The James Beard Awards Foundation just released their list of 2018 semifinalist, and we’re so excited to share that Lost Lake is a semifinalist for Outstanding Bar Program – for the third year running!
Lost Lake is the only Chicago bar included on the semifinalist list. Huge congratulations to the entire Lost Lake tiki team on all of their hard work, and to the rest of the Beard semi-finalists, especially all of our Chicago (and Logan Square!) buddies.
The Daily Meal recently released their list of the 150 Best Bars in America for 2018 and we were excited to see two LSD joints in the top 20 of the list! Lost Lake came in at #19 and Milk Room at #17. Congratulations to the bar teams at both Lost Lake and Milk Room, and thank you to the Daily Meal for including us alongside so many other great bars! Check out the entire list here.
Fun fact: You can do all your holiday shopping with Land and Sea Dept. Yep; it’s true. We’ve got pins and records and prints and tees and skincare and hot sauce and more.
And don’t forget gift cards. Give the gift of good food. One must eat, after all.
Sippin’ Santa’s Surf Shack returns to Lost Lake this holiday season, from the day after Thanksgiving until New Year’s Eve, transforming the bar into a winter wonder-island. Following Lost Lake’s tradition of being a bit “over-the-top,” guests will enjoy a psychotically tropical X-mas explosion that will cover the bar with miles of pink tinsel, thousands of twinkling lights and hundreds of glittering snowflakes. Don’t fret – there will also be the glimmery, shimmery blue and sliver Star of Dave Cave!
Lost Lake will serve a full menu of holiday cocktails including returning favorites, such as: “…and a Parrot in a Palm Tree” (Reposado Tequila, Mezcal, Curaçao, Lost Lake Coconut Syrup, Lime) and “On Christmas Island” (Aged Demerara Rum, Jamaican Rum, Multi-Island Overproof Rum, Ginger, Passionfruit, Lemon, Don’s Spices #2).
The Lost Lake Gift Shop will also be filled with limited-edition holiday treats including: Santa-themed glassware by Cocktail Kingdom (various prices), signed bottles of Plantation O.F.T.D ($50), Lost Lake Multi-Island Plantation Rum 2015 ($80) and Paul McGee Private Barrel A.D Rattray Caroni 18 Year ($80), t-shirts ($20) and a variety of tropical ceramic mugs ($20).
For bar-goers looking to give back, Lost Lake’s pink Christmans tree will be the hub for guests to make a donation to the Chicago Period Project, an organization founded by former Lost Laker Ashley Novoa that’s dedicated to providing the less fortunate menstruating people of our city with the items they need to have healthy periods.
Sippin’ Santa’s Surf Shack will be open seven days a week, from 4 p.m. – 2 a.m. and until 3 a.m. on Saturdays. For more information, please visit. www.lostlaketiki.com
Lost Lake was just named the #65 bar in the world as part of the World’s 50 Best Bars list.
They’re in good company, too. Check out the full list here!
We’re working with acclaimed spirits expert Thad Vogler (Bar Agricole) on a few events next week surrounding the release of his new book – By the Smoke and the Smell: My Search for the Rare and Sublime on the Spirits Trail.
Thursday 9/28 – LOST LAKE
Join Thad Volger and Paul McGee for a book release party, celebrating By the Smoke and the Smell: My Search for the Rare and Sublime on the Spirits Trail. Guests can enjoy a menu of cocktails inspired by the book, as well as purchase it.
Friday 9/29 – MILK ROOM
Thad Vogler will lead an intimate cocktail event in Milk Room, inspired by his new book, By the Smoke and the Smell: My Search for the Rare and Sublime on the Spirits Trail. Each ticket for this 90 minute experience includes an amuse, three cocktails, and snacks. After the event, join Thad in the Drawing Room to chat and get your book signed. Tickets are $125 each: https://milkroom.tocktix.com/
For the second year running, Lost Lake has been named a semifinalist for the James Beard Award for Outstanding Bar Program (that’s two nominations in as many years of being open!). Huge congratulations to the entire team at Lost Lake, and all of the other Chicago-based semifinalists.
This week, Lost Lake hit 250,000 drinks sold in two years of being open. Wow – that’s a lot of daiquiris, Tic Tac Taxis, and Banana Dolphins! Thanks to all the guests, locals and visitors alike, who contributed to that count over the last two years. See you guys at 500,000 — who’s thirsty!?
Chicago Magazine’s annual Best Bars issue just came out, and we were thrilled and surprised to see three Land and Sea spots on the list!
Lost Lake scored the number three spot, Parson’s is slated in sixth, and Milk Room came in at number 21.
Thanks, Chicago!
Back in March of last year, Lost Lake’s kitchen had a pretty bad electrical fire. The Chicago Fire Department raced to our rescue, contained the blaze, and made sure no one was hurt — but smoke damage had us closed for nearly a month. In the interim, our bar community rallied around the Lost Lake crew, generously hosting us for pop-ups that put cash in our tip-based bartenders’ pockets.
