We're excited to announce the launch of our long-awaited expanded bar menu, aptly titled Big Jones' Guide to Good Drinking, featuring a collection of refined cocktails, draft beer, cider, fine wines, and over 90 whiskies to choose from. The cocktail list is the handiwork of new Bar Director Andrew Shay (more on this intriguing character soon) and an extensive program of house infusions, bitters, and preserves, with wines and beers personally selected by Chef/Owner Paul Fehribach.

New cocktails by Andrew Shay include Chatham Artillery Punch, a 19th-century libation whose receipt was passed down by famous Savannah socialite Henrietta Waring to racconteur Eugene Walter and on to you through our painstaking process of infusions and barrel aging. Other new cocktails are the Brandy Fix, and pre-prohibition concoction of brandy, lemon, house-macerated pinapple syrup, and green chartreuse, and Blue Yodel No. 2, a variation of the classic Manhattan including Tennessee rye, Dolin rouge, and a rinse of Balcones Brimstone Smoked Whiskey (TX), A Dry Vodka tonic prepared with house-made dry tonic water infused with lemongrass and galangal and featuring Luksusowa, a dynamite potato vodka from Poland and celery bitters, and the Spring Daisy, a loose variation on the Whiskey Daisy including Death's Door white whiskey, fresh squeezed ruby grapefruit, pickled beet juice, housemade rhubarb bitters, fresh tarragon, and a float of yellow chartreuse, Father Pablo's Mission, a combination of reposado tequila, Benedictine, Ferrand dry Curacao, and lime oil, among many other libations.

The focused beer selection includes mostly local offerings and drafts of Metropolitan, Founders, New Holland, Virtue Cider, and Prima Cider together with a  small but very carefully curated bottle selection.

Executive Chef and Owner Paul Fehribach personally selected the 60-bottle wine list, which includes 40 selections under $40 per bottle, and a globe-trotting style in the search for perfect wines, which landed choices from Michigan as well as many other states and countries.

Guests can expect a cocktail menu that evolves seasonally to incorporate the best local and Southern produce available at any time, with a sensibility that, like our kitchen, mines the vaults of history to find receipts that are relevant, intruiging, and delicious.

On Monday, May 20, executive chef Paul Fehribach in conjunction with Chefs Collaborative will be joined by nine of Chicago’s premier chefs to present a Trash Fish Dinner at Big Jones. The event benefits Chefs Collaborative, a national network of chefs working to make sustainable practices second nature in restaurant kitchens. The dinner will begin with a cocktail reception at 6 p.m. followed by an eight-course, family-style dinner at 7 p.m. Seafood for the evening will be provided by event sponsor Fortune Fish and Gourmet. The cost of the dinner is $125 per person, inclusive of tax, gratuity and alcohol. Tickets are required and can be purchased by calling 617-236-5200 or online at chefscollaborative.org/events.

The featured chefs will showcase lesser-known fish species in each course, like dogfish, smelt, speckled trout and triggerfish. These sustainable fish, often known as “trash fish,” have traditionally been left off the menu by chefs, discarded by fishermen as bycatch, and are virtually unknown to the general public.

The Trash Fish Dinner chef lineup is as follows:

Hosted by chef Paul Fehribach – Big Jones
Erling Wu-Bower – Avec
Paul Kahan - Blackbird
Bruce Sherman - North Pond
Sarah Stegner and George Bumbaris - Prairie Grass Café
Laura Piper - Trattoria No. 10
Michael and Patrick Sheerin - Trenchermen
Paul Virant – Vie; Perennial Virant 

The Trash Fish Dinner sponsors are as follows:

American Harvest Organic Spirit
Big Jones
Environmental Defense Fund
Fortune Fish and Gourmet
Monterey Bay Aquarium and Seafood Watch
 

April 18 we are proud to host a special Piggybank Dinner to benefit The Southern Foodways Alliance with James Beard Award-winning authors Matt Lee and Ted Lee in celebration of their awesome new cookbook, The Lee Bros. Charleston Kitchen.

