Daddy Mike Shaker throws down BBQ Texas-style

It's the last Monday Night Foodball of the season! [View this email in your browser]( [READER Logo]( [Food & Drink]( | May 17, 2024 You’re looking at 100 percent USDA prime brisket there, friendo, smoked over post oak for 14 hours until it melts like beef butter. Just like your daddy did. And by your daddy, I mean Daddy Mike Shaker of Shaker Barbeque, the former fine-dining cook turned central Texas-style smoker. He’s like the Miles Davis of barbecue: cleaner than a broke dick dog, but blowing with his back to the audience. Figuratively, I mean. Shaker’s so clean he plays without a set list, which is why there’s no written menu for the next [Monday Night Foodball]( there’s just Shaker throwing down loaded platters of smoky meats and sides for the Reader’s weekly chef pop-up at [Frank and Mary’s Tavern]( in Avondale. Surely, you’re still haunted by that brisket from [Foodballs]( of [yore]( his creamy mac and four (4) cheese, tangy slaw, white bread, red onions, pickles, and sauce, axiomatically, on the side. He’s no monster. He keeps it classy. Plus, this time, instead of his [usual brisket hot link]( he’s bringing a pork sausage so snappy it’ll pop your ear drums. That’s it. Slow and simple—a heaping plate of endorphin-churning barbecue for a mere $45. Walk in and get it, get it good, starting at 6 PM at 2905 N. Elston in oak-smoked Avondale. Watch out for a brand new Foodball schedule to drop next week, kicking off after a Memorial Day break. [a plate of beef brisket with sauce and a side of cole slaw]( [Shaker Barbeque beefs at the next Monday Night Foodball]( Mike Shaker brings his Texas-style barbecue to the next Monday Night Foodball at Frank and Mary’s Tavern. by [Mike Sula]( | [Read more]( → [Tary Coffee House brings ancient preservation techniques from the central Asian steppes to River North]( The first U.S. outpost of a Kazakh cafe can do anything with millet and fresh milk. by [Mike Sula]( | [Read more]( → Reader Bites celebrates dishes, drinks, and atmospheres from the Chicagoland food scene. Have you had a recent food or drink experience that you can’t stop thinking about? Share it with us at [fooddrink@chicagoreader.com](mailto:fooddrink@chicagoreader.com?subject=Reader%20Bites&body=). [Green Dreams at DeSalvo’s Pizza]( I’ve had my Green Dreams thick—somewhere between Detroit-style and Sicilian, dough pocked with all those focaccia-y bubbles—but let’s be real: this slice isn’t about the crust. It’s about alliums: a garlic-oil base and onions caramelized until they’re sweet. It’s about virtuosity: green spinach sauteed with just enough chili flake to spark. It’s about briny things: fat, matte green olives (do I spy Castelvetranos?), their gorgeous flesh set off by glistening pesto. — JoAnna Novak [BIPOC bartenders shake it up]( January 2021 | Chicagoan Davíd Leon Jr. is among the mixologists featured in a new short film following people of color in the industry. by [Noëlle D. Lilley]( | [Read more]( → [Ancient Chinese techniques inspired the Field Museum and Off Color to make an extraordinary new beer]( July 2017 | Brewer John Laffler talks about how he used rice and mold—and some help from a Field archaeologist—to create the new, limited QingMing. by [Julia Thiel]( | [Read more]( → Get the latest issue of the Chicago Reader Thursday, May 16, 2024 [READ ONLINE: VOL. 53, NO. 16]( [VIEW/DOWNLOAD ISSUE (PDF)]( [Become a member of the Chicago Reader.]( [Facebook icon]( [Instagram icon]( [Twitter icon]( [LinkedIn icon]( [YouTube icon]( [Website icon]( [Logo] You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from the Chicago Reader. Want fewer emails from us? [Click here to choose what you want us to send you](. Or, [unsubscribe from all Reader emails](. We’ll miss you! [Sign up for emails from the Chicago Reader]( | [Forward this e-mail to a friend]( © 2024 Chicago Reader. All rights reserved. Chicago Reader, 2930 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 102, Chicago, IL 60616