Each pop-up was themed, and one of those themes was “SHIFT-EASE”. The idea was that in order to ease the pain of lost shifts, we’d serve a menu of our favorite “shifties” — the cocktails we make ourselves as we breakdown the bar at the end of a long shift. To make sure it’s an authentic shifty, we pumped in our breakin-down-the-bar soundtrack (hint: it’s Champagne Papi).
Now that we’re looking forward to reconstructing our kitchen and dreaming up big things for 2017, we’re gonna turn SHIFT-EASE into a monthly charitable party. On the fourth Tuesday of every month, from 9pm-2am, we’ll be serving our favorite shifty cocktails in the name of that month’s good cause.
For the first installment on January 24th, we’re inviting the firefighters that extinguished the blaze, and donating $1 from every Damoiseau daiquiri sold to CFD Engine 106’s charity of choice: Ignite the Spirit. We’ll also be donating $5 of every Corn N’ Oil sold to Chicago nonprofit Embarc in Jacob Johnson’s honor — a bright, young Chicagoan who recently passed.
Menu:
Damoiseau Daiquiri – Damoiseau Virgin Cane Rhum Agricole, Lime, Sugar ($8)
Classic (shaken and served up)
Party Girl Style (served with crushed ice)
Party Boy Dump ‘em Out (served with ‘dirty’ ice)
Corn N’ Oil – Clement Select Barrel Rhum Agricole, Blackstrap Rum, Falernum, Lime ($10)
Chicago’s Airbnb hosts put together a guide of the best things to do in the city, and we’re happy to see that some of our spots are among them. In the top 40 things to do in the city, Longman & Eagle, Parson’s Chicken and Fish, and Lost Lake all made the list, with Parson’s and Longman ranking in the top ten. Thanks, Airbnb! We like you, too.
This December, from the 1st ‘til New Year’s Eve, Lost Lake will transform into a tropical winter wonderland and change the sign on the door to ippin’ Santa’s Surf ack. Miles of pink tinsel, thousands of twinkling lights, and hundreds of glittering snowflakes will decorate the urf hack.
Lost Lake’s Paul McGee, Jeff “Beachbum” Berry and Brad Smith of Latitude 29 in New Orleans, and Samuel Gauthier of Boilermaker in New York City all put their Santa hats together and collaborated on a menu of festive cocktails.
Sippin’ Santa’s Surf Shack will be open seven days a week, from 4pm-2am — 3am on Saturdays.
At long last, Plantation O.F.T.D. is finally and officially coming to Chicago. You’ll soon be able to find it behind your favorite bars and on the shelves of your favorite stores — but before then, join two of the seven O.F.T.D. collaborators at Lost Lake for an official launch party on Wednesday, November 2!
Paul McGee and the Lost Lake team are thrilled to welcome a very, very special guest: the Indiana Jones of tiki himself, Jeff “Beachbum” Berry, of New Orlean’s Latitude 29. Jeff is the man to thank if you’ve ever had a well-balanced, traditional tiki cocktail (accompanied by a historically accurate anecdote) at a fancy cocktail bar.
Paul and Jeff were two of the seven spirits professionals that collaborated on the creation of Plantation’s new overproof multi-island rum, O.F.T.D. Along with David Wondrich (Esquire columnist and author of Imbibe), Martin Cate (Smuggler’s Cove, San Francisco), Scotty Schuder (Dirty Dick, Paris), Paul McFadyen (Trailer Happiness, London), and Plantation’s founder and master-blender Alexandre Gabriel, Paul and Jeff contributed to the creation of the smoky, baking spice-forward blend of rums from Jamaica, Guyana, and Barbados with a powerful proof (138!) that plays perfectly in traditional tiki recipes.
On Wednesday, November 2nd (4-8pm), Lost Lake will officially launch Plantation O.F.T.D. into the Chicago market with a menu of O.F.T.D. cocktails, limited edition t-shirts and buttons, and the opportunity to purchase bottles of O.F.T.D. signed by Paul and Jeff.
Lost Lake is getting ghosty not once, but twice this year – double the fun, double the rum. On Saturday, October 29, they’ll be serving up a menu of freaky tiki cocktails sure to spook ya to the bone. Then, on Halloween Proper, the bar will transform into the Bird Cage – complete with classic Miami cocktails (and maybe some feathers).
Don your daisy dukes and a Daisy de Santiago, float in the pool while splashin’ in a daiquiri, cool your coconuts on a Tic Tac Taxi, sip a Mojito the Sloppy Joe’s way — that’s the way Lost Lake and The 86 Co. throw a pool party!
During this year’s Tales of the Cocktail, our BFFs from The 86 Co.’s Caña Brava Rum invited us to hang with them at the spankin’ new Ace Hotel New Orleans! We brought a crew down to the cutest rooftop pool in Crescent City and mixed up some Lost Lake favorites and a few classic Cuban recipes, too.
Photos by the fantastic Angelina Melody. Follow her on Instagram! and check out more photos on the Lost lake Blog…
New Orleans—it’s time to tiki. The Lost Lake crew (banana dolphins included) is in town for Tales of the Cocktail, and they’re all headed to the brand new Ace Hotel tomorrow, Saturday July 23, for a cocktail-filled afternoon pool party with Cana Brava Rum. RSVP to rsvp@lostlaketiki.com (no plus ones, please).
