Sometimes We All Just Need a Little ClaritySam Wakitschon February 9, 2021 at 9:40 pm

Sometimes We All Just Need a Little ClaritySam Wakitschon February 9, 2021 at 9:40 pm Read More »

Today’s news: Toddler’s learning contentment trumps the Trump trial and other planetary concernsrls58on February 9, 2021 at 9:52 pm

Today’s news: Toddler’s learning contentment trumps the Trump trial and other planetary concernsrls58on February 9, 2021 at 9:52 pm Read More »

Amy Sillman breaks down art barriersDmitry Samarovon February 9, 2021 at 4:50 pm

In her book Faux Pas, the painter makes a rarified field approachable with humor and profundity.

“You take a picture, but you make a drawing.” I’ve tried for decades to explain why a picture made by hand is closer to lived experience than one made via machine eye without much success.…Read More

Amy Sillman breaks down art barriersDmitry Samarovon February 9, 2021 at 4:50 pm Read More »

Chicago museums and galleries prepare to optimistically reopenArionne Nettleson February 9, 2021 at 4:30 pm

The leaders of the city’s cultural institutions remain encouraged after facing the most recent round of closings in November.

It took Chicago artist Myron Laban six months to create his new collection, “Sitting With My Thoughts,” a collection he says is some of the best art he’s ever made.…Read More

Chicago museums and galleries prepare to optimistically reopenArionne Nettleson February 9, 2021 at 4:30 pm Read More »

Old Ways New Tools explores performance “beyond the rectangle”Irene Hsiaoon February 9, 2021 at 6:05 pm

SAIC’s grad students control (and explode) the frame in an online performance festival.

The performance department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago began as a place where disciplines met. Founded in the early 1970s by Thomas A. Jaremba, who taught dance and movement at the Goodman Theatre, performance as theorized and practiced at the SAIC was always understood to be a hybrid form.…Read More

Old Ways New Tools explores performance “beyond the rectangle”Irene Hsiaoon February 9, 2021 at 6:05 pm Read More »

CPS says winter sports, including basketball, can start on ThursdayMichael O’Brienon February 9, 2021 at 8:11 pm

Young’s DJ Steward (21) reacts during the game against Simeon. | Kirsten Stickney/For the Sun-Times

CPS Sports Director David Rosengard emailed schools on Tuesday afternoon that boys and girls bowling, boys swimming and diving, competitive cheer and dance, boys and girls basketball and badminton can begin Thursday.

Chicago Public Schools says that winter high school sports can begin on Thursday.

“Our top priority will continue to be keeping our staff, students, and their families healthy and safe,” Rosengard wrote. “As we did for our comprehensive health and safety plan for reopening schools, the district is working closely with our public health officials to ensure sports can be offered safely. Winter Sports Guidelines have been outlined and CPS is evaluating the option of voluntary COVID-19 testing for athletes.”

According to IHSA rules basketball teams will need to practice for seven days before the can play games, which means games could begin sometime next week.

“I’m so excited that our students can have this opportunity to play given that everyone else in the state is playing,” Young basketball coach Tyrone Slaughter said. “

The news comes just one day after Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s comments at a news conference revealed she was unaware that the rest of the state was playing sports and CPS was not.

“That’s not really our call,” the mayor said. “Obviously, we’re going to follow the guidance of the Illinois State Board of Education, but also the Illinois High School Association. We’ve been anxiously waiting for further guidance from them. As an unrepentant sports fan myself, I’d like to see kids get back. There’s some loosening of the guidelines to let some non-contact sports happen. But . . . as far as I know, we haven’t seen anything that’s specific to, for example, high school basketball. So I’d like to see us move in that direction, but the state really controls the play, no pun intended, on that issue.”

Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Public Health announced Jan. 22 that regions would be allowed to play basketball and other higher-risk sports in Phase 4 of the corona-virus protocols. On Jan. 27, the IHSA started the basketball season, and it announced Monday that CPS will be allowed to play basketball until March 20, one week longer than the rest of the state.

The newly-released basketball guidelines from CPS say there will be a nine-game conference schedule and a city playoff. It says that Sports Administration “will define the number of non-conference games based on recommendations by the IHSA.”

