Weekend Planner: Lunch for a Good Cause, Drink Dinosaur-inspired Beer, Sip Sgrippinos, and Enjoy an Absinthe Dinner

Help Haiyan Victims by Eating at Sunda

Friday, November 15, Sunda is teaming up with the Philippines Consulate to help raise funds to support victims of Typhoon Haiyan. All of the proceeds from lunch service will go directly to victims of the typhoon via the Philippine Red Cross. For Billy Dec and the Sunda staff, the disaster is especially impacting, considering many of the restaurant's employees, including executive chef Jess de Guzman and executive sous chef Mike Morales, are Filipino-Americans with friends and family in the devastated area. Sunda will feature a special Filipino-focused lunch menu just for the occasion on Friday.


Brindille bar
(Bar at Brindille)


Drink Dinosaur-inspired Beer at The Field Museum

Dinosaur-inspired beers are a thing, and they're coming to life at The Field Museum's new restaurant, the Field Bistro. Made by Off Color Brewing, the beer is called Tooth and Claw, a boozy homage to the Field Museum's resident tyrannosaurus rex, Sue. It's brewed exclusively for the Field Bistro, a dy-hopped lager with pils malts, tettnanger, hallertau, and saaz hops, and the secret ingredient, awe.


Enjoy an Absinthe Affair at Brindille

Absinthe takes the spotlight for a special dinner at Brindille on Sunday, November 17. It's an occasion for chefs and bar director Steve Carrow to collaborate closely for a degustation at Brindille's lustrous bar, sampling five different absinthes paired with five courses of food. The absinthes will not only be poured into your glasses and down your throat, but they'll be featured in the dishes and desserts as well, so be prepared to cab it home. Spirits wunderkind Carrow will be discussing the history and renaissance of absinthe as well. The event starts at 5:30 p.m. and costs $198 per person. Purchase your @ Brindille.

Sgrippino at Lone Wolf
(Sgrippino at Lone Wolf)


Sip Sgrippinos at Lone Wolf

If you aren't sufficiently boozed out, make your way to Lone Wolf this weekend, the brand new tavern in the heart of Restaurant Row. The bar comes from Stephen Cole of Barrelhouse Flat and the dynamic duo of Matt Eisler and Kevin Heisner, so you know it's got cred. The space is rustic and old-timey in a polished bygone tavern motif. What really sings on the bar's concise cocktail menu is the trifecta of sgrippinos, a classic Italian libation originally made with sorbet, grappa, and Prosecco. Cole modernizes the formula by concocting liquor-infused sorbet infusions in his own frozen drink-maker, and then splashing them with Prosecco. Examples include a strawberry-tequila sgrippino and a vodka-cucumber version. The drinks are supremely refreshing and blessedly light and crisp. This is a classic Chicago bar in the making.

 

Top