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Tag: billy

  • Kotaku’s Weekend Guide: Five Epic And Exciting Games We’re Getting Lost In

    Kotaku’s Weekend Guide: Five Epic And Exciting Games We’re Getting Lost In

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    Play it on: PC, Switch, PlayStation, Xbox
    Current goal: Make my stronghold a little nicer

    If I’m honest, most of my gaming time this weekend will probably go, once again, toward the incredible UFO 50. (I now have my first two cherry carts!) However, it’s probably time I start mentioning other games on occasion here in the Weekend Guide, so instead I’ll talk about something else I’ve been playing lately, Pillars of Eternity, the 2015 fantasy CRPG from Obsidian Entertainment which follows in the footsteps of genre-defining classics like Baldur’s Gate and Icewind Dale. It’s absolutely epic in scope, immediately thrusting you into a world with its own rich, captivating history and lore—a world we’ll soon get to revisit in Avowed—but it’s also intimate and personal, with exceptionally well-written characters navigating life in a world filled with conflict and strife.

    Early on, your character is awakened to their skills as a Watcher, someone who can see and interact with the souls of others. This not only allows for some great fantasy RPG plot hooks, but also brings the history of the game’s world to life in a way it otherwise wouldn’t be. You might, for instance, encounter someone who, in a past life, was part of the marauding hordes driving others out of their homes, and see how their soul was marred by the trauma of participating in something so monstrous, or you might be pulled into the experience of someone who was persecuted by those hordes. William Faulkner famously wrote, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” It’s true of our world, I think, and in Pillars of Eternity’s Eora, you really feel the way that the past lingers, shaping and haunting the present.

    Of course, all the great pleasures of CRPGs are here—gorgeous lands to explore, engaging tactical combat, epic quests—and all of that is crucial to what makes Pillars of Eternity so exceptional. But for now, I’m particularly smitten by the writing, so smart and so rich, and characterized by a tremendous respect for the player, trusting us to come to grips with the world and its history upon being thrown in head-first, and trusting us to appreciate its profound thematic depth without needing to spell things out for us or lampshade what it’s doing. It’s so great to encounter genuinely mature writing in a game, especially when it’s married to gameplay as rich and captivating as what’s on offer here. — Carolyn Petit

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    Kenneth Shepard, Carolyn Petit, Zack Zwiezen, Ethan Gach, and John Walker

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  • Billy Dec’s Closes Underground Chicago as Nashville Location Readies to Open

    Billy Dec’s Closes Underground Chicago as Nashville Location Readies to Open

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    It’s the end of an era in River North as the Underground, where locals would text their friends late at night with photos of Justin Bieber, Chance the Rapper, or Katy Perry has closed. Opened in 2007, along with Rockit Bar & Grill, located around the corner on Hubbard Street, the two venues helped further co-owner Billy Dec as a household name in Chicago.

    But after Dec split with partners, Brad Young and Arturo Gomez, Rockit closed in 2019 ending a 15-year run. That was before the pandemic, which hurt the world of music venues and bars with folks focusing on social distancing. Even in a post-vaccine world where Chicago’s tourists are returning, some businesses may have endured too much to survive. Last week, Dec announced the Underground, 56 W. Illinois Street, would close and convert into a private event space. That’s a move Chicago is bound to see more of, with the biggest example being in October 2023 when Boka Restaurant Group closed its French restaurant, the 10-month-old Le Select — led by acclaimed chef Daniel Rose — turning that River North space into the Wellsley.

    The Underground, at 17 years old, has a more storied history versus Le Select. Dec, a Chicago native and graduate of the Latin School of Chicago, moved to Nashville where in 2018 he opened a location of his River North restaurant, Sunda. He also opened a Sunda in Tampa, Florida. Along those lines, he’s bringing the Underground brand to Tennessee, opening the Underground Cocktail Club at the end of the month or early June: “We are so humbled, honored, excited, and proud to be able to share a piece of our Chicago original in new markets to come,” a statement shared via social media from Dec reads. The project was announced in 2022.

    At one point, Dec also said he wanted to open Rockit locations in other cities. While that didn’t happen, Dec did win local Emmys and was an Obama appointee in 2014 to the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

    Dec hasn’t abandoned Chicago — he opened the fourth outpost of Sunda in February, inside a new Fulton Market — but the once mighty Rockit Ranch Productions has shrunk. In 2017, as he geared up to leave Chicago, he said there would be an increased focus on moneymakers. That happened as Otto Mezzo (formerly Ay Chiwowa), his venture with chef Kevin Hickey, closed along Chicago Avenue in River North. Hickey has since brought James Beard attention to his South Side restaurant, the Duck Inn.

    But the two Sundas are all that remains of Dec’s once thriving empire in Chicago, one that included the Underground, and Le Passage, the latter of which closed in 2011. Gomez, who was roommates with Dec in a Wicker Park apartment, last year partnered with Nader, Fadi, and Rafid Hindo — the brothers behind Celeste. The quartet formed Celeste Group, which includes Whiskey Bar, Deco Supper Club, DISCO, and the rooftop Garden at 111. W. Hubbard Street). They’ll soon open Vela this summer at 352 W. Hubbard Street.

