The Hound hasn't been this happy since discovering a drive-through liquor store somewhere west of Amarillo. What is tickling The Hound is the announcement by Chicago area McDonald's that they're now open 24 hours. You have a middle-of-the-night Big Mac attack? Now you can soothe it, with fries.
Participation varies by restaurant, and 24-hour service is not available everywhere. Yet, the Oak Brook-based chain says as of now the majority of restaurants in the region will offer late-night diners a drive-through menu. What took McDonald's so long to figure out this around-the-clock feature?
It should have happened sooner, especially considering places that used to be all-night diners are now shutting their doors before midnight. Not that The Hound prowls that late at night, but it is a consolation if the hunger pains come calling knowing there is a place open to get a bite.
Does this mean the rest of the fast-food industry will follow the giant's lead? Only time and appetites will tell.
The Hound likes to gnaw on a turkey leg on Turkey Day. There's turkeys and then there's real turkeys and we're not talking about those folks in the country of Turkey. We're talking folks like Sen. Dick Durbin, who some Illinoisans would like to carve up today.
That's because the Illinois Democrat, who just cakewalked into another six-year term, has decided he's thinking about maybe asking President Bush to grant clemency to former Gov. George Ryan, the Republican who's eating pressed turkey today at a federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind. Maybe Durbin was floating a trial balloon, but The Hound surmises it's turned into a lead Zeppelin --- and we're not talking about the band.
For Durbin's musing about giving Ryan a get-out-jail-free card, he's a turkey.
But then so is President-elect Barack Obama. He's plucking those ex-Clintonites from a government in exile faster than feathers get plucked on turkeys. This is change? If The Hound knew Obama was going to pack his cabinet with former Clintonians, what was wrong with Hillary in the first place?
With the election over, the media are being turkeys over Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. She was filmed being interviewed at a turkey processing facility which everyone jumped on. Was it Wattlegate or what? How do you think turkeys get to the Thanksgiving table. They walk there?
Another big turkey is Gov. Rod Blagojevich. What's this plan for carpooling lanes on the tollways? How are you going to police it, Gov. Turkey. With a gobble here and a gobble there? Can 2010 come too soon for this turkey?
At one time, Chicago was the city Billy Sunday couldn't shut down. It was hog butcher to the world, city of big shoulders as Carl Sandburg said. Right now, it once again is the laughing stock of the National League. For a change, it's not because of the Cubs.
Chicago officials, led by by Mayor Richard M. Daley, want to cap the serving of alcoholic beverages during "clinch" games from the seventh inning at Wrigleyville saloons until the end while the Cubs burn their way to the World Series this October. What are they thinking?
Once again, they're not. These are the same people who have made Chicago a "sanctuary city" for illegal immigrants. These are the same people who banned foie gras. These are the same people who banned gun ownership. These are the same people who have turned nearly half the city's taxable property into tax-increment districts.
What a bunch of party poopers. What are they afraid of? Chicago has some of the meanest cops --- at least when they're off duty and beating the you-know-what out of barmaids and suburbanites. Put some cops in the area around the ballpark and let them beat up on any drunkards who decide they want to rip off some World Series souvenirs. Let's face it, Chicago cops haven't had a chance for wholesale beatings and the possibility of getting away with it since the 1968 Democratic convention.
Besides, what does this say about the city hosting a world-class event, like the 2016 Olympics? You think Cubs fans can get out of control? City officials obviously haven't met European soccer hooligans.
The Hound is disappointed to hear that there might not be any cockroach eating contests this fall at Six Flags Great America's annual Fright Fest. Like cats, they taste just like chicken. For all you cockroach-eating aficionadoes, you'll just have to travel to Madagascar and hunt for those giant hissing roaches.
Six Flags corporate folks apparently have caved into complaints by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, who protested the past two years the downing of the live cockroaches during the Halloween-inspired Fright Fest. They've made the decision to ban the event at the Six Flags Magic Mountain in California, although the Gurnee park is still on the bubble. Those PETA folks sure know how to take the fun out of things.
The Hound doesn't see theses vegans complaining about the eating of crickets, nightcrawlers or wax worms, which are also served up at Great America's fall festivities. Park goers eat the creatures to earn front-of-the-line passes to rides and year passes.
PETA's bluenoses called the Six Flags decision "compassionate", calling the eating of the bugs, "insect abuse." Would they have the same feelings about eating mosquitoes?
Just when you think all is lost, like in the bottom of the seventh and Red Sox J.D. Drew launches a rope over the short right-field wall in Yankee Stadium, tying the All-Star game, something enters the picture to make everything all right. Like MillerCoors locating its headquarters and upward of 400 new jobs into Illinois.
Chicago won out over several other cities for the mega-brewing corporation, just as Belgium beer conglomerate InBev, purchases Budweiser, the last big U.S. beer maker. MillerCoors cited Chicago's labor pool, transportation and business resources as the reason to live the Rockies and Milwaukee for the Windy City. Also, Illinois business development folks are giving the firm, which merged the second and third largest brewers, an $18 million investment package for tax credits over 15 years, job training and a grant to offset upfront capital expenses.
But, MillerCoors is planning a $39.5 million investment in Chicago and Illinois. And, they're bringing good-paying, executive-level jobs to the state. Who said it's cheaper to do business in the Badger State?
While the exact location has not been determined, or MillerCoors folks aren't saying where they want to park the city's newest corporate citizen, this sure looks like a coup for the city and Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who can crow about bringing jobs to Illinois, even with a recalcitrant Legislature.
Looks like The Hound will be drinking a few new beer brands during baseball season. Skol!