The Lee Brothers will be siging their new cookbook as executive chef Paul Fehribach prepares a multicourse tasting menu featuring recipes from The Lee Bros. Charleston Kitchen and a few Lee Bros. classics from their earlier books.

There is a cocktail reception and book signing at 6 p.m. followed by dinner at 7. In keeping with Southern Foodways Alliance's traditional seating at events, seating will be communal, however the dinner will be plated.

April 18, 2013

6:00 Cocktail Reception and Book Signing

Kumquat Champagne Sparklers

Rock & Rye Cocktails

Collard Green Tea Sandwiches on Sally Lunn

Shad Roe Spread on Buttered Toast

Henry’s Cheese Spread on Savory Benne Wafers

7:00 Dinner

Peanut and Oyster Stew

Pickled Shrimp with Fennel Nestled in Butter Lettuce

Deviled Crab

Smothered Pork Chop with Hoppin’ John and Brussels Sprouts with Benne and Bacon

Grapefruit Chess Pie

Syllabub and Macaroons for the Table

Lowcountry Limoncello

Paired wines TBA

$100 per person

50% of ticket price benefits Southern Foodways Alliance

We're proud to announce the 6th installment of our Spirits Dinner Series, welcoming Journeyman Distillery's (Three Oaks, MI) founder Bill Welter for a special dinner crafted by Executive Chef & Co-Owner Paul Fehribach and accompanied by several of Journeyman's artisinal, organic spirits.

The dinner takes place at Big Jones, 5347 N Clark on March 6. Titled High Lonesome: Journeyman Spirits and the Cooking of Appalachia ca. 1930 the dinner will feature five courses of carefully executed Appalachian dishes from the end of the old-time era of Appalachia, before the TVA and CCC brought electricity and developement to the mountains, paired with Journeyman's line of spirits inclusing three whiskeys, bilberry gin, and vodka made with strict artisinal and organic standards. Reception begins at 6:00 and dinner is served at 7 p.m. The cost is $50 per person including tax and gratuity.

March 6, 2012 * Reception 6:00 dinner 7:00 pm

14-month country ham with angel flake biscuit and redeye gravy

Bread Service: Home-baked wild yeast rye bread with cultured Kilgus cream butter and homemade quince honey

Henry Moore corn hominy soup with Desiree potatoes, hog maws, and turnip greens, plus relishes: sliced cabbage, onion, and heirloom radishes with house cider vinegar

Pigeon pie with turnips, pearl onions, and peppery sawmill gravy

Warm wild persimmon cake with sorghum molasses ice cream and hickory nut brittle

Reservations are open to Big Jones Bourbon Society Members immediately. Reservations are open to the public beginning February 20, and can be made by calling 773-275-5725.

Big Jones is proud to announce one of the iconic bourbons from Kentucky as its whiskey of the month for February, Evan Williams. Evan Williams, the man was a jack of all trades including a politician who would bring his moonshine to dry meetings wherein it would be confiscated by authorities. Although, rumor has it he always left with an empty jug. Sounds like business as usual to me. Part of the Heaven Hill brand since the fifties, it is now under the watchful eye of 6th generation master distiller Parker Beam with the family's trademark yeast strain. Evan Williams has a gentle aroma of vanilla, caramel, and oak with a hint of dried spice. On the palate it is very soft showing a little bit of summer fruit to go along with the aromas. Notes of clove and cinnamon come through on the finish. Evan Williams is a must have bottle on the back shelf of every home bar as a go-to whiskey for everyday drinking. It makes a wonderful Manhattan or enjoyed on its own after a long work day, or keep in mind as Mardi Gras approaches, it makes a great Sazerac. We look forward to pour you multiple tastes of this whiskey throughout the month of February especially on the 14th, because what romantic evening doesn’t start and end with bourbon. As always keep sipping whiskey.

