By Michele Aversa

How does Grand Rapids top the proud distinctions of being named Beer City 2013 and of being one of the most philanthropic cities in the nation? To combine them into the Cool Brews. Hot Eats. beer promotion, that’s how!

Cool Brews. Hot Eats. has just concluded its second successful year. For the past two weeks, area restaurants have been using local beers to create exciting new menu items which showcase the chefs’ talents, highlight local breweries — and feed the hungry.

Executive chefs all around town have been unveiling new dishes which are either paired with a locally brewed ale or use a local beer as a featured ingredient. When one of these dishes was ordered, the restaurant donated a meal to Feeding America West Michigan Food Bank.

One of these culinary creators is Chef Elijah Lopez. Although he was born in Texas, Chef Lopez grew up in southwest Michigan. His fascination with cooking started around age 17 and, thankfully for Grand Rapids, has turned into a full blown passion. He has been the Executive Chef at CitySen Lounge in the City Flats Hotel since it opened on July 13, 2011. Prior to joining CitySen, Chef Lopez worked at other fine Grand Rapids eateries such as Martha’s Vineyard and most recently Six One Six.

When creating a new dish, Chef Lopez first gets to know more about the individual ingredients, where they come from, how they are grown or produced and then the ideas come flooding. One of the dishes he created for the Cool Brews. Hot Eats. promotion was the Boozehound Chicken Sandwich – a pecan-crusted chicken breast topped with tomato jam, creamy goat cheese, fennel and mixed green salad all tucked in the middle of a thick onion roll. The sandwich is served with crisp hand-cut chips and can be paired with Espresso Boozehound Brown, which is brewed by the Hideout Brewing Company on Plaza Drive in Grand Rapids.

Of the many aspects about being an executive chef, Chef Lopez most enjoys “getting a chance to teach people and show people what I’ve learned.” The staff at CitySen Lounge has an excellent foundation and Chef Lopez takes immense pride in developing their talents. He keeps a tasters spoon in his pocket, always ready to verify the quality of his team’s food.

Lopez depends on his talented crew to share the busy load that starts around Mother’s Day and continues all through the summer, with festivals such as Rock the Rapids, Celebration on the Grand, Restaurant Week and ArtPrize.

While the festivals keep the staff on their toes during tourist events, they are still plenty busy the rest of the time as well. Many of the lounge’s clientele are from the downtown area, looking for a place to unwind after a workday. CitySen has a solid happy hour, which includes weekly specials such as “Wind Down Wednesdays.” Why come to CitySen instead of some of the other bars in the area? “People come here for the laid back environment,” says Lopez. “We have a different atmosphere than most of the other restaurants.” Lopez gestures to walls around him. Beige bricks, warm wood and soft lights lend themselves to the perfect environment in which to unwind.

The CitySen Lounge is in the lobby of City Flats Hotel, which is in the former Fox Jewelers Building. The five-story hotel was renovated by repurposing bricks, wood beams and other materials already on the site. Even the Fox Jewelers sign was saved from the trash heap and hangs above the bar in a tribute to the building’s history. The Grand Rapids hotel, along with its sister location in Holland, is owned by Charter House Innovations (CHI), a furniture company that created a line of sustainable furniture products. CHI built all the furniture in both locations as another way to showcase the skills of southwest Michigan’s craftsmen.

Lopez wants to keep City Flats Hotel moving forward. He doesn’t know what the future holds, but he is excited to be a part of it.

If you are interested in visiting either the Grand Rapids or Holland locations of City Flats Hotel, visit www.cityflatshotel.com for more information. And if you are looking for a relaxing way to unwind after a busy workday, drop in at CitySen and say hello to Chef Elijah!

by Janice Limbaugh

Valentine’s Day manages to be one of the biggest holidays in the U.S. Over 62% of Americans celebrate it, spending an average of $20 billion in the process. Millions of couples make it their wedding day. So I wondered, how did this humble 5th century tradition morph love into a huge money-making industry?

Grade school was probably the last time I did any kind of report on St. Valentine and the holiday. Because my memory is rather fuzzy about the details, I decided to search the Internet on the subject. WHOAH! Be careful what you search for –  it might lead to TMI – too much information – Enough to blow the socks off an innocent little cherub just wanting to spread the love!

For example, did you know that Valentine’s Day has its origins from the heyday of  the Roman Empire where on February 14th they honored Juno, Queen of the Roman Gods and Goddesses? The real fun started the very next day on the Feast of Lupercalia, to honor the God of Fertility. It was the one day of the year when teenage boys and girls were allowed to mingle with each other.  The names of all the girls were written on pieces of paper the night before the festival and placed in a jar. The boys would randomly select  a girl by pulling her name out. The pairs were allowed to hang-out together during the festival and throughout the entire year. As human nature would have it,  many of the young couples fell in love and would eventually marry.

