According to ABC 7 Chicago, the North Side Food Pantry Care for Realrelies on several grocery store donations—including the now-shuttered Dom's Markets. In fact, Dom's was one of Care for Real's biggest rescue partners, contributing more than 5,000 pounds of food a month. Since Dom's closed, Care for Real's huge refrigerator that stored the ready-for-made meals has been empty.
Visit http://www.careforreal.org for more info.
—Tea party: In this country, we've come a long way from drinking Lipton's.
That much was evident after attending the recent Chicago Tea Festival, held at Chicago's Copernicus Center. About 1,000 people attended the two-day event, according to festival president Agnieszka Rapacz, who added that it was the first such event held since 2019.
Among the dozens of vendors were the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based TeaHaus; Nepal Tea Collective; Chicago Teahouse; Volition Tea; Zuul Tea; Wild Bliss Organics; Steep N' Clay; Communi-Tea; Sugimoto Tea; and even Tea Time Magazine, which covers everything from the essentials of afternoon teas to prime locations/retreats to teapot collections. One vendor that definitely got my attention was Honey with Style/Sweet Cyndee's Bees, which sells various types of BBQ sauces, mustards and infused honeys—leading me to purchase a jar of the lavender-infused honey (although the vanilla- and bourbon-infused ones were enticing as well).
—Happy anniversary: The River North spot Sunda New Asian announced the celebration of its 15th anniversary—which coincides with Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (May).
Sunda will mark the occasion(s) with specials throughout the month, including food items such as Boo-Dah's Style Grilled Ahi Tuna & Pork; Golden Child (escolar, mango, avocado, tempura crumbs and mango creme); Malay-Style Chilean sea bass; "shaking" beef (wok-seared beef filet, greens and lime-pepper dipping sauce); mushroom lover roll; Devil's Basket (wok-tossed crispy soft shell crabs, dried chilis, shallots, scallions, toasted garlic); and others. (BTW, I have a personal story about the Devil's Basket that I'll have to put in this column sometime.)
Also, Sunda has a celebrity fan base that has included Barbra Streisand, Colin Farrell, Jessica Alba, Michelle Obama, Lady Gaga, Ben Stiller, Ariana Grande, Michael Jordan and many others. During one of my visits to the River North location, I saw Molly Sims—and I could've sworn that former Bachelor Nick Viall was a bartender.
Specials vary according to the location, as both locations (River North and Fulton Market) will be celebrating. Visit http://SundaNewAsian.com.
—I'll drink to that: Every Thursday at Chef Rick Bayless' Bar Sotano, the mezcal speakeasy at 443 N. Clark St. will offer a rotating menu of $10 specialty margaritas for the entire evening.
Recent specialty flavors include the Strawberry-Serrano Margarita, the "Mexican" 75 and the Serrano Papaya Margarita, with more creative mixes available to try every week. Bar Sotano was just listed as one of the best mezcal bars in the country by Wine Enthusiast.
Visit https://barsotano.com/.
—The Thirst is real: The Max Original series Thirst with Shay Mitchell will debut Thursday, May 23, on Max. New episodes of the four-episode series will debut weekly.
Shay Mitchell (TV's Pretty Little Liars; the Netflix series You) explores the world one drink at a time as she visits exotic locations, samples unique ingredients and meets expert hosts. On her journey, she encounters the latest drink trends, the best bars, and 8,000 years of sipping history.
—Pop life: Don't forget my other Substack: "Pop-Eds: My takes on pop culture." Thank you so much to the people who've already subscribed! Among other things and people, my latest column discusses Britney Spears, dating advice and campus protests. Subscribe to http://Andrew449.Substack.com to get all my thoughts.
Drop me a line (hot news, tips, etc.) at future3733@yahoo.com.
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