The North Shore Weekend, January 14th, 2023

EJ’s Place, the iconic Skokie steakhouse landmark, has grown increasingly popular with every passing year. One of the primary reasons? The steady guiding hand of owner E.J. Lenzi.

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-Winston Churchill

NEWS

Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra performs at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts on February 4 pg10

LIFESTYLE & ARTS

SUNDAY BREAKFAST

Tami Gilbert's journey from Nigeria to Highland Park is packed with triumphs pg26

“If you’re going through hell, keep going.”

Lisa Solberg, an artist with ties to Winnetka, takes a deep dive into nature pg24

IDENTIFY REPAIRS AND MAKE A PLAN

Normal wear and tear can add up, especially if you’ve lived in your home for a long period of time. From a door that squeaks to a window that sticks or a toilet that runs until you jiggle the handle, it’s easy to ignore minor issues that seem like quirks.

DECLUTTER AND CLEAN – MAKE IT FEEL SPACIOUS

Big kitchens, bathrooms and storage tend to be big selling points so it can help to make your rooms look as spacious as possible. Professional home stagers recommend that you remove 50% of your items.

PAINT WHERE IT NEEDS IT MOST

A fresh coat of paint can make a home feel new. Paint can help small rooms appear larger and highlight architectural details, such as crown molding and trim. If you don’t have time to paint your entire home, consider painting the kitchen and entryway.

BY PETER WREN THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND

In another life, restaurateur E.J. Lenzi would have been a hell of a travel agent. Lob the word “vacation” at him and the founder of EJ’s Place in Skokie will paint you a landscape portrait of his favorite escape, the island of Capri; a portrait so sumptuous it would make Canaletto drop his paintbrush.

Capri is the definition, Lenzi insists, of earthly paradise: A breezy limbo—part heaven, part earth—that offers the perfect ratio of tranquil tanzanite waters, egg-yolk sunsets, and bustling family-owned Italian restaurants.

Lenzi says that restaurants like La Fontelina on Capri make him want to be a better restaurateur. “Truly great restaurants make every aspect of a dining experience feel effortless. The food. The atmosphere. The service. You can’t pinpoint just one thing, but you feel completely taken care of—as if a kindness has been shown to you.”

Heaven as a friendly family-run restaurant boasting really fresh fish? Yes, that’s very, very Italian, isn’t it? Yet perfectly understandable given Lenzi’s bloodline.

His grandfather, Gene Michelotti, opened the legendary Gene & Georgetti’s in 1941. “I just loved him so much,” says Lenzi, who was whisked around Italy by his granddad as a young boy, so he could experience firsthand the exceptional service offered in landmarks like the Excelsior Hotel in Rome and the Palazzo Bauer in Venice.

After a successful stint as a racecar driver, it was memories of sharing meals in his grandparents’ knotty-pine basement that inspired Lenzi to open EJ’s Place as a supper club-themed steak joint with a noticeably thick Italian-American accent.

EJ’s Place opened in 1997. In restaurant years, this makes EJ’s the Methuselah of the North Shore. Pick your restaurant

apocalypse: 9/11; the 2008 Financial Crisis; COVID Shutdown. Lenzi survived them all, skillfully avoiding the hundred-restaurant pileups that few others survived.

The secret to long-term success? Lenzi has plenty of tips. But the most important one, he says, is something his grandfather taught him: encouraging people to try a place and convincing them to come back are two different skill sets. Most diners, Lenzi argues, return to dining rooms that they can claim—in some way—as their own, and tell their friends, “This is my place.”

Gaining a foothold in the restaurant business, Lenzi concedes is tough. But part of the problem is that too many contemporary operators ascribe to business models built to try and rake in tons of money and then get out quickly. Seems a bit, to Lenzi’s mind,

like they’re producing a Broadway play with plates and shiny silverware as props.

Get me a light technician, some operators will shout, who can make my dining room feel like a Disney musical. Get me a set designer who can make the mise en scène of my kitchen worthy of a Tony Award. And the food! If the pork chop or pasta bowl doesn’t have a back story worthy of an Arthur Miller character, some will insist we’re in trouble.

Maybe it really is an Instagram world, and we’re only dining in it. Nevertheless, Lenzi still does things his way. He enjoys the fact that an old payphone by his restrooms is constantly being used as a backdrop for social media posts. And that the tenure of his waiters can often be measured in decades, not months. And that he still allows guests to choose complimentary rolls from a huge bread bowl and a complimentary soup or a salad with most entrées.

Lenzi says he’s often asked by other operators to open up additional restaurants with them. But in the end, he’s said no because he is too much of a perfectionist. He firmly believes that his most daunting challenge is to ensure his regulars who’ve fallen in love with EJ’s Place stay in love with it. That is why he’s kept the same bar chairs and the same paintings for a quartercentury. “No one preserves anything anymore,” he says. “But we have. I love the fact that a kid who came in with his parents 20 years ago and ordered milk is now ordering a cocktail, sometimes from the same waiter who brought him that glass of milk.”

So Lenzi labors on. He still walks the floor, answers the phones, and chats with everyone. When he needs a break, he’ll fly to Capri to compare what he’s achieved to what they’re doing at La Fontelina. For in doing so, he can continue to appreciate the beauty of things burnished by the passage of time, rather than the things that sway, in and out of the sunlight, on the whims of the current tide.

EJ’s Place is located at 10027 Skokie Boulevard in Skokie, 847933-9800, ejsplaceskokie.com.

Why do EJ’s steaks (try the 20-ounce New York Strip) taste so much richer than so many other steakhouse offerings? The kitchen, which orders from three handpicked purveyors, butchers its meats in-house and uses a gas-ceramic broiler that Lenzi is convinced yields a better exterior crust than infraredseared broilers. Add a little salt and pepper and the result is a steak that sizzles with ample juices sans any acrid or ashy char.