That was all fine and good until Emperor Claudius II – a.k.a. – Claudius the Cruel – outlawed all marriages because he believed the men would refuse to leave their loving wives to fight in battle. But despite the law, Claudius couldn’t stop love. Couples still fell in love and wished to be married so they took the issue to the Catholic Bishop Valentine.

Now this is where the story gets interesting.

Apparently Bishop Valentine had a soft spot for love because he began to marry couples secretly. But when Claudius the Cruel found out, the bishop was arrested and ordered to be put to death. Fortunately for Bishop Valentine, his sentence took some time to be carried out, probably due to bureaucratic paperwork. While he waited for his execution, he began exchanging letters with the jailer’s daughter and fell in love with her. Now that’s what I call bad timing. According to my Internet source, the bishop wrote his love one last note on the day he was to be beheaded and signed it: From Your Valentine!

Perhaps this is where Hallmark got the idea?

A couple hundred years later when Christianity had taken over and pagan festivals were outlawed, Pope Gelasius set aside a day in February to honor the martyr St. Valentine. However, some other research I came across states there were three Christian clerics named Valentine, each martyred and deserving rights to St. Valentine’s Day. Love can be so confusing!

But through the ages, one thing is for sure: Mankind loves to be in love! It’s symbolism reaches back to the Roman Gods. Take the epic red rose for example. The rose was sacred to Venus, the Goddess of Love. Giving red roses at any time of the year is regarded an act of love. Then there is the heart of Valentine’s Day. It was once believed that the heart was the center of all emotion. People believed that when they gave a heart, they were truly giving all of their love and emotion to another. During the Middle Ages, men would pull a woman’s name out of a bowl to be his Valentine. To show his devotion, the man would wear the woman’s name on his sleeve for a week, eventually coining the phrase, “wearing your heart on your sleeve.” And if that wasn’t enough to warm the cockles of one’s heart, Cupid would do the job. Cupid is a Roman God and the son of Venus. Cupid, through a love story of his own, used an arrow to pierce hearts and awaken them to love.

This time around doing my Valentine’s research, I learned that Hallmark didn’t invent the holiday after all. The custom of giving cards, candy, flowers and kisses on Valentine’s Day has been around for generations. Madison Avenue just knows how to play on our emotions and turn a large profit. So I ask, what does love have to do with it? EVERYTHING!

Click on the following links to find love in all the right places around West Michigan.

http://www.grnow.com/valentinesday/

http://t.living.msn.com/love-relationships/love-sex/tips-on-giving-the-best-valentines-day-gift-ever

By Nancy Brozek

Thank you for joining us for The Sound of Music! We hope you enjoyed the production and your experience at Grand Rapids Civic Theatre and that we will continue to see you throughout the remainder of the season. We are committed to enhance the cultural life of West Michigan by creating opportunities for people to enjoy live theatre performances using community artists. We are continually working to ensure that the Grand Rapids Civic Theatre remains one of the great community theatres in the nation, through the passionate delivery of high-quality live performance, innovative and comprehensive education, enriching volunteer participation, and a superior customer experience.

Next up is Clybourne Park (January 17 – February 2, 2014) Dramatic Comedy – Mature Audiences – Language may be offensive to some patrons.

“Vital, sharp-witted and ferociously smart.” Winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize and the 2012 Tony Award for Best New Play — West Michigan Premiere.

Clybourne Park explodes in two outrageous acts set 50 years apart. Act One takes place in 1959, as nervous community leaders anxiously try to stop the sale of a home to an African American family. Act Two is set in the same house in the present day, as the now predominantly African-American neighborhood battles to hold its ground in the face of gentrification.This wickedly funny and fiercely provocative play about race, real estate, and the volatile values of each won nearly every honor the theatre has to give.Honored, acclaimed and completely outrageous, Clybourne Park quickly became Broadway’s hottest ticket.

Broadway Grand Rapids is proud to announce that the new U.S. National Tour of ANNIE will play January 13-18, 2015 at DeVos Performance Hall in Grand Rapids. Directed by original lyricist and director Martin Charnin for the 19^th time, this production of ANNIE will be a brand new physical incarnation of the iconic Tony Award^®-winning original.

A family night performance will be held on Thursday January 15.  Young guests will be treated to activities and crafts in the inner lobby of DeVos Hall prior to the performance.  The lobby will open at 6:00 pm and the performance will begin at 7:30 pm.  After the show, guests can enjoy a Talk Back in the theater with some of the actors.

