Spring is near!

Since opening Lula in 1999, I've had this rule about Spring: no asparagus until the Klugs bring it in from Michigan. But it's been such a long, long winter - and a chef's dogma tends to get weak with age, right?  So I'm breaking my own rule for this Monday night's Farm Dinner.

This wild asparagus was foraged in Oregon. The West Coast's wild asparagus season is usually just two or three weeks long, like a snapshot dream of what's to come in the Chicago markets of May, when Mick Klug will bring his steady supply and fill our menus, both brunch and dinner, with the premier vegetable of spring.

So come on in this Monday night! We're serving this foraged asparagus for the first course at Farm Dinner, our Monday tradition of experimentation and seasonality and whim. (In the decade-plus that we've been doing Farm Dinner, we've never repeated a dish. How many new ideas have been created since '99? Somebody did the math once and it gave me vertigo.)

Thanks to Rod Markus at Rare Tea Cellars for finding this amazing wild green and jumbo white asparagus. If you don't know him, he's #39 on New City's 'The Big Heat' list published last week, and man for all seasons for us cooks in Chicago.

  

- Jason Hammel 

Make your reservation by calling 773-489-9554 or visiting opentable.com/lula-cafe. 

Walk-ins are always welcome!

In addition to the Farm Dinner menu, our Café and Specials menus are also available on Monday evenings.

Jungle Byrd

Jungle Birds are making a real comeback these days. A tiki drink invented in 1978 at the Kuala Lumpur Hilton, right at the tail end of the first wave of tiki's popularity, this recipe is striking a chord with modern cocktail enthusiasts. Robert Simonson of The New York Times explores all the reasons behind the resurgence in this recent story, and here at Lula, we've put our own little spin on the recipe: 

Jungle Byrd - Black Strap Rum, Campari, Byrrh, Pineapple, Lime

Disappears

Have you ever wondered what happens on Tuesday nights when Lula’s closed? Mostly, we’re just closed, but sometimes we’re doing this:

Read more at Filter.