What we’re about
Window to the World
Attendance policies:
a) Three (3) no-shows without updating your RSVP (for standard meetups) and you will be banned from this meetup.
b) For any meetups in which food has been pre-ordered family-style, any no-shows may result in an immediate ban.
c) If you've RSVP'ed "YES" and changed your RSVP to "NO" within 3 hours before the event starts (Unless you have a REAL emergency), I will consider you as a "no-show".
Chicago is a wonderfully diverse city; each culture has its personality, language, customs, traditions, and cuisine. Each month we will explore various geographical regions by visiting restaurants deemed representative of the cuisines of those regions.
Each restaurant has been selected based on critical reviews, uniqueness, or Zagat or Michelin recommendations. Selections run the gamut from simple street food to 12-course meals fit for royalty. This means sometimes there will be dishes and dining practices that are very unfamiliar, but that's the fun of culinary exploration.
All meetups have been planned with the goal of enjoying a wonderful meal with wonderful company in mind. However, while meeting new people and reacquainting with old friends make the meal more enjoyable, the meal is, and always will be, the chief focus of each meetup. Please do not take up precious spots if you are not interested in the main attraction (like going to Garlic Fest if you don't like garlic in your food or a "meat-heavy" dinner and you're vegetarian).
If the presence of another member makes you uncomfortable, please let us know immediately so the offending member is removed and banned.
Banned members will not be reinstated. There is no period after which a banned member can re-apply to join.
Anyone who has been banned or has had their membership revoked and attempts to attend an event either by attending as another member's guest or without a proper RSVP may be asked to sit elsewhere if the event is held at a public venue or asked to leave if the meetup is a private event.
For more meetups, be sure to check out our sister groups: Chicagoland Culinary Explorers and Adventurous Eating. Chicagoland Culinary Explorers focuses on casual and fine dining restaurants in and around Chicago, while Adventurous Eating focuses on unusual culinary experiences.
Click here to learn more about ISCChicago.
Let's explore authentic cuisines together!
Upcoming events (1)
See all- Asian fusion @ BiXi Beer (Rooftop)Bixi Beer, Chicago, ILUSD 2.00
*NOTE: The $2 meetup fee is charged to pay for fees charged by Meetup.com. Payment can be made via Cashapp/PayPal/Zelle - I will PM you payment details upon RSVP.*
Menu: https://www.bixi.beer/dining-room-food
Table for 8 at BiXi Beer, a brewpub offering Korean, Chinese & Vietnamese inspired cuisine. The restaurant features a large, airy second floor as well as a roof deck. It was profiled in Chicago Magazine as well.
From Chicago Magazine:
"The Chinese mythological figure Bixi often graces ancient funerary steles, sculpted as a dragon housed in a turtle's shell. So it's fitting that Logan Square restaurant Bixi Beer is named for this creature, as the East Asian-inspired brewpub is a hybrid of its own kind — impossible to classify, and completely unique, at least in Chicago.
Owners Bo and Arden Fowler (Owen & Engine, Fat Willy's Rib Shack) their bar and restaurant in 2018 after three years of planning (and a few holdups). Occupying two floors to seat about 200, Bixi Beer serves up food with Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and other Southeast Asian flavors; the menu offers dishes like baos and noodles, but there's also an oyster bar on the second floor.
"I wasn’t too fussy about keeping it super authentic," says Bo Fowler. "I try to keep the techniques authentic, but we do what we think tastes good."
Fowler, who is South Korean but grew up in the Midwest, had originally wanted to open a small dumpling shop, but her partner envisioned opening a brewpub. So, as advised by Bixi's general manager, Elliott Beier, they combined the idea to launch a spot where beers are designed to pair with bites. Many include Asian ingredients, from Sichuan peppercorn to puffed jasmine rice.
"I've spent some time reading about the burgeoning craft brewing scene in East Asia," Beier says. "A lot of them either have Americans as their brewers, or nationals who have traveled to the US to get training and gone back. Some, like Young Master in Hong Kong and Great Leap in Beijing, are heavily incorporating local ingredients.
"Knowing that there really isn't anything like [an East Asian brewery] in the states so far, I pressed them to open just one concept, knowing that we’d have something truly unique."
In charge of the beer program is Eymard Freire, a native Brazilian and graduate of Chicago's Siebel Institute who's trained in practical microbiology. Freire has never visited East Asia, but he's been busy experimenting and taking risks with ingredients. "I did not have a preconception of what to do," Freire says. "It's just guessing on what would be popular.""
