Weekend Planner: Crime Brunch, Chicago Birthday Specials, Carrot Menu, and Tricycle Beer

Crime Brunch

Crime and brunch go together like... nothing, thankfully. But they will this weekend as part of Blue Sky Bakery's "crime brunch." It sounds like a sequel to The Purge starring Ethan Hawke — unless he died in the movie? I didn't see it — but worry not! This is a wholesome, uplifting matter designed to shed light on Chicago's crime wave and create positive solutions through discussion with Dr. Jens Ludwig of the Crime Lab. The brunch itself is family-style, so if you prefer your eggs with a side of crime conversation this is a can't-miss event. Tickets can be purchased here.

Specials at Filini for Chicago's Birthday

As you may have heard, Chicago turned the ripe old age of 177 this month, and what better way to honor that than with $1.77 and $17.77 food and drink specials? All month long, Filini Bar & Restaurant celebrates Chicago with wildly discounted menu items that are smartly priced at $1.77 or $17.77 and not, thank god, $177. Select Absolut cocktails go for a scant $1.77, which is ridiculously great, while "rapido" lunch selections cost just $17.77 for a starter, main course, and dessert on a bento box-like plate.

(Rapido lunch at Filini)

Binge on Carrots

This month, make like Bugs Bunny and chow down on a carrot-themed prix fixe menu at sola. The contemporary Hawaiian-inspired restaurant routinely features a different themed tasting menu every month, with its latest iteration honing in on everyone's favorite orange (but sometimes other colors!) vegetable. The three-course menu consists of carrot-ginger soup with miso whipped cream; scallops with quinoa, baby carrots, and sweet soy-carrot syrup; and carrot-pineapple cake with candied ginger cream cheese frosting, pineapple-lemongrass ice cream, carrot syrup, and carrot chip. It's available Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesdays, and costs $30 per person. 

Drink a Tricycle

There's a new beer on the market and spoiler alert: you want to drink it. Dubbed Tricycle, it's a German-style ale crafted by Baderbrau, Chicago's original craft brewery founded in the '90's and recently reinstated to the booze scene. Tricycle is an altbier, a darkly hued, mellow beer rife with notes of smoked malt. Beginning March 6, it's available at Atlas Brewing Company and The Radler.

- Matt Kirouac