March 22: I am working to keep up with the changing situations with brewers, brewpubs and stores during the “Shelter In Place” order, now effective through April 7. The new class of “essential services” includes retail food establishments and brewers, so many of these places are trying to conduct business, at least on a carry-out or delivery basis. Many brewers are continuing to make beer for future sale.

Many restaurants have also reported that their to-go and delivery meals are selling out. I realize, though, that might be fewer sales than they’d see on a day of dine-in business, and that many places have had to furlough their front-of-house employees. Many establishments have set up a virtual “tip jar” or a GoFundMe to help their employees out. I have been reluctant to promote these only because the ‘Naut family is working through a tight money situation, as, no doubt, you are. But please check out your favorite spots and see what you can do.

Arrowhead Ales Brewing Co., 2101 Calistoga Dr., New Lenox, IL 815-717-6068
Here are current deals we are offing for pick-up/curbside pick up.
Call us to pick up an order. Tuesday ~ Thursday: 3pm – 9pm; Fri ~ Sun: 12pm – 9pm

Bare Hands Brew, 12804 Sandy Ct., Granger, IN (574) 277-2258
our new carry-out only hours will be as follows: Sunday 12p-7p • Monday-Friday 3p-9p • Saturday 12p-9p
We hope this doesn’t affect anyone’s ability to make it out here, and we couldn’t be more thankful for those of you who have already supported us during these tough times!

Binny’s Beverage Depot, all locations.
Binny’s will resume business Monday 3/23 with the following store hours:
Elderly & Vulnerable: Noon-1pm
All Guests: 1pm-5pm
Binny’s is among retailers deemed essential during the COVID-19 response, and we continue to take COVID-19 seriously. Please have patience as we work to serve you, sometimes with limited resources.
We encourage you to place an order online and pick up in store. We are rushing to fulfill store pickup orders placed on binnys.com. We are not currently accepting orders by phone.
We will continue to offer in store pick up for orders placed on binnys.com and home delivery through express.binnys.com.
Some Binny’s locations have been temporarily closed to relocate employees to other stores.

BrickStone Brewery, 557 Latham Drive, Bourbonnais, IL (815) 936-9277
We are concerned for our staff, many of whom earn hourly wages and gratuity, and would like to help by giving them 15% of all gift card sales to be split equally among the team. Purchase a ticket now through April 1st and redeem it for food and beverage purchases at a future date. See the link at the bottom of this message to purchase a gift card online.
At this point in time we are going to attempt to provide carry out orders for our loyal customers. We will bring the food out to you so you do not have to leave your car. This may change as more information is provided to all of us. Currently our carryout situation is as follows:
Hours will be 11am-7pm. Online ordering is available through DoorDash
Call the Brewpub to have your order delivered ($3 delivery fee, $25 minimum) or curbside pickup. Get $1 off our packaged goods when you do curbside! We will have 6-packs of beer available for purchase, as well as gift cards. 10% of curbside pickup orders will be going back to our staff, in addition to the portion of gift card sales.

Brothership Brewing, 18781 S. 90th Ave., Unit E, Mokena, IL 708.995.7014
Starting Wednesday, 32oz growlers will be available at the brewery and for call ahead/curbside pick up.
All beers will be $13 each (cost of 1x use growler included). For sanitary reasons, we will not be filling any outside growlers/swingtops.
Our hours for growler purchase/pick up will be Wed/Thus/Fri 4pm-7pm and Sat/Sun 1pm-4pm. To place your order shoot us a DM, or contact 708-995-7014 during these temporary business hours. Full beer availability will be updated tomorrow morning.
A lot of you have been asking about gift cards, we have physical gift cards on the way but for now have set up a e-gift card shop. Here’s a link for anyone interested.

Bulldog Brewing Co., 1409 119th St., Whiting, IN 219-655-5284
We will be offering carry out and delivery service to Whiting and Robertsdale areas. Our dine-in specials pricing will be honored during this time.

Burn ’Em Brewing, 718 Freyer Rd., Michigan City, IN 219-210-3784
March 27: Beginning Saturday, March 28th we will be closed indefinitely. Today (March 27) we are having a Temporary Closing Sale! Offering $50 1/6 bbls (+deposit), $10 howlers & $15 growlers. Friday only.

Byway Brewing Co., 2825 Carlson Dr., Hammond, IN 219-844-5468
To order CURBSIDE OR CARRYOUT, please call our taproom and let us know if you’ll be picking up at Byway or if you’d like your order delivered in the Oxbow Landing neighborhood ONLY. If picking up, you can come into our taproom to pick up your order or you can call us from our parking lot at 219-844-5468 and we’ll run your order out to your vehicle.

Craft’d, 16031 S. Lincoln Hwy., Plainfield, IL (815) 782-8832
Starting Tuesday, March 17th – Craft’d will be offering take-out orders from 11am to 8pm.
We have a carry-out window open for pickup.
Can’t pick-up? No worries, we can deliver it to you! (Restrictions apply.)

Crown Brewing, 211 S. East St., Crown Point, IN (219) 663-4545
Delivery on beer is facilitated through Carriage Court Pizza. Bombers, howlers, and growlers available for most of our beers. Sun-Thurs 11am-8pm; Fri-Sat 11am-9pm

DOC’s Smokehouse, 19081 Old La Grange Rd., Mokena, IL (708) 995-5533
Open at 11 am starting March 17 for delivery, takeout & curbside orders.

18th Street Brewery, 5417 Oakley Ave., Hammond, IN (219) 803-0820
April 2: Now offering home delivery! Check our menu on this Facebook Post.
You can add a New Release beer to your mixed case OR get a mixed case of 3 each of our New Releases: King Reaper and Where It’s At!.
-Sub 1 Core 4 Pack for a New Release for an additional $10 or sub 2 Core 4 Packs for 1 of each New Release. Limit 1 of each New Release 4 pack per case.
-New Release mixed case is $90. No substitutions for New Release mixed case.
To place an order for Home Delivery, please email [email protected]. Orders are for next day delivery and must include a minimum of 1 case or 1 keg. No deliveries on Sundays.