BY MITCH HURST THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND

Susan Platts wouldn’t be living in Evanston if it wasn’t for the Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO). In 2014, the well-known soprano was invited to Chicago to sing a Mahler program with the CPO, and at an afterparty she was seated next to Neil Kimel, a member of the orchestra. The two started chatting and learned they shared similar interests, especially the music of Austrian composer Gustav Mahler, the famed romanticist. They also discovered each was a fan of lime chicken. After the party, Platts and Kimel stayed in touch, eventually fell in love, and married.

“I’m known for my performances of Mahler. My husband plays first horn in the orchestra, and he was playing the concert that I was singing,” Platts says. “We went to Siam Splendour afterword and the executive director was going to be sitting to my left but at the very last minute he asked Neil to sit there. I like to say we’re together because of Mahler and lime chicken.”

For the first time since her initial performance with the CPO, Platts will sing a program of Mahler with the orchestra at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie on February 4. She’s eager for the opportunity.

“The Philharmonic has always been near and dear to my heart and without it I never would’ve met Neil,” Platts says. “I feel lucky and it’s a treat to be going back to performing with them and to be performing Mahler’s music.”

Platts says her admiration for Mahler derives from how he puts the reality of human emotions into his music. He encompasses everything from the happiest moments experienced in life to the

saddest moments and everything in between. She says she herself is an upbeat, happy person but there’s something about how Mahler addresses the ups and downs of life.

“He really speaks to me. I know that some people say, ‘Mahler, he’s so depressing’, but he often manages to see in his work the light that is at the end of the stumbles we go through,” Platts says. “There are few people in life from the moment they are born to the moment they die who are nothing but happy, so we go through these emotions, and we all handle them in different ways, and he just puts it out there in his music.”

Born in England, raised in Western Canada, and now living in the Midwest, it took a while for Platts to realize music was her true calling. She discovered music provides a unique form of expression.

“I’ve always loved the arts and growing up in highs school I took an art class. My teacher saw me going into graphic design and that’s kind of what I thought,” says Platt. “I started music really late, not until grade 11 in high school when I joined the choir, and the choir teacher told me I had a pretty voice.”

Encouraged by her choir teacher, Platts began to take private voice lessons and the rest, she says, is history.

“There was a way to express through singing that was like storytelling for me—to stand on a stage and tell stories from the music that had been written how many years ago,” she says. “I stand in front of an audience today and pass along the message that that composer put on paper 50, or 100, or 150 years before.”

One of her first breaks was being selected by the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. Through the initiative, she was mentored by Jessye Norman, the world-renowned opera singer

MAHLER MAGIC

The Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra will feature the music of Mahler, Schumann, and contemporary composer Libby Larson at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts on February 4.

and recitalist.

“I had ten or 15 years of being a friend and having her as a mentor and learning from her,” Platts says. “Even though I didn’t go the traditional university route I had some amazing opportunities and I feel lucky to have a job in the arts because it can be tough. But it’s always been my only job so I definitely feel lucky.”

Scott Speck is the conductor of the CPO and says the decision to invite Platts to be part of the program on February 4 was an easy one due to her familiarity with and love for Mahler.

“I conduct a number of orchestras and I’ve hired Susan to sing at all of them. She has a stunning, beautiful quality of voice and just what I like in a singer,” Speck says. “I like a singer that has a warmth without one of those bravados that drives you crazy. She maintains a purity that I truly appreciate, and I think all of the musicians appreciate about her.”

Speck says the Chicago Philharmonic, unlike most orchestras in the world, is a musician-governed organization. It’s not a top-down structure. The musicians you see on stage by and large have a stake in the outcome because they help to create the event.

“We were having an Artistic Committee meeting and we said, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to have Susan Platts again and what would Susan love to sing’,” he says. “So, she gave us a number of works that she would enjoy singing and tops on the list was Mahler’s Songs of the Wayfarer.”

Other members of the committee chimed in with ideas and eventually they added Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 3 (Mahler was heavily influenced by Schumann) and a contemporary piece called Deep Summer by Libby Larson to the program.

“In a somewhat cheeky way, we selected her

piece called Deep Summer Music, which is warm and liquid and very tonal and gives you solace,” Speck says. “It’s peaceful and has absolutely no angst in it, unlike Mahler and to a certain extent Schumann. It’s almost diametrically opposed to the world of Mahler with one exception in that Mahler and Libby Larson share a deep-seated love for nature.”

The Chicago Philharmonic plays music of all kinds. Speck says If you take a look at its season, you’ll see everything from world premieres—it has three composers in residence—to the music of Queen, The Godfather, Ghostbusters, and the Black Panther to the American premier of Tan Dun’s Guitar Concerto

“We also feel it’s important as part of our mission to highlight the masterpieces that have survived the test of time, specifically because they are so great,” Speck says. “Another example of that is Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, which we’re playing just a few weeks after the Skokie concert.”

For those who would consider attending the CPO’s performance on February 4, Speck says what they’ll witness is an experience that is felt deeply not just by the audience but the musicians as well.

“This is a concert of tried-and-true masterworks, and truth be told there’s a strong contingent of the Chicago Philharmonic whose spiritual sustenance comes from playing music like this,” he says. “These musicians have a way to express themselves that is closest to their own souls.”

The Chicago Philharmonic and soprano Susan Platts will perform Mahler’s Songs of the Wayfarer on February 4 at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie. For more information or to purchase tickets visit chicagophilharmonic.org.

helping people of all ages to “master” the game of chess for more than 20 years.

