Baseball, the beach, picnics, outdoor music. All a huge part of why we love summer. It’s only three months away. Summer is close enough that we can smell it.

When it comes to outdoor music, concerts at the Ravinia Festival has been a constant since 1904. Located in the Highland Park, just north of Chicago, Ravinia is the oldest outdoor music festival in the United States.

Today, Ravinia announced their schedule for the upcoming season. Here’s a look at the popular music coming to the festival this summer:

The opening week begins with Sheryl Crow, followed by Judy Collins and Patti Labelle. The end of June-early July features The Indigo Girls, Steve Miller and John Fogerty. The mid-season is highlighted by performances of country music stars Carrie Underwood and Willie Nelson. Late summer sees the return of Train for three nights, John Hiatt, Diana Ross and Tony Bennett. The season ends with September shows from John Legend, Lauren Hill and the Beach Boys.

The commonality of all these acts is they are returning Ravinia veterans. If you’re looking for new or groundbreaking music, Ravinia is not the place you’ll be going…at least not this summer. However, if you want a nice outdoor evening, with food, wine and friends, this again will be your go-to home.

Here’s a look at the full Ravinia calendar. Tickets go on sale April 28.

Related Post: Tony Bennett turns 90

Type your email address in the box and click the “create subscription” button. My list is completely spam free, and you can opt out at any time.

At this point, Ravinia Festival is going full steam ahead with their summer season, hoping that by opening day, May 30, the COVID-19 pandemic will be in the rear view mirror.

In that regard the Festival released the following statement:

It’s difficult to anticipate what impact the disease may have on our 2020 season, which is still three months away. Ravinia is committed to appropriately addressing this quickly evolving situation….focused on the safety of our audiences, guest artists and the general public.

Ravinia Festival 2020 Season

An Overview

Ravinia crowd before Stevie Nicks concert at Ravinia Festival. Photo: Carole Kuhrt-Brewer

The 2020 season boasts more than 120 events from May 30 through September 15, including the annual summer residency of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, with MacArthur “Genius” Marin Alsop stepping into the role of Chief Conductor and Curator, a position created specifically for her.

This summer will also bring 35 artist debuts, including Wayne Marshall, Teddy Abrams and My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James, Ziggy Marley, six-time Latin Grammy winners Jesse & Joy, and Dispatch. Repertoire features 24 festival premieres, including Ravinia’s co-commission of Paola Prestini’s Hindsight for Piano and Orchestra as part of a summer-long celebration of the talents and achievements of women who have paved the way, as well as the centennial of the 19th Amendment, which guaranteed women the right to vote.

Big Names

Tony Bennett performing at his 90th birthday bash at Ravinia Festival in 2016. Photo: Carole Kuhrt-Brewer

Returning favorites include: Tony Bennett, Carrie Underwood, John Legend, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Diana Ross, Trombone Shorty, The Roots, John Fogerty, Willie Nelson, Sheryl Crow, Jill Scott, Train (three nights), Gladys Knight, Ms. Lauryn Hill and the Beach Boys.

Other Highlights

Final Season for Welz Kauffman

This will be the final season for Welz Kauffman who announced he would retire at the end of the 2020 season as the President and CEO of the festival where he has served for the past 20 years.

New Chief Conductor

Marin Alsop takes up new position as Chief Conductor and Curator, leading the CSO in five concerts, including Legendary Women’s Voices gala starring Oscar nominee Cynthia Erivo.

Focus on Women

The cultural contributions of women will be a summer-long focus to mark the centennial of the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote.

RaviniaMusicBox Opens

Immersive RaviniaMusicBox opens with wrap-around movie experience, Bernstein’s Answer, and the National Museum of American Jewish History’s Leonard Bernstein: The Power of Music, the first major exhibit on the Jewish identity of America’s most celebrated musician.

Bernstein Celebration

Multi-season Bernstein celebration continues with Alsop conducting Slava!, Wayne Marshall leading the Ravinia premiere of A White House Cantata starring Patricia Racette and Rod Gilfry, Jamie Bernstein hosting the collection of Anniversaries, and RSMI Singers sharing Arias and Barcarolles.