Elder Brewing Co., 218 E. Cass St., Joliet, IL (815) 651-4200
March 25: We mentioned this on Facebook live, but ICYMI, we tapped our If We Built It APA that we brewed w/ Arrowhead Ales Brewing Company. This pale ale has centennial and cascade hops and is a smooth drinking ale. You can purchase this in howlers this Thursday-Sunday from 3-7pm for curbside pickup.
Note that half of the sales of this beer go to Will County Habitat for Humanity for the veteran’s home we are hoping to help fund-raise Will County Beer & Bourbon Fest.

Evil Horse Brewing Co., 1338 Main St., Crete, IL 708-304-2907
Evil Horse’s Taproom will only be open to complete carry-out. Carry-out orders consist of:
6 packs – Trot Hopple, Sergeant Reckless, Downtown Hottie
Bombers – Grampa Z’Big A$$ and Doorbreken
Growlers of any draft beer, for draft list visit our website or taproom.
1/2 & 1/6bbl Kegs – Call for availability.
Our revised hours through this partial closure are as follows:
Monday – Closed; Tuesday-Saturday – 4-8pm; Sunday – 1-5pm
Delivery is also available within Crete with a minimum order of $25. Delivery limits can be extended for orders over $99. To place a delivery order, email [email protected].

5 Rabbit Cerveceria, 6398 W. 74th St., Bedford Park, IL (312) 895-9591
We have plenty of beer to go. Come in Tuesday-Friday 1-8pm and Saturday-Sunday 11-4pm and get your cases of: Super Pils, Xicago, 5 Rabbit, 5 Lizard, 5 Vulture and Irónica 12oz for $35
Chinga Pelo 16 oz for $50. Iñigo Montoya (very limited quantities) and Xocolatte (very limited quantities) 500ml bottles for $15.

Flossmoor Station Restaurant & Brewery, 1035 Sterling Ave., Flossmoor, IL (708) 957-BREW
Quick curbside pick up and delivery service ($25 min, 5-mile radius) for all food, craft beer (cans, growlers or keggies) and wine orders between the hours of 11:30am and 8pm. Call us to place your order. We can also cater large orders to feed the whole family at home!

Hailstorm Brewing Co., 8060 W. 186th St., Tinley Park, IL 708-480-2268
March 23: HOURS: Monday – Wednesday 10am – 2pm • Thursday – Saturday 12pm – 7pm • Sunday 12pm – 3pm
We are open for TO GO only everyday this week, food to go will be available Thursday through Saturday, menu will posted later this week. Adding to our deal list, for every $25 in gift cards purchased, you will receive an additional $5 gift card.
April 2: Online ordering is now available! Click hailstormbrewing.com/weborder and enter your order for curbside pickup or delivery.

Hickory Creek Brewing Co., 1005 W. Laraway Rd., New Lenox, IL (779) 803-3974
We plan to keep our tap room open for take out sales only. We have plenty of Growlers, Howlers and three of our beers in cans (16 oz 4-Packs).
We’ll have reduced hours beginning today: M-F 3-6:30 PM Sat / Sun 1-6 PM. For curb-side service, call the tap room when you arrive. Our in house food service is shutdown for the duration.
– Food Trucks: We have reached out to the food trucks we had scheduled to see if they have changed their plans. Country Grill (Rotisserie Chicken and Ribs) is still planning to be here on Wednesdays.

Hunter’s Brewing, 1535 S. Calumet Rd., Chesterton, IN (219) 728-6729
Yes, we’ll be moving to delivery and carryout. Those services will be for both our beer and food. More information and ordering info (phone and online) to follow.

Imperial Oak Brewing Co., 501 Willow Blvd., Willow Springs, IL (708) 559-7311
We have decided to start an on-line ordering and curbside pick up program. The online store can be found here.
We are offering all of our beers in some form. We have cans, bottles, crowlers, growlers, and even 5.3 gallon plastic kegs if you have a home kegerator. You can also purchase $25 gift cards for future use or gifts. Simply select the items you’d like and click “view cart” from one of your items to get to the check out. From there you can pay with a credit card.
We will have two pick up windows per week. The first pick up window will be Wednesday (3/25) from 3pm-7pm. Simply pull into our lot and someone will come out, show them your ID, and we’ll grab your order. If no one sees you give us a call at (708) 330-5096 when you get there. After Wednesday we’ll try to replenish and update our stock, for another pick up window likely on Saturday. This is a fluid situation with new information coming out every day so check back regularly for updates.
Since we will not be exchanging cash or credit cards, if you would like to leave a tip for our staff please use our on-line tip bucket.

Iron&Glass Romeoville, 632 S. Weber Rd., Romeoville, IL (815) 782-5559 & Iron&Glass Minooka, 104 Ridge Rd., Minooka, IL (815) 255-2114
I&G will have howler fills available at BOTH locations starting March 3/25!
Check out our Untappd menus for what’s available and the prices. These will be filled as ordered and are available for curbside pickup.

Ironwood Brewing Co., 6 Roosevelt Rd, Valparaiso, IN (219) 405-4644
“I have made the difficult decision to TEMPORARILY close Ironwood. I expect we will be closed 4-6 weeks as we muddle thru this virus thing. I feel as a responsible employer that I should not expose my employees to the public.
“If you need beer, please call me and I will do my best to get Ironwood beer to you.”

Mad Hatchet Brewing, 913 Brookforest Ave., Shorewood, IL
We will be open for to go beers only, per the governors mandate through March 31st. Come April 1st we expect to resume normal operations. (No fooling)
We will have more info tomorrow as well as an email to follow.