“Our goal was to bring chess to students in order to increase critical and analytical thinking skills, plus have fun with the sport,” she says. “Throughout the years, we have brought the ‘sport of the mind’ to over 100,000 students through school enrichment programs, workshops, and chess camps. We began working with the Winnetka Community House over the past several years and it has been fun to see the growth in the sport continue.”

“Jacob Furfine began with Shiva at age 3 and now is at MIT. He became a Master at a very early age of 13,” she says. “Jack Curcio also reached Master strength and has now graduated from University of Wisconsin and working with the financial areas of business. Of course, Shaina Berman is an up and coming female Master.”

Maharaj, a certified international coach by the world governing body of chess (FIDE) and northern Illinois Coach of the Year in 2016, taught himself the art of the game at age 6.

MASTER MINDS

BY SHERRY THOMAS THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND

There was a time when chess may have been considered a game of the past, relegated to the wise old intellectual or elite young protégé. But thanks to the popularity of such Netflix television shows as The Queen’s Gambit, interest is spreading to even the youngest generation.

Patti Ruiz, program manager for the Community House in Winnetka, says she introduced a

chess program during the height of the pandemic in October 2020—in part because parents were asking for it.

“The school district had a chess program but stopped running afterschool programming during COVID,” she explains. “During the pandemic we had up to 16 kids in the program. Now that the schools have started running it again, we usually get about ten kids a session.”

When looking for appropriate instructors and program, Ruiz turned to Alice Holt, program director for Chess-Ed. Holt and her team have been

One the reasons Holt thinks chess is more popular than ever is the influence of pop culture and the availability to play online.

“It has grown to be the most popular sport in the world as age is not a barrier to its enjoyment and competition,” adds Ruiz, explaining that chess improves critical thinking, improves intelligent decision making, and can be played socially and competitively for the rest of one’s life. “We offer chess for students and chess for adults as well through Winnetka’s Community House.”

Shiva Maharaj, one of Chess-Ed’s top trainers and coaches, loves sharing the success stories that have come out of the Winnetka program as well as the group’s other programs on the North Shore.

“Numerous students have gone on to attend Harvard, Yale, MIT, Stanford, and University of Chicago,” he says. “It is a great joy watching the evolution of the students who go on to have a game that stays with them for life.”

Ruiz shares his enthusiasm, listing off some of the program’s most impressive alumni.

“I read the book Chess for Children by Raymond Bott and Stanley Morrison and learned the basics,” explains Maharaj, who has since coached more than 10 students who have gone on to be chess Masters. “In my opinion, playing chess gives students a decisive advantage over non-chess players in developing critical thinking skills. Chess is a game of technical and psychological factors. Coping with loss, patience, and determination—together with calculation, imagination, and creativity—are extremely useful in real life and academics.”

However, he is also quick to note the advantages for the older players who have kept the game alive.

“Seniors derive a sense of engagement, community, and excitement when keeping their minds active,” he says. “We offer classes for all ages at the Community House and there is benefit for all.”

The Community House is located at 620 Lincoln Avenue in Winnetka. For more information, visit mycommunityhouse.org.

HOW DID HE GET TO CARNEGIE HALL?

Davin Lee shares the story of success and how he achieved a major milestone at age 19—buoyed by his music teacher, his experience with the Lake Forest Academy and the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras, and of course, practice.

BY MITCH HURST THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND

Four years ago, it was challenging for young Davin Lee to adapt to his new environment on the North Shore when his family moved here from New Jersey. In 4th grade at the time, he felt like he wouldn’t be able to improve on and progress his musical skills. But he learned otherwise.

“I was encouraged one time listening to professional musicians and that helped me realize that maybe the clarinet would be an interesting idea to work on in the future,” Lee says. “I started practicing two hours a day and it felt familiar and natural to play the clarinet and as I began to practice more often my teacher began to notice some improvements.”

At that point his teacher committed to working with Lee full time and having him learn more repertoire, and Lee started to enroll in competitions. In 2021 he enrolled in the American Protégé International Competition, where the winners would be rewarded the opportunity to play at Carnegie Hall in New York. The competition stipulated he had to both play live and send a video.

“This is the first competition I’ve ever played in, and I was really determined to get this one. I practiced for hours every day and being encouraged by my teacher really helped,” says Lee. “I also had to record, and this was especially difficult because recording meant that I wanted to have the best recording session

meaning it would take long hours to get the perfect video.”

After recording for hours, Lee completed a video he was comfortable with and a few months later he was emailed the letter that he would play at Carnegie Hall with the first-place award.

Lee lives in Lincolnshire and attends Lake Forest Academy, where he says the music program has been extremely supportive. They invited him on stage to do a practice run before his

Carnegie Hall performance and also spread the news that he would be playing. He says he had a lot of support and encouragement throughout the competition.

In addition to Lake Forest Academy Orchestra, Lee also plays in the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra. He says playing in an orchestra has been an “amazing experience.”

“Playing in these large orchestras is so much fun because it gives you a grand sense of the music,” he says. “Being part of a large group just makes the music more impressive and fun to play.”

At first Lee was nervous to play Carnegie Hall because he kept imagining what it would be like if he botched his performance and made mistakes during the program.

“Right before I got on stage my hands were getting really sweaty but my accompanist, my pianist, told me this was going to be a once in a lifetime moment and to really enjoy the music and play it beautifully,” he says. “Hearing that, it soothed me a lot, and walking on the stage I had a new goal and that was to have fun and enjoy the music that I would be playing.”

It's a little early for Lee to think about what he wants to do in the future. He is just a Freshman in high school, after all.

“Lately I’ve been thinking that going pro in the clarinet would be a dream come true, but it’s such a difficult life, especially for a professional clarinetist,” Lee says. “Finding a spot in an orchestra is such a difficult task and it requires some luck.”

No matter how Lee’s future turns out, he’ll always have Carnegie Hall.