Birthday Celebrations

Festival celebrates milestone birthdays of Christoph Eschenbach at 80, Itzhak Perlman at 75, Misha Dichter at 75, Bob Marley at 75, Isaac Stern at 100, Clara Schumann at 200, and Beethoven at 250.

Tickets and more

What: Ravinia Festival Summer 2020
When: May 30-September 15, 2020
Where: Green Bay Rd. just north of Lake Cook Road in Highland Park
Tickets: Tickets will be available to donors beginning March 17. Tickets for the public go on April 28 for June and July concerts and April 29 for August and September concerts, exclusively online at Ravinia.org.
Season calendar: For the full season calendar, click here.

Subscribe to Show Me Chicago by email

If you would like to keep in touch with what’s happening in Chicago, like us on Facebook or subscribe to Show Me Chicago by email. To subscribe, type your email address in the box below and click the “create subscription” button. Our list is completely spam free, and you can opt out at any time.

Le Sud

With neighborhood French restaurants increasingly scarce, restaurateur Sandy Chen decided to go against the flow. The result is Le Sud, a charming spot that celebrates the food, wine and decor of southern France.

the main dining room at Le Sud

“I’d  been doing Chinese restaurants for more than twenty years, and I was ready to do something else,” she says. “Le Sud is a casual neighborhood restaurant, a place where people who live nearby can dine on a regular basis.”

honey glazed duck

To encourage that kind of repeat business, Chen has developed an interesting list of special events. Tuesdays through Saturdays from 5-6:30 (Happy Hour), select drinks and apps are half price. On Tuesday nights, select bottles of wine are half-price, and on Wednesdays, there’s a three course prix-fixe for $36. Children 12 and under eat free on Sundays. For a complete list and all the specifics, check the restaurant’s website.

pommes puree

Which brings us to the food. Steak/frites is the crowd favorite, but it’s always difficult for me to pass up a chance to have duck, something most of us don’t tackle on a regular basis. At Le Sud, the duck is glazed with honey and served with turnip puree, confit chestnuts, pickled cherries, fennel and mache. The wonderfully rich Coquilles St-Jacques made with scallops and a cognac scented cream sauce is listed as an appetizer. But if you pair it with a salad or soup, it could work as a light entree.

Le Sud’s decor is a departure from all of the minimalist, loft-style interiors that are seemingly de rigueur. Check out the tiles on the tables in the upstairs space, and take time to look at the tableware, serving dishes and furnishings. Chen says she combed the antique stores and resale shops to find just the right pieces. Suffice to say, she did a good job.

Le Sud, 2301 W. Roscoe Street,  773.857.1985

photos by Judith Landesman

***

Craft Beer Festival

Historic downtown Long Grove is hosting its fourth annual Craft Beer Festival on April 25 from 1pm-5pm. According to Mike Marr, Vice-President of the Historic Downtown Long Grove Business Association and Owner/Brewmaster of Long Grove’s Buffalo Creek Brewing, the event is a place where “people with a passion for craft beer can come together and and experience many of the Chicagoland’s finest offerings.”

One of the event’s plusses is the opportunity to meet the actual beer-makers, and with upwards of twenty breweries participating in the festival, guests should plan on having a very busy four hours.

Live music and multiple food vendors will also be on-hand, though the food is not included in the price of admission. Guests must be at least 21 years years old to attend, and no pets are allowed. A full access ticket is $40 in advance through EventBrite and at the Long Grove Visitors Center or $50 at the door, depending on availability. A non-drinker/designated driver pass ($10) includes unlimited water. Parking is available in the Stempel Parking Lot in front of Buffalo Creek Brewing 340 Historical Lane, Long Grove.

