thank you

They say more than 80% of restaurants go out of business in their first year. 5yrs ago today, I opened a new concept with characteristics that this City had never seen before, but sorely needed, called Rockit Bar & Grill, w/my partners Brad Young & Arturo Gomez. We received Best Restaurant locally, Best Burger nationally (something we set out for from day one) & the picture above shows us stunned to all heck when we were honored nationally as operators of the year!

I owe this good life to all the hard work, faith, loyalty, support, commitment & sacrifice put forth every day & night for years & years by my partners Brad & Arturo, and from our 500+ employee / teammates, and those that worked w/us in the past, and to our investors for believing in us even when we weren’t proven, and to all the visiting guests & fellow chicagoans out there that allowed us to serve them, and anyone who has in anyway been nice to us and shown us a fair chance & friendly support….

….thank you for letting us do what we love….

 

Filed under General | Comments (2)

transformers in chicago

Wow, look what resurfaced w/ all the hype about transformers this week- Someone sent this pic of me & shia labeouf hanging out @ the underground about an hour before his infamous silly arrest at walgreens- and wanted a comment- well, ya- we had a lot of fun, but nothing too outrageous- scary thing was, I called it a night sending him to his hotel jokingly writing on my biz card “call me if get lost or arrested!”  omg- was kidding!

Anyway, shia is a smart dude, really talented and an interesting character… I’m sure he will rock this movie.  I actually got to catch up w/ another chicago visitor/fan my old buddy transformer director michael bay over dinner at sunda couple wks ago and he was just in a zone about how hard they worked on it, how great it turned out, how psyched he was for all to see- so no doubt, these 2 great talents together are going to make magic!  Can’t wait til they bring a project to chicago!

Filed under General | Comment (0)

an evening of great events!

there are a ton of things going on in the city tonight, that’s one of the reasons i love the summer in chicago so much! i’m going to hit up my spots tonight but before i do – check out some events that i’m going to swing by…..

+ Best Buddies of Illinois creates wonderful opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Come support at Rockit Bar & Grill 6pm-8pm www.bestbuddies.org

+ Graham Kostic (the stylist from my CS cover shoot) is hosting a Glenrothes Whiskey tasting event at the new Wit Hotel – 6-8pm  – rsvp@wagstaffworldwide.com

+ The countdown to the Olympic host city for 2016 has officially begun! Celebrate at Bon V starting at 6:30pm www.bonvchicago.com

+ The Trump Hotel is opening up their Terrace tonight – check it at www.trumpchicago.com.

+ The W Hotel – City Center just renovated their historic building and are unveiling it all tonight – 7:30pm – www.whotels.com/chicagocitycenter

+ The Gen Art Film Fest is in full swing, tonight’s after party is at the theatro lounge – details on www.genart.org 

hope to see you around!

Filed under General | Comment (1)

find out who’s the next big thing?

I’ve always been fond of Gen Art not only because they expose emerging talent to the influential/masses… fashion designers, filmmakers, musicians, visual artists… but also because they focus a lot of their efforts right here in Chicago- from opening one of their few offices here to hosting an amazing annual chicago film fest that happens to be going on right now!

If don’t know, it’s a really big deal that they choose chicago as a location for this fest- not just because of positive financial reasons to city, but because of the artistic props it gives to our culture, talent, viewers,… community!  I love it so much I support by being a judge- and it’s fascinating.  Hope you will join me in supporting & being exposed to new talent?  Just go to http://genart.org/filmfestival/chicago/2009.

Filed under General | Comment (0)