Metal Monkey Brewing, 515 Anderson Dr. Suite 900, Romeoville, IL (815) 524-3139
We will be offering curbside pickup at the brewery. Please visit our website to place your order and follow the instructions on the page.
By order of the Governor’s office, our taproom will be closed at 9pm tomorrow, Monday 3-16 through the end of the month. As you can imagine, this will be a huge impact for our business, our staff and our families, so please feel free to leave a tip for your bartender through the website, or buy a gift card so you can come in once we can reopen.
We have many canned beer options available to-go as well as Crowler fills of our draft beers. All of the prices include tax. Orders will be processed within an hour of placing them. Please call the brewery once you’ve arrived and we’ll bring the order out to you.

MyGrain Brewing Co., 50 E. Jefferson St. Ste 106, Joliet, IL (815) 345-3339
We appreciate your continued support and love for MyGrain and with our establishment currently being closed, we’re offering our beer, gift cards, & merchandise to-go! Our team will be available for pick up, walk-ins, and over the phone orders delivered Curbside starting on 3/18:
Wednesday: 2PM-6:30PM • Thursday: 2PM-6:30PM • Friday: 2PM-6:30PM • Saturday: 12PM-3PM
Please call ahead and we will have our order ready for pick up.
You can find a list of our beer options for Crowlers online.
**Our Crowlers are currently buy 2, get one 1/2 off!** (exclusions apply)

New Oberpfalz Brewing, 121 E. Main St., Griffith, IN 219-513-9341
Curbside Pickup!
Reference our menu on our website or Facebook. • Get your order and your credit card ready • Call us at the number above • Place your order for curbside pickup and swing by in 15 minutes to pick it up. • Full case of beer and howler purchases of draft beer are highly encouraged. Gift cards for future use are available, too.
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, 3pm-10pm; Friday & Saturday, 11am-10pm; Sunday, 11am-7pm.

Off Square Brewing, 11000 Delaware Pkwy., Crown Point, IN (219) 310-8898
March 22: We are closed Monday and Tuesday. We will reopen Wednesday from 11:30am-6:00pm to continue with Carry Out and To Go orders!

One Allegiance Brewing, 10215 S. Harlem Ave., Chicago Ridge, IL
We are excited to finally announce the hours of operation for TO GO beer sales!
Thursday – Friday: 4pm – 9pm • Saturday: 12pm – 8pm • Sunday: 12pm – 6pm

One Trick Pony Brewery, 17845 Chappel Ave., Lansing, IL (708) 889-6683
Starting Wednesday, March 25, One Trick Pony will start offering same day home delivery from 4:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m. on $25.00 (or greater) “to-go” beer orders. Please visit our FB page for the current menu.

The Open Bottle, 7101 183rd St. #105, Tinley Park, IL 708-247-3757
We have beers available for in-store and curbside pickup at theopenbottle.com/shop.⁣

Pollyanna Brewing Co., Lemont 630-914-5834, Roselle & St. Charles
Our 3 breweries (Lemont, Roselle, St Charles) will be open from 3-6pm for to-go sales only starting today. You can either show up and we’ll help you out or you can pre-order online. We’ll do our best to get everything ready for you ahead of time. We’ve separated the beer out by brewery on our store. We also have merch and e-gift cards available as well. More info to come when available. Thanks for the support as always! Stay optimistic.

Rabid Brewing, 17759 Bretz Dr., Homewood, IL (708) 960-3193
During the COVID19 shutdown, we’re offering crowler curbside pickup and porch delivery during different hours than we prefer to welcome you into the taproom. To get beer, send a message through our Facebook profile, or call 708-960-3193 to reserve yours. Because we believe in providing a complete solution, all crowler 3 packs will come with a free roll of toilet paper, while supplies last. Samael, Sasquatch Magi, Wytch Racer, Manticore, Naga Riot and the triumphantly returned Hexed are ready for delivery or curbside pickup at our location right behind Jewel and Home Depot in Homewood from 12-6 PM.

Region Ale, 1080 US-41, Schererville, IN 219-322-2337
We have On-Line ordering available! Type in the code ONLINETIME for A 10% discount. Plus, we’ll have all our Irish Food Available for today and St. Patrick’s Day! And if you call when you arrive, we’ll run the food out to you!

Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery, Grand Ave. Chicago, Orland Park, Warrenville, Lombard
After very careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to temporarily close all of our restaurants as of 11 am, March 18. Our plan is to reopen at a later date, which is yet to be determined.

Rt 66 Old School Brewing, 110 Bridge St., Wilmington, IL (815) 476-2220
Carry-out: To help with social distancing, PLEASE call ahead of time to place your order, pay over the phone etc to limit as much contact as possible.
We understand you have growlers that may need filled and that’s ok – When you bring us an empty growler to fill – please use one of our sanitizing wipes to wipe down your growler before handing it over to our beertenders. Please use our sanitizer for your hands as well! We ask you maintain a 6ft distance from our staff while at OSB!
We have set up a “barricade” of tables to limit customer access throughout our facility. Please do not go past those!
Home delivery hours are between 10:00-12:00!
All orders must be placed the night before and paid for over the phone
Any delivery tips received will be donated to Kuzma Care
Minimum $20 order
Local Wilmington deliveries only
Upon our arrival, we will place your order on your doorstep but age verification is required. You may show your id through your front door!

Soundgrowler Brewing Co., 8201 183rd St., Ste P, Tinley Park, IL (708) 263-0083
March 21: Starting today Soundgrowler is moving to CURB SIDE PICK UP ONLY. This is to ensure the safety of our staff and community. Please order your beer and food through our website or Grubhub, that way everything will be pre-paid without the need to use our POS screens.
GET YOUR CROWLERS! Any three 32 oz Crowlers for $25.
Also, as a “Thank You” to our first responders, we are offering a FREE 3 taco meal daily to Fire, Police and Healthcare workers. Thank you for keeping us safe. *PLEASE CALL THE TAPROOM TO PLACE THIS FREE ORDER* Just show us your badge when picking up your order.
MONDAY – SATURDAY: 11:00am – 8:00pm • SUNDAY: 12pm -5pm
We are doing our best to try and provide tacos and beer to the community. Curbside pickup is active through the link provided. Thank you for your support and cooperation during this time.

