kegs at the Golden Prairie Brewing company. As he became more interested in the beer-making business and moved to the infamous Goose Island, his interest evolved into creating Revolution. Although it took a few years to collect the funds and put together the ground work, by February 2010 they were up and running. Today, Revolution Brewing has received local and national recognition with awards from the Great American Beer Festival. 

Come down this week and enjoy a glass of Revolution's Fistmas Holiday Ale. It will not last long.

Loving Our New Lounge

by Ray Anderes

One of the most distinct remodel updates you'll notice upon entering our place is the lounge. With only a few weekends under our belt since completion, we could not be any happier with how it has been accepted.

It has been very gratifying to see it used like it has been. I was kind of nervous about this big change. 

When working on the floor plan and design elements for our remodel, one of the main things I wanted to accomplish was to make our bar experience a little more intimate... a place where adults can comfortably grab a drink.

The old layout had the main thoroughfare for the restrooms and banquet room traveling right down the middle of the bar. We felt there was a market for something that felt like a "hotel bar" with an area to lounge. We also felt that offering a bar to comfortably eat at was another important element. And of course, you almost have to have televisions for those special events... yet we did not want to become a sports bar. 

So far this Christmas season, the lounge area has been a favorite of groups before and after their events. We have seen groups of women -at all times during day - lounging it. On several occasions, I have been told that they like it because they can go out for a drink without sitting at the bar, and it offers just the right amount of privacy.

To complete our "lobby bar," we serve an assortment of free snacks that we rotate to anyone who is lounging it. Of course, you can get anything on our menu if you really have the munchies. The amount of people that have been eating at the bar so far has greatly increased. It's just a more comfortable bar to eat at. Our ultra HD televisions are hidden behind a one-way mirror. 

One more big change scheduled for later this winter is the addition of live music on the weekends. Instead of just "dining out," we want to become your "evening out." In laying out our lounge, we wanted to tie it to the dining room immediately to the north. We set things up so the last eight feet of this dining room could be elevated to create a stage. 

Our plans are to start the music around 8pm and be done before midnight. We will not be charging a cover. I would like to have the same band here for Friday as well as Saturday. The genre of music we will have will vary from jazz to blues to blue grass to anything around and in between. We will have our own house music system and lights to make it easy for artist set up and tear down. 

Since doing our shows, I have had hundreds of artists ask about playing here. Most of them I just do not think I could build a show around. Hopefully we can keep an interesting variety of traveling, as well as local, musicians. We are really hoping that we can make this an every weekend type of thing. 

To you musicians... we can promise you a top quality PA system, 16 channel board, and lighting all controllable from the stage. Our goal is to make it easy for you. I am presently looking to set up dates as early as late January. Please email ray@uptowngrill.com if you have any interest in discussing this arrangement or if you have an artist you would like to see here.

Thanks,

Ray

Christmas Done Right:Uptown's Gift Guide

by Ryan Anderes

As Christmas approaches - just two weeks away - the shopping days become fewer and fewer. If you're anything like me, you get down to the last couple days; you have no idea what to get someone; and you just simply run out of time.

With Christmas falling on a Friday, we can help out any last-minute, weekday shoppers. Even those who are far away or out of state - even those who just "forget." No worries... we've got your back!

Shop and order your gift card online by Monday afternoon, December 21st, and we will make sure it gets in the mail same day. (While we make no US Postal Service guarantees, local mail should arrive just in time for Christmas Eve.)

For those less Internet savvy, we will have our front doors open daily at 8am through the holiday season. Stop in and pick up your gift card in person anytime. You've got until early afternoon on Christmas Eve.

Open Christmas Eve 11am - 2pm  |  CLOSED Christmas Day

This season, why not give the gift of a "nice night out." They order what they want, and you will have given them something thoughtful and hand-picked.

When buying restaurant gift cards, a couple things to think about:

• After 30 years and brand new renovations, we are not going anywhere. Your purchase is secure here. 
• We are still accepting gift cards from 1985. There is no expiration date.
• No service fees for inactivity.
• Order online at www.uptowngrill.com.
• We can send them directly to your recipients. Send us a list, and we will take care everything. You are done!
• Nice package. No additional wrapping is needed.
• Gift card values not used are carried forward for future use and can also be used towards tipping.