It’s free to join the Big Jones Bourbon Society, just ask your server or bartender to sign up on your next visit. You’ll receive a passport to forty of our more than sixty whiskeys. On each visit, members are welcome to one complimentary pour of the Whiskey of the Month (WOM) which will usually (but not always) be a straight Kentucky bourbon whiskey. Big Jones Bourbon Society members will also receive invitations to members-only events such as whiskey tastings and whiskey socials.

Of course you’re welcome to enjoy any whiskey on our list at any time. We’ll mark off your passport as you taste each of the forty whiskeys, and once you’ve tasted them all, you will earn the distinction of Master Taster, and win tickets for two to a one-of-a-kind all-out whiskey dinner. As the ranks of Master Tasters grows, we will host a series of dinners for Master Tasters.

We're pleased to announce our plans for Mardi Gras 2013. We are planning a special menu for the final week of the Mardi Gras season culminating on Fat Tuesday. The special menu will run from February 6-12 and is available from 5-9 p.m. daily, 5-11 p.m. on Fat Tuesday.

Especially exciting is the return of one of most popular family meals, A Cajun Country Ramble, ca. 1955. The family-style dinner includes both crawfish and liver boudin balls served with crispy house crackling, Sunday Gumbo with Cajun-style potato salad, a homage to the community gumbo pot which after church on Sunday would inevitably wind up with a little bit of everything in it, andouille and alligator sauce piquant with Delta rice, and Gateaux de Sirop for dessert, the traditional Cajun cane syrup cake which will be served with tac-tac a.k.a. caramel corn, and ice cream. The family meal is available every evening from February 6-12 from 5-10 p.m.

Special items on the savory menu include barbecued shrimp, cooked in the traditional way with U-10 head-on shrimp in a tangy gravy of hot sauce, house-made worcestershire, and butter, and peacemaker po boys, the iconic fried oyster po boy that has sated many a late-night reveler, red beans and rice cooked with pickled pig's feet and served with grilled chaurice, and traditional chicken & sausage jambalaya.

Desserts on tap include the Cajun Gateaux de Sirop and calas, the Creole soured-rice fritter that was popular street food in the 19th century, and homemade king cake.

Reservations are highly recommended for the weekend before Mardi Gras and Mardi Gras day, and recommended the rest of the week. Reservations can be made by calling 773-275-5725

Big Jones is pleased to announce Redemption Rye as its whiskey of the month for January. Redemption Rye is distilled in Indiana and bottled in Bardstown Kentucky. The mash bill contains a high premium rye count of 95%. It is aged for two plus years in charred American oak barrels and bottled at 92 proof. With the high rye count and bottled at a young age the racy flavors of the rye really come through in this whiskey. The nose gives you one last reminder of Christmas with notes of clove, ginger, evergreen and cinnamon with a little hint of menthol. These flavors transfer over to the palate with a subtle flavor of chocolate and licorice. The mild sweetness combined with the spice characters that this whiskey shows makes it perfect for a Manhattan, or just poured over ice and sipped on its own. We look forward to seeing you at the restaurant to try the first aged rye whiskey that we have featured, and as always keep sipping whiskey. Cheers.

It’s free to join the Big Jones Bourbon Society, just ask your server or bartender to sign up on your next visit. You’ll receive a passport to forty of our more than sixty whiskeys. On each visit, members are welcome to one complimentary pour of the Whiskey of the Month (WOM) which will usually (but not always) be a straight Kentucky bourbon whiskey. Big Jones Bourbon Society members will also receive invitations to members-only events such as whiskey tastings and whiskey socials.

Of course you’re welcome to enjoy any whiskey on our list at any time. We’ll mark off your passport as you taste each of the forty whiskeys, and once you’ve tasted them all, you will earn the distinction of Master Taster, and win tickets for two to a one-of-a-kind all-out whiskey dinner. As the ranks of Master Tasters grows, we will host a series of dinners for Master Tasters.

MOnday, December 31 Big Jones will serve our regular lunch menu featuring the Boarding House Lunch from 10 am - 3 p.m. From 5 pm until midnight, we will serve a special tasting menu to celebrate the New Year. The price will be $69 with optional beverage pairings available for $30. The regular menu will not be available for New Year's Eve dinner service.