Sovereign Restaurant, 24205 W. Lockport St, Plainfield, IL 815-556-8577
Starting March 17th, Sovereign will convert to carryout ONLY. We are exploring the potential opportunity for delivery, and will update our social media and website if and when delivery happens.
∙ Our restaurant hours will be from 11am-8pm, every day
∙ We will be serving a slightly modified, more carryout friendly menu
∙ Orders can be placed by calling the restaurant directly at (815) 556-8577 or by visiting our online ordering website (link coming soon)
∙ Cash is preferred
∙ We will have donation buckets set up for our staff that is out of work at this time, any donation is an incredible help
∙ All tips received will be split amongst hourly employees.

Steam Hollow Brewing Co., 450 S. Spruce St. Unit C, Manteno, IL
We will reopen on Friday with CURBSIDE to-go sales. See below for weekend hours and pre-order info! Azteca Catering Co. will also be serving CURBSIDE. Friday curbside hours: 4-7pm.  Saturday curbside hours: 1-5pm. Sunday curbside hours: 1-5pm.
FOR PRE-ORDERS: email us at [email protected] or message us with your 4-pack, crowler, or keg order. We will email you an invoice to pay online. Once paid, just pick up your order this weekend! The updated beer list can be found on under BEER LIST on the website. You do not have to pre-order, we will be accepting cash or card at the curb!

The Tap House Grill, 1243 S. State St., Ste. 109, Lemont, IL 630-257-5992, 24402 W. Lockport St., Plainfield, IL 815-733-5540
Update: If you are interested in growler fills or cans of craft beer togo. We will be selling them! Hit me up on FB or call the store 630-257-5992. We do not have growlers, but if you bring one in with a cap, cleaned, I will fill it!
Curbside carryout is live at Tap. Call in your order, pay over the phone, pull into our parking lot, call us from their, and have ID ready. This will go on while we are closed. We will be open for carryout and delivery 11am-8pm. Details about free delivery to be posted soon. Free pretzels.

350 Brewing, 7144 183rd St., Tinley Park, IL (708) 518-2239
350 Brewing will be open from 11:30am-8:00pm for to go orders only Monday-Sunday. Our food menu is on Grubhub under “350 Brewing Company.” Or you can call the taproom with your food order at 708-468-8991.
To go beer: Our 32 oz. Insanity cans are available to go. Please visit www.350brewing.com/ontap for a full list of beers.

Three Floyds Brewery & Pub, 9750 Indiana Pkwy., Munster, IN 219-922-3565
We’ve got you covered with curbside pickup 7 days a week, noon to 6pm. 3floyds.com/curbside-pickup
Dark Lord Day and all ticket sales will be postponed until further notice. We will share any rescheduling information as soon as we have it.

Tribes Brewery & Tap Room, 11120 Front St., Mokena, IL 708-995-1361
You can still have Tribes beer! You can still come and get our beer “to-go,” and discount Tuesdays are still on! We will be open until about 6pm every day (let us see how things go for a bit — be patient). And we are in the midst of setting up beer delivery to nearby locations! Social distancing is a must. Beer distancing — well, that’s something we don’t support. We want you to have our beer. We made it, why shouldn’t you drink it?

Werk Force Brewing, 14903 S. Center St., Plainfield, IL 815-531-5557
Update, April 6: We feel that we can open up curb side pickup of Werk Force beer if we all work together and stick to a solid plan to keep all of us safe! We want you to all bear with us as we slowly begin to get cold refreshing Werk Force beer back into your hands.
THE NITTY GRITTY DETAILS:We will not allow any walk up purchases. We love all of you, but this will be an online ordering system.
HOW TO ORDER: Order Online by Tuesday, April 7th at 5pm (www.werkforcebrewing.com)
WHEN TO PICK UP: Curb Side Pick Up Wednesday, April 8th between 12pm-5pm
HOW TO PICK UP YOUR ORDER: Your order will available for pick up at Chicago Brew Werks 14903 S. Center Street, Unit 107 in Plainfield – The SAME building as the tap room – Our CBW Homebrew Shop is located in the center of the building. It’s super easy to find and there is a big sign on the side of the building for Chicago Brew Werks.
WHAT’S AVAILABLE: Please see online ordering page for specifics and pricing.
-1/6 bbl Single Use Kegs – with no need to worry about deposits just recycle when you’ve finished the keg! If you currently have a 1/6 barrel stainless keg with a deposit we are happy to give you that deposit back with the return of the stainless Werk Force keg.
-32oz Crowlers of Selected Draft Offerings
AT PICK UP: You pull up into a parking space in front of Chicago Brew Werks. Stay in your car and pop your trunk. Give us a call at 815-531-5557 (this is a landline and cannot receive text messages). We will come outside, check your ID through the window and place your order into the trunk/back of your vehicle. You then can drive home and enjoy some awesome Werk Force beer!
Chicago Brew Werks: We are moving to only shipping orders. For those that have already placed “in store pickup and curbside orders” we will still be honoring those. We will be contacting individuals with outstanding orders tomorrow to schedule pick ups. We feel that if we can create a safe and sanitary environment and still ship home brew supply orders this will be better for everyone.

Wildrose Brewing Co.,1104 E. Main St., Griffith, IN (219) 595-5054
Tuesday we will be canning most of our beers and will have carry out four packs available soon. We will be doing carry out food and growlers as long as it makes sense. Our hours will be 4pm – 9pm Monday – Friday and Noon to 6pm Saturday and Sunday we will have carryout beer, cans and grolwers. Our food will be available for carryout those same hours, just call.
We prefer any carryout food order be phoned in ahead to help the situation. You can walk in and order carry out but unfortunately we will not be able to serve you during your wait. Thanks ALL for the continued support.

