What do you do when you’ve become one of the most recognizable chefs in the world, beaten Stage IV cancer of the mouth, have had your restaurant earn three stars from the Michelin Guide (its highest honor), and otherwise have seemingly conquered the culinary world?

If you’re Grant Achatz, you sit back and have a drink. But not just any drink. And you don’t sit back and relax. You go back into your lab and come up with some of the craziest, but tastiest, libations you can dream up, and then you open a bar.

Achatz, whose restaurant Alinea is widely recognized as one of the finest in the world, is about to open one of Chicago’s most interesting bars it will likely ever see: The Aviary. It’s not just a bar, though. There actually won’t even be a bar, but table seating only. It will feature drinks like gin and tonics with cucumber bubbles reminiscent of Asian bubble tea and an “old fashioned” offering a technique that’s anything but.

While you can still find your neighborhood beer-and-a-shot watering holes, it’s apparent that the craft of making alcohol is making its way into everything around Chicago, from craft beer going from microbreweries to showing up in sports bars to the mad science behind the soon-to-open Aviary.

California has wine country. Kentucky has bourbon distilleries. St. Louis has the Budweiser brewery. Could Chicago become the hub where artisan alcohol is showcased?

Aviary's take on an old fashioned.

]]> http://www.scoutnetworkblog.com/2011/03/6523/mad-scientist-chef-turns-to-mixology/feed/ 0 http://www.scoutnetworkblog.com/2011/03/6421/new-mixtape-series-and-who-is-arcade-fire/ http://www.scoutnetworkblog.com/2011/03/6421/new-mixtape-series-and-who-is-arcade-fire/#comments Thu, 17 Mar 2011 16:00:42 +0000 Jeff http://www.scoutnetworkblog.com/?p=6421

Chicago’s DJ Duo The Hood Internet is back at it again with the fifth volume of their mixtape series, and it does not disappoint. This time around they do everything from mashing up Sleigh Bells and Usher to Cee-Lo Green and Sir Mix-a-Lot, and even throw in a little Flock of Seagulls. It’s always interesting to see how these work, but they always do.It’s been more than a year since their last mixtape, which I also wrote about, but it was well worth the wait. And, true to my word of them exploding soon, when they’re not busy coming up with some of the most interesting mashups of artists you’d never imagine together, they are busy throwing tacos into album art with their blog, Album Tacos, which recently won editor’s choice for Best New Single-Topic Blog from Urlesque.

Speaking of music meme-making, the latest craze to pop up in the last few days is Who is Arcade Fire??!!?? The blog was made after the Arcade Fire beat out Eminem, Lady GaGa and others for a Grammy. People went nuts on Twitter, and the rest is beautifully screen-capped history. It’s just a shame Arcade Fire won for The Suburbs, which IMO was the weakest album they’ve put out.

As a chef, what is there really left to do when you beat cancer of the mouth and then your restaurant earns the coveted three stars from the Michelin Guide?If you’re Grant Achatz, you open a bar. While I’ve admittedly never dined at the three-star winning Alinea in Lincoln Park (nor could I likely secure a reservation, should I ever be so inclined), I am extremely excited about his one of his two upcoming projects, The Aviary. It’s been teased for nearly a year now with short videos during the R&D process for the drinks.

It remains to be seen what’s going to happen once The Aviary opens for business, but with Achatz being considered one of the greatest chefs in the world, I think a lot of doors are going to be knocked down when the world sees his food-as-science-experiment concept applied to drinking. He believes that Alinea is an experience in senses, and, from the looks of it, it seems The Aviary is going to follow in its footsteps.

Which makes me wonder: Is Chicago going to be the next drinking destination hub? California has wine country, Kentucky has bourbon distilleries and St. Louis has the Budweiser brewery. Craft breweries and, more recently, craft distilleries have exploded around Chicago. With its world-class restaurants and tourism, is a drinking revolution just over the horizon?

I’ve made it no secret that I have a love of cycling. Though I don’t write about it as often, I have a decent eye for fashion. Maybe I don’t write about it because mine is more utilitarian than trying to express myself through clothes, but one aspect of fashion that always bummed me out was cycling fashion.Not in the sense that I don’t like cycling fashion. It’s actually the opposite. I wish I could wear my cycling gear more often, but lycra bibshorts and a skin-tight jersey aren’t appropriate in mostly places aside from the open road. You can only take about 10 steps in clip-in road shoes before you fall flat on your face. But there are a number of companies popping up who are making cycling-specific clothing that you can wear even out of the saddle.

Mission Workshop rose to prominence because of its hand-made, top-of-the-line messenger bags and backpacks. I’m a proud owner of the Vandal backpack, and I don’t know what I would do without it. It’s weather-proof, attractive and, with its 15 gallon capacity, can comfortably fit a pony keg. Mission then launched a couple of jackets, one waterproof and one odor-proof made from Merino wool, a favorite fabric of cycling companies.

But then it changed the game with its new SPD-compatible shoes.

