Opening Day Wed., June 16!

Welcome to the Oak Park, Illinois Mid-Week Market web site. More than a farmers’ market, closer to a street festival, the Mid-Week Market features locally grown fruits and vegetables, food vendors offering a wide selection of ready-to-eat items and local retailers selling goods and services – all in the heart of downtown Oak Park on Lake Street, just east of Harlem Avenue. Local microbrews and wine are available for on-site consumption as well, along with food demonstrations and live music. Held each Wednesday from mid-June through mid-September, the Mid-Week Market is open from 4 – 9 p.m. For more information, e-mail midweekmarket@oak-park.us.

Enjoy a beer dinner featuring Symposium Ale, the collaborative beer brewed by Illinois Craft Brewers Guild member brewers for the Chicago Craft Brewers Conference (April 7-10). Four delicious courses, served with one of the four base beers (Strong Scotch Ale, Imperial IPA, Imperial Stout, Barley Wine) and finally the Symposium Ale (barrel-aged and blended base beers) with dessert.

Symposium Ale Dinner – Make reservations by calling 708.725.7200 or click on the reservations link on our HOME page.

$60 including beer/ but not tax and gratuity.

First Course
Baby arugula + ruby grapefruit + cashews + hop honey vinaigrette
—Double IPA

Second Course
Sunchoke soup + crispy sunchoke + malt powder + Spanish olive oil
—Strong Scotch Ale

Third Course
Artisan cheese course + stout jam + candied nuts
—Imperial Stout

Fourth Course
Heirloom Pork Belly + Barleywine gastrique + Graue Mills grits
—Barleywine

Dessert
Deconstructed Symposium
A cacophony of delights created from the elements of the symposium ale
— Symposium Ale

An Evening of GREED  with MSCM and Al Gini
and you thought LUST was provocative??

Executive Chef Leonard Hollander has crafted a gourmet greed-themed dinner menu and Loyola University Chicago’s Al Gini will be providing the food for thought with a discussion on another deadly sin: GREED.  Join us to celebrate and/or condemn Tax Day 2010!  So, if you hunger for dinner and a show, join us for an   evening of greed on Tuesday, April 13th @ 7:00pm. $40 per person.   Make your reservations by calling 708.725.7200

The Menu
asparagus bisque + smoked asparagus + black truffle crema
golden beets + honey glazed almonds + capriole chevre
roasted sableish + forbidden rice + charred scallions
coconut coffee tart + vanilla bean honey + cayenne crisp

George Washington was a devout beer lover. In particular, he was fond of the dark, English-style brew known as porter, and always demanded that an ample supply of it be kept on hand at Mount Vernon, his Virginia estate. However, it was not porter, but rather “small beer,” for which Washington once recorded an early recipe. Preserved in the manuscript collections of the New York Public Library is a notebook kept by Washington, which includes the following hand-written recipe.

“To Make Small Beer
Take a large Siffer [Sifter] full of Bran Hops to your Taste. — Boil these 3 hours then strain out 30 Gall[ons] into a cooler put in 3 Gall[ons] Molasses while the Beer is Scalding hot or rather draw the Melasses into the cooler & St[r]ain the Beer on it while boiling Hot. let this stand till it is little more than Blood warm then put in a quart of Yea[s]t if the Weather is very Cold cover it over with a Blank[et] & let it Work in the Cooler 24 hours then put it into the Cask — leave the bung open till it is almost don[e] Working — Bottle it that day Week it was Brewed.”

PS. In case you don’t have a cask or bran hops, you can stop in at MSCM and we’ll help you select the perfect beer – growler or bottles!  Toast the President’s today with a nice porter!

Monday, January 11, 2010   /   7:00pm

Pete Crowley of Rock Bottom Brewery in Chicago is at it again.  Five courses, five great beers. Executive Chef, Leonard Hollander, has written a menu that will pair perfectly with some amazing beer from some incredible Illinois breweries.  Brewmasters from Goose Island, Gordon Biersch, America’s Brewing, Flossmoor Station and Rock Bottom Brewery will be participating. Cost: $55, which includes a beer flight but not tax or gratuity.  Call 708.725.7200 to reserve your spot!

Welcome!  America’s Brewing Pilsner

First

Stuffed Peppers

piquillo peppers + whitefish brandade + marcona almond romesco

Beer: Flossmoor Station’s Panama Red

Second

Soup & Salad

chestnut bisque + crispy parmesan + mushroom salad

Beer:  Goose Island Brewpub’s Alt

Third

American artisan cheese course

Beer:  Stilton with Rock Bottom’s Imperial Red, Cheddar with Flossmoor Station’s Pullman Brown

Fourth

Duck Pasta

duck leg confit + white truffle ricotta + local butternut squash

Beer: Gordon Biersch’s Marzen

Fifth

Kumquat Duo

dark chocolate truffle

+

 Tiramisu

Beer:  Rock Bottom’s Bourbon Imperial Stout