Starting to make plans ...

[External Poster]

This posting is from: annie
----------

Let's open some discussion on what we want to do at Pinkfest this
coming October.

Yes, we do need to decide on the dates, and we need feedback on
the two proposed sets of dates, please.

For those new to Pinkfest, everything is optional, and everyone
kind of picks from a smorgasbord of activities, depending on
likes, dislikes, comfort level, etc.

Elena will again be acting as our Social Director, handling the
details of our activities and such. Please join me in thanking
Elena for taking this on for another year. :)

We need to help Elena plan the schedule.

Let's get some conversation going about things like food, drink
activities, etc. ...

First the food. (Food, mmmmm) :)

First of all, does anybody have any suggestions for new and/or
different dining venues that you think the Pinkfest gang might
enjoy?

I'll briefly discuss what we've done in prior years ...

All of these first ones are in the same general area, River North,
walking distance from most of the hotels in the area and convenient
to public transportation.

Ginos East: This was new for Pinkfest 2006. I like this place. Nothing
fancy, good food, friendly bar, great service. I would not mind
repeating this.

Maggiano's Little Italy: We ended up there for lunch one day last
year and it's a fer-shure diet-buster! IMAO it may be better for
dinner than lunch.

Hard Rock Cafe: Good for lunch or dinner. I've always enjoyed this in
Chicago and elsewhere. For the past few years we've always done this
for lunch. We might wanna consider dinner there this year.

Ed Debevic's: A "must do", IMAO. :) Again, we've done this for lunch
the past few years, and it is fun for dinner too, assuming they have
the bar remodeled and in action again.

Carson's Ribs: Since we "discovered" Ann Sathers a few years back,
we've skipped this. There is one in the River North area as well,
just across the street from Ed's.

Chicago Chop House: I like this place, but it may be a bit $pendy
for some.

Cafe Iberico: Well, it can't be Montezuma's Revenge, so maybe it's
Franco's Revenge? :) :( Maybe I shouldn't blame CI, but something I
had that day did not agree with me. In all fairness, it could also
be mixing beer with the sangria drinks or even lunch that day.

These next ones are a few to several miles out, but within walking
distance of the El.

Ann Sathers: An "almost must-do." :) I would be willing to try
another place in the area if the gang wants, but I do like AS's. :)
I think that they still have a suspended liquor license, as their
owner holds a local political office and is ineligible. BYOB is
fine, and we've made do quite well, too well, in fact. :)

One year I really thought I was in trouble, when I phoned in a
reservation for the gang and they warned me that their liquor
license was suspended. I was sure to get there early, so I would
not be confronted by a bunch of very sober and very grouchy
Pinkfesters, but instead I found two of them sitting at the bar
with their own little bottle just shooting the $#!+ with the
bartender. :)

This is in the Lakeview ("Boystown") area and works well just
before visiting bars in the area.

Dinner at Winberies: Another "must-do", IMAO. This has to be one of
the best kept secrets of the area. Nice bar up front and great food
and service. London broil is 2die4! This is in the western 'burbs
and works well with an open house at Janna's Place as well as some
of the bars in the area. Nutbush is in walking distance, assuming
you like to walk. :)

As far as new dining possibilities, I think I mentioned both of
these last year. I'm not married to them, I'm just presenting
these as suggestions ...

First Portillos/Barnellis. Hot dogs, pizza, pasta, ribs, stuff like
that. The location I'm thinking of is right on Ontario across from
the Hard Rock. My only reservation is that it might not be the best
for beginners, since it can be loud and very active in there.

Then Giordanos. Several locations. I've been to the ones in the
northwest Loop area and the meat-market Rush St. one. The only
major down-side is that the layout, atmosphere, menu, are almost
identical with Gino's East. (The sauces are quite different,
though.)

I know there was talk a couple years back about a diner type place
out by O'Hare, but I don't know if it's still a viable option or
not.
. . .

Now the bars (mmmmm, beer!) ...

Gentry in Lakeview: I think last year was the only year we didn't do
this. We've seen some good entertainment there, and some incredibly
crude entertainment there. :)

L&L Tavern: New for Pinkfest 2006 and I think this has to be one of
the only quiet neighborhood type bars in the Lakeview area. I liked
this place. Yeah, the bartender was grouchy, but he was grouchy in
a very equal-opportunity manner. :) It turns out that this place is
reputed to at one time having both Jeffrey Dahmer and John Wayne
Gacy as customers. :)

Sidetrack: Let's see, which one is Sidetrack? :) :)

Other Boystown bars: We've only scratched the surface, and each year
we say we're gonna explore more, and we do seem to poke our heads
into some places, but we always seem to end up at Gentry and/or the
one with the videos (Sidetrack, I think). The thing is, the time we
get there, it's hard to get enough seats for the gang. I forget which
one we ended up at last year (Cocktail? or was it Hydrate?) but there
are countless bars up there.

Gentry downtown: Another "must do" which we've hit most Pinkfest years.
It's both a bar-bar and small cabaret setting, and has had some good
acts over the years.

Baton Show Lounge: We haven't done this for a few years now. Comments?

Hunters Dance Club: I guess there was kind of a stink with Hunters
over the past year. Is this one still on the "good" list for TG
type people? Is there a strong desire to do it again this year?

Personally, if I had to do it over for last year, I just would
have stayed at Nutbush. Hunters was too loud and zooey and Nutbush
was more of what I was in the mood for. Laid back with a friendly
regular crowd, etc. Big problem with this is it's way out in the
middle of nowhere. :( The big advantage of Hunters is that it has
a good dance floor plus places to sit and have a drink and chat.

