Easter at bin wine cafe

(Delilah the Easter Bunny via .melanie's photostream)

One of the things I like most about the cafe is its intimacy - it truly is a neighborhood restaurant, and Wicker Park is one of the city's best neighborhoods. There are only 70 seats, and, compared to the downtown restaurant, no mattwe where you stand, you can see each guest in the restaurant. So, when a special holiday meal like Easter Brunch rolls around, it's especially nice to welcome our friends to the cafe. It really feels like family with the wood burning pizza oven shooting its flames and chocolate chip pancakes (my kids' favorites) bubbling on the flat top. And to keep things new and fresh, John's worked on a few dishes for this year's Easter Brunch at bin wine cafe:

Smoked Salmon Benedict
Cornbread Muffin, Poached Eggs, Frisee

Braised Pork Belly
Cornmeal, Scrapple, Eggs any style

Bin Pound Cake

Sour Cream, Brown Sugar, Cinnamon Chantilly Cream

And, of course, mimosa flights, bloody mary flights and, because everyone should indulge on a flight now and then, milk flights for the kids, too.

We opened the cafe in 2005 because we really believed the neighborhood would appreciate a more intimate version of the downtown store - and we have not been disappointed. It's nice to be able to recognize the regulars as well as have the time to meet any new guests who stop in - whether for brunch or dinner, or even just a quick glass of wine.

And, just like an old friend, there are always new things to discover as well. In the next couple of weeks, we'll be completely revamping our menu and our wine by the glass selection. SO, if you are in the neighborhood, stop by and enjoy a few favorites. If you have any suggestions, please pass them on - what are friends for anyway.

And in the meantime, keep your eyes peeled on the blog for post in the works on the Easter Ham at BIN 36 from Swan Creek Farm...

See you soon.

The TweetUp is Coming!

Thinking about Spring... OR, in the words of Robin Williams "Spring is nature's way of saying 'Let's Party'!"

I just got back from a short vacation, and it occurred to me that Spring was just around the corner - safe to say we're done with snow, I think. Baseball is just a few short days away (Go Sox!) and so is Easter. If you haven't been to our Easter Brunch at BIN 36, you should really consider it. The menu is posted on our website and Facebook. We've been hosting Easter Brunch for 10 years - a lot, lot, lot of time to figure out how to do it right.

And, in the spirit of Spring and all things new, we are going to host our first "TweetUp" in the coming weeks. As I learned from Urban Dictionary, a TweetUp is:

A group of friends on Twitter (social network) that are planning to meet up. A request by a user to meet with friends via Twitter.

And, in honor of our first TweetUp at BIN 36, we'll have a dedicated space in the restaurant - and offer unlimited $10 wine flights and $10 cheese flights for those of you who come for the event. It's our first ever social network experiment, which means its success will go only as far as your involvement... we're counting on you to spread the word!


To those who reside in the Land of Twitter, you know we've had a house-made Ahi Tuna Burger at lunch the past couple of days, which is just one example of not only some recent changes to our lunch menu, but the kind of stuff we do on Twitter. It's all immersive, and the next best thing to not hanging out with us in person!



Details on the TweetUp to come... but yeah, "Let's Party!"

The Times They Are a-Changin'

(The sparkling Kendall-Jackson tasting room

via jimg944's photostream)

When we opened BIN 36 ten years ago, we opened a concept that revolutionized the way people approached wine. As has been said before on this blog, wine was intimidating. It was expensive. It was a drink for the bourgeois, and the majority of America had little interest in the bottled beverage outside of White Zinfandel, Cab, and Chardonnay. But we identified a curious thing. People were timidly ready to step beyond Kendall-Jackson, and I think a lot of that has to do with the role TV and media played on food at the turn on the century.

Think about it. Emeril had this country shouting bam! at everything from seasoning a burger on the grill to popping the top off a milk carton; Wolfgang Puck had defined California cuisine, which opened the door to redefinition after redefinition after...; and words like mirepois and reduction and emulsion were beginning to enter the home cook's vernacular. So, to an extent, we opened the restaurant at just the right time, helping guide this new breed of curious eaters and drinkers along the way.