***

George Trois and Temporis

Two of the area’s top restaurants, George Trois in Winnetka and Temporis in West Town, and- with twenty seats apiece- two of its most intimate, are collaborating on a series of dinners. Chef Michael Lachowicz will host the first, a 10-course dinner ($215) at George Trois on Tuesday, March 17, while Chef Troy Jorge will host the second, a 12-course dinner ($200) at Temporis on Tuesday, April 21.

Reservations for both dinners are on Open Table.  Beverages, gratuity and tax are not included.

George Trois, 64 Green Bay Road, Winnetka

Temporis, 933 N. Ashland Ave., Chicago

***

Wow Bao

Breakfast Potstickers are on the menu at the Wow Bao venues at 225 N. Michigan Avenue (7 am-10:30 am) and at 1 W. Wacker Drive (8 am-10:30 am). Think 5, 8 or 12 pan-seared potstickers filled with fluffy eggs, pork sausage, spinach, scallions and various  seasonings. Three sauces (sweet Thai chili, soy ginger and chili oil) are served with the potstickers. 

***

St. Patrick’s Day

On Tuesday, March 17, everything that can be green will be green.

“Testing, testing, testing.” — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi today, emphasizing the importance of testing for the coronavirus.

So glad that Pelosi and her Democrat and left-wing allies are finally getting around to supporting testing to control a rampaging epidemic.

Democrats and liberals staunchly opposed testing and, as importantly, contact tracing when HIV was rampaging across America and the world.

Their argument was that “forcing” people to be tested and to trace people that HIV-infected people were in contract with was a “privacy” violation.

Even though testing and contract tracing were–and still are–were an essential public health tool to control epidemics.  Anyone who urged testing and contract tracing was described as a homophobe. As I was when I wondered in my Chicago Sun-Times columns why we should toss out well-studied and well-document methods to control epidemic, especially when AIDS was then described as certainly fatal.

In other words, to hell with anyone who was “at high risk,” such as partners, spouses, infants, patients who were receiving blood transfusions and drug users.

Originally, the Left even opposed encouraging voluntary testing, because they said it would, ironically, discourage testing. Contract tracing was out of the question. Sadly, the public health profession caved in to the ideological nonsense. It also weakened testing and contract tracing provisions for sexually transmitted diseases.

As HIV and AIDS continued to spread at an alarming rate, the Left eventually softened its opposition to testing, agreeing that encouraging voluntary testing was okay.

How satisfying that today Democrats and the Left are emphasizing the importance of testing and contact tracing. How ironic that they are hammering President  Trump for being “anti-science” by supposedly not doing enough testing.

A history of how the AIDS epidemic affected public health policy is found here.

Adonis is a five-week-old, wiggly, handleable and fun long-haired golden hamster baby looking for a loving guardian.

Adonis is learning to appreciate attention from his people, lots of different foods and treats including unsalted peanuts, broccoli and tofu, spinning on his wheel and exploring his surroundings.

Golden hamsters live alone in their habitats so it’s important to give daily attention and love.

In captivity, these golden hamsters can run two to five miles in a 24-hour period, and they can store up to one ton of food in their cheeks in a lifetime. It’s fun to watch them hoard food.

Since this is a baby, he will need patient daily handling and socialization so he is not afraid of humans.

His adoption fee of $15 benefits the Friends of Petraits Rescue. If you need an entire hamster habitat, 20 gallon long aquarium with lid, paper bedding, food, exercise wheel, hidey castle and water bottle – everything you need including the hamster – the whole package is available for $75.

To meet and possibly adopt Adonis please contact [email protected]

Adonis is being fostered in Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood.

I was invited to tune in on a webinar presented by the Center for Automotive Research entitled “Coronavirus Update: Disruption and the Impact to the Auto Industry.” Two of the speakers covered what impact the latest world health scare has had thus far on the automotive industry; both here and abroad. They hit on some interesting points. As noted, the auto industry is in the “crosshairs” of the Coronavirus which thus far has claimed the lives of over 1,000 people and leaving more than 43,000 people infected (World Health Organization). Numbers, as we all know by now, change daily.