The IHSA currently has no limit on the number of games basketball teams can play.

The guidelines say boys and girls basketball games can be played Monday through Friday with sophomore games starting at 4:30 p.m. and varsity games at 7 p.m. CPS will allow teams to play any school within 30 miles, which is the limit set by the IHSA and the Illinois Department of Public Health.

“I’m going to try and speak with as many people as I can to try and identify as many games as possible to have a productive season,” Slaughter said. “We feel good about the potential there of what we can have.”

The CPS basketball guidelines specify that a maximum of 50 people will be allowed at games and no spectators are allowed. Here’s the breakdown:

20 school representatives per team, maximum 15 players, four coaches and one discretionary administrator.
Two security officers
Three game officials
Two score table workers
One announcer/streamer
One paramedic/trainer
One floater (custodial staff or school based administrator)

The guidelines do not mention if media will be allowed at games. The IHSA and IDPH currently allow media to attend games, but they also allow 50 spectators, which the CPS will not.

CPS says winter sports, including basketball, can start on ThursdayMichael O’Brienon February 9, 2021 at 8:11 pm Read More »

Piping Plovers at Montrose Beachon February 9, 2021 at 7:32 pm

The Setting

Montrose Beach: land of volleyball, off-leash dogs, and a small mound that, by Chicago standards, qualifies as a mountain. It’s also home to the Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary, a 15-acre reserve that welcomes more than 300 avian species a year. A particularly diverse notch is nicknamed the Magic Hedge, which sounds like the title of an as-yet-unproduced Pixar film.

Next to the sanctuary are the Montrose Beach Dunes Natural Area, which include a rare type of wetland habitat, called a panne, found only in the Great Lakes region. In 2001, the Chicago Park District stopped clearing these dunes for recreation, and native plants, insects, and birds (killed off by European settlers) returned to the Cook County shoreline.

The Key Players

• Monty and Rose One of roughly 70 pairs of Great Lakes piping plovers left on the planet. The planet! Just shy of two years ago, they nested at Montrose Beach — the first piping plovers to nest in Chicago since 1955. Name a more iconic duo, we’ll wait.

• Chicago Park District The agency that runs the city’s recreational spaces, including parks (obviously), pools, field houses, two botanical conservatories, Lincoln Park Zoo, and, yes, Montrose Beach. They also employed the cast of The Real World: Chicago back in 2001.

• Conservationists You know, the die-hard environmentalists every first grader thinks they’ll grow up to be. This includes Leslie Borns, longtime nature enthusiast and birdwatcher.

Monty, left, and Rose at Montrose Beach in 2019. Photograph: Jose M. Osorio/*Chicago Tribune*

The Predicament

Monty and Rose have nested (and raised chicks!) at Montrose Beach for two summers now. Given how endangered plovers are, this is a huge deal to naturalists. So huge that their presence (in part) prompted the cancellation of the music festival Mamby on the Beach in 2019. (Crazy how North Siders became ornithology advocates just as a two-day concert moved to their patch of lakefront, right?) And the 2020 beach closures meant Monty and Rose could really live it up, human-free.

But in normal times, their foraging area is a popular spot for volleyball, merrymaking, etc. Birders worry increased human presence will keep Monty and Rose away or, worse, pose a threat to their oh-so-precious chicks.

The Proposal

Add an acre of foraging beach onto the Montrose Beach Dunes Natural Area. This year, conservationists hope to formalize the habitat — ideally encouraging more plovers to nest at Montrose in the years to come. Last summer, Borns submitted a proposal to expand the dunes, which wouldn’t ban people from the area, just from playing sports there.

Park officials maintain they’re reviewing the expansion request and are “fully committed to protecting the plovers.” And it’s true, the Montrose Beach Dunes Natural Area was expanded in 2011 and 2015 — there’s a chance the park district will be like, “Hey, birds, enough’s enough, enjoy your generous acreage.” There’s no timeline for when a decision will be made.