And now look where we are. Culinary school enrollment is at a level never before seen thanks to shows like Top Chef and people like Anthony Bourdain (have you seen how much tickets are going for at his symposium in Chicago tomorrow night?!?!) and websites called things like Foodspotting are taking over. And the word foodie has become such a cliche that it's uncool to declare yourself one, and yet a few years ago not many people even knew what a foodie was. I bet, on a nightly basis, there's a diner at your average restaurant who knows more about the classic dish the chef has put a spin on than the chef knows about the classic dish himself... which means, good chefs? Chefs in the spotlight who've pulled the strings in just the right way like Bourdain? They. Are. Rock. Stars.

(How many badges do you have...?)

And that's why we're embracing the paradigm that's reforming the restaurant industry. This morning we added Foursquare widgets to this blog, which is just an early sign of how we hope to expand our involvement with our friends of the restaurant and encourage other social media users who don't know BIN to maybe give us a chance. Our Twitter audience is still small, so we're discussing Tweet-ups to help us expand our network—I know, what's a Tweet-up? What's a Foursquare? And why is there a mayor of BIN 36? But that's the whole point. Right now, there's a generational gap in the restaurant industry, and it's social media and technology that is at the center of the divide. We're learning as we go, and whether you're a Foursquare mayor at ten spots in Chicago or still have yet to jump on the Facebook bandwagon (What's taking so long at this point!? It's the most used site on the Internet!), we really hope you'll join us as we begin this new journey.

But let's take a step back and think small. Start by reading this NY Times piece about Foursquare, and take it from there, one baby-bammin' step at a time...

Don't Take That Pinot For Granted!

(by Mark Hayes)

(Frozen vineyard via visitharborcountry's photostream)

If the threat of a depleting ozone, once fertile lands turning into arid desert, and drown metropolises has not fostered the motivation to buy funny looking light bulbs, segregate your rubbish, and turn off the faucet when you brush your teeth, perhaps this threat will serve to catalyze some eco-conscious decision making: Global warming is threatening our wine!

Grapes grown for the production of wine can exist only in two distinct latitudinal ranges on our planet. The climate present in these bands allows for the proper temperature both night and day, the appropriate length of seasons, and necessary precipitation for grapes to mature and eventually produce the wine swirling in your glass. Regardless of the debate as to the causes of our Earth’s warming, our planet is getting warmer and, as a result, weather patterns and general climate are altering. A change in average temperature could negate the possibility for optimal viticulture in the most traditional wine making regions.

Don’t get too excited Norway, you won’t be bottling estate grown Cabernets anytime soon, but rising temperatures could have a profound effect on viticultural areas. Areas on the fringe of the latitudinal bands could find themselves possessing the necessary climactic elements to produce quality grapes. In some regions a hotter, longer growing season could lead to more predictable vintages. In already hot climate regions,however, a change in temperature could ultimately provide unsustainable conditions for proper grape growing altogether. We will not lose the wines of southern Rhone overnight. We may never. One thing is sure, if the world gets hotter, some regions of the globe will no longer produce the grapes to create their signature wines. That alone is inspiration enough to buy a few canvas grocery bags and turn the lights off as I leave my apartment.

Mark Hayes is Assistant Wine Director for BIN 36.

What I Like About Cheese

(From Italy, Robiola is made of sheep, cow, and

goat's milk, via foodietot's photostream)

Building a cheese list is sort of like having a party with all your great old friends attending. You have a great time floating from one old friend to the next enjoying each of them for their individual characteristics and quirks. That is what we have just accomplish at our downtown BIN.

We just recently changed the format of the cheese list along with the selection of cheeses. Changing the list is a time for both excitement and trepidation. Excitement because we will soon be asking farmers, cheese-makers, and distributors for samples of cheeses that you may or may not have tasted before. But, all of them will be different from what you have been working with the last few months. And new is always good, right? That is, until you have to say goodbye to your old friends and you won’t know when you will see your old Italian friend Robiola again, or, you don’t know when you will pick nibbles from your herbaceous buddy from Corsica, Fleur du Maquis, you know that one that reminded you of eating pizza!

(With its signature cotton-candy like mold, Fleur du Maquis

means "flower of the maquis," via Cheesewench's photostream)

Some guests will ask me, well, what are your favorites? That can be a difficult question to answer, mainly because the answer can change from day to day depending on what flavors, I guess, I have a hankering for at that moment.

But that’s what we’re encouraging with our new cheese program. You really can come in to BIN and taste for yourself. Something akin to walking into an old fashioned candy store with plenty of different flavors, textures, colors and stories behind each cheese. That is why I love cheese. You just can never get bored.

