Semimonthly Montrose Beach BBQ/potluck FINAL one on SAT 8/27

Where? Montrose Harbor/Beach (unless it's a rainy day then I'll move it to my house)
When? Every 2nd and 4th Saturday from May 14th until... whenever it starts getting cold again. 11am to thru evening.
Who? Anyone who wants to come. RSVP would be nice but probably not necessary since it’s a huge public park. If you want to post below if you’re coming and what you plan on bringing, that could help with some planning.

So the plan is a semimonthly BBQ. These will be every 2nd and 4th Saturday, starting on May 14th. I will be at Montrose Harbor with my WSM grilling, smoking meat and hanging out all day long whether or not anyone else shows up. Everyone and anyone is welcome to come. It will be potluck style, so bring something to share or something to throw in the grill.

Input and advice on organization and planning of this would be welcome.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/montrose-harbor-chicago
Thanks to Panther in the Den, here are the exact coordinates, and map!
Coords... N41 57.967 W87 38.459
Map

Grilling is not allowed on the beaches, but is allowed in park areas. I'm not sure about the harbor area.

You're right about the beaches. I'm mostly wondering about the grassy area near the harbor where I'm sure I've seen many people grilling. I'm just wondering if they were doing so legally.. Probably allowed since there are always so many grilling, but it's so hard to find that info on the city of chicago websites.

Not sure if you care but.....

bi-monthly = once every two months
semi-monthly = twice a month

Seamus wrote:Not sure if you care but.....

bi-monthly = once every two months
semi-monthly = twice a month

For the sake of argument, bimonthly unfortunately carries both definitions, which is why i clarified. However semimonthly is probably a better choice to avoid these situations. I'll edit my post to make it clear.

Grammar aside, that's a fun idea!

lemoneater wrote:Grammar aside, that's a fun idea!

A great idea and one in which I plan to participate.

laikom wrote:You're right about the beaches. I'm mostly wondering about the grassy area near the harbor where I'm sure I've seen many people grilling. I'm just wondering if they were doing so legally.. Probably allowed since there are always so many grilling, but it's so hard to find that info on the city of chicago websites.

If the grassy area is part of the park, then yes, that's legal. (I say this with the authority of someone who has been part of groups that have grilled on areas near the beach.)

Can I bring my very, very hungry dog whom I clearly don't feed enough?

Sounds like a great idea. Might want to get a solid answer on the grilling part to avoid tickets, fines and bull. Can you drink beer and stuff there also?

Alcohol is not allowed on Chicago Park District property. That doesn't mean people don't have it, but I've had friends get tickets for having beer in their coolers.

There is an old LTH thread that touched about grilling in the parks: viewtopic.php?f=18&t=22339

The Park District has a page called FIRE IT UP, SAFELY that underscores what's already been said.

You can find everything on YouTube! A Chicago Park District video on safe grilling can be found here.

Independent George wrote:Can I bring my very, very hungry dog whom I clearly don't feed enough?

In fact there is a dog beach at montrose harbor! I'm pretty sure your dog would be welcome on a leash and/or roaming free at the dog beach part.

The GP wrote:Alcohol is not allowed on Chicago Park District property. That doesn't mean people don't have it, but I've had friends get tickets for having beer in their coolers.

There is an old LTH thread that touched about grilling in the parks: http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=22339

The Park District has a page called FIRE IT UP, SAFELY that underscores what's already been said.

You can find everything on YouTube! A Chicago Park District video on safe grilling can be found here.

thanks for the info, which brings up a good point. In the video, they mentioned memorial day marking the unofficial start of grilling season in chicago. Do you know if that means the red cans won't be out until then? Has anyone seen the cans out in parks yet? It seems to me that may 30 is far to late in the spring to just begin grilling season! Perhaps i'm just anxious.

I grill out (along with dozens of others) at the parks surrounding Foster St. beach often during the summer, i'm sure Montrose is the same. As far as beer and what not, avoid open containers and acting like a jackass and you will be fine.

The GP wrote: Alcohol is not allowed on Chicago Park District property. That doesn't mean people don't have it, but I've had friends get tickets for having beer in their coolers.
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I've been to a few block parties supplied by this bounty! Beer around the world.