Will County Brewing Co., 1142 W. Jefferson St., Shorewood, IL (815) 582-4157
During the shutdown March 17th – March 30th:
– We will be open 3 pm – 8 pm daily for carry-out sales
– Call ahead orders greatly encouraged (815) 582-4157
– We are selling Crowlers, Growlers & 4-Packs to-go ONLY Also, Crowlers are on sale 3 for $25!
Check out our live menu here. Stop in and stock up!

Windmill Brewing Co., 121 Gettler St., Dyer, IN (219) 440-2189
Effective immediately we will be selling beer “to go” only. We’re also selling crowlers of most beers we have on tap. Check our website for additional pricing information. We’re working on getting some local delivery options set up as well in the near future so stay tuned.

Zorn Brew Works Co., 605 E. 9th St., Michigan City, IN (219) 243-7157
We are offering delivery and carry out only as of Tuesday starting at 11am. Food and beer pick up and deliver hours are from 11am to 8pm.
Here’s our delivery and carry out menu for residents of Michigan City and Long Beach. Along with this food menu we can also deliver our Zorn beer in 32 oz crowlers for $10 each. Small batch beers are $15 each. Minimum orders for delivery is $20, and there is a $5 delivery fee.

Closed:

Devil’s Trumpet, Merrillville, IN.

These closed establishment could reopen later for curbside or delivery.

Once the coronavirus pandemic is all over, and the world recovers from the plague of COVID-19, a lot of stock will be taken of all that we have lost. There will be hundreds of thousands of lives lost, and millions more altered for the worse, many of which irreparably so. We don’t make the timeline for when this recovery period arrives, the virus does, and because of that, it’s all unknown.

What we do know is that there will be a lot of institutions that just can not exist anymore, simply because they’re way too dangerous to public health. Two examples are FOX News Channel and the wet markets in Asia. Half a world away from each other, and existing in completely different spheres of influence, both are getting people killed due to their complete recklessness. We’ll start with the latter, as that’s where this all (and by that our current hellscape within which we’re all currently inhabiting got started.

Watch this VOX video, in fact watch it a couple times just for all of it to sink in:

As University of Houston Professor Peter Li points out in the video: “The majority of the people in China do not eat wildlife animals. Those people who consume these wildlife animals are the rich and the powerful –a small minority.”

As Sam Ellis of VOX writes: “This video explains how the people of China are themselves victims of the conditions that led to coronavirus. The virus is affecting many different countries and cultures, and there is never justification for xenophobia or racism.”

He’s absolutely right. And it’s also not xenophobic, or racist, or culturally condescending, or culturally arrogant, to point out that the Chinese government needs to eradicate this practice immediately. More importantly, they need to make sure it never returns.

Yes, animals that we in this country consider cute, cuddly, and in some cases literally family, are regarded as food over there. While that may be deplorably offensive to many of us, the moral debates amount animal rights must be saved for a different time and space.

Public health must come first; period, point blank.

As the video points out, patient zero for COVID-19 emerged from a wet market in Wuhan, and this wasn’t the first time. Ellis writes: “In 2003, a virus very similar to SARS-CoV-2 emerged from a market in Foshan, China. It caused the SARS disease, which spread to dozens of countries and killed nearly 800 people.”

After absorbing all this, I also strongly suggest you watch this video from 60 Minutes Australia, a segment which shows a journalist going undercover to expose the wet markets. The segment also gives a glimpse into daily life in Hong Kong, some aspects of which we already experiencing.

It also features an interview with Gabriel Leung, a Professor at the University of Hong Kong who is considered the world’s foremost expert on coronavirus. Unfortunately, the wet market atrocities aren’t confined to just China- they’re found in several Asian countries.

Now that we’ve covered the spark that initially inflamed the pandemic, let’s look at the gasoline which fanned the flames. Multiple news outlets have covered extensively how poor the United States response to this has been. It will stand up as an example, throughout history, of how not to handle a pandemic crisis.

The ABSOLUTE WORST thing you can during a situation like this is downplay its severity. Or even worse, deny that it even exists. Enter FOX News Channel, otherwise known as Trump/MAGA state television.

Watch this video:

Wow. An all-star team of people way too dangerous to continue being given a platform #FoxNewsLies #TrumpLiedPeopleDied #TrumpVirusCoverup #TrumpPressConference #TrumpVirus #Trump #CoronaVirusChallenge #coronavirus #CoronaVirusUpdate #corona https://t.co/J4dhQaqNYZ

— Socially Distant Paul Maximilian Banks (@PaulMBanks) March 18, 2020

Now be sure to watch this video as well:

That list of people is pretty much who I would put on that spaceship to the sun during that Simpsons Halloween special. Just add Jared Kushner, Trump kids and Ajit Pai, and I think the passenger list is perfect https://t.co/VSBtt2g1tK

— Socially Distant Paul Maximilian Banks (@PaulMBanks) April 4, 2020

Sure, FOX, or as I call it Faux Noise Channel did terminate Trish Regan for her “coronavirus is a hoax” b.s. but that’s just whacking one mole in a game where dozens are popping up all the time. It’s not just her, it’s even not just FOX, it’s the entire far right wing conspiracy theory loving racism partaking in media machine.

It’s Rush Limbaugh, OANN, Alex Jones….pretty much anyone who ever uses the following phrases: “the deep state,” “MAGA,” “Keep America Great,” “America First” etc. So how does this problem go away?

Ideally, the “invisible hand” of the so-called “free market” would deplatform these trolls and nutjob. The consumer, in an ideal world, would just stop buying what is poison in information form. What you have is poison labeled as medicine, but once the consumer has repeatedly been told it’s poison, no matter what packaging it comes in, and they still consume it, well, then you need legal intervention.