For the uninitiated, there are two main ways to secure your feet to your pedals for the most efficiency when cycling: clipless pedals, and straps. Straps are most often used by urbanites who are only on their bike for a few blocks and don’t want to change shoes. They literally strap the pedals to your feet, which can be dangerous if you need to stop and jump off your bike quickly. Clipless pedals are a bit of an oxymoron, because you clip into the pedal, but twisting your ankle will release the shoe from the pedal. But the shoes that go with them are cleated and usually have carbon fiber soles for extra stiffness, so not very friendly for walking.

But Mission’s new shoes look like converse sneakers, and have clip-in technology so you don’t have to use straps for short jaunts. I think many more companies will be following suit.

Rapha is a clothing company that is known for its performance gear. It’s usually for cyclists who are out for hours on the open road and enjoy Lycra shorts. But for some reason, and despite their high costs, Rapha has also been a favorite among hipsters in the city. Now that they have released their first cycling-specific pair of jeans, I think Rapha is going to be the go-to clothing company for anyone you might see on a colorful fixed-gear bike.

Ever since production started last year, FOX’s new cop show, The Chicago Code has been hyped throughout this fine city. In Batman Begins and especially The Dark Knight, Chicago itself became a character in the movies. Though it was transformed into Gotham City, the Chicago landmarks stood out to those of us who live here. It set the bar pretty high for anyone who tried to follow suit. And when your idea of a good cop show that showcases a city is The Wire, it’s pretty much impossible to live up to expectations.

I’m still on the fence whether I will keep watching or not, but I’m impressed with how the city was used through the first two episodes. It’s shot in a run-and-gun style out in the actual streets of Chicago. I hate to say it, but the city itself is likely the most-developed character. I’m biased and being overly picky, but everything I have read seems to be in agreement with my thoughts that the Chicago accents are the worst part of the show. There are a couple of different accents depending on whether you’re from the North or South side, but everyone sounds like they’re from Boston. And when you add in their focus of the Irish mob, it makes me wonder where they did their research, because it’s rather obvious they’ve never heard of the Chicago Outfit.

Australian Jason Clarke plays detective Jarek Wysocki, with a backstory of being the son of Polish immigrants (how could they resist with Chicago having the largest Polish population outside Warsaw) and a die-hard Sox fan. His baseball alliance comes out in the first episode of the series when he gets a new partner, and it was one of those things I was hoping they would wait on. I think he’s going to be an interesting character, but I just can’t give it the go-ahead yet that it will be in my DVR for much longer.

I love seeing the streets of Chicago, but I long for those of Baltimore when it was David Simon painting the pictures.

What happened in Egypt and is continuing to spread across the Middle East is nothing short of mind blowing. What I saw on television during the nightly network news broadcasts was eerily reminiscent to me of the leadup to the war in Iraq. A network anchor on some hotel room broadcasting with an empty bridge across a major river in the background. I was just waiting for the explosion.And then it happened. It wasn’t a laser-guided bomb, but an explosion of tweets and blog posts from the region. I heard a lot of comments about how people didn’t have clean drinking water or toilets, but had a cell phone that they can take pictures and record video with to get their message heard by the world.

Then, the government turned off the Internet. But somehow those messages were still getting out. The Tumblr platform, which has been adopted by many news outlets, had a special page built just for the Egypt tag, curated by editors and users. At one point people were posting IP addresses and dial up numbers hosted abroad for users to log on so they could get their stories out.

When Hosni Mubarak’s supporters charged at the crowd and started targeting journalists, a young freelance photographer named Andrew Burton became an overnight sensation with his post ‘Account of an Attack‘ went viral and was retweeted. He ended up telling his story on multiple news shows .

What we really learned from the 18 days in Egypt was the impact social media can have. Average citizens told stories of abuses, journalists got in touch with sources and Kenneth Cole probably lost a lot of sales in less than 140 characters.

When people have access to information and can get that information out, there’s really nothing that can’t be done.

Photo via andrewburton.com

Cyclists have always embraced technology even when they are reconnecting with nature. We wear Lycra jerseys and shorts to wick away water and keep us dry on an epic century ride. We have carbon fiber bike frames to make it easier to hoist in the air and cork up traffic during Critical Mass meetings. And we have GPS units strapped to our bicycles with built-in heart monitors to play the ever-addicting number crunching game to figure out our fitness levels. Now, we also have a social media app to meet up with friends and share all of our content.While I’m sure people in epic locations will use the Rapha Rendevous app to schedule rides and provide helpful tips when scaling the Col d Tourmalet in France, given hipsters’ love of all things Apple and Rapha. I bet it will be used more for pub rides and meetups at the local Intelligentsia than anything else. Especially in a place such as Chicago.

You can now add friends like any other social network and check out the routes that your friends are taking when you get sick of the same 25-mile loop day in and day out to get some endurance miles in. I just fear that for those who already wear earbuds while cutting through city traffic it could be another distraction that could end up with a few smashed cyclists.