You still have time to join The Hound in toasting the 75th anniversary --- July 10, 1933 --- of the day when Illinois officially helped end Prohibition by ratifying the 21st Amendment to the Constitution. Yup, hoist one, or two or more. But do it, as all things, in moderation.
Although the national repeal of Prohibition wasn't finalized until Dec. 5, 1933, the brewing industry always recognizes July 10, 1933 as the day the taps would eventually be opened. According to the Beer Institute, once Prohibition was repealed, more than $25 million in economic activity was generated across the nation, producing more than 50,000 jobs at the height of the Great Depression.
The Institute also points out that the beer industry in Illinois now contributes $6.2 billion to the state economy, supporting 64,783 jobs. Who knows how that will shake out if InBev, the Belgium-based brewing company, takes over the largest U.S. brewer, Budweiser.
Anyway, you have until midnight to sip a few beers and toast the end of one of the nation's worst social experiments. Cheers!
Today kicks off a week of Fourth of July activities, a time of fireworks, parades, cook outs and summer fun. Most area barbecues will have brats, burgers, ribs, steaks, hot dogs and beverages. Some will even have red, white and blue maki.
What's that, you say you won't be having red, white and blue maki? Neither will The Hound. It's so wrong.
But Wildfish in Deerfield, at 730 Waukegan Road will, if you're inclined to ignore the all-American favorites. On July 4, the eatery will be holding a special tasting of red tuna, superl white tuna and back Tobiko, which will create the patriotic hue. The special will be laid over the top of a spicy tuna, avoado and cucumber-filled maki. Yum! --- not.
It's so wrong. Pass the soy sauce or wasabi --- not!
Despite our multiculturalism, The Hound will stick to the usual summer fare, if you don't mind.
You say tomato, your significant other says tomahto and The Hound says salmonella. The news that two Lake Countians --- a youth from Waukegan, a woman from Ingleside --- have been linked to the national outbreak of cases of salmonella has everyone thinking: "Did I eat a tomato recently?"
Yes folks, it's the Great Tomato Crisis of '08 as Americans take a bite out of the latest vegetable panic. The Centers for Disease Control has said that since mid-April, 167 people in 17 states have been infected with salmonella with the same "genetic fingerprint" after eating tainted tomatoes. At least 23 people have been hospitalized.
Meanwhile, area fast-food chains and other eateries have stopped serving sliced tomatoes as a result of the outbreak.
The Hound would get into the symptoms of salmonella, but they're icky. Besides, trust The Hound on this one, you don't want to get it.
While health officials expect to crack this new food-borne salmonella outbreak, they say it is safe for consumers to eat tomatoes grown in Florida and California. Anybody remember the spinach outbreak of '06, when E. coli was the culprit?
No wonder folks in Gurnee are planting a community "victory garden". What foods can you trust? Anybody besides Denny Crane remember Mad Cow disease?
And, pray tell, what will this tomato crisis do to for those of us who crave ketchup, spaghetti sauce and salsa this summer? Will we be at risk if tainted tomatoes enter that food stream?
While organizers of the Madison Brat Fest, the world's largest, were hoping to break the record for the most bratwursts consumed over the Memorial Day weekend, there they were, the food police, handing out tofu and turkey brats. That is so wrong, especially in Wisconsin.
Can you see somebody ordering a tofu bratwurst at Miller Field, and asking for that special sauce? Milwaukee cops would on 'em faster than they'd jump an over-served Cubs fan. Imagine walking into Usinger's in Milwaukee and asking for a tofu brat. Hrumph!
In Mad City, they certainly like their bratwursts. Last year, 189,433 of the tasty sausages supplied by the folks at the Johnsville brand, were downed. This year, they were hoping to pass the 200,000 mark, which would break the 2004 record by about 10,000 brats.
Yum!
But back to the veggie brats. According to The Associated Press, organizers of the counter Veggie Brat Fest, said their product is healthier and more humane. They should join the anti-foie gras brigade and the rest of the patrolmen and women in the food police.
By the way, they gave out 600 veggie brats. Guess that showed 'em.
They don't make foie gras kibble, so The Hound has never had the chance to taste what many consider to be a delicacy. But after a two-year ban on the rich livers made by stuffing feed down the throat of geese and ducks, Chicagoans are free at last to dine on foie gras.
The Chicago City Council, with more than a little prodding from Mayor Richard M. Daley, voted overwhelmingly the other day to ignore the bleatings from the increasingly powerful animal rights lobby and Ald. Joe "Foie Gras" Moore (as hizzoner dubbed the alderman) to allow restaurants to once again serve the dish.
The Hound understands it just wasn't a foie gras-free zone down in the big city. Enforcement of the law was done with a wink and a nod. Like speakeasies of old, those in the know knew the passwords to tony eateries to get their lips around foie gras, French for "fat liver", at between $20 and $25 a pop for a serving about the size of a pack of cigarettes.
The Hound, who has known to chase a few Canada geese at retention ponds around area office parks, always felt If people want to eat goosey foods or they want to eat something they like, they should have the option. Whether it be a fowl's pumped up internal organ or french fries plump with trans fats, it should be the diner's choice. At least in free countries.
The Hound also understands animal rights activists who consider foie gras a cruel dish because geese and ducks are force-fed to make their livers bigger. The Hound wouldn't want to be force-fed. Who wants their livers to be bigger?
So, a Grey Goose toast to Chicago aldermen who finally saw the light and decided, if the 2016 Olympics are headed this way, that foie gras has to be on the menu. After all, the French no doubt will be sending a contingent of Olympians to the Windy City.
