The Angry Waiter

Judith “As if Idol isn’t gay enough” Weirauch (pictured), a former bartender who fled the Denver bar scene nine months ago to pursue her dream of going to grad school, won last night’s preliminary round of Gay Idol at @mosphere Bar (5355 N. Clark St.).

Judith brought down the house with a killer rendition of Janis Joplin’s Cry Baby and walked away with $100.

Second place went to James (no last name-pictured with Judith below) who squeezed out a victory singing New York, New York. James won tickets to Broadway in Chicago’s Avenue Q.

Judith and James advance to the semi-finals to be held Saturday, May 31, at Sidetrack (3349 N. Halsted) where they will compete against winners from eight other Chicago bars and the winners from a wild card round.

Semi-final winners, which Judith is sure to be among, compete for a $1000 Grand Prize and other prizes Friday, June 13 at Circuit Night Club (3641 N. Halsted).

Go Judith!

The Note (1565 N. Milwaukee Ave.), one of Wicker Park’s most eclectic and affordable music and performance venues, takes its final bows tonight, Sunday, turning off its iconic neon signs for good.

The owners aren’t abandoning the space, but they are ditching the live music and dj’s in favor of a jukebox. Word is they’re ripping out the stage and dj booth, remodeling the bar and re-opening in one month under a new, yet to be decided (or maybe just yet to be disclosed) name.

The decision to close The Note apparently centers around eliminating the cover charge. Bands and dj’s cost money which means customers here paid a cover - usually $6 - $10 - and that chased away customers just looking to drink and hangout.

The Note first opened in Bucktown as the awesomely loud, always packed “The Blue Note.” In 1996, they moved to Wicker Park, losing the “Blue” along the way. The owners also own Nick’s Beer Garden (1516 N. Milwaukee Ave.) and the new Nick’s on Wilson (1140 W. Wilson).

Though The Note will be missed, most important to The Angry Waiter is the future of the staff. According to a bartender there, all of the staff is being retained.

Cafe Bong (5706 N. Clark) - though it may technically be named “Cafe Bong Ho” - is small, run down, a little gross and kind of pathetic and I hope, selfishly, that it never gains a wide reputation as “The Newest, Coolest Dive Bar.”

No, the beauty of this hole-in-the-wall is that it’s seemingly known to only a few…and I hope it stays that way.

Located about one block north of Bryn Mawr on the west side of Clark Street, Cafe Bong is easy to miss. The sign hanging over the sidewalk gives the impression the place is a cheap Korean restaurant. There are no large picture windows here for passersby to peak in. Instead, the facade is nondescript, bricked up save for a small, rectangular window at eye-level or higher.

Nothing about the outside indicates this is one whacky dive bar.

Everything on the inside screams dive - A few tall tables, about 18 - 20 seats at the long, dusty bar, a slightly under-sized pool table, no real decorations to speak of and bathrooms that make using the alley seem appealing.

Walk into The Bong unprepared and you’re likely to turn right around and go elsewhere…unless you know its secret appeal. Read the rest of this entry →

The Chicago Tribune today ran an interesting article about how tips are divided among restaurant employees and how some restaurants keep a portion of credit card tips to cover the fees charged to the restaurants by credit card companies.

There’s nothing in this article restaurant, bar and coffee house people don’t already know, but it may help inform a few of your customers.

And for you restaurant and bar patrons reading this, if you really want to do something nice for your server, pay your bill with a credit card, but tip with cash.

Los Angeles actor Dominic Pace submitted his 2004 film short, The Server, to The Angry Waiter recently for your viewing pleasure.

It’s the story of a super-hero, The Server, and his busboy sidekick who track down poor tipping, overly-demanding customers.

Just so everyone knows, I’m trying to stay away from the “Customers Suck” theme of so many service industry websites and blogs out there. I’m also a little uncomfortable with some of the stereotypes portrayed in this video.

Dominic, who wrote and directed The Server, has a fairly extensive IMDb profile and The Angry Waiter is always happy to promote the work of people in the industry, so I’m going to assume Dominick was poking fun at those stereotypes and not promoting them.

Fans of art, music, photography and performance packed Plan B (1635 N. Milwaukee) Wednesday night for the first B-Side Art Show - a multi-medium show featuring bands, an original one act play, video art and an Amy Winehouse impersonator so dead -on I feared she’d be hauled away to the nearest rehab center before the show was over.

Two bartenders and a dj-turned-photographer were the real hit of the show, though.