For more than two years, the chess program at the Community House in Winnetka has been challenging players of all ages in what has become one of the most popular games in the world.

SPIRIT ELEPHANT

BY MONICA KASS ROGERS THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND

The three-year anniversary for any restaurant at any time is a monumental achievement. But for those who came through the recent international health crisis, it’s an even bigger deal. Winnetka’s Spirit Elephant, the North Shore’s first fully-plant based restaurant and bar, opened its doors in January 2020, serving dishes with organic, locally sourced, and seasonally focused vegetables front and center. That healthy, environmentally friendly focus helped the restaurant not only survive but thrive. The sweet spot Spirit Elephant hit with its interna-

tionally inspired, yet approachable menu won the hearts and appetites of the entire community. So much so that the restaurant team launched a fast-casual version of the concept, Elephant & Vine, in Evanston.

“Our ethos, first and foremost is to serve amazing tasting food,” says owner CD Young. “Memorably delicious dishes that appeal to everyone—not just vegans and vegetarians. We knew we would have the hearts of vegans, but we wanted omnivores to taste and see that eating plant-based is not a sacrifice in any way.”

To win those omnivores over, Young crafted a menu with lots of “gateway” comfort foods: Things like Mac & Cheese with a crunchy topping of roasted rice panko and house-pickled

Fresno peppers, or the BBQ Burger with smoked Gouda cheese, tomato, lettuce, pickle, and frizzle of crispy onion on a pretzel bun. And then there’s the Jerk Meatless Loaf with fried plantains, black beans, and rice, and the Fig Flatbread, with mint pesto, mozzarella and cheddar cheese, poached figs, tomatoes, and a bright overlay of fresh arugula tossed in lemony herbed oil and finished with a balsamic drizzle.

“These are all familiar comforting foods that everybody likes,” says Young. “Once they have had a taste of these dishes and like them, they’re more likely to dive deeper in, trying our salads, plant-forward curries, and entrée bowls such as our hugely popular Pad Thai bowl.”

It’s a smart strategy and one that’s working.

“We are very aware that for every person who loves vegetable-forward eating, there are also family members who may eat differently,” says Young. “Most of our repeat business comes that way. I can’t tell you how many times vegans and vegetarians have said to me, “This is the only place we can come where the rest of the family likes it as much as I do.”

Young says she started moving toward vegetarianism after living for 10 years with her family in London. “There were so many great restaurants serving super flavorful plantforward Indian and Asian fare. And when I cooked, those were the dishes I would make.”

But back in the United States, “it was really the documentaries that showed the negative

impacts of factory farming on both animals and the environment that prompted me to become a vegan. The more I learned about the conditions that these sentient beings are subjected to—and simultaneously, how positively plant-based eating affects the environment and human health, the more I knew I wanted to be a part of the change for a better way.”

Adopting a vegan lifestyle Young says she lost weight, gained energy, and just felt happier. “There really is a mind/body/planet connection,” she sums.

Wanting to share the healthy, feel-good, and do-good aspects of plant-based eating with the North Shore and beyond, she opened Spirit Elephant.

In addition to the accessible food, her restaurant’s stylishly open design is equally welcoming. Filled with plants and warm lighting, Spirit Elephant has multiple seating options. There are booths, tables, and a plush nook near the white-marble bar which stretches the entire length of the restaurant.

About that bar: “We knew from the start that we wanted to have a full bar with the restaurant,” says Young. “It just made so much sense—all of the botanicals, herbs, and fresh fruits that we could feature in beautiful cocktails.” Take for example the Cherry-Go-Round, Spirit Elephant’s cherry spin on a traditional Cosmo, with Titos, cherry juice, Pama, fresh lime juice, dry curacao, and simple syrup.

And just as the restaurant goes the extra mile with house-made sauces, and pickles— such as the earthy smoked beet ketchup served with the fries, cocktails get special treatment, too. The ice sphere you’ll get in your Elephant in the Room cocktail (Spirit Elephant’s Old-Fashioned) is house-smoked over cherry wood, adding nuance to the mix of Bulleit Rye, Demerara syrup, Luxardo Cherry, orange, and bitters.

Everything—from soups, shareables and salads, to bowls, “Prime Cuts” (main dishes), cocktails, and dessert is made with no eggs, dairy, or animal products of any kind.

For your gateway experience, be sure to try Chef Gabriel Iriarte’s Cauli-Wings (golden cauliflower nuggets coated in gluten-free batter, deep fried, and served with choice of Buffalo, BBQ, WasabiDijon, Jerk, or Mango Chili Sauce). His Forbidden Rice bowl, with blackened tofu, tri-color cauliflower, fresh mango, confit tomatoes, avocado, toasted coconut, watermelon radish, and a mango chili drizzle, is exotically refreshing. Be sure to finish any meal with one of Pastry Chef Lisa Centner’s desserts. Her Raw Brownie a la Mode is a meltingly dense dream of Medjool dates, candied walnuts, cocoa powder, and chocolate sauce with vanilla gelato, sea salt caramel, and whipped cream. And her carrot

cake—full of fresh shredded carrots and toasted pecans, gets the same vanilla cream cheese frosting that Centner slathers on the mammoth cinnamon buns she bakes for brunch. Everything on the menu—including freshly-made, seasonally-changing cocktails in 12-ounce bottles—is available for carryout and

delivery Tuesday through Thursday from noon to 8 p.m.; Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Spirit Elephant is located at 924 Green Bay Road in Winnetka, 847-348-9000, spiritelephantrestaurant.com.