FOX’s ratings numbers show that Americans are not intelligent enough, or sane enough (or they are, but their racism gets in the way) to turn off FNC for good. So the judicial system has to run its rule over them. This is the classic example of “the first amendment does not give you the right to yell ‘FIRE’ in a crowded theatre.”

People are dying and will die because they believed what they saw and heard on FOX. (And in Trump’s daily press briefings, but that’s another post for another time). A lawsuit could be coming, but that opens up a whole lot of questions. Is it class action? Who is the primary defendant? How do you prove liability?

What’s happening now isn’t even about Republican vs. Democrat, right vs. left, conservative vs. liberal. This is a whole lot serious than bitching about Barack Obama wearing a tan suit or conspiracy theories about Hillary Clinton and Seth Rich.

Something needs to happen because FOX is dangerous propaganda, and it’s going to make this pandemic a whole lot worse than it needs to be.

Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No,  I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation. 

You can follow Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com on Twitter here and his cat on Instagram at this link.

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SELF-ISOLATION, DAY 20

Hello again. Late day again. Was not supposed to be but the guy who is the department lead, who has self-quarantined, likely will not be back for at least a week; no one seems to know. That leaves me, the part-time liquor dude to manage the inventory as it were. Had a discussion with the store director and co-director this early afternoon. There were 3 pallets of wine and spirits still in receiving and needed to be brought out to the floor and worked onto the shelves. Since that is a job of more than one day for one guy, unless it would be a young strong dude, the director asked me, almost begged, if I could come in at least one day next week to work some more on it. So, I will probably go in one or two days, a few hours a day and see if I can get it done. I understand that management is also in a crunch. A few people have quit I believe, a few more are it seems self-quarantining. I am really hoping that we don’t start getting actively sick or positive-test employees in the store work-force.

But, there were a few bright spots! One, liquor sales are up 60 or 70%, job security! And supposedly drugs, don’t know what kind of stats these were, but drug purchases up 70%, and as most of us have heard, gun and ammo sales are through the roof! So, how are Americans dealing with shelter in place? Alcohol, Drugs and Guns!! Sounds like we are still in the Wild West. Have not heard any stats on sex but it is likely too soon to gather significant data. Other good news, the hourly employees will get $2/hr “hazard pay” increase for the next 3 weeks, and maybe will be extended if the shelter business continues, or not. Not a ton of money but I will take it. Also, we are supposed to get a shipment of masks for the employees this week. That would be good.

Funny but I am learning how most of the middle class or more actually, working poor, live. I am fortunate since I have Social Security and some pension and the job helps with doctor bills, vet bills, car repairs, etc. I could not live on $10 an hour if this were my only job. And 40% of Americans have no paid sick leave. I repeat, no, paid, sick leave. So, even now, many people with somewhat good jobs, have no paid sick leave. If they stay home out of fear of getting sick, or even if they are symptomatic, they can take vacation days. Maybe unpaid sick days. I know some people have paid sick leave, but read the stories, read the statistics. Many people are just out of luck. Really. So they can file for unemployment because the store where they worked closed, but it is a nightmare filing for unemployment. And then they wait. So, wild-eyed Socialists like Bernie Sanders, who Americans will not elect, want paid sick leave for everyone who works, and healthcare insurance for everyone so people do not go bankrupt if they are very ill, affordable education, paid leave for mothers who work and have a baby; what else, let’s see… we have the most inmates in prison of any developed country. Many are incarcerated if they cannot pay bail, even if they have not been convicted of anything. Or spending time because they cannot afford some court fees. This is true! I am not making it up. Read up on this crap.

Crap, crap, sorry, no I’m not. I am tired and was not going to write much but then my Socialist leanings leaked out. Sometimes that happens. Either I did not tighten the nuts down on my emotions or I have a leaky gasket. I will have to check on it in the morning after breakfast.

The rest of the good things that happened while I was very tired and could hardly wait to go home this evening: I was still unloading this pallet of around 30 or 40 cases of mainly wine, and hauling the cases to the shelves, unpacking them and arranging the bottles on the shelves. The pallet was where I had dropped it, off to one side of the liquor department and trying to not be in the way of shoppers walking by. It is hard to do, but I was making it. I had just picked up a heavy case of champagne and dropped it into a shopping cart to move it over the champagne aisle. I am sure I grunted and groaned; it was heavy, and as I said, I am no longer 20. A man dressed as a Muslim came over and asked me about a certain food item. This is common and I have done it often myself, in stores. I was dressed as a store employee so someone asks, “where is the rice?’ or “do you have any bananas?” or whatever. So I told him which aisle he would find the food item. He thanked me, then asked, ”sir, can I help you with that?” pointing at my cart. I thanked him and said, no I would be ok. But, this was another one of those moments, and I feel, experience them frequently, when total strangers connect and help each other. OK, this is an “aside”… I was not going to get religious OR political, I was just going to go to bed! I am tired, but stuff happens. I am reminded of an episode told me by a Muslim friend. I believe I have mentioned that I belong to a kind of community service group, DuPage United, that does not adequately describe it, but religious communities, Christian, Jewish and Muslim, cooperate together to help communities with various problems. In any case, a Muslim friend told me that once, during the afternoon prayers at a local Mosque, and I will not mention the specifics, although I am intimately aware of them; during prayers a jeep with 4 young “Americans!” yeah, teenage I believe, with a large Confederate flag attached, came onto the grounds of the Mosque, and began driving around the parking lot and surrounding the Mosque, honking and hollering like, well, like whatever. I would not claim them as my fellow Americans, but they were. As luck would have it, they ran into a ditch of some sort at the edge of the parking lot, and, jeeps being somewhat top-heavy, it overturned. A few Muslim men had been observing them and on guard for what might happen. In a minute, a crowd of Muslim men ran out, helped to right the jeep, and… somewhat subdued, the youngsters drove off with their Confederate flag. OK, I got that out of my system.

