finally have a shot at writing a metromix review

Metromix has picked our team (Corks n’ Caps) and another team to face off for the position of BYOB Reader Review Crew in Chicago. The winners will spend the next four weeks writing reviews of BYOB friendly restaurants throughout Chicago (on the Tribune’s budget). We cannot count the number of reviews we read each week and now we have the chance to write our own.

We are people who spend a large part of our incomes checking out different food experiences so we hope you will understand why this is so important to us and vote for Corks n'Caps at

http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/revi ... op_hedsh2o

Thanks,
Nick, Tracey, Sanjay, Lizz & Karrie

Below is a statement about our group which appeared in today's Red Eye.

Five friends picked as finalists to review Chicago BYOBs-the foodie, the beer guy, the wine brat, the mixer, and the shooter-We Are Corks & Caps. A University, a gastronomy trip to Italy, being stuck on a CTA red line, and an intense conversation about bacon--these are the events that brought us together, but it is our love for food and drinks that will ensure a good review. We are committed to trying a diverse array of foods and beverages and look at this experience as the perfect opportunity to share our knowledge with the Metromix readers.

Corks & Caps members also have a unique way of engaging restaurant staff and customers to turn out great stories. When we see a sombrero on the wall you can bet that after a few we are going take it for a ride. If we have a little left over and its closing time, we don't mind sharing with the others. Hey, what better way to close out your day than to meet some new people and have a few more? Let us show you the real BYOB experience, so VOTE for CORKS & CAPS and see what happens when people stop being bland and start getting bold!

FYI, I moved this over here as being more "food media" than "eating out in chicagoland."

pismofo -

You guys already know it all, or are you looking for input from our experiences?

BYOB is one thing, but some places really oughta call themselves "BYOSW" (stemware) as well......

And of course the food, and what is that corkage fee (sometimes it's OK to pay if it's not too much, $5-$10 beats bringing your stemware).

There's a Chicago institution living off the Wine Spectator forums called "The Chicago Wine Mafia" - they know a thing or two about BYOB being wine afficionado's who want to get tofether and have like 2 bottles per person and not pay a fortune for the meal....

Nancy

Thanks for the lead on the wine mafia. We'll try to find out more info. on them b/c if we win, one mission will definately be wine, I'm sure.

Any ideas on matching mixers w/cuisine?

Between the 5 of us, we know a lot of "stuff" but we still want to learn and be able to bring good information to readers. Of course, this is assuming we would even win.

Were you the ones drinking wine during lunch at Hot Doug's yesterday?

pismofo -

If you want to find the Chicago Wine Mafia, go to winespectator.com, scroll down and on the left under FREE AREAS, you will see FORUMS, click that.

The actual group events are under "Off-Line Events" - but if you want someone from the group to answer you, you might just post about Chicago BYOB on general "Wine Conversations".

Nancy