John Garrido appeared on the Beat Cop’s Guide radio show. He’s got a lot of great ideas, and his service to this city already is unparalleled in the 45th Ward. You can hear the interview by opening the post and click here: John Garrido Interview. Get out and vote for John if you live in the 45th Ward. If you don’t live in the ward help him out by going to johngarrido.com and donating or volunteering.

Chicago Curry House
899 S. Plymouth Ct.
Chicago, I’ll 60605
312-362-9999

The entrance to Chicago Curry House is located on 9th St. just west of State Street, some people from work invited me for the lunch buffet. It’s been years since I’ve had Indian food, and I don’t remember liking it very much. Now that I am a professional restaurant reviewer, I felt it was my duty to try new things and report on them.

CCH is a beautiful restaurant. As anyone who has read the book and this website knows, $10.00 is my limit for lunch, and I try not to do that much. In my new job, I don’t go out to lunch too often, and it would have been kind of rude to just leave. The dinner menu was definitely out of my range for lunch, I would consider taking my wife there for date night. The lunch buffet, however, was just out of my range, with drinks and a generous tip, it was $15.00.

To drink I had a mango lassi. Made from yogurt and pureed mango, it was thick and sweet. While it tasted great, I thought it was a little too thick and heavy for a buffet lunch. If I go back, I would probably order it instead of dessert instead as an accompaniment to the main meal.

Since it was a buffet, and since I was trying new stuff, I ate a little bit of as many things as I could. I’ll list them, in no particular order.

• Samosa, a cone pastry with vegetables, was probably the best thing I had. Kind of like an Indian egg roll. Fried crispy and full of vegetables.
• Khasi Ko Maasu is goat meat on the bone in gravy. Very tasty. I was a little leery of eating goat meat. I thought it would be gamey, but it wasn’t. It was the consistency of pot roast, with it’s own distinctive taste.
• Jeera Aloo, a potato dish made up of boiled potatoes, curry and other spices, and vegetables. It was served hot, but was not spicy. It was a good counter point to the Tandoor Chicken.
• Tandoor Chicken was very well done. This was one of the dishes that I’ve had before, and I really liked the chicken at CCH. It was a little spicy, but not overwhelmingly so.
• Aloo Ko Achar, a cold potato dish. Looked like potatoes o’brien. It was cold, but heavily spiced. I was in the mood for spicy, so it was good to me. But be prepared!
• Gajar Ka Halwa, carrot pudding. By far the most interesting dish of the aftenoon. I wouldn’t have gone near it if a woman sitting with us hadn’t raved so much about it. It was made from carrots, condensed milk, and cream. Sounds weird, right? But it tasted fantastic!
• Palak Paneer, spinach, cottage cheese, and tofu mixed together as a dip for the pitas that were put on the table, like bread is in other restaurants.

All in all, a great meal. I would recommend it to any of my friends.

I went for a walk with my wife and youngest spawn today. After our local school’s open house, an enjoyable afternoon discussing where she should go to kindergarten, we decided to walk over to the bakery for a cookie.

It’s been a long time since we’ve done this. I remember walking to the bakery when the older kids were younger, but they are at the point where they will give me money not to appear in public with them.

I was surprised to find that the Gladstone bakery was closed. I drive by it all the time. The yellow awnings are as much a part of Chicago’s backdrop to me as the Sears Tower is. It’s closed now, and that’s too bad. However, it didn’t take two minutes for me to just decide to walk a few more blocks and go to Chicago Sweet Connection. I got sweet rolls and coffee. We had a great time, and the sweet rolls were as good as any I ever had from Gladstone.

Why do we miss things like that? Is it the changes in the world around us that people hate? Or the fact that we won’t have any more memories involving that place?

The point is, Chicago Sweet Connection has good apple danish.

Last night on the show, Chris and I tied to explain what being a Democrat or a Republican means to us. We failed miserably. It got me thinking that while we argue politics all the time, we always end up arguing about specific issues and not how those issues affect the rest of society.

I’d like to do a little research over the next week and come up with a simple, comprehensive definition of the parties. Please join in. Leave a comment, and tell us what your definition of Democrats or Republicans is. If you want, leave us a voice mail by clicking on the button on the right, we’ll play it on the air.

Our show is Friday’s at 6pm, at www.chicagotalkradio.net

My friend Digger died yesterday. He died the way he lived, laughing at adversity.

For years my wife and I would spend New Years Eve with Digger and Billie. We would eat in the French/Vietnamese restaurant in his building and listen to his stories, and toast the new year. after a few drinks my wife would play the piano and everybody in the restaurant would sing. Between parenting, and a job that meant I work a lot of new years eve’s we eventually stopped going to the big pink building on the lake, but I still remember those years as some of the best New Year parties.