The Stakes

Once upon a time, 500 to 800 pairs of plovers nested on Great Lakes shores. Then we started hunting them for their feathers — for hats — and destroyed natural habitats to make recreational beach space. By the ’80s, there were only around 13 pairs of Great Lakes plovers left total. Not only are Monty and Rose precious little creatures, but they’re powerful, too, as they’ve got the Endangered Species Act on their side.

Oh, and another thing: Lake Michigan water levels are rising. That’s bad news for the park district and the plovers alike, as recreational and nesting space are both limited. Is the city willing to give up an acre of its dwindling volleyball beach for two birds who can’t even vote? Birdwatchers will be watching.

Piping Plovers at Montrose Beachon February 9, 2021 at 7:32 pm Read More »

Big Ten moves men’s basketball tourney from United Center to Indianapolison February 9, 2021 at 6:01 pm

Big Ten officials announced Tuesday that the conference is moving next month’s men’s basketball tournament from the United Center in Chicago to Indianapolis.

The tournament will be played March 10-14 at Lucas Oil Stadium, site of this year’s Final Four. The Big Ten women’s tournament was already scheduled to take place the same week at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, home of the NBA’s Indiana Pacers and WNBA’s Indiana Fever. The venues are just a few blocks apart.

League officials say the decision was made because of health and safety concerns, the ability to enact consistent medical protocols for both tournaments, and the centralized accommodations in a city that already is planning to host most of the 67 NCAA men’s tournament games in March and April.

Indianapolis also was the site of last year’s Big Ten Tournament, which was canceled before the second day of games began because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The league still plans to hold the 2023 tournament in Chicago.

Big Ten moves men’s basketball tourney from United Center to Indianapolison February 9, 2021 at 6:01 pm Read More »

Famed West Loop Restaurant avec Opening a Second Location in River Northon February 9, 2021 at 5:41 pm

When considering hospitality groups in Chicago, One-Off Hospitality may be one of the most revered, celebrated, and decorated outfits in the city, perhaps the entire country. With nine James Beard awards and other highly-regarded awards under their belt, One-Off has a reputation of delivering beloved restaurants. And now, one of their most popular establishments, avec, is expanding to a second location just in time for Valentine’s Day 2021.

Come Friday, February 12th, avec River North will open its doors at 141 W. Erie Street, the former home to Pacific Standard Time. It will open with limited indoor dining in accordance with the city’s health and safety guidelines and have carryout and delivery capabilities. The West Loop and new River North locations will each have their own separate culinary experience that matches the brand’s unique rustic Mediterranean cuisine and European-style atmosphere. However, anyone who is familiar with the 141 W Erie location knows that the space is much larger than the intimate, quaint, quiet space that avec West Loop is known for, leaving much to wonder at how the two will tap into that same familiar ambiance.

A little about both the original location and plans for the new location can be viewed below:

avec West Loop

Fans of the original avec have news to celebrate as well. avec West Loop will continue its robust carryout and delivery program. Under the direction of Kahan and Chef de Cuisine Dylan Patel—a homegrown avec chef who worked his way up through the kitchen, being named Chef de Cuisine in February 2020—the menu features rustic style cuisine with a lean towards North African, Middle Eastern and Southwestern European influences.

In addition to the downstairs takeout operation with avec classics, the upstairs (previously used as the private dining space) is open for limited indoor dining offering avec rotisserie. This new extension of avec has yielded much excitement from customers over the last 10 months for its Middle Eastern flavors via delivery and carryout, setting up an exciting opportunity to translate this experience to in-restaurant dining. Seven nights a week, guests can enjoy delicious proteins such as rotisserie chicken, piri piri chicken wings and sumac glazed lamb shoulder, grilled prawns and Moroccan squid stew, vegetarian dishes like cauliflower shawarma and mezze options galore.

Wine lists at both locations will be curated by Partner and Wine Steward, Eduard Seitan. The expansive, moderately priced wine lists will continue to focus on the Mediterranean region’s hearty peasant wines from small producers in France, Italy, Spain and Portugal, always served in stemless glasses to keep a casual air.