So, I finished the pallet and took the rest of the collapsed cardboard boxes back to the bailer, where the cardboard is made into bails and then sent off, eventually to China, I am told. I was getting ready to go home. I was tired, but I looked around the late-night store and saw a few stragglers, people who looked like they had been beat-up by life for many years, and they are still trying to make it. Some with masks, some just hoping they don’t get sick and die. Trying to care for themselves and for someone they care about. So, I had one of my emotional burps and looked around, feeling some kind of all-encompassing love for all these people who are living and trying to just survive and go forward. People, my friends, family, sorry I can’t always explain myself. I am very tired. Going to bed. Dog is already asleep.

Be well, stay safe, try to self-isolate. Care for each other. Love.

David, April 5, 2020

The whole world is cancelled. You’ve been told to stay at home. The only time you should leave your house to get fresh air, pick up your prescriptions and get groceries. You can’t see your friends and families, other than the ones in living in your household. Okay…okay…enough! We know all of this. Get to the point! Get to the question in the title already!

So what are you doing with your time. You have a lot of it to kill…so how are you killing it?

Obviously a lot of us are watching television…a lot of television….too much television, but what else is there, right? Honestly, there’s not a lot to see these days. You would think that with thousands of channels available, you’d find something, right? Maybe….maybe not.

It’s been a few weeks of quarantine….three to be exact. There’s no sports to watch except for repeats of old game. BLAH! How much of that can anyone take? There’s always the news, but it’s so depressing that you can only take so much of it, right? So what do you do to kill the time? What are you binge watching?

Believe it or not, I’ve been constantly watching the Gameshow Network. Hours of Family Feud with my man, Steve Harvey. Reruns of Match Game Seventy-something with Gene Rayburn, Brett Somers, Richard Dawson, Chuck Nelson Reilly and other b-list celebs who have been dead for decades. Then there’s this somewhat new one called “America Says” with John Michael Higgins, who I liked much better when he was working in the Chris Guest movies. It’s kind of a low key version of the Feud. It’s much more chill.

OMFG…really? This is what I’m doing with all this free time? HELP! Please, help!

BUT….a few days ago I figure something out. I’m staying at home in the burbs with the sig other and she has all the channels. And by having all the channels, I can go back in time and catch up on the shows from the premium networks that I’ve missed. We started earlier this week with the current season of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” Three days, ten episodes…DONE!!

Next week I have plans for the final season of “The Affair.” I know Alison is dead and Cole has left the series, but it’s the final season. If I’ve done four years, I might as well go for five and see how it ends. I’m pretty sure it’s going to suck, but what the Hell, I have plenty of time. It can’t be any worse than ten hours of Match Game, right?

That takes us to mid-April. Only a couple of weeks more until the stay at home ends…..yeah, right! We know we’re doing the same thing in May. Sorry to bring you down, but in your heart, you know it, too. So what’s after The Affair?

I’ve had multiple people say “The Wire” is the greatest show in the history of television. Usually when I hear this, I roll my eyes and do a fake laugh. Not this time. I’ve always believed them. I just never had the time to invest. Guess what, kids? Now I have the time! It’s five seasons, close to fifty episodes which equals nearly fifty hours of television binging. NO PROBLEMO!!

So that’s the binge watching agenda for the next few weeks. I’m not giving up on the Feud or the other games, I’m just diversifying my television watching habits. Maybe one day there will be a question on the Feud that says, “We asked one hundred people ‘What’s the greatest television show of all time’?” I’ll jump up and yell “The Wire!” DING!! It’ll be the number one answer. We’re going to play, Steve. We’re going to play!!

Related Post: Are you still watching Donald Trump’s coronavirus press briefings?

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There’s a country called Azerbaijan. A month ago I had never heard of it. Would have confused it with the magical prison from Harry Potter. Azerbaijan shares a border with Russia to the north, Iran to the south. To the west is Armenia and on the east coast is the Caspian Sea.

Go one country over from Armenia and you end up in Turkey. Turkey is about 10x the landmass of Azerbaijan with a population of 80 million compared to 10 million. Running along its northern coast is the Black Sea; positioned to Turkey the way Lake Superior is to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula

Leyla is from Azerbaijan. Ahmet from Turkey. Both started over 5,000 miles away from Chicago, yet met here in the city, and launched “Black & Caspian” at 2908 North Broadway.

Note: If you missed Part 1, check it out here. 

All of this to say, the idea for Black & Caspian wasn’t just a random daydream for Leyla when she was sitting at her desk in the CIBC office. She’s been working toward this dream her entire life. Born in Azerbaijan, she went to high school in Russia, started college back in Azerbaijan and then received a scholarship to study hospitality in Switzerland. She worked in hospitality in Belgium then journeyed to America, opening a small popup restaurant in Bloomingdale.

Ahmet made his journey to the U.S. about eight years ago and matches Leyla’s love for hospitality and customer service with an equal passion for being a chef. Ahmet’s family had a restaurant in Istanbul. His brothers are chefs. He’s been preparing meals since he was a kid.

There was an instant connection between the two.

“I met him after I got my job in wealth management and then we were like, oh my God, we are like soul mates, you know, this is what we want to do,” Leyla said. “And he was like, okay, let’s start saving money. Let’s start looking for opportunities.” 

Time to start dreaming up the perfect place

What would the restaurant look like? What kind of food would they serve? Where would it be?

“We knew we didn’t have a lot of money, so we had to find that perfect place that wasn’t too big, too small, not too expensive, but also a place that would allow us to do this concept,” Leyla said. “When we saw the Troy restaurant, we thought, you know, it’s on a nice street and the concept that we have is modern Mediterranean wine bistro. And I don’t think this street has something like that. There’s Pars Cove nearby, it’s a wine bistro, but it was a different concept.”

Now it was time to start planning the menu. They wanted to offer a wide variety to their future diners.

“We didn’t want to do like an Azerbaijani cuisine and a Turkish cuisine or a specific cuisine, you know,” Leyla said. “We wanted to do something that has something for everybody. So we literally like months before we opened we were writing up a menu, crossing things off, starting over. We wanted to find a perfect ground. Ahmet’s obviously the person behind the menu.”

