Icing: Still Trendy!

Remember 2010? What a year: Train gave us the classic tune, “Hey, Soul Sister” — and won themselves a (very deserved) Grammy — the groundbreaking, absolutely based-in-fact television show Ancient Aliens debuted on the History Channel, and many people on the CTA were reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

And while La Sirena Clandestina was just a twinkle in John Manion’s eye, a revolutionary game was going viral. That’s right, Icing, the popular drinking game in which certain individuals or groups of individuals are required to drink a bottle of Smirnoff Ice or any type of Smirnoff Malt Beverage was born.

2010, you gave us so much. How can we ever repay you?

By Icing some of the best bars and bartenders in the universe today. And we’ve got proof, above is a little video of one of our victims grateful gift recipients, Wade McElroy of Sportsman’s Club. Look for more installments on our icing habits. And make sure to open any suspicious packages in the meantime!

Pizza, Pizza!

Just when you thought you’d have to resort to your tired Hawaiian pizza order, Eater Chicago saves the day with their 2nd Annual Pizza Week coverage. Upping the ante, they enlisted our own John Manion to collaborate with Coalfire to create a seriously delicious pizza. It’s a partnership based in friendship. Or as John puts it, "The good men at Coalfire and ourselves have a long tradition of the old pizza-for-empanada trade," he explains. "I know for a fact that they chug chimichurri like it's a frosty-cold beer."

You’ve probably already decided to order their collaborative pie, but here’s the prep just to seal the deal:

Manion's pie is built on Coalfire's dough. He adds extra virgin olive oil, Coalfire's secret low-moisture mozzarella from the East Coast, and Neuske's smoked ham. After a stint in the 1300 degree coal-fired oven, it's finished a liberal dousing of La Sirena's chimichurri.

The El Diez is available from Coalfire all week, while supplies last!

Drink Away Your Winter Blues

When everything in sight is covered with a dirty mound of snow, we thought we’d offer you some eye candy of the booze variety. Feast your eyes on a few of the new cocktails gracing our good lookin’ menus: 

To Be Bitter and Twisted - barrel-aged cachaça, artichoke amaro, mint, cucumber, lemon

Dos Mil Diez - tequila blanco, muddled lime and cucumber, smoked black pepper, sea salt

Ousted by the Dutch - Peruvian pisco, Jamaican rum, pineapple gomme, fresh blood orange

Sugar Cane Alley - rhum agricole, amontillado sherry, maraschino, lemon, bitters