OPPOSITE PAGE: Interior. Photography by Sophie Baron Photography ABOVE: Fig Flatbread with poached figs, mint pesto, mozzarella and cheddar cheeses, roasted cherry tomatoes, arugula tossed in a lemony herbed oil, and a balsamic glaze drizzle LEFT: Forbidden Rice Bowl with dark pearls of Forbidden Rice, blackened tofu, tri-color cauliflower, mango, confit tomatoes, avocado, toasted coconut, mango chili drizzle, and watermelon radish

BELOW: House Granola & Coconut Yogurt with Spirit Elephant’s signature housemade granola, toasted almonds, coconut & pecans, housemade coconut yogurt, fresh berries, chopped mint, and maple syrup

EDITED BY DUSTIN O’REGAN THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND

Winnetka’s KEVIN BRATT has been actively involved in wine service and restaurant hospitality for more than two decades and is certified by the Society of Wine Educators and the Court of Master Sommeliers. After 21 years as the National Wine & Spirits director at Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab (Chicago/ Las Vegas/Washington D.C.), he has also taken over as Beverage Director at Shaw’s Crab House (Chicago/ Schaumburg), and is working on a recent concept, The Gin Commission. Like his own affinity for travel, history, great food, and, of course, gin, The Gin Commission is a ginfocused cocktail bar embodying all of that and then some. It features more than 50 varieties of gin from around the world, with a rotating selection of gin-focused craft cocktails, as well as a seafoodcentric menu of small plates. If gin isn’t your spirit of choice, there’s also a full bar available. Keep an eye on Bratt @invitisveritas and look for news about The Gin Commission – it is not to be missed. Bratt puts down his glass to share how he stays on trend between sips.

#IN MY EARBUDS

“Musically, I’ve really been into the recent Gilla Band release, ‘Most Normal.’ Not gonna lie, it’s definitely not for everyone, and I’d affectionately describe their sound as dinosaurs having a passionate conversation about nothing at all. Emotionally, it rattles my veins with energetic fervor, and the chaotic message they convey is poignantly soothing to the soul. If you’re open to unique and new noise, this might be an album for you. If not, don’t say I didn’t warn you. ”

#ON MY NIGHTSTAND

“I’ve gone back to revisit  The Holographic Universe  by Michael Talbot. I’m discovering bits and pieces that I missed the first time around and using it as context to decipher some of my life experiences. I’m fascinated by the debate over whether we control our own destiny or whether everything is predestined. I also like to explore the idea that there’s something more to this life than what meets the eye. After saying all that, you’ll probably find it hard to believe I typically avoid science fiction.”

#ON MY MOBILE

“I don’t have a profound list of people or pages I follow online, but I do enjoy @imbibe and @deathandcompany on Instagram for fun cocktail photos and inspiration for The Gin Commission. Also, @maunaeatschicago, @theishitaedition, and @agirlaboutchicago always keep me in the know about where to dine and drink in Chicago. Beyond that, I’ve always been a big fan of Danny Meyer, founder of Union Square Hospitality Group in New York City, and whenever I’m in the mood for some restaurant guidance or inspiration, I’ll turn to Audible and listen to his book, Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business. Whenever I need a reminder that our hospitality industry is just that, hospitality, I always find a good lesson in Danny’s message.”

ILLUSTRATION BY TOM BACHTELL

as the newest North Shore community in 100 years, the Town of Fort Sheridan is a totally unique residential suburb situated on the bluffs overlooking Lake Michigan. Encompassing parts of Highland Park and Highwood, the Town of Fort Sheridan is nestled around ravines, parade grounds, walking trails, playgrounds and Lake Michigan’s lake front. Residences include new and historic single family homes as well as townhomes, condos and duplexes. Amidst the historical renovations, is new residential construction developed in a compatible architectural style that allows for community cohesion and beauty. There is even a mid rise, state of the art elevator condo building with its own pool and special amenities including fitness center. Fort Sheridan is ideal for homeowners seeking outdoor activity. It offers a wide variety of seasonal activities including beach access, biking & running trails and walking paths thru open fields and along lakefront. Property allows for snow shoeing and cross country skiing in winter. Fort Sheridan is a much sought after community for all ages and life styles. From empty nesters to families needing school bus service there is something for everyone. Some of the finest dining on the North Shore is within walking distance to Highwood. The shops of Highland Park and Market Square of Lake Forest are only minutes away. A convenient Metra station provides access to the Loop, Ravinia and the rest of the North Shore.

RUNNING TIME: 1 hour, 33 minutes

RATING: 1 star

JOYRIDE

An Irish film starring Olivia Colman can’t get out of first gear.

BY REX REED THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND

Olivia Colman is one of the busiest (and best) British actors currently making a big splash on the screen. Unfortunately, some of the films she's busy making are not always worth it.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the elegantly filmed but disappointingly hollow Empire of Light, in which she played a lonely, sexually repressed concession-stand worker in a fading cinema. It went nowhere. Now comes Joyride, a numbing experience from Ireland that not only goes nowhere but can't even find the ignition.

A combination of broad comedy and forced social comment in the form of a contrived road movie, this is a career choice dangerously close to disastrous.

Since it is hardly worth much elaboration, here's a quick summary of the non-existent plot: A 12-year-old boy named Mully, played by newcomer Charlie Reid, severely depressed over the death of his mother, attends a memorial for her to raise money for a hospice care facility. Mourning turns to outrage when he sees his father James (Lochlann O'Mearain), a thief in debt to local mobsters, steal the money raised in his mom's name, so he in turn steals the cash from his abusive, no-good Dad and plans his escape in a stolen cab.

On the highway, he discovers a baby in the back seat with its sleeping mother Joy (Olivia Colman), a neurotic woman who doesn't want to be a mother. On their way to the airport with Mully's father in hot pursuit in time for Joy to fly somewhere to give her unwanted newborn away for adoption, the shaky, unfocused script by Ailbhe Keogan engages the unlikely duo in a quagmire of incoherent dialogue spoken in incomprehensible Gaelic that requires an interpreter. Both characters are offered a chance at redemption, but the viewer winds up with a bowl of gruel as indigestible as haggis.