    Dec declined further comment to Block Club Chicago, which first reported the news. The story discusses the changing landscape of Chicago’s social scene. Celebrities and social media influencers are looking for something different, or perhaps newer. River North lost Paris Club in 2016 but survived. Chicago still has plenty of places for that — especially during music festival season.

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    Ashok Selvam

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  • Billy Dec Returns as Sunda New Asian Opens a Fulton Market Location

    Billy Dec Returns as Sunda New Asian Opens a Fulton Market Location

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    Three years after Billy Dec’s announcement, the second Chicago outpost of Sunda Fulton Market, the former nightlife magnate’s Southeast Asian restaurant, will open tonight — Monday, February 26 — on the ground floor inside the headquarters of prolific developer Sterling Bay.

    It’s been 15 years since Sunda New Asian debuted in River North. Dec and his crew have been quiet about the opening, quietly sinking significant resources into the design, trying to keep pace with other area restaurants, a collection including newcomers like Cocina Tulum and Fioretta. The restaurant presents a return to home turf for Dec, a Chicago native and co-founder of downtown nightlife pioneer Rockit Bar & Grill. With co-owner Brad Young, Dec opened Sunda River North in 2009, where a continent-traversing menu from late Chicago chef Rodelio Aglibot and a lively see-and-be-seen atmosphere made it one of the city’s hottest spots, attracting luminaries like Michelle Obama, Barbara Streisand, and Vanilla Ice.

    In the Philippines, capiz shells were used for window panes before glass became available.
    John Stoffer/Sunda New Asian

    After splitting with Rockit’s co-owner and hanging onto Sunda, Dec and his team have opened Sunda outposts in Nashville and Tampa, Florida, but deep down, “you can’t take [Chicago] out of me,” he says. “To me, [Sunda] is a Chicago-born concept — we’re based in Chicago, it’s a Chicago company and creation… I want to keep reinvesting in the city and being a contributor in some fashion.”

    Sunda fans will recognize much of the Fulton Market menu from executive chef Mike Morales, which touches on dishes from a wide swath of countries including China, Thailand, Japan, Vietnam, and the Philippines, including longtime hits like spicy tuna crispy rice (masago, chives, sriracha, serrano) and truffled chicken siu mai (shiitake, hon-shimeji, hot mustard). It follows the same format as its predecessors, with one-third devoted to Japanese dishes, one-third to Chinese, and the remaining third set aside for options from the Philippines and other nearby countries.

    A table of colorful cocktails.

    Ube espresso martinis add a Filipino boost to the trendy cocktail.
    Sunda New Asian

    A plate of nigiri.

    Former Sushi Wabi chef Ise Matsunobu is back to serve Chicago diners.
    Sunda New Asian

    Dim sum and sushi feature prominently, and through a series of unlikely encounters, Dec managed to track down chef Ise Matsunobu, formerly of longtime Chicago favorite Sushi Wabi, to helm the sushi bar. “When we opened Sunda [in 2009], Sushi Wabi was closed so I looked all over for [Matsunobu] but couldn’t find him,” says Dec, who heard through the grapevine that the Japanese chef had returned to Tokyo. In the meantime, Dec moved to Nashville and was struggling to find the right staff members for his restaurant. “In walks [Matsunobu] on a random Nashville street on a random day — we had a slo-mo run-hug. Now, here we are, he’s back in Fulton Market and we’re so happy to be back where we started.”

    Sunda Fulton Market was initially pegged to launch in spring 2022, but the delay may ultimately prove fortuitous as that exact timeframe saw a surge of Filipino restaurants in Chicago, including Michelin-starred Kasama in West Town and smash-hit Boonie’s Filipino Restaurant in Lincoln Square. Dec, who is Filipino American, is quick to point out that Sunda has always served Filipino cuisine but a heightened spotlight on the country’s food has welcomed more fans into the fold. “I knew once [more people] gave Filipino food a chance, they’d be incredibly excited and mesmerized,” he says.

    The main dining room inside Sunda Fulton Market.

    The island bar seats 26.
    John Stoffer/Sunda New Asian

    Well-regarded Chicago design firm Studio K Creative has woven Dec’s heritage into the design at Sunda Fulton Market, installing a jaw-dropping sculpture made with thousands of pearlescent Filipino capiz shells above the 26-seat island bar where customers can find new cocktails like an ube espresso martini (1800 reposado, coffee liqueur, ube milk) and Low Thai’d (Tanduay Silver, strega, hopped pineapple, Thai basil, white peppercorn). The design team has also layered the walls with traditional woven pamaypay hand fans — a preferred accessory for Dec’s lola, or grandmother — to create a distinctive organic texture. Bamboo wall treatments juxtapose neatly with sleek, contemporary furniture seen throughout the 146-seat main dining room and 18-seat sushi bar.

    Those details contain great meaning for Dec, who recently starred in Food Roots, a documentary film that followed him on a trip through the Philippines in pursuit of his family’s stories and recipes. The film is now making its way through the festival circuit.

    Sunda New Asian Fulton Market, 333 N. Green Street, Open 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday; 5 p.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday.

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    Naomi Waxman

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