If you’re a tiki fan, get excited: the team behind Lost Lake is opening a new bar. I covered Time Out Market and its lineup of chefs a few weeks ago, but the owners were very tight-lipped about the beverage options. Now the story is out – Paul McGee and Shelby Allison are opening a “hidden speakeasy” (as hidden as anything can be in a 50,000 square foot development obsessively covered by the food media). It will be called Secret Sound and, surprise, will specialize in rum-focused tiki drinks. Time Out has more details.
The James Beard Foundation’s Taste America event is coming to Chicago on Friday, October 25. Tickets are a gasp-inducing $400 each, but that includes a cocktail reception, a silent auction, and a menu created by Chef Stephanie Izard. Tasting bites at the cocktail reception come from Chefs like Carlos Gaytan (Tzuco), Jennifer Kim (Passerotto), John Shields (Smyth), and Gene Kato (Momotaro). Proceeds benefit the Beard Foundation’s scholarship fund.
For the month of October, Tao is rolling out some new dishes for charity. It’s World Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and Tao is offering new savory dishes, desserts, and a specialty cocktail with proceeds going to the American Cancer Society. If you’re looking to celebrate, grab the pink version of the giant fortune cookie for dessert – it’s a little silly, but I’ve had it and it’s seriously delicious.
In legal restaurant news, it’s best if you don’t start a beverage company with “Floyd” in the name these days. At least, that’s what Three Floyds is claiming, since they’ve sued Floyd’s Spiked Beverages, arguing that the name is confusing customers. In a moment of awesome legal shade-throwing, the legal team for Three Floyds put a whole bunch of bad reviews of products from Untappd into the complaint – apparently Floyd’s Spiked Beverages isn’t just accused of trademark infringement, they’re also accused of being terrible.
A moment of blatant self-promotion: After I covered the Michelin stars last week, I sat down with Fooditor’s Michael Gebert for a long, rambling, and hopefully entertaining podcast all about what the rankings giant got wrong (and right!) about our dining scene. Give it a listen.