Reservations for avec River North can be made via TOCK here. River North hours are Wednesday through Sunday from 4 to 10 p.m for dine-in and takeout.

avec West Loop reservations will offer dine-in reservations via TOCK for avec rotisserie nightly from 4 to 9 p.m. with takeout and delivery options available seven days a week between 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and again from 4:30 to 10 p.m.

Posted by avec on Friday, February 5, 2021

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avec River North

Under the culinary direction of Paul Kahan, award-winning chef and cookbook author, and Perry Hendrix, an 8-year avec veteran, avec River North will focus on a wider breadth of culinary inspiration. Featuring the flavors, aromas and cuisine of the sun-drenched islands of the Mediterranean from Greece to Spain, the menu offers avec favorites—including the infamous chorizo-stuffed Medjool dates, the “deluxe” focaccia and the slow-roasted pork shoulder—as well as an expanded menu of additional pizza, pasta and fish options.

Highlights from the new River North menu include new small plates, such as the sea scallop crudo with meyer lemon, caper and couscous and hearth baked merluza filet with calamari, tomato, fideo pasta and aioli. Pasta highlights include a rigatoni pasta with braised lamb neck ragu, olives and fennel pollen, and pizza such as the smoked lake fish pizza with garlic cream, marinated kale and charred lemon.

“We’ve always wanted to offer more from avec than what our kitchen at Randolph Street would allow,” says Kahan, executive chef of One Off Hospitality. “Under the leadership of Perry Hendrix over the years, the menu at West Loop has come to highlight flavors that lend to Middle Eastern and southwestern European influence. There are so many great ideas on this new menu and the new location allows us to incorporate more.”

The River North restaurant provides an added benefit for the current climate: the expansive, open floor plan dining room has more space for more guests to enjoy the avec experience while maintaining rigorous safety standards—an essential element to creating a comfortable dining experience today. A larger kitchen allows for the expanded menu, allowing the team to provide a wider range of experiences and service more guests.

Guests can expect the same exceptional service and hospitality that have become hallmarks over the last 17 years at avec: an unpretentious warmth and deep culinary and wine knowledge across the team that will be maintained at the West Loop while expanded to River North.

“In the months before the pandemic hit, we were actively exploring opportunities to expand the avec brand—we found there an opportunity in River North and a calling for a restaurant like avec among professionals and residents alike,” remarks Karen Browne, CEO at One Off Hospitality. “Like we invested in the West Loop 17 years ago, we will continue to invest in our River North neighborhood, maintaining real relationships with our neighbors, nearby businesses and the friends we serve for years to come.”

“We see this as an opportunity to bring more avec to Chicagoans. We are adding to, not subtracting from, our beloved 17-year-old brand with a lot more to give,” says One Off Hospitality Partner, Donnie Madia. “This is another chapter in the long story of avec.”

About One-Off Hospitality

One Off Hospitality is the Chicago based collective responsible for managing and operating an array of outstanding dining and bar concepts including avec – West Loop & River North, The Violet Hour, The Publican, Big Star – Wicker Park & Wrigleyville, Publican Quality Meats, Publican Quality Bread and Dove’s Luncheonette. Driven by a team of the nation’s leading industry innovators (Executive Chef Paul Kahan, Partner Donnie Madia, Partner Terry Alexander, Partner Eduard Seitan, Partner Peter Garfield, and Partner Rick Diarmit (1959-2018), One Off holds true to the ethos that every project is unique, and operated in a spirit of complete and utter creativity. It suggests that each venture might be the last, which is why every individual concept is handled with the utmost attention to detail and character. For over 23 years, One Off has led the dining progression in many of Chicago’s most beloved neighborhoods, going on to garner an impressive portfolio of prestigious industry accolades for everything from fine dining to fast casual, and interior design to inventive beverage programs. Collectively the group has earned nine James Beard Foundation Awards of Excellence, received stars from Michelin Guide, and mentored talents to earn top honors such as Food & Wine Best New Chef, StarChefs Rising Stars and more.

For more information, please visit http://www.oneoffhospitality.com.

Featured Image Credit via avec

Famed West Loop Restaurant avec Opening a Second Location in River Northon February 9, 2021 at 5:41 pm Read More »