Plan B’s own Jamie Reda (pictured), one of the event’s organizers, offered up probably the hottest exhibit of the evening, drawings of human nudes. But, these aren’t your run-of-the-mill nudes - rather than human heads, Jamie draws cartoon rabbit faces and heads on her figures.

Her work combines the beauty of the adult human form with the playfulness and unexpectedness of childhood. If you’re interested in seeing more of Jamie’s work, you can call her at 773-541-1310, but don’t expect her to answer…just leave a message.

Rodney Toler, a professional photographer who took the night off from his part-time bartending gig at T’s Bar and Restaurant (5025 N. Clark), showed six of his pieces - 20 inch by 20 inch photos shot with a 35mm camera, transfered to poloraids and then manipulated giving the photos a somewhat surrealistic feel. Viewers asked him all evening if they wear photos or paintings.

My favorite was a picture of Chicago’s skyline reflected off The Bean sculpture in Millenium Park and then manipulated so the buildings looked as if they were being blown sideways by the wind.

Ben Zeab, a dj and a photographer who chronicles Chicago’s nightlife scene, obviously has a talent for capturing the essence of his subjects. His portraits were hard to miss and few did. Maybe it’s all his years in the club scene - Ben obviously knows how to spot a pretty face and he knows how to shoot one too.

Let’s hope this is just the beginning for B-Side. The crowd has a good time, the entertainment was a blast and, as far as The Angry Waiter is concerned, it was great way for at least three people in the service industry to get some exporsure.

Word is Uncommon Ground (1401 W. Devon) in Edgewater is planning to host an Industry Performance Night on Mondays starting in June.

I don’t have all the details, but as I understand it, the idea is to provide a space for service industry people to come out and play their music.  Since so many restaurant, bar and coffee house people work nights, they miss out on a lot of opportunities to play.  This is Uncommon Ground’s answer to that problem.

This is exactly the type of event The Angry Waiter can get behind.  So, start practicing your guitar licks, warm up those voices and get ready to show your fellow bartenders, servers and baristas what you’ve got.

And, for those of you not in the service industry…don’t worry, you’re invited to come and play too.

As I said, I’ll provide more details as they become available.  Oh, and the picture here is of the original Uncommon Ground (3800 N. Clark St.) sorry for the confusion.

Last week, while hanging out in Chicago’s Lincoln Square neighborhood, I watched as an Orkin Commercial Services representative parked his truck and went inside a local business.

As I approached his truck, I saw what looked like a pro-life bumper sticker.  Sure enough, it was.

I don’t mean to make light of an important issue, but the idea of a guy who kills bugs and rodents for a living riding around town with a right-to-life bumper sticker on the back of his work vehicle struck me as more than a little ironic.

Yes, I have a sick mind…My first thought was, “I wonder how the mommy cockroaches and mommy mice feel about this guy?”

To be fair, I called Orkin’s media representative and he says Orkin takes no stance on abortion.  Also, he says the truck is a company owned truck, not a private vehicle, and that Orkin’s policy does not allow drivers to place their own bumper stickers on company trucks.

The bumper sticker includes a web address for VictoryWon.com.  From what I can tell, VictoryWon seems to specialize in selling all sorts of pro-life merchandise including models of fetuses in various stages of development, t-shirts and my favorite, abortion-related Christmas ornaments.

Obviously, this guy’s no Buddhist.

Looking for something fun and cheap to do tonight?

Get yourself over to Plan B, 1635 N. Milwaukee, for the B-Side Art Show.

The show features the art and photography of seven artists, including a few who work in the bar business.  There’ll also be dj’s and performances.

The show runs from 7pm to 2am,  it’s free, there’s no cover and on Wednesday’s Plan B offers half-priced bottles of wine and appetizers, $3 bud light drafts and $5 burgers.

Support your fellow service industry workers!

Eight days. That’s how long I’ve debated over what to write about the newest bar in Rogers Park, The Glenwood Bar (6962 N. Glenwood). And, as of today, that’s how long it’s been since the place opened.

My job here at The Angry Waiter is to write about the restaurant, bar and coffee house scene, especially the scene here in Chicago, from an insider’s perspective. I tap my sources in the industry - bartenders, servers, baristas, managers, owners - for information only they would know. When I tell those stories, I do it with a certain amount of professional distance.

That’s not possible with The Glenwood Bar.

My dilemma is that I’ve known the owner, Colm Treacy, for more than five years. He also owns T’s Bar and Restaurant (5025 N. Clark St.) and Sofo Bar (4923 N. Clark St.). Read the rest of this entry →