For the family night performance, special four-pack pricing is available.  Get four tickets for $150 in the Mid-Mezzanine (Zone 2) and save 40%.  In the Rear-Mezzanine or Balcony, four tickets can be purchased for $100 (Zone 3), a savings of 30%.  A minimum of four tickets must be purchased to receive the discount.  Not valid on previously purchased tickets.

Tickets for all performances of ANNIE are still available and can be purchased at Broadwaygrandrapids.com, Ticketmaster.com, or charge by phone at 1-800-745-3000.  Tickets start at $32.50.  Groups of 10 or more can also receive a discount by calling 616-235-6285.

ANNIE has a book by Thomas Meehan, music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Martin Charnin. All three authors received 1977 Tony Awards^® for their work.   Choreography is by Liza Gennaro, who will incorporate selections from her father Peter Gennaro’s 1977 Tony Award^®-winning choreography. 

The original production of ANNIE opened April 21, 1977 at the Alvin Theatre and went on to win the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical, seven Drama Desk Awards including Best Musical, the Grammy for Best Cast Show Album and seven Tony Awards^®, including Best Musical, Best Book (Thomas Meehan) and Best Score (Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin).  The show remains one of the biggest Broadway musical hits ever.  It ran for 2,377 performances after it first opened, and has been performed in 28 languages and has been running somewhere around the world for 37 years.

The beloved score for ANNIE includes “Maybe,” “It’s the Hard Knock Life,” “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile,” “Easy Street,” “I Don’t Need Anything But You” and the eternal anthem of optimism, “Tomorrow.”

The celebrated design team includes scenic design byTony Award^® winner Beowulf Boritt (Act One, The Scottsboro Boys, Rock of Ages), costume design byCostume Designer’s Guild Award winner Suzy Benzinger (Blue Jasmine, Movin’ Out, Miss Saigon), lighting design by Tony Award^® winner Ken Billington (Chicago, Annie, White Christmas) and sound design by Tony Award^® nominee Peter Hylenksi (Rocky, Bullets Over Broadway, Motown).The lovable mutt “Sandy” will once again be trained by Tony Award^® Honoree William Berloni (Annie, A Christmas Story, Legally Blonde).    Musical supervision and additional orchestrations are by Keith Levenson (Annie, She Loves Me, Dreamgirls).Casting is by Joy Dewing CSA and Holly Buczek CSA, Joy Dewing Casting (Soul Doctor, Wonderland, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat). The tour is produced by Troika Entertainment, LLC.

This brand new production features a 25 member company: in the title role of Annie is Issie Swickle, a 9-year-old actress from Davie, FL, making her tour debut.  Gilgamesh Taggett will star as Oliver Warbucks.  In the role of Miss Hannigan is Lynn Andrews.  Also starring in the tour are Ashley Edler as Grace, Garrett Deagon as Rooster, Lucy Werner as Lily and Allan Ray Baker as FDR.  Sunny, a 4-year-old rescue terrier mix, stars as Sandy.

The Orphans are Angelina Carballo, Adia Dant, LillyBea Ireland, Sydney Shuck, Lilly Mae Stewart and Isabel Wallach.

For more information visit: www.anniethemusical.com

By any definition, the Grand Rapids Choir of Men and Boys is a gift to the community and to the choristers who sing in it. Revel in the opportunity to see them perform on Friday, December 13 and 14 at, 7:00p.m. at St. Andrew’s Cathedral.  Just as with other very special gifts, tears and smiles bloom when the gift is opened. Listeners are stunned and awed as the first pure notes pour forth the lips of men and boys. Together they wield the power of music to enrich their audiences and to enrich their own lives. For most, singing is a means of expression – a way of drawing out what is in us. At GRCMB, we believe just the opposite: the first and most important outcome of singing is impression. In singing, the truth of this music is drawn into the depths of one’s being rather than out of the depths of one’s being.

Song is valuable because it carries the words inside us (impression), and because it carries us to the inside of the words. Perhaps we simply recognize all too well the discordant inner impulses inside of us. We must learn the way of melody, harmony and rhythm, allowing grace and beauty to draw our fragmented souls into God’s presence. This is the core mission of the work at the Grand Rapids Choir of Men & Boys So, let the concert begin and as the choir processes into the cathedral, thank you again for claiming GRCMB as “Your Choir.”

The concert will feature music composed for centuries of historic occasions at Westminster Abbey.  A new work commissioned by Bob Chilcott will take center stage in addition to carols for Christmas.