It may not rank up there with Valentine’s Day for sheer press release tonnage, but we got a number of interesting Mardi Gras-related specials, and even a few Lenten ones. We’ve already mentioned Big Jones’ Cajun Country Ramble ca. 1955, which is arguably the most ambitious one and definitely deserves a look, but there are many more worth checking out below.
• Toni Patisserie and Cafe downtown will have King Cakes now through Tuesday in two varieties: a French style cake with puff pastry and almond filling ($17.95) and a New Orleans style cake made with yeast and cinnamon, covered with a powdered sugar glaze and decorated with colored sugar (serves 8-10 $16.95, or a large version for $49.95 that serves 30). They’ll also have their own baked version of paczki with upscale fillings like white chocolate mousse.
• Shaw’s Crab House Chicago kicks off five days of Mardi Gras Friday night, with bluesman Matt Steadman playing Sunday night and culminating in a big blowout on Tuesday. Mardi Gras specials will include specially-ordered-from-New Orleans Crawfish in dishes including the Crawfish Po’Boy ($16.99), Blackened or Sauteed Redfish with Crawfish Sauce ($23.99) and Crawfish Pot Pie ($18.99).
• Brownstone in North Center will have an all you can eat crawfish boil ($25) on Tuesday, plus cornbread, gumbo and red beans and rice.
• John Barleycorn Lincoln Park will have “Big Easy-inspired dishes” like po’boy sandwiches and jambalaya on special next Tuesday, as well as drink deals like $5 Hurricanes and $3 Bud Light bottles. More interestingly, they have meatless Lenten specials afterwards, Wednesday Feb. 22 and Fridays from Feb. 24 to April 6, including all you can eat fish and chips, a $6 pepper and egg sandwich, and almond-crusted Kung Pao corvina.
• Moe’s Cantina River North has similar specials— Andouille sausage and chihuahua cheese quesadillas for Tuesday, fish tacos and and pan-seared tilapia with diablo shrimp for Ash Wednesday and Fridays in Lent.
• Division Ale House will hold Mardi Gras on Saturday night, with lots of $5 drink specials and a D.J. spinning for a Mardi Gras party from 9 p.m.
• Moonshine Brewing Company will also have a crawfish boil, $7 for a half-pound basket or $12 for a pound, plus D.J., their inhouse brews and a selection of obscure regional hot sauces to fiddle around with.
• This is wack enough that it’s kind of cool: RA Sushi will have a big party with D.J. Tuesday, and whip up special Asian dishes with a Mardi Gras theme, like “Spicy Chicken and Shishito Green Necklace, a noodle dish tossed with chicken, green and red bell peppers, onion, garlic, chili sesame sauce, and shishito peppers, garnished with Sriracha and black sesame seeds ($7).”