Nutbush: I like this little bar. It's nothing fancy, but just a nice
place to stop in and have a drink -- or two -- or more. :)

I know there was also talk about a womens' bar out in the west
burbs as well, but I can't remember it ever happening, yet.
. . .

We've been doing some vendor sponsored things in 2005 and 2006 ...

Janna's Place Open House: A "Must Do", IMAO. Janna has agreed to do
this again, and I think we should take her up on the offer. It seems
to go well with things like Winberies and Nutbush, possibly Hunters
as well, since they are all in the west 'burbs.

Last year we had two new open house sessions, with Rachel's Wigs
and with Spa Skin Style.

IMAO, both of these are worth repeating, but we're running out of
afternoons. Friday and Saturday are our good afternoons, but
Thursday and Sunday are possible.

Touristy things:

The first year at Pinkfest we did Museum of Science and Industry. This
was just post 911 with vehicle trunk inspections and purse inspections
and such.

We also did a Chicago River boat excursion in 2005 (or was it 2004?)
and it worked well, but for the most part nobody seems to be jumping up
and down and screaming for these things.

Now last year, we had two people volunteer to be "tour guide" but
nobody really seemed interested. What I might suggest this year is
that if you want to play tour guide, make some definite plans,
like exactly when, where, what you will cover, etc. I'm sure you
will get a much better response that way.

Comments, gang?


----------
(This posting was entered by annie, an external user of MyDLV.)

[External Poster]

This posting is from: Elena
----------

Annie,

Another excellent summary of past Pinkfest events. Let me add my two
cents.

I particularly liked eating at Ann Sathers, Winberies and Hard Rock Cafe.
Both Gino's East and Giordano are good pizza places. Carson's Ribs is
quite good and might be a good place to go back to again.

I personally am not a big fan of Ed Debevics or Maggianno's but I know a
lot of people like those places. I like Portillo's but I don't know if a
fast food place is good for a Pinkfest lunch. I personally would prefer a
sit down place.

The diner by O'Hare you referred to is probably Hudcap's. It has good
basic food and is very t-friendly. It would work better if many attendees
are staying out in the suburbs.

I will try to find out some more good restaurants in Chicago. I live out
in the suburbs and are not as familiar with city places.

Regarding bars, I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is
that Hunters is again t-friendly. It was just one weekend they weren't
accepting IDs that did not match your appearence. I heard they were trying
to get rid of "working girls" then.

The bad news is that I heard Nutbush is being closed. For now it still
looks open. I will try to find out more information.

L & L Tavern was quiet enough to talk easily but it did not have much of an
atmosphere. In Boystown I preferred Hydrate (where we went after L&L in
2006), Sidetracks or Cocktail.

I like both Gentry's locations. However, I don't want to most of two
nights at them. It is too easy to get anchored at them listening to the
entertainment.

There is also a lesbian nightclub called Temptations in the western
suburbs. a couple of miles from Winberies. Temptations is good on Friday
and Saturday nights but dead on Thursday nights. This could be an
alternative to Hunters.

For touristy activities last year I suggested the Shedd Aquarium but
no one said they were interested. I am not sure what attendees might
be interested. I would love to hear feedback on this.

I appreciated open houses Theresa, Rachel and Janna have had in past
years. I appreciate Janna offering again.

Elena


----------
(This posting was entered by Elena, an external user of MyDLV.)

[External Poster]

This posting is from: annie
----------

>Carson's Ribs is quite good and might be a good place to go back
>to again.

The one we went to was the one up at Clark and Ridge. The reasons
were that I knew it, and that it's in the general direction of
the Boystown bars that we were gonna do that night.

If we want to, we could try the one in River North. I've been to
that one too, and several years ago the wait was significant for
seating on the weekends.

>I like Portillo's but I don't know if a fast food place is good
>for a Pinkfest lunch. I personally would prefer a sit down place.

The Portillos I was referring to is a fairly large combined
Portillos/Barnellis on Ontario at Clark or so. There'e a lot of
seating space, and IIRC kind of a semi-secluded balcony area.
About the only thing that's not "sit down" about it is that you
order at the counter. I'm not married to this, but I've always
enjoyed it.

>The diner by O'Hare you referred to is probably Hudcap's. It
>has good basic food and is very t-friendly. It would work better
>if many attendees are staying out in the suburbs.

I'm kind of assuming that we'll do one night in the 'burbs. Do
we want to consider that diner instead of Winberies for that
evening maybe?

>The bad news is that I heard Nutbush is being closed. For now it still
>looks open. I will try to find out more information.

That's too bad. :( I liked that place. :(

Here's one thing we should get some feedback on. Do we want to change
our usual order of doing things. I'm talking about something like
doing Lakeview (Boystown) on Thursday, mainly to see what it's like
when it's not insanely crowded, and then doing the west 'burbs on
Friday or Saturday.

Any comments on that, gang?

>There is also a lesbian nightclub called Temptations in the western
>suburbs. a couple of miles from Winberies. Temptations is good on
>Friday and Saturday nights but dead on Thursday nights. This could
>be an alternative to Hunters.

Or, in addition to Hunters. :) I wouldn't mind checking this out.

>For touristy activities last year I suggested the Shedd Aquarium but
>no one said they were interested. I am not sure what attendees might
>be interested. I would love to hear feedback on this.

Ya know, if we have open house sessions most of the afternoons, there
really isn't much time for touristy stuff. Granted that we don't all
have to be doing the same thing.

>I appreciated open houses Theresa, Rachel and Janna have had in past
>years. I appreciate Janna offering again.

Yes, I'm looking forward to Janna's. I'm probably going to make a
point of stopping by Rachel's again whether or not we do an official
open house or not.


----------
(This posting was entered by annie, an external user of MyDLV.)