FROM PERKS
These are good-looking shorts from Lacrosse Playground. Or so you thought. Because they’re so much more than that: hop into the nearest body of water and they’ve magically turned into swim trunks—with a pattern that only appears when they’re wet. Boom.
COMING UP DAISIES
Joe Frillman is back. Who’s Joe Frillman? He used to be the chef at Balena. His brother owns a farm. Both of those things come into play at his new pasta-forward restaurant called Daisies. There, you’ll do things like eat beet agnolotti and drink beet cocktails. Good job, Joe.
PILSEN PILSNER
It might not look like much from the outside, but hiding behind those brick walls is the latest addition to Pilsen’s brewery collection. Lo Rez makes its debut with Primary Element saison, Local Logic pilsner and other tech-themed brews. It’s also a stone’s throw from Moody Tongue and Pleasant House Pub. Just saying.
FROM HOLLANDER WITH LOVE
Concrete columns surrounded by leather banquettes. A long wood bar sitting under gold light fixtures. Live music. Seems like a decent place to grab a Negroni. This industrial hangout of which we speak is H! Bar. It’s in The Hollander hotel, it opens Friday with half-priced drinks and it likes punctuation marks.
SMOKE SIGNALS
You’re walking along the lakefront and spot a shack topped with mismatched metal letters. You smell the distinct aroma of brisket. Congratulations, you’ve found Flat & Point. It’s helmed by a former Spiaggia chef and he’ll happily put that brisket in a taco with sriracha aioli. You’ll happily let him.
IT’S LIT
Put down the screen and pick up a real book at the city’s largest gathering of new and used booksellers, Printers Row Lit Fest. Among others, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Rick Bayless and Senator Al Franken will be there participating in seminars and discussions. That old trio.
Sarah Freeman is often accused of hiding secrets in her hair. She can make any cocktail, as long as that cocktail is a rye Old Fashioned, and has never met a saison she didn’t like.