They started testing things out, asking guests for their feedback. But one of the challenges with American diners, specifically here in the Midwest, is everyone’s so nice. It’s hard to translate if, “Yeah, it’s good,” means they really liked it or thought it was just okay. Leyla and Ahmet had to learn how to decipher these Midwestern reviews.

No matter the dish, the one guarantee is the food will always be fresh.

“If you look at our shopping trend, we shop like four times a week. Because we get everything fresh, fresh, fresh. And then we try to sell out of it and then you get everything fresh again. We try not to hold onto anything. Freeze anything. We don’t cook anything in advance and hold it. All the prep happens every day.” 

One of their go-to shopping spots is the family-owned Sahar International Supermarket at 4851 North Kedzie. The inventory is small so the produce and meats are always fresh. Ahmet and Leyla make their purchases then bring the supplies back and start preparing. They bake their own bread and make their own baklava. Open their doors every weeknight at 5 pm.

Opening the Doors

I went to Black & Caspian on Saturday night, February 1st. I had family in town to celebrate the last night of a Writing 6 show at Second City. I went online, booked a table for me and Ashley, my parents, Uncle John and Aunt Patty, my cousin Clair. When you’ve been living in Chicago more than five years, there’s always a pride in taking your family to the local spot. To Pequod’s instead of Gino’s East. To the hole-in-the-wall Italian Beef shop over Portillo’s. That local pride goes up a level when the restaurant is right in your neighborhood. Right around the corner.

We walked into Black & Caspian and it was packed. I said the name of our reservation, Leyla double checked their system. Nothing’s there. I immediately assumed this was my mistake. I’m the king of messing up things like this. But Leyla apologized, said they’ve been having trouble with the online booking tool. We wait a few minutes, really not long at all, until they push a couple tables together. More apologies. And then a free appetizer.

I ordered something called the beef tagine. The dish consists of fillet mignon, zucchini, mushrooms, peppers, sun dried tomatoes, walnut, apricot, dried cherry sesame seeds, all of this cooked and served in a clay pot. You know a dish is good when you forget what anyone else ordered at the table. I vaguely remember the stuffed chicken santa sofia (tendered chicken breast, asparagus, parmesan, sour cream sauce, served with rice) and grilled branzino (grilled branzino, mashed potatoes, seasonal veggies, blanc sauce, grilled lemon) making an appearance. Everything washed down with a couple bottles of Turkish wine. 

“The wines are from Turkey because Ahmet is from Turkey and he knows the wines,” Leyla said. “We have like three reds and two whites. They’re a little bit dry, but they’re very powerful in nature and they have a very unique personality, these wines. People really react positively to them.” 

At the end of the meal, Leyla stopped by the table and started to share their story. She apologized again for the booking mix-up. Talked about leaving her job at CIBC. Going all in on the restaurant.

After I interviewed Leyla a few weeks later and started thinking about where to start or end this story, I kept thinking back to that canceled dinner reservation. On the surface, it was a mistake. The restaurant made an error the same way a multibillion dollar hotel chain makes an error, or the way a large rental car company has a reservation disappear. But you go a layer deeper and the story is so much different. It wasn’t Black & Caspian’s fault at all. They had the lower cost version of the website because every dollar saved over the last year went into buying the place. Securing tables. Plates. Glasses. Bottles of wine. The four trips to Sahar Market each week, making sure everything is fresh to order.

The website will get better. They already upgraded the booking tool. All of those little things will keep improving. What makes a place like Black & Caspian special is how they respond to something out of their control. Pushing the tables together. The free appetizer. Making us feel at home. We weren’t rushed to order and there wasn’t that feeling of trying to turn the table over. It’s those little things that matter and it’s what makes places like Black & Caspain so important to have in our neighborhood. The stretch of Broadway from Diversey to Belmont is that much better for having Black & Caspian.

“We love this industry, we love the emotional part of this business,” Leyla said. “The clients, the customers, the experiences that we prepare for them. How is that food going to make them feel? This is what we think about.”

Facing the Unknown

Having an issue with the website seems like small potatoes compared to this new uncontrollable situation. Black & Caspian, like Renaldi’s, like all restaurants on Broadway and all around Chicago aren’t able to serve guests in-house.

But for Leyla and Ahmet, they’ve done what they’ve always done: stay scrappy, make adjustments, keep the dream alive.

“We had been watching the news closely and we anticipated this,” Leyla said. “We thought this should be the best and safest way to minimize the impact of the virus for the safety of our employees and customers. All we care about at this time is everyone’s safety and well being.”

“Ahmet and I are staying optimistic and we are intensifying our already strict sanitation measures for the safety of our guests,” Leyla said. “We have also signed petitions for small business support that were forwarded to us by Lakeview East Chamber of Commerce and we cannot wait to open our doors for regular dine-in service again!”

It’s hard to picture right now, but there will be a time in June, maybe July, when we’ll be walking down Broadway again. We’ll pass underneath that blast of pizza smell right in front of Renaldi’s. There’ll be people out on the patio. Telling stories. Laughing. The conversations will be about weekend plans and the day at the office. Even the most mundane things like riding a bus, riding the El, these will feel new and seem like a big step up from the months before.

We’ll cross the street and open the doors to Black & Caspian.

It’ll be good to be back.

Medium Rare (despite the name) is not normally a food blog, but I want to use this space in the coming weeks to feature some of my favorite restaurants in my neighborhood. Running a restaurant is never easy, especially right now, and it’s important we support these local spots through a difficult time. You can check out Black & Caspian’s menu right here and they also setup a GoFundMe page to help support their employees. 

Next Monday I’ll be running a story called “Chicago, Argentina,” focused on the restaurant owners of Tango Sur, Bodega Sur, Folklore, El Mercado Food Mart, and Ñ.