Why Pascal pour Elle?
“ I HAVE BEEN GOING TO THE GLENCOE LOCATION FOR 17 YEARS. PASCAL AND HIS TALENTED TEAM ARE TRUE PROFESSIONALS THAT I TRUST COMPLETELY. THE STYLISTS ARE CARING, SKILLED, AND ALWAYS GO ABOVE AND BEYOND TO ACCOMMODATE APPOINTMENTS. THEY’VE TAKEN WONDERFUL CARE OF ME AND MY FAMILY. WE TRULY FEEL LIKE THEY ARE FAMILY!”
Great hair, warm hearts!
Adjacent to Cascade Mtn.
NEWS
5 north shore doings
Find out what’s happening in your neighborhood with our weekly calendar of events
6 north shore sports
Read all about a young media star from Highland Park and a decorated soccer player who shone at Lake Forest High School
LIFESTYLE & ARTS
8 hashtag
Meet Kristin Andrews, founder of the innovative Karma Collective yoga studio in Wilmette
9 destined to design
Interior design maven Laura Tribbett has been reading rooms all her life
12 north shore foodie
This recipe for Mussels in White Wine + Pernod offers a new way to savor the classic European dish
13 man about film
Our critic reviews Tapawingo, a heartwarming yet quirky small-town comedy starring Jon Heder
LAST BUT NOT LEAST
18 sunday breakfast
Longtime North Shore chef Michael Lachowicz feeds us delicious lines on family, work, and life
NORTH SHORE DOINGS
EDITED BY CHEYANNE LENCIONI THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND
NOW THROUGH AUGUST 18
"MARCIA’S ART"
Work by North Shore Art League (NSAL) Member
Marcia Maltz will be on display in NSAL’s first-floor gallery space in Winnetka through August 18. Artwork is available for purchase, and a portion of the sales will benefit the NSAL, Meher Spiritual Center, Paws, The Cancer Wellness Center, and St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. northshoreartleague.org
NOW THROUGH AUGUST 25
FOOD TRUCK MONDAYS
Enjoy food trucks and live music at Kