River North Happy Hours – Post Lockdown

As restaurants struggle to reopen post-lockdown, happy hours are tough to find. As we discover new ones, I will list them here. If there are others that should be included, please let me know.

Avec West Loop Location
615 W Randolph
Happy Hour is Wed-Fri 5:00-6:00
Select wines $10 (250ml), Select cocktails $10

Eddie V’s
521 N Rush Street Sun-Thurs 4-6:30
Cocktails $9, Wine $8, 5 Differernt Teasers $7-$16
Great food and service in the bar area. Mini Filets are great, and the Prime Steak Tataki is amazing. Other appetizers are available at the regular price. Stick around for live music after 6:30.

Gordo’s Tiny Taco Bar
333 E Benton Place, Suite 100 (Park level) Mon-Fri 4-6
$8 Margaritas, $4 Beers,
Excellent food and service at a great price. If you enter from Randolph, take the escalators to the park level then head outside to the left.

Hampton Social Streeterville
164 E Grand Ave Mon-Fri 3-6
Stop and smell the rosé! Enjoy ½ off selected rosés and pizzas

Hampton Social rosé and pizza

Jaleo by José Andrés
500 N Clark St Mon-Fri 3-6
Sangria, Cocktails, Wine & Beer $7-$11
7 Unusual food items for $7 each. Wed Half-price wine bottles. Lively atmosphere, and good service.

Ocean Prime
87 E Wacker Mon-Fri 4-6
Specials on Sushi, Cheeseburgers, Deviled Eggs, Calamari, Goat Cheese Ravioli, Crab Cakes, and More! Specials on house wines by the glass, select cocktails. Good food in a nice atmosphere overlooking the river.


Osteria Via Stato
620 N State St – Sun-Thu 5-6, Fri-Sat 4:30-5:30
Half-price pizza and select house wines. Add a salad and you’re all set!

Pinstripes Chicago
435 E Illinois, 4-6:30 Sun-Fri
One of our favorites is back. Make a reservation if you want to be outside on the patio.
$5 House wines, $5 Craft Beers, $6 Cocktails, Pigs in a Blanket, Tenderloin Sliders, Calamari, Truffle Fries, Wings, and a selection of Pizzas and Flatbreads.


STK Steakhouse
9 W Kinzie, 3-5 PM Every Day
Ditch work early and head to STK Steakhouse for our Daily Happy Hour; featuring $2-$8 Bites, 1/2 Off Signature Cocktails & $10 Justin Cabernet and Vievité Rosé.
Available in the entire restaurant. Available every day so this is a perfect late lunch or early dinner for Saturday/Sunday!

Taste 222
222 N Canal 4-7 PM Mon-Fri
Great atmosphere and a friendly place. Happy Hour till 7 is a nice option. Empanadas, Mini Burgers, Wings, and more. We especially enjoyed the Firecracker Shrimp and Deviled Eggs. House wines $6. The House Old Fashioned was terrific.

Tzuco
720 N State St. 4-5:30 PM Mon-Fri
We’ve been a fan of Carlos Gaytán and Tzuco for many years. Now, some of the great tastes of Huitzuco, Mexico are available at a reduced price for Happy Hour! We especially enjoyed the Tuna Ceviche, Guacamole, and Tostadas de Cochinita Pibil. Their house margarita has a unique cucumber twist. The Carajillo (Licor 43 and espresso) was tasty.

Venteux
230 N Michigan Ave (The old Union Carbide Building) 4-6 PM Tues-Fri
Amazing food and great atmosphere, in the Pendry Chicago Hotel.
$10 Wines, $12 Cocktails, Sliders, Steak Tartare (Smoked egg yolk, sunchoke, mustard), Liver Mousse Tartine (Seasonal jam, mustard seed, fennel), Gougeres (Puff pastry with truffle honey and mornay), Shrimp Cocktail, $1 Oysters, and more. Get there early!

Rebalance Your Asset Allocation with Donor Advised Funds

A New Way to Rebalance Your Asset Allocation

Millions of Americans have simplified their Investments by choosing an asset allocation model based on age, risk tolerance, etc, with low-cost passive index funds used for each asset class.  No matter which asset allocation you use, or the number of asset classes, most professionals recommend periodic rebalancing of the portfolio back to the desired asset allocation percentages.  Equities have seen a huge run-up in the last couple of years, so in most cases, rebalancing requires the sale of some equity holdings and most likely the purchase of some fixed-income funds. At a time when equities are flying high and interest rates are near zero, selling equities to buy bonds is difficult for many investors. Of course, one of the keys to successful investing is the ability to put aside your emotions and strictly follow the rules of rebalancing periodically.  

Rebalance by Donating Gains

If you hold Equity Funds in a taxable account, let me suggest an alternative to selling:  Donate part of your appreciated equities to a Donor-advised fund (DAF).   Donor-advised funds are the fastest-growing vehicle for charitable contributions, and there’s a good reason.  When you transfer equities to the fund, you’ll get an immediate charitable deduction for the full value of the equities donated. But more importantly, you’ll escape paying taxes on the capital gains.  If you’ve been holding stocks or ETFs in a taxable account for a few years, chances are a good percentage of the market value is unrealized capital gains. Uncle Sam can’t wait for you to sell those securities so he can cash in on your good fortune. So it’s important that you donate (transfer) the stock or fund shares rather than sell them and donate the cash.   More about that later.

What is a Donor-Advised Fund?

A Donor-advised fund is registered as a 501c3 charity, so contributions to it are tax-deductible as a charitable contribution.  The difference is that the contributions you make to the fund are held in a fund account until you determine when and where a grant should be made to a specific charity. You can request that the charitable fund make a grant to your favorite museum, church, or any 501c3 organization. Assuming that the fund agrees that the charity is legitimate, they will issue a check along with a nice cover letter to your charity. Of course, you will not get an additional charitable contribution deduction because you got a deduction when the equities went into the fund.  We use the Schwab Charitable donor-advised fund, but similar funds are available at Fidelity, Vanguard, and elsewhere.  Schwab lets you name your account to include your family name.  So when they make a grant to a charity, it’s sent on a nice “Feil Family Charitable Fund” letterhead, which is a nice little ego boost. I feel like one of those rich guys you see listed in the credits of a PBS  series. 

Making the Donation

Transferring equities to a Donor-advised fund is much easier than you might think. Like most clients, my Schwab account consists of several sub-accounts; i.e. IRAs for myself and my wife, and a taxable account. The Schwab charitable account is added as an additional sub-account. You can simply transfer shares of an appreciated equity from your taxable account to the charitable account.   If I have 500 shares of Vanguard Total stock market (VTI), I can transfer 50 of those shares to the charitable fund.  If I log into my account a couple of days later. I’ll see that Schwab has accurately recalculated the cost basis for my remaining 450 shares, and I will see my donation appear in the charitable account.  Here’s the interesting part…  You can even manage the investments in the charitable account. Schwab has several pre-allocated investment pool funds, i.e. “Conservative”, “Growth”, etc., as well as a number of single asset class investment pools (both active and passive), i.e., “Total Market Equity”, “Income Index Fund”, “International Equity” and “Money Fund”.   When you request that the fund issue a grant, you can identify which investment is sold.  If you have a sizable charitable fund account with its own asset allocation, you may need to rebalance periodically. I would do this by requesting grants be made using the asset classes which have appreciated the most. Do you see a pattern here? 

Donor-advised funds are also useful in tax planning strategies.  If your taxable income varies from year to year, you can lump your contributions to get the largest tax benefit. Contribute to the fund in a year when your tax bracket is high. Then you can continue to request grants to charities when your tax bracket is low.  Of course, if the whole point is helping people through charitable contributions, it doesn’t make sense to have assets sitting idle in a charitable account year after year.

Considerations

Here are some items you may want to consider when choosing a Donor-advised fund.

  • What are the minimum contribution amounts?
  • What are the minimum Grant amounts?
  • What kind of Investments pools are available for the account assets?
  • Is it easy to transfer a select number of shares from your taxable account to the charitable account?
  • Does the fund let you Name the account? i.e., “The Harvey and Wilma Schmidt Wildlife Fund”. 
  • If you have a specific favorite charity in mind, it would be important to make sure that the fund recognizes the charity as legitimate.  Most funds have databases with thousands of recognized charities, but if you want to grant to a small charity or a local church, you may want to do a little research. Keep in mind that the contributions you make to the fund are irrevocable. Even though you can manage the money and invest in different asset classes, you will never get that money back. 

So what are you waiting for? Rebalance your portfolio, get a tax deduction,  and help a charity… all at the same time. It’s a WIN-WIN-WIN !

River North Happy Hours (Before Covid 19)

Living in downtown Chicago can be expensive.  But if you’re willing to dine a little early, you’ll find some of the best Chicago food and wine at great prices!  These are all a short walk from our place. If there are any you think should be added to the list, let me know!
Click the venue name for the menu.

Beacon Tavern
405 N Wabash Ave (Between Trump and Wrigley),  M-F 3-6
$8 Wine and Cocktails,  $3-$9 Nibbles

Bijan’s
663 N State St Mon-Fri  4:00-6:00
1/2 OFF All Beer and Wine, 1/2 OFF Non-premium Liqueur, 1/2 OFF All Appetizers
The house wine isn’t bad, and at half-price it’s only $4 per glass!   One nice thing about Bijan’s is you can enjoy the happy hour in the restaurant or even outside.  You don’t have to sit by the bar. Bijan’s is open 10AM-4AM 365 Days a year! The steak salad (on the dinner menu) is fantastic!  Say hello to Rolf.