Digger was a true Renaissance Man. He raced bikes, owned bars, became a preacher, and married people. He lived life to the fullest, never seemed to regret any setback, and always seemed comfortable with the choices he made. Above all, he was a story teller and talk for hours without becoming boring.

His father was a war hero who died in 1945 at the battle of Luzon. when the Chicago Public Library opened up a branch on Ainslie, they named it after Digger’s Dad.

We called him Digger because he once worked as an assistant coroner, we called him Old Business, and at any meeting when it was time for ”old business,” Digger got the first word.

When I talked to Billie yesterday, she told me he died. She told me that he called her to tell her he was in the ambulance, and that this time, he was going to stiff the city for the charges. Then he laughed.

By 7:00 am, he was ashes. Digger was the American Knights Motorcycle Club chaplain. I heard him once at a wake give the ”ashes to ashes” speech; but I know he believed in heaven, and I know he believed he was going there. I hope he’s able to look down at us and I hope he understand that I’m saying So long, Brother, I’ll miss you.

You’re Invited — February 3 — Cultural Center

All Things Local: Local Authors, Local Topics, Local Businesses,
Local Publisher

WHERE: Chicago Cultural Center, 1st Floor Publishers Gallery (Randolph Entrance)

WHEN: February 3, 6 p.m. — 8 p.m.

Lake Claremont Press is partnering with the Publishing Industries Program of the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs to bring you this smashing celebration of all thing local related to the release of our four newest guidebooks.

–Historic Bars of Chicago (Sean Parnell)
–Carless in Chicago (Jason Rothstein)
–Oldest Chicago (David Anthony Witter)
–The Beat Cop’s Guide to Chicago Eats (Sgt. David J. Haynes & Christopher Garlington)

Enjoy free food and drink–including Schlitz beer honoring its proud Chicago tied-house heritage–compliments of some of the local businesses featured in our guidebooks.

Win raffle prizes donated by some of the local businesses featured in our latest releases, including the Willowbrook Ballroom, Hot Doug’s, Twin Anchors, Miller’s Pub, The Metro, Schubas, and the Old Town Ale House.

Enjoy local musicians discovered by the ”Carless in Chicago” amongst us.

Meet the authors and buy autographed copies of their books at great discounts.

Meet with representatives of local organizations that also support the mission of these books, including the Chicago Bar Project, Active Transportation Alliance, Preservation Chicago, and Local First Chicago, and learn what cool things they’re up to.

Space is limited and will be more heavily advertised to the public in the next two weeks. As family and friends of the authors and Lake Claremont Press, you are receiving advance notice. Please RSVP to: lcp@lakeclaremont.com.

Dave and Chris engaged in research.

Chris and I received word today that the Beat Cop’s Guide has gone to the printer. The publisher says that the book should be out within the next couple weeks. We are planning on having a book release party. if you have any idea we should have our release party, then please click on the call me button and leave us a message. next radio show will be on January 7 at the Cigar King. Where will probably have more information about the book release.

To all our democrat acquaintances:

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, our best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. We also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2011, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere. Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishes.

To our Republican friends:

Merry Christmas and warmest wishes this holiday season.

–As posted by the Second City Cop, thank you.

Recently Lt. Maureen Ziegenhorn sent this email to the Superintendent:

Dear Superintendent Weis,

Over twenty years ago when I was a new police officer, I remember that we were all requested to put a ”Blue Light” in our window during the holiday season in honor of our fallen brothers and sisters from the current year and years past. I have not heard of anyone doing this for many years.

We have suffered many losses this year and I think it is time to bring back this tradition. Would you please assist me in this mission and somehow get the message out to all our members, family and friends.
Please let the ”Blue Light” shine during this holiday season and all the holiday seasons to come.

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Maureen E. Ziegenhorn
Lieutenant
19th District

This is a great idea and we feel that it is a great way to show our respect for and to honor fallen officers. All it takes is a blue light in your porch light or a blue light in your window. Let your neighbors know too. I also remember doing this when I was a young police officer. My step-mother Angie Haynes used to send out flyers. In recent years, it seems the Fraternal Order of Police has stopped supporting the FOP Auxiliary, and a lot of these great programs have fallen by the wayside.

There are a million images of blue light bulbs on the net, how about changing your facebook image too?

On Monday morning at 8:00a.m. Dave will be interviewed on channel 26, WCIU-The U. He will be on You and Me This Morning, talking to Jeanne Sparrow and Melissa Foreman about “The Beat Cop’s Guide to Chicago Eats.” Tune in. You can click on the link to see their blog and leave some questions you want them to ask Dave.

We only have 7 Days left on the Kickstarter Fund-raising page. Please log in to pre-order a book or pledge even more to help us get the book out early.