China has been the hardest hit and also has made the most investment in managing their country. Among some of the statistics cited regarding China’s efforts to curb the virus were interesting: At this time, 85 percent of China’s Starbucks (4,292) are open. Wuhan has a surplus of beds, and six million people are back at work in Guangdong, at this time. Of course, these numbers are not up to date as we print them today. It’s almost impossible to get an accurate picture.

Some of the auto plants in China have been closed since the Chinese New Year. Some plants were allowed to open around the middle of February. As other plants remain closed, production is of course, hampered affecting auto suppliers in the U.S.

There are so many ways in which an epidemic like the coronavirus affects the culture, business and individuals. The biggest impact thus far, has been in China where those studying the human impact have reported boredom and anxiety in those who have been quarantined inside. China is dealing with the outbreak in the most extreme way. A sign posted on the streets there reads: “Pay Attention to the 3 No’s: No making up rumors; No spreading rumors; No believing rumors. It’s the biggest way to help in the battle against spread of coronavirus.”

Statistics and situations continue to change, by the hour. While there’s no question, the virus is and has caused a loss of production. One such prediction is that if the plants are still closed until mid-March, there could be a loss of more than 1.7 million units for the first quarter. According to Michael Brady, a partner and co-chair of the Automotive Industry Group at Warner Norcross, talked about the automotive industry based on ‘just-in-time delivery.” In most supply chains, he continued, “some parts were already in transit before the closing of the plants, and parts are trickling in. Original equipment manufacturers such as Ford, GM and Chrysler, have only a handful of parts and assemblies arriving.”

The webinar speakers commented that they do not see the auto industry rebounding. Also at risk are customers not wanting to spend money; rather, holding onto their money; similar to the situation in the early 2000’s. The World Health Organization anticipates that as the virus kicks off in smaller countries, WHO will shift in what they will advise, going from containment to 80 percent of the world’s getting the virus. They are saying to expect uncertainly and to get accustomed to it over the next few months.

In the meantime, auto suppliers are being urged to be transparent with customers, letting them know that the situation in China is impacting production. Keep the lines of communication open and be sure to keep customers informed and updated.
Many remember the SARS virus outbreak, no doubt. Michael Brady believes the Coronavirus is having a greater effect on the global supply chain. It’s hard at this time to estimate how severe the overall impact will be on the auto industry.

The James Beard Foundation is postponing its upcoming 2020 awards ceremonies including the May 3 Leadership Awards and the Beard House at the Old Chicago Post Office and the May 4 Awards Gala at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

In a statement from the James Beard Foundation (JBF) they say: “The James Beard Foundation is acutely aware of the health and safety concerns surrounding the current COVID-19 pandemic. We are also mindful of how this virus is negatively impacting the hospitality industry at large, both from a well-being and economic standpoint. As such, our organization has taken the guidance of the CDC, the counsel of our legal advisors and our Board of Trustees, and has worked closely with our partners to make the decision to postpone the annual James Beard Awards to summer 2020.” They continue, “Of prime concern is the health and safety of our staff, volunteers, committee members, sponsors, nominees, and all attendees. We also recognize the responsibility of every organization and individual to do what they can to contain the spread of the virus.”

The postponements include:

The James Beard Media Awards (originally scheduled for Friday, April 24, in New York City),

The Leadership Awards (Sunday, May 3, in Chicago), and the Restaurant & Chef Awards (Monday, May 4, in Chicago).

#######################

As of now, the nominee announcement will be made on March 25 from Philadelphia as scheduled.

The foundation will continue to work with their partners in the coming weeks to identify new dates for all three Awards ceremonies, and will work with chefs and others in the industry to navigate the complicated leadership challenges and the economic impact this pandemic may have on their businesses now and in the future.  Check https://www.jamesbeard.org/ for updated information and resources.

Subscribe to Chicago Eats by email

If you would like to keep in touch with what’s happening in Chicago, like us on Facebook or subscribe to Chicago Eats by email. To subscribe, type your email address in the box below and click the “create subscription” button. Our list is completely spam free, and you can opt out at any time.