So now organize a party and invite all your best old friends in to BIN so you can make some new, soon to be old friends. Our cheese! If you want a preview you can view our new cheese list online on the BIN 36 website. Bon Apetito!

Sonoma and a New BIN 36 Wine

(The great Golden Gate via Jim Corwin's photostream)

Timing is everything. Last Sunday when the weatherman was predicting impending doom via 5-10 inches of snow, I flew off to San Francisco and points beyond. And wouldn’t you know it, I was greeted by sheets and sheets of pounding rain upon my California arrival. Nonetheless, I was there on a mission and had to be in Sonoma the following morning. Funny thing was, the weathermen in the Bay area have the same "weather-hype" virus as those in Chicago. Prepare for high winds and more downpours, they predicted. Okay, yeah it drizzled when we over the Golden Gate Bridge, but the storm certainly wasn't a monsoon.

Got to Sonoma early with the sun shining brightly. I point this out because the weather depends so greatly on the maritime influences; temperature, humidity, wind etc. But why in the world was I in Sonoma? Well…

Late this Spring, I will be releasing our first Sauvignon Blanc! The wine is awesome. Its fruit comes from Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma, California, which I chose because the cool maritime influences produce a Sauvignon Blanc grape with juicy acidity. This wine has the classic crisp green apple and white grapefruit flavors with an enticing dollop of tangerine and pristine minerality. These attributes make it a rock star for Asian cuisine such as Thai, Korean and Japanese; seafood and salads; and one of my favorite foods of summer, ceviches!

And if you know me at all, you know there was no way I’d be in one of the world’s premiere agricultural and culinary destinations without eating a meal or two, right?

This beautiful oyster was presented in the shell with caviar and shaved leeks—not gonna lie, I wished I had a sip of the BIN 36 Sauvignon Blanc then— at Saison, which features a tasting menu. A beautiful setting with beautiful food to match.

One of my favorite wine and cheese shops, Say Cheese!

Such a hearty, fresh pasta from Quince.

And homemade goodness from Angele in Napa.

Had a great time in the Golden state, but can't wait for our wine to arrive in Chicago. Keep your eyes peeled for a late April release of the sauvignon blanc!

Arrivederci, A Mano

I guess it should come as no surprise that in this day and age of social media and the ease and accessibility of information via the internet, over the past two days word spread fast we'll be opening A Mano's doors for the last time this Saturday night.

But I have to say, it's a shame. I can't help but think if the economy hadn't fallen like it has, that if we'd opened the restaurant at the same time as we opened bin wine cafe, things might've been different.

Though, we'll be the first to admit our efforts to put A Mano at the center of the Chicago dining map were nothing short of ambitious - which, considering the state of the economy, certainly explains a heck of a lot.

Some might say A Mano opened in the shadow of BIN 36, and I don't know if I could argue for long against that. There's been buzz aplenty on twitter since the news broke, and some claim it was A Mano's location, below street level and therefore hidden from the passing Dearborn traffic, in the "basement" of BIN 36, that hurt its chances at success. Yes, the restaurant was a floor below BIN, but I'd definitely argue that we filled that space pretty darn well. We even installed our own pizza oven (do you know the work that goes into that!?)! But when it comes down to it, consider this: the restaurant required us to fill 10,000 sq. feet of empty space. That's no small task for a restaurant - and though in this day and age of foodie proliferation we often forget - a restaurant is a business, and in order to stay open, a business simply has to make money. Obviously, we weren't able to meet that need - weren't able to compensate the restaurant's vast space with a following large enough to satisfy that need.

I think I speak for all of us at BIN when I say, though we might argue that we could've done this or that differently, we'll all us miss the place tremendously. Whether it be the impeccable pizzas from our oven, the paper thin salumis from our slicer, or John's pristine synergy when preparing some of the freshest seafood dishes in the city, the after work crowd we grew to know and love and pang for when a week went by and a familiar face might've been missing or Springtime on the patio and the cooling perfection of gelato in the summer heat, A Mano definitely had a lot more to offer to this great city.

But that's not to say all is remorseful. With a loss comes a great gain, and as evidenced on the blog and Chicago media for several days now, we've really hunkered down and are moving full-steam ahead with our revitalized efforts at BIN 36. If you're not able to swing by over the next few nights to say goodbye to A Mano, there's ample opportunity to do so by checking out the changes at its sister restaurant, just a floor above.