The GP wrote:Alcohol is not allowed on Chicago Park District property. That doesn't mean people don't have it, but I've had friends get tickets for having beer in their coolers.

If only there were some way to avoid detection.

Just posting an update about tomorrow's BBQ. I'm going to be bringing a pork shoulder to smoke. I'll be there around 9 to get it going. I'm also bringing some of my homemade polish sausage. The weather for tomorrow doesn't look great, but i'm not going to let that stop me! The weather outlook for yesterday and today looked pretty horrible on paper but turned out to be beautiful days! I went to target yesterday and bought a big canopy tent to provide shelter for the occasional downpour, just to be safe. That can be how you locate me, look for the canopy tent set up. Also i'll make an attempt to update my location in the morning when i get there to set up.

Hope to see lots of you there tomorrow!

Matt

I can't stay but I plan to stop by and say hello in the morning - looking forward to it

Change of plans for today only.

We showed up to the harbor and balked. According to the forecast it's not going to be getting any warmer today. It was REALLY windy by the lake and felt about 10 degrees colder than it really was.

sorry for the last minute change, but i didn't think anyone would have shown up with weather like this anyhow.

Well that explains why I couldn't find you
At least I had a nice walk on the beach.

zoid wrote:Well that explains why I couldn't find you
At least I had a nice walk on the beach.

So sorry to back out on my plans, I was all hardcore about being there rain or shine yesterday. It was pretty out there this morning, windy with crashing waves. Honestly I would have probably stayed, but mrs. laikom looked like she was about to cry when i was setting up! And more people were willing to show up if we had a house to provide shelter.

hope you trust me next time and show up again!

matt

HI,

I'm glad you reworked your plans to make it more comfortable for yourselves.

Dedicated and sensible!

Regards,

laikom wrote:

zoid wrote:Well that explains why I couldn't find you
At least I had a nice walk on the beach.

So sorry to back out on my plans, I was all hardcore about being there rain or shine yesterday. It was pretty out there this morning, windy with crashing waves. Honestly I would have probably stayed, but mrs. laikom looked like she was about to cry when i was setting up! And more people were willing to show up if we had a house to provide shelter.

hope you trust me next time and show up again!

matt

Not a problem at all - I was out running around anyway (shared a wave w/ Stephanie Izard on my way to Graziano's) and just wanted to say hello.

I'll try again next week.

As of today, the weather forecast for this Sat. (28th) is looking great! 73 and partly cloudy. Would love to see some of you there!

I'll be bringing a turkey!

Weather Update | Location change for the may 28th picnic

Okay... the weather looked GREAT all week long, then last minute the forces that be threw another wrench in my picnic plans. Scattered showers tomorrow afternoon. Rather than trying to make it work then bailing (like last time), I'm going to be smart about it and change plans ahead of time. Of course i should have been mentally prepared considering it is spring. This week I'm moving the BBQ to my house! Food will be coming off the smoker all day so feel free to come by whenever.

Something has come up for me on the 11th, and I'm going to be moving the next bbq to june 12th (sunday) instead of june 11th (saturday). Due to weather the past two were both moved to my house so i guess these have been less than regular and routine anyhow, and i apologize. I guess i'm to blame for making an attempt to do such a regular event...

The plan for the 12th will still be at Montrose Harbor, unless of course the weather is horrible again. hope to see some of you there on the 12th, I'm sure better weather will bring out more people! Hopefully someone catches this and updates the google calendar as well.
thanks!
matt

Here are some pics of the turkey we smoked. It was delicious!

Great looking bird!
I have never done up a turkey on the pit....yet. Did you brine her and how did the inside meat look and taste?

No brine, at least not this time. I have heard about it coming out tasting too much like ham if you don't brine it just right. It's moist enough using a slow cook that i am not sure a brine would be needed. I did a salt/pepper/chipotle rub (per G Wiv's recommendations). The salt had enough time to penetrate the bird as it was cooking and I'd recon that a brine would leave it too salty unless you left salt out of the rub.

I didn't have time to get pics of inside since the hungry vultures were hovering. Next time i will be sure to, and I'm sure there will be a next time.