Our New Year's Eve dinner service begins with an amuse of sea island red pea Cappuccino with bacon froth, puffed Carolina gold rice, and parched collard greens in keeping with the tradition of eating peas with rice and greens on New Year's. First course includes a choice of Carolina gold rice risotto with roasted black trumpet mushrooms or crispy fried Laughing Birg shrimp with grits. Bread service for the evening is the historic Awendaw spoonbread served with corn mushroom butter, followed by a choice of oyster and sausage gumbo, turtle soup, or a hoophouse mustard green salad. The main course includes a choice of wood-grilled ribeye with Louisiana coast prawn, butter-poached sustainable grouper from the Shareholder's Alliance with butterbean pasta, and lobster sausage, or a winter vegetable pie with celery root, rutabaga, truffle, and a creamed salsify sauce. Desserts include a choice of Meyer lemon and yuzu pie, coconut cream cake, or bourbon chocolate beignets.

Brunch is served New Year's Day from 10 am until 3 p.m. and includes fried chicken and waffles plus hoppin' john with greens as special New Year's dishes in addition to our most popular brunch items. Big Jones will be closed for dinner service New Year's day,.

We're pleased to announce our Whiskey of the Month for the Big Jones Bourbon Society, Jefferson's Small Batch Bourbon. Jefferson's is made by Heaven Hill Distillery in very small batches of eight to twelve barrels each. The mash bill is 60% corn, 30% rye, and 10% malted barley, making it a medium-bodied whiskey with good spice and beautiful fruit notes. It's aged in a metal clad warehouse in the heart of Kentucky, exposing it to four seasons of temperature and humidity changes leading to expansion and contraction of the barrels so that the whiskey can go deep into the barrels to extract aromatics and tannins, leading to a more complex bourbon. The nose on this bourbon shows elegant stone fruits, vanilla, and soft spice box notes, a lovely prelude to a wonderfully complex mouthfeel both soft and with a bit of heat and spice. Across the palate flavors of orange peel, blackberries, honey, cinnamon, and tobacco lead to a soft and pretty finish of vanilla, oak, and tea. At 82.3 proof Jefferson's is easy to drink and as elegant as we could ever hope bourbon to be.

It’s free to join the Big Jones Bourbon Society, just ask your server or bartender to sign up on your next visit. You’ll receive a passport to forty of our more than sixty whiskeys. On each visit, members are welcome to one complimentary pour of the Whiskey of the Month (WOM) which will usually (but not always) be a straight Kentucky bourbon whiskey. Big Jones Bourbon Society members will also receive invitations to members-only events such as whiskey tastings and whiskey socials.

Of course you’re welcome to enjoy any whiskey on our list at any time. We’ll mark off your passport as you taste each of the forty whiskeys, and once you’ve tasted them all, you will earn the distinction of Master Taster, and win tickets for two to a one-of-a-kind all-out whiskey dinner. As the ranks of Master Tasters grows, we will host a series of dinners for Master Tasters.

We are pleased to announce our latest seasonal dessert menu, planned for the late autumn period of Thanksgiving through the holidays. Executive chef/co-owner and pastry chef Paul Fehribach draws on favorite Southern ingredients from sweet potatoes to peanuts and cider, plus dusts off long-lost favorites such as ermine frosting and cider pie, together with newer creations and combinations such as the sweet potato & chocolate pot de creme, to offer a menu that is both creative & new while adhering to historic cooking traditions for which he has become known.

Offerings include Appalachian Cider Pie, ca. 1960, Carrot Cake with ermine frosting, Sweet Potato & Chocolate Pot de Creme, Bourbon Raisin Bread Pudding, and a Warm Peanut Cake. Also available is a daily tasting of the day's homemade ice creams and sorbets, of which there are always at least five. The ice cream sampling offers a choice of three.

Planned for release soon is the addition of an update on traditional banana pudding, one of the most time-honored and delicious of Southern desserts.

Desserts are affered at every service, brunch, lunch, and dinner, seven days a week.