Steak Nachos at Bijan’s – $6 during Happy Hour
Beet and Burrata Salad at Bijan’s

Cantina Laredo
508 N State St, Mon-Fri, 3:30-6:30 PM Upstairs Half-off casaritas, house wine, draft and bottled beer

Chicago Chop House
60 W Ontario, 4-6 Monday – Friday
Cocktails and select wines $8
Prime Rib Sliders or Filet Tip Sliders 3/$14
Charcuterie Board $18


Doc B’s Fresh Kitchen River North
55 E Grand, 4-6 Monday-Friday
$4 Beer, $6 Wines New Kitchen Items ($6-$9): Burgers, Chicken Sandwiches, Fried Chicken, Wok Bowels, Brussels Sprout Salad and more. The fried chicken is amazing. So is the brussels sprout salad. I like the Thai Veggie Wok Bowl, but I usually ask them to kick up the spice level.

Spicy Crispy Chicken Sandwich – $6 at Doc B’s

Eddie V’s
521 N Rush, Every Day 4-6
$8 premium wines, $7-$19 appetizers

Emerald Loop
216 N Wabash Happy Hour Specials Mon-Fri 4-6PM
$6 Draft Beers & Well Drinks,
$4 Parmesan Truffle Popcorn, $5 Crispy Cauliflower Bites, $2.50 Sliders
Weekday Specials
Monday Meatloaf $13
Tuesday Chicken Pot Pie $13, Emerald burger and side $10
Wednesday Guinness Beef Stew $14, Rosemary Chicken $14
Thursday Corned Beef & Cabbage $14
Friday Lobster Mac & Cheese $17, Grilled Rosemary Swordfish $18

Flemings
25 E Ohio, Every Day 5-7
$9-12 wine and cocktails, $9-$14 appetizers, $11 burger
George is the managing partner, and he runs a great place. You’ll usually find Lonnie behind the bar making sure happy hour runs smoothly.

Katana Chicago
339 N Dearborn (Marina City)
4:30-7:00 Monday-Friday
4:30-6:00 Saturday
Nice Happy hour menu with $10 specialty cocktails, $6 wines, rolls, skewers, wagyu beef sliders, lots of goodies!

Shrimp Tempura at Katana

McCormick & Schmick’s Wacker Drive
1 E Wacker Dr, Mon-Fri 4-6:30
This chain claims the best happy hour in the country.  Here’s the menu.
Outdoor seating is usually available.

Morton’s
65 E Wacker Place, Mon-Fri 4-7
$8 wine, $8-10 bar bites
Mini Files, Buffalo Chicken Strips, Mini Crab Cake BLTs, Tuna Tacos, Burgers, etc.

Ocean Prime
87 E Wacker Mon-Fri 4-6
Half Price Sushi, Sliders, Deviled Eggs, Calamari, Goat Cheese Ravioli, Lamb Lollipops, Crab Cakes and More! Half price house wines by the glass, select cocktails. Good food in a nice atmosphere overlooking the river.

Prime Sliders at Ocean Prime
Deviled Eggs with White Truffle & Caviar at Ocean Prime

Pinstripes
435 E Illinois, Mon-Fri 3:00-6:30

Tenderloin Slides at Pinstripes – $7

$4 Beer, $4 Wine, $5 Well Drinks, Appetizer Specials including Sliders, Flatbreads and Pizza.  Pinstripes is especially nice in the summer when you can dine outside.

River Roast
315 N LaSalle, Mon-Fri 3-5

Saturdays and Sundays – Blues Brunch
Cheese and Charcuterie at River Roast Happy Hour

$35 – Bottle of Rose and 12 Oysters
$3-$7 Bites, $10 Burgers, $10 Cobb Salad
$5 Beers, $7 Cocktails River Roast has a great location on the north side of the Chicago River at LaSalle. Be sure to arrive early for Happy Hour to get a great riverside seat.

Rock Bottom
1 W Grand Ave, Mon-Thurs 3:30-6:30
$5-$7 Appetizers, $3 Beer, $5 House wines

Ruth’s Chris
431 N Dearborn, Mon-Fri 4:00-6:30

Steak Sandwich at Ruth’s Chris Happy Hour

$9 Prime Burger, Tenderloin Salad, Crab BLT, Steak Sandwich, Ahi Tuna, Spicy Shrimp.  Limited wine selection. You can sit at the bar, but if you’re early you can ask for a booth along the window if available.

Union Sushi + Barbeque
230 W Erie, Every Day 5-6:30
$1 Oysters, $2.50 beef filet skewers, $4 shrimp rolls, $5 Moscow mules.