Under the awkward direction of Emir Reynolds, the gimmicky narrative introduces a parade of characters too boring to mention, inserted for the sole purpose of dragging out the plot while the mismatched pair in the stolen cab learn to bond. He's so smart he can drive, hike to buy gas when their vehicle runs empty, and talk his way out of situations beyond his age and comprehension. She's so dumb he even has to teach her how to feed the baby.

If you buy any of this implausible gibberish, maybe you won't mind a film that evolves so slowly it makes the pace of a caterpillar seem like that of a jet-propelled gazelle. Olivia Colman works tirelessly to make something out of nothing, but Joyride is a serious waste of her time--and everyone else's.

When the clunky road trip mercifully ends, both characters supposedly discover how much they have in common. he audience has something in common too. They all rush to the exit doors at the same time.

Illustration by Tom Bachtell

Famed film critic Rex Reed weighs in on Joyride and The Old Way.

THE OLD WAY

Nicolas Cage dons a Stetson for a change in genre and it’s “not bad.”

RUNNING TIME: 1 hour, 42 minutes

RATING: 3 stars

BY REX REED THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND

Horror, sci-fi, romance, domestic drama, comedy—Nicolas Cage has tried his hand at everything. The only thing he has never done is a western. Urban, unpredictable, very modern, and sometimes controversial, he doesn't seem the type. Frankly, he looks odd in a saddle wearing a Stetson. But giving the guy credit for fearless diversity, he's changing all that in the dog days of January by starring in his first sagebrush saga.

It's called The Old Way, and it's not bad.

Directed by Brett Donowho and written by Carl W. Lucas, The Old Way tells the familiar tale of a retired gunslinger who successfully reforms, but life forces him back into the violent past he left behind when tragedy strikes the people he loves and revenge takes over.

Carefully, cautiously, and with a surfeit of naturalism, the star does a credible job here. The determination that drives Cage is so perfect for the role he plays in The Old Way that before you can say High Noon they become indivisible. I think the talisman he lives by is to take every job that hobbles his way, play every kind of role, and keep his career afloat by working constantly, without interruption. The results have often been predictably mediocre, but there's no question about his abilities. He even won an Academy Award for Best Actor in 1995 for his most seriously demanding film, Leaving Las Vegas

The Old Way doesn't reach the same heights, but with his polish he provides an old idea (notorious gunslinger, dragged out of retirement, and forced to re-load his old weapons again when his family lands in harm's way after an old enemy returns) with a fresh "take". It's threadbare theme, polished off back in the day by everyone from Gary Cooper to Gregory Peck. Today it's usually Clint Eastwood, but he can't play 'em all.

Such an hombre, now dusted off anew by Cage, is Colton Briggs, once a lethal, sang-froid murderer whose moral compass shows in the number of notches on his Colt .45. In the film's prologue, Briggs attends the hanging of another infamous renegade who owes him money. Before the sheriff can pull the trigger to send the horse holding the victim in the hangman's noose out from under the dangling corpse, Briggs beats him to it. One of the witnesses with the frown of hate on

his face is the dead man's young son.

Cut to 25 years later. In the intervening decades, the once violent killer married a good woman named Ruth who turned him into a loving, responsible husband, father, and owner of the town's general store. While he's walking his daughter Brooke home from school, four escaped prisoners arrive at his log cabin, rape and massacre Ruth, and leave Briggs devastated. "As long as that little girl is alive, there's no room for vengeance in your life, "says the U. S. marshal.

But overcome with grief and rage, Briggs has other ideas. The leader of the pack of marauders is the little boy whose father was killed by Briggs in the prologue, now all grown up and a bit of a homicidal maniac in cowboy boots himself. The rest of the movie is carnage unleashed. The big surprise is that Briggs' 12-year-old daughter becomes his accomplice.

The revenge narrative may be worn rope-thin by archives of forgotten shoot-'em-ups, but Mr. Cage and director Donowho pull enough sub-themes out of old Bud Boetticher movies to inject the kind of suspense and true grit that still works. The star is convincing as the calloused thug who hung up his holster for the love of a good woman only to revert to the old ways of prairie justice to right a wrong and move ahead. Noah Le Gros is also very watchable as the child who grew up mean as a rattlesnake, exhibiting unexpected charm where least expected. But the real surprise is Ryan Kiera Armstrong, who steals the picture as Briggs' quiet, intelligent daughter Brooke, who inherits her mother's values and her father's merciless pursuit of justice.

For a 12-year-old girl with a father she doesn't entirely trust, she has enough grit and determination for both. He teaches her how to load a gun, fire, and hit every target with a bull's eye. The moonlight conversations between father and daughter display the sort of touching character revelations most westerns ignore.

The climax in a Mexican town is filled with the well-staged frenzy and turbulence that built Cage's reputation as an action star in his formative years. The finale, unfortunately, lacks the shocks and surprises the audience keeps rightfully hoping for, and in the final analysis, Cage, mercurial little Miss Armstrong and director Donowho do such an incisive job of keeping the film alive and interesting for such a long time.

When it comes to rewriting the rules of Hollywood westerns, they don't exactly break new ground, but they do prove the old ways still work best.

MATERIAL PURSUITS

This weekend’s curated luxury trends.