And with that, a look back at A Mano in pictures (and if you have your own A Mano memories and pictures, we'd love for you to share them with us! Comment here or post on BIN's Facebook page):

An enormous thank you to all of our friends and followers over the past couple years. We'll miss you dearly and hope you'll find a new home at BIN!

And of course:

Arrivederci, A Mano.

A Little Broken Glass in Bucktown

After 4 1/2 years, we were vandalized at bin wine cafe, and, I don't mean the garden variety "tagging" which comes with the neighborhood. I got a call at 3:54 am from our alarm company, and, can you believe it, the perp (is that the right term?) actually got snagged by Chicago's finest. It really helped that a good samaritan saw the dirty deed in progress and help the police to finger the right person. And, as luck would have it, there was no attempted robbery - just somebody looking for a little fun by breaking one of the glass panes on our garage door (or maybe the spirit of Spring telling us she wants the windows open and the sun to shine for all of us...?).

Luckily it happened late enough, nobody was hurt, and we just have to replace the window - too bad it's not summer yet. We might not have even noticed it! Speaking of a change in seasons, the wine cafe will be changing menus in the next couple of weeks so stay tuned. Chef de Cuisine Adam Dittmer is working with John Caputo to update our seasonal menu. We'll let you know when it's up and running, but I think it is going to be the best yet - really!

(Spring, and patio season, is sooooo close!)

Please stop on by the cafe sometime soon and see what's cooking.

Houston, We Have a Soufflé Problem

(Mission Control via Review of U.S. Human

Space Flight Plans Committee's photostream)

The literal translation of Soufflé is to blow, to inflate or to puff up. Let me tell you that after deciding to put a blue cheese soufflé on our new menu, which I felt was important, since it was a menu that was to be the end-all for cheese, my headache began to puff up on a daily basis.

It had been about 11 years since I had worked in a restaurant that served soufflés, so I needed to brush up on my soufflé skills. Not a problem. Well, we worked on the skills, and worked on building a recipe with a smoked blue cheese made by my friend David Gremmels over in the Pacific Northwest at Rogue Creamery. We made soufflés every day for about a week, tweaking the amount of cheese, amount of flour, whipping the egg whites to just the right peaks, getting the ovens at just the correct temperature and figuring out the length of time for baking. Yes, a good soufflé really does require that much work.

After a week of practice, and a fair share of tweaking, we were ready. Or at least so I thought. You see, sometimes in the restaurant business, Murphy’s Law has a way of peaking its pointy little head where it shouldn’t belong.

That takes us to the first Saturday night with the new menu. Big deal, big night. But we’re ready, right? It’s early and okay, hey, a ticket comes in. A soufflé is in the order. No problem, not busy yet, nothing more to concentrate on. I get it in the oven and voila!

Houston, we have lift off.

So maybe there’s an important piece to this puzzle that I’ve neglected to mention: this is a souffle for two people. It’s baked in a 20 oz. cup. That’s a big cup, you catch my drift? It takes forty minutes to cook in the oven. No walk around the park. And if you screw one up, you just might, for a reason it doesn't take a first grader to understand, tend to tick a guest off...

Back to Saturday night and that first soufflé. Sorry to disappoint, but no drama there. That soufflé went in the oven and left our kitchen without a hitch! We even nabbed a picture of it, which has been floating around this blog and other places on the Internet. I like to think it had the look of an old fashioned top hat, puffed straight up. Well, we wouldn’t stay drama free for long. Around 7:45, when the night was picking up some steam, three orders for the soufflé hit us, back to back to back. All three in the oven at the same time. Serendipitous as it was, five minutes later, two more soufflés came in. Why serendipitous? When I placed the two new soufflés next to the three in the oven, I discovered the first three weren’t rising. Why? The oven thought it’d be funny to play a joke on us. It malfunctioned. The thing shut itself off.

(The first Smokey Blue Soufflé to leave the kitchen,

with a Sauternes Syrup hiding in the back)

What in the world do you do at this point? Well, I found another hot oven, fast, and prayed my little tail off! And to make a long story short, all five soufflés left the kitchen and reached our guests at their tables. But I’ll be honest, I’m afraid a couple of them may have been undercooked and left the kitchen undetected to my eye before I could inspect.

To those guests, I truly hope you’ll be back to try them again! The oven is fixed and the soufflés have been getting rave reviews from those willing to spend the forty minutes to wait. Though, with our new cheese flights and our diverse wine list, could there be a better place to spend that time? What’s that saying... “no good deed goes unpunished?”