I was also recently introduced to another cool app – Fooducate. It will create more zombie-like scenes like what ran on the cover of the Nov. 2, 2009 issue of the New Yorker. As if people didn’t already walk the aisles of the grocery store in a trance as they stare at boxes of food, now we have an app that you can scan the bar codes with your phone and contribute to the ever-increasing time we spend staring at various screens per day. I guess all is not lost, as Fooducate tells you what bad ingredients are inside the box and offers alternative and healthier suggestions. It might help create thinner zombies, but the visual bombardment we are experiencing these days is approaching “Minority Report” levels.

Usually when I turn a movie off halfway through it’s because it is complete and utter garbage or because I have something better to do. I’m more picky about the movies I will pay $10 a pop to see in the theater, but to this day the only one I’ve walked out on is Freddy Got Fingered starring Tom Green. My girlfriend would make me turn off ultraviolent torture porn like Hostel (which I wouldn’t watch anyway), but even she has a strong stomach and thoroughly enjoyed the HBO miniseries The Pacific, which featured violence so brutal that it makes the famous opening scene of the invasion at Omaha Beach in Saving Private Ryan seem tame.Taking into account her love of war movies, having visited Normandy and genuinely loving documentaries, I was shocked that she made me turn off the HBO documentary Wartorn: 1861-2010, which features interviews with veterans, families of veterans and military brass about the terrible effects of post traumatic stress disorder and how it can break people down. I guess you know you really have powerful stuff when you can put people in such an emotional state from talking about experiences that they have to shut off the film. I have yet to finish it, but I plan to soon.

There’s a lot of buzz going around Facebook and the blogosphere about Black Swan by Darren Aronofsky. A vast majority of my friends aren’t the type to get over-excited about the release of a film, but when I see multiple status updates three days after a film’s release stressing that they are finally getting to the theater to see a film, you know it must be worth the hype. I can’t wait to see it, and am excited to see how Mila Kunis fares in a dramatic role rather than comedy. I hear Natalie Portman is phenomenal.

It’s just interesting to me how watching an actress pretend to be spiraling out of control losing her mind can be considered entertainment that will likely be recognized with an Oscar — but real, raw emotion from people who have experienced the worst of what humans can do to each other will make people turn off the TV and will barely register in the mainstream.

Strange happenings have been abuzz lately. The founder of Wikileaks has been arrested and has threatened the world with a “poison pill” of information should he or his organization be harmed. Mastercard and Visa’s websites were taken down by the 4chan group Anonymous. Gawker was hacked and millions of members’ passwords were revealed. Tumblr went down for less than 24 hours and millions of people were forced to be productive for a day.It’s interesting how much we rely on the internet in nearly every aspect of our lives these days. Most people have done away with balancing checkbooks because they can log in and see their account at their bank’s website. People (myself included) are watching more TV online than in front of the TV itself, or at the same time. People are meeting on the internet and ending up married. Iranians showed us that the government can silence the media but Twitter helps their voices get out to the world.

I often think about what the world would be like without the Web. How much more productive I would be without Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and instantaneous news at my fingertips 24/7? Sometimes I think I could do it. Mainly in the summer, though, when I can ride my bike to work and on the weekends. When I’m not stuck inside because the frozen tundra that is Chicago could kill me in a matter of minutes.

Then I think about everything that we wouldn’t learn if the internet were to explode a la the financial institutions at the end of Fight Club. In a way, I feel like the internet is almost a lifeform itself. It’s strong, but very fragile. If a bank site was to be attacked, it might erase tens of thousands of peoples’ life savings with the click of a button. Without Wikileaks, governments might not be held accountable for things they surely will be now that it has come out.

These are the kinds of things that scare me, but I could probably go on with life without LOLcats.

Now that Boardwalk Empire, The Walking Dead and Dexter are over until next year, I find myself not knowing what to do with my time on Sunday and Monday nights (I still download Dexter the morning after). I was impressed with what I saw on The Walking Dead this season, but bummed that it lasted only six weeks. It makes me happy to see that the finale had 6 million viewers, and set records for the 18-49 demographic for basic cable. Maybe AMC will have to order more than six episodes per season now that they know they don’t have to worry about keeping an audience’s attention after the Halloween season is over.

While Boardwalk Empire and The Walking Dead captured the most attention this season, I think Season 5 of Dexter was the strongest in the show’s history. I previously gave that spot to Season 2, and was worried when I saw Julia Stiles was going to have a leading role in this season, but in the end she was a welcome addition to the staff. I would still put my money on the Golden Globe and Emmy going to Bryan Cranston from Breaking Bad for best lead in a drama, but Michael C. Hall was phenomenal this season. Though I know I’ll have to wait nearly a year for Season 6, I’m extremely intrigued to see how Hall and Jennifer Carpenter, who plays Dexter’s sister Debra, work together next year now that they have filed for divorce in the real world. It makes it even more interesting now that Dexter and Deb are becoming closer in the story arc of the show.