READ IT

Jewelry fans, philanthropists, and those looking for inspiration will all enjoy Kendra Scott’s latest book. With a voice that’s vulnerable, wise, funny. and poignant, this dynamo takes us on a journey of personal stories and tough life lessons in her new memoir BORN TO SHINE:

DO GOOD, FIND YOUR JOY, AND BUILD A LIFE

YOU LOVE. From her humble beginnings as a bullied middle schooler in small-town Wisconsin, to launching her billion-dollar business in her spare bedroom with $500, to the devastating accident that turned her world on its axis, Scott shares how she built a life and career grounded in joy, kindness, purpose and giving back. Through the ups and downs, her struggles and triumphs, Scott reminds us that not all that glitters is gold, that life is as messy as it is magical and that even in our darkest of days, there is always a light to shine. Available at Kendra Scott Old Orchard and all high end bookstores.

WRITE IT

Your gorgeous designer bag deserves better than a Bic. Upgrade your pen with a Faber-Castell pen. THE AMBITION with a barrel made of precious resin, with leaf design produced by a 3D printer and a cap and grip made of chrome-plated polished metal. This winning combination is both tactile and attractive, with the bonus of the texture making it easier to find in your bag. $75, available at Razny Jewelers Highland Park.

of Venice in our favorite luxury shopping center. Housing readyto-wear, accessories, and footwear, the boutique offers exclusive styles and personalization for collectors who want each pair of Superstar sneakers to be theirs alone. Since its founding in 2000, GG designers Alessandro Gallo and Francesca Rinaldo have brilliantly merged American city chic with Italian sartorial traditions, creating an irresistible brand that brings the fun into fashion. goldengoose.com, 331.282.2340.

Golden Goose Super-Star Sabots

This 4,171 sqft home plus finished basement offers luxury living with beautiful ravine views. The elegant foyer leads to the formal living room and dining room. The chef’s kitchen with high end stainless steel appliances and a large island flows into the family room with gas fireplace and built in desk nook. The first floor is finished with an office with built-ins, two powder rooms and mudroom/additional laundry room leading to a three car heated garage. Upstairs enjoy four spacious bedrooms each with their own ensuite bathroom and second floor laundry room. The generous sized primary bedroom boasts a sitting area, two walk in closets with built-in organizers and a spa like ensuite bathroom with jacuzzi, steam shower and dual sinks. The finished basement has an additional bedroom and full bathroom, exercise room, game room, rec room with built-ins and a bar, and wine cellar. Outdoors is professionally landscaped and offers a big patio to enjoy the ravine views. Ideally located in Braeside close to the Braeside Metra Station, Ravinia Festival and the Chicago Botani c Gardens on a dead end street.

NATURE’S CHILD

BY THOMAS CONNORS THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND

Lisa Solberg doesn’t do pretty. When she paints a canvas or creates an assemblage, the results can be complex. But she wouldn’t have it any other way. “I always see my work as a sort of natural explosion,” says the artist. “Sometimes the work has the energy of the explosion and sometimes it has the energy of the quiet once the dust has settled.”

Solberg intends her work to create positive energy rather than discomfort. “I like to imagine my works acting as sacred spaces—carving out a moment in time for introspection or exaltation for the viewer.” That ambition is rooted in the way in which she understands her own life and the way in which she operates in the world. Outgoing and active, Solberg has still always had an appreciation for alone time, which in her case came when she sat down to make art. “It was mainly what I did to be alone. Times of introspection. It has always been a solitary practice and meditation in that sense. I have always loved my own space and spending time by myself.”

One of five, Solberg spent a lot of time in the woods with her siblings and friends. Growing up in the natural world—a rock underfoot or a star in the sky—propels her creativity. “Comets, cosmic events, the power of nature visible in storms, rivers, waterfalls, and strong winds that can almost knock you over—these types of things move me the most and inspire my work.” In high school, Solberg took classes at the Art Institute of Chicago and ultimately majored in art at the University of Colorado. After getting her degree, she traveled the world skiing before settling down in Los Angeles, where she lived for more than a decade before relocating to New York this year.

Her canvases sometimes seem collage-like, with discrete forms in active play or flowing with an all-over dynamism. Her sculptures, such as Swoosh— in which a basketball breaks through the cane seating of a Marcel Breuer Cesna Chair—can possess a sort of surrealist edge. Working in various media (Solberg also writes) keeps her busy and balancing

North Shore native Lisa Solberg dives deep to understand the world and what it means to be in it.

Solberg in her studio.

Enigma, Oil, acrylic and spray paint on canvas, framed in basswood, 99 x 75 in., 2019; Venus, Acrylic, oil, and dye on canvas, 100 x 80 in., 2021

PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVID LAMER

Among Solberg’s latest work are three concrete sculptures that have been installed at The Aurora Highlands, a new masterplanned community in Denver. “I have been working with this concept of totems, shrines, and creating a sacred space for self-reflection and finally, liberation,” she explains. “This journey started years ago for me when I began creating ‘mind maps’ as a way of understanding myself and how I relate to the outside world. I started to see symbols within these mind maps that began to describe the nature of existence to me. These symbols are now what drive the aesthetic and context of my work, both paintings and sculptures.”

Human beings are always being buffeted between surrender and control, between knowing and not knowing, between traveling and arrival. Not everyone has the time to reason it all out, but Solberg’s artistic process attempts to. She isn’t offering any sure answers. But cast your eyes her way and you just might begin to make sense of it all.

For more information, visit lisasolberg.com, follow her on Instagram @lisasolbergworldwide.

time and her creative impulse takes some doing. “I cast a large net over the materials and media that I utilize to keep things as fresh as possible. Over the past couple years, there has definitely been a focus on having a more concise and curated approach, and this has been very fruitful for me. I am on a journey that I want people to grasp and feel connected to, so it’s important to be consistent. Regardless of what the material is,

I have a pretty militant schedule for myself day to day.” That means no random bouncing around from one activity to the next, no picking up the phone every time it pings. “I have at least four hours of painting in my studio every day, one hour of writing, and one hour of reading,” shares Solberg. “The rest of my time is filled with my rescue dog, yoga, exploring the city, and spending time with friends.”

