Chicago Gets Its First Alamo Drafthouse

The atmosphere is great, one of my friends joked as we entered the new Alamo Drafthouse in Wrigleyville that opened a few weeks ago. I've only been to another renovated New Mission theater in San Francisco that is over 100 years old. The atmosphere is not that clean. The Mission is an old theater so no restoration can make it shine like a new penny. But I loved it, so I got a relatively good impression of the legendary theater series.

The first Alamo design house opened in Austin, Texas in 1997. Since then, the company has grown rapidly with 42 locations across the country. Networking knowledge focused on non-traditional obfuscated programming. an extensive food and drink menu; limited edition movie posters; More famous or infamous, depending on the type of movie-goer, is his strict code of theatrical etiquette.

In 2011, Team League Theater co-founder, former CEO and now CEO, received an angry voicemail from a customer who had been blocked for texting. The company then began using it as a pre-show advice ad and campaigned it on YouTube, where the Karen-esque client rant quickly went viral. Other Alamo regulations include a ban on infants or young children (except for special children's screenings), requiring visitors under the age of 18 to be accompanied by an adult, and viewing commercials before the movie is shown.

Upon entering this new Alamo Drafthouse in Wrigleyville (the location is either a draw or a barrier, again depending on what kind of moviegoer you are), I was pretty neutral about what to expect. Some of the things I've experienced or heard in the past are great, but others, like the lack of celluloid shows in this particular setting and the initial hint of overly nostalgic programming, got me thinking.

Not many could tell the theater was its true location without a canopy or clear signage to indicate its presence. It is located on the third floor of the building, directly above the UFC gym. (If you want to get into a big argument with someone about a movie you just watched, I think this is the place to do it.) Space at Video Vortex, their in-house video rental company (more on that later).

Part of the stage decoration is a scale model of the rear of the 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder that crashed through the window in the 1986 John Hughes comedy Ferris Bueller's Day Off , complete with NRVOUS license plates. Fragments of art glass hang from the ceiling, as if flying through the rubble. It's impressive, but also beautiful and unfortunate. (Beneath the floor is a poster quoting Ferris' famous phrase, "Life moves too fast. The trademark 'Instagrammable' style that has dominated social media for the past few years is here to be broadcast.)

Video Vortex, the in-theater video rental, is pretty basic, though there seem to be over 10,000 Blu-rays, DVDs, and even VHS tapes that people can borrow for free. Something free isn't that bad. The fact that something is free often makes it affordable, which is largely a net benefit. However, it is a shame that stores like Odd Obsession Movies have been forced to close in recent years while the business model itself is being used as a scam by corporate chains. (Thankfully, FACETS video rentals are still in business.) To give some credit in time, Video Vortex also rents DVD and VHS players for a small fee so that those who don't own this ancient technology can still enjoy the fun of physical media..

Old TV installations reminiscent of a bust of Nam-joon Baek adorn the dining area, where tables are covered with postcards in the vintage B-movie lobby. VHS Label Style Decor - Comedy! stage! Tires! 3 days to rent! Be kind, please repeat! Covers the wall. The adjoining bar offers a full menu of movie-themed cocktails. Good subjects are my weakness, so I can't help but like the list: Y Tú Margarita También; The Third Class Vaudevillian, a rye-based cocktail for the 1934 film The Old Fashioned Way by W. C. Fields; and Breakfast at Tiffany's , Baz Luhrman's The Big Breakfast , and Baz Luhrman's Breakfast at Tiffany's . I chose the Tokyo Drifter, named after the 1966 Seijun Suzuki movie. Mixed with whiskey and bourbon, it was very good. There are other offerings of course, originally craft beer was something the Alamo Drafthouse was known for. But like many others in the theater chain, they seem to have left the strong house for higher prices.

As with eating. The concept of eating real food at the movies isn't as new as it used to be, with several AMC food courts dominating the concept in and around Chicagoland. The Alamo Drafthouse follows a similar idea, where moviegoers (or patrons?) can order a full meal from their seat by writing the order on a piece of paper and remotely signaling to the waiter (apparently trained as a "ninja"), when dressed in black and bending over Nobody bothers to watch the movie), then he picked up a newspaper and came back with food and drink.

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I wanted to try different options, so my friends and I started with loaded fries and a limited time menu item, Brussels Sprout Pizza. (In addition to these dishes, the theater also offers a special menu for some movies.) Some appetizers fall into the obscure Southwest category, and french fries are one of them. Topped with green chili cheese, Tillamook cheddar, cotija, bacon, and Sriracha sour cream, among other toppings, the French fries are by far my favorite food. The pizza was ok but nothing special and definitely not as big as your average restaurant pizza.

I did a little research beforehand to see what was popular on their menu, and since moviegoers loved fried pickles, we settled on what seemed to be the current fried pickles. I love simple fried pickles so I was hoping to love it in this unusual twist. Unfortunately, it is true that perfection cannot be improved upon; Pickled Potatoes The superior ratio of pickles to French fries makes the original so delicious. And the ranch dipping sauce made it worse, at least for me because putting one wet thing (ranch) on top of another wet thing (cucumbers) annoyed me so much. Does it make sense? of course no. Will this still stop me from treating myself to some fries? Yes, yes he has.

The tenders of the breaded chicken were equally disappointing as the bread fell off immediately. It's been a while since I've served chicken nuggets with sauce on the side, so I was excited about Hatch's green chili version. It was bland, and didn't add much to the dish. Of note, the ketchup that came with the fries with the offerings was the reddest I've ever seen.

And what would a movie be without popcorn? We were originally going to ditch the regular popcorn and try the popcorn churros, which had a chunk of churros and a mix of cinnamon, sugar, maple, and vanilla, but it just wasn't available. So here we have regular bottomless popcorn which is a bottomless illusion because we were stuffed with heavier food and we didn't even finish the truffle and parmesan flavors.

I got this far and didn't even say what I saw. I chose the repertory shows (which the theater offers as well as new movies, along with specials ranging from lunchtime screenings to movie parties, like screenings of the upcoming Ant-Man movie and Wasp: Quantumania ) mentioned in Teen Classics. by John Hughes. Ferris Bueller's Day Off , in part because the theater was called the John Hughes Cinema in honor of the director, who spent some of his formative years in Northbrook and some of his films were shot in and around Chicago. A special plaque at the theater entrance, along with a Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder, states that on Ferris Bueller's day off , "Hughes captured the cheerful, carefree spirit of youth...and cemented Chicago as a movie playground in the making."

The movie, like much of the overall experience, is just fine. I've seen it before but wasn't really moved by it despite it being an undeniable declaration of love for one of the greatest cities in the world. The viewing experience is as good as any movie in the multiplex, with a large screen, comfortable seats, and clear digital projection. I have no doubt that the people of Alamo Drafthouse love movies and strive to see their Chicago location become an integral part of the city's film fabric. But like Hughes' films, it's a love letter to a different Chicago, where the atmosphere is untouched and the real city, with its sand and dirt and uncomfortable seats and creaky movies, is nowhere to be found.