I wish I could get away with giving Uptown gift cards!  Maybe I can get away with gifting some concert tickets...

We had yet to formally announce it (until now), but we've got a dynamic list of newly booked shows for 2016. So for those of you not into the gift card idea, perhaps tickets to an upcoming show would make the perfect stocking stuffer?

Order these great Christmas gifts online, and surprise that special music fan in your life! We've got a long list to choose from that takes us well past the first quarter of the new year:

Sam Llanas  |  Saturday, December 26

This show will be sold out soon, so don't miss out! Sam Llanas (formerly of the BoDeans) is an iconic American singer, acoustic guitarist, and songwriter. Best known for his unique and distinctively soulful voice, it was Llanas who supplied the trademark vocal on Robbie Robertson’s “Somewhere Down the Crazy River.”

Andy Frasco  |  Friday, February 12

One of our most entertaining, fun-loving, enjoyable shows the Theater has ever entertained. This show will most definitely sell-out! Andy Frasco, a 23-year-old blues/jazz musician hailing from the San Fernando Valley in Southern California, is nothing short of an enigma. Influenced by Damien Rice, Sam Cooke, Professor Longhair, Van Morrison and Tom Waits, Frasco’s style is as uninhibited as those artists who inspire him. Let’s call it Party Blues.

Kim Richey  |  Friday, February 26
Two-time Grammy-nominated Kim is a storyteller; a weaver of emotions and a tugger of heartstrings. Tender, poetic and aching with life’s truths, Kim’s songs transport you to her world: where words paint pictures, and melodies touch the soul. And then there’s her voice. Pure, arresting and honest, it makes you take notice; Kim has the kind of voice where if emotions were ribbons, they’d be streaming in rainbow colors from your iPod.

Chuck Prophet  |  Friday, March 25
Chuck Prophet shapes his restless career with inimitable subtle flair: a vivid parade of razor-edged one-liners camouflaged in a slack-jawed drawl, songs about heartbreak and everyman heroism, drenched in twisted lines of rude Telecaster. When the early stages of a financial melt-down coincided with a rare San Francisco heat wave in the summer of 2008 (with the window open wide and Dwight Twilley, Iggy, Thin Lizzy and the Knack blaring out the hi-fi), Prophet wrote a collection of political songs for non-political people. Later, in April 2009, he journeyed to Mexico City, where, in the clutches of a Swine Flu panic and earthquakes, he recorded ¡Let Freedom Ring!, his most incendiary record... every bit as urgent as the title demands

Ray Wylie Hubbard  |  Friday, April 8
Hubbard’s sound calls listeners into his circle of fire and keeps them there, ready to dance. His voice extends from a persona who sometimes seems lost in his own wilderness. A kaleidoscope of hot-blooded Country-Blues, bathed in mysticism, incantations and a deep faith from his 23-year road of sobriety. It has served to allow his musical wakefulness, as well as his eccentricities to roam free on record and live performances.

Griffin House  |  Wednesday, April 6 & Saturday, April 9
House began writing and recording and issued his first independent release, Upland, in 2003. His music attracted attention from Nettwerk, a Vancouver-based management company and record label, and House partnered with the label’s American branch to issue Lost & Found in 2004. In August 2004, on CBS Sunday Morning, music journalist Bill Flanagan (MTV/VH1) raved about Lost and Found, putting the newcomer on his short list of the best emerging songwriters in the U.S. “I bought House’s CD after a show in New York City,” said Flanagan, “and this never happens: I took it home and must have listened to it 20 times that weekend. I was knocked out.”

Porto Pretzel Burger

Offered beginning Thursday, 12/10

While your initial thought might be, "where's the beef," we're confident you won't miss it. Our grilled portobello mushroom burger is topped with goat cheese and scallions... all between a soft pretzel bun. It's a flavor profile you've got to experience!

Choose any microbrew or bottled beer to accompany a different and enticing burger, every Thursday, for just $10. (Flavor available the rest of the week at regular menu pricing.)

Click here to view our complete burger photo album