Fountain Song, 2022, Acrylic, dye, china marker and lead on canvas, 96 x 77 inches

Totem C, A, B (render), 2022, cast concrete and stainless steel, various sizes

PERSEVERANCE PERSONIFIED

Tami Gilbert’s life story has been inspiring others since the day she arrived in the U.S. from Nigeria more than 40 years ago. She’s now a family-first Highland Park resident, surgical clinical coordinator, and health and wellness advocate.

BY BILL MCLEAN ILLUSTRATION BY BARRY BLITT

Nigeria native Tamuriat Olabode spent her first night in America shivering in a cousin’s Chicago basement that doubled as her bedroom.

The Muslim immigrant was 15, owned only the clothes she wore on the 6,100-mile flight, and had never spoken a word in English.

The year was 1980.

Today?

Olabode—now Tami Gilbert, 57, of Highland Park—is a mother, wife, health care industry professional, motivational speaker, podcast host, health and wellness coach, author, webinar presenter, and yoga instructor. Were she to frame and hang all of her college degrees and professional certifications, including the Resiliency & Thriving facilitator certificate she earned last November, they’d cover most of the Great Wall of China.

“It’s been quite a journey,” Gilbert, a surgical clinical coordinator at Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital since 2014, writes in her first book, Courage to Persevere: A Compelling Story of Struggle, Survival, and Triumph (Dream World Press Publishing, 2015). “I’ve learned a lot in my life to achieve all my dreams, and now I am here to help other women do the same, to overcome their obstacles to achieving their dreams and reaching their goals.

“We all get discouraged; it is important to get back on track.”

Gilbert, who grew up in the Nigerian village of Ijofin, never lost track of the power of positivity after her father, Abudu, who’d been in the United States since 1970, sent for her and her two siblings to come to Chicago. Tami endured relentless bullying from high school peers because of the way she dressed, chose not to respond to any of it, and cried only at home.

“I focused on my classes as a teenager, knowing that the key to finding a good job and someday being able to afford a warm place to live was getting an education,” Gilbert recalls.

She completed a sixth-month Certified Nursing Assistant program in Chicago at the end of her freshman year in high school, hopping on a train every Saturday to attend class. Gilbert then landed a job at a nursing home in Oak Lawn, this time commuting via bus after school. She made $3.75 an hour and usually punched out at 11:30 p.m.

Ever resourceful, she did her homework during work breaks and cracked the books hard on weekends.

After receiving her Bachelor of Science degree in nursing at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Gilbert earned a Master of Science degree in Nursing at St. Xavier University in Chicago.

And while working at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago from 1992 to 2014, she somehow found the time to add to her sheepskin pile by getting her MBA at North

But Tami refused to settle, professionally or personally. She met Lake Forest High School vocational specialist and tennis coach Scott Gilbert on a blind date in 2008 and married him

I’ve received from Ivan (a St. Louis University freshman), Evan, and Erin.

“A lot of good things have happened in my life.”

Several years ago, Mrs. Gilbert found out she had prehypertension during a doctor’s appointment and was prescribed medication. The meds’ side effects bothered her, so she pivoted to heavy doses of diet change and exercise.

“Nurses work a lot, and we often don’t have, or make, the time to take care of ourselves,” says Gilbert, who’s also an authorized occupational safety and health trainer. “I’d reached a point where I had to make lifestyle changes, and I did. My thinking was, ‘If I can help myself, I should also be able to help my co-workers and friends make lifestyle changes if they choose to do so.’ ”

No wonder Gilbert has been dubbed a “Master Habit Changer” by her clients and colleagues.

“In addition to my passion about improving the quality of patient care in healthcare settings, I am also a firm believer in the necessity of practicing self-care as professionals,” she writes in her second book, Career CPR: How to Thrive in Any Workplace Environment (Dream World Publishing, 2019). “Taking great care of ourselves nutritionally, physically, and mentally helps us to always show up as the best versions of ourselves. We have to take care of ourselves before we can take care of others.”

But she penned Career CPR primarily to help employees—in any industry—navigate in-office waters teeming with difficult personalities, from the bullies to the whiners to narcissists, and take charge of creating happiness and satisfaction at work.

“I want to share with you different tactics that will empower you and help you love (or love again) your job, regardless of your co-workers at this time,” Gilbert writes in the introduction.

“I have a job I love,” Gilbert says. “I’m no longer affected by what others think of me. I don’t judge people. I’m in such a good spot in my life now.

“My co-workers love me, and I love them.”

Her beloved mother, Anura, died at a young age in 2007. Tami helped her mother make the pilgrimage to Mecca.

“My mother was like a peacemaker,” Gilbert says. “She got along with everyone and didn’t like confrontation.”

Park University in Chicago.

The former basement dweller bought a beautiful high-rise condo overlooking Millennium Park in Chicago and, at the age of 39, adopted a boy named Ivan.

Her path to the top?

Meteoric.

two years later; Scott, who has two children in their 20s (Evan and Erin) from his first marriage, adopted Ivan after the couple’s wedding.

“I owe deep gratitude to Scott for believing in me and always supporting me,” Tami says. “I would not be where I am today without him. I’m also thankful for the love and support

What Anura’s resilient, preternaturally optimistic daughter liked discovering years ago: her happiness point.

“Everyone’s happiness point is different, more or less,” Gilbert says. “The key is to find it. I found mine.

“I’m happiest at home.”

Visit tamigilbert.com.

Taking great care of ourselves nutritionally, physically, and mentally helps us to always show up as the best versions of ourselves. We have to take care of ourselves before we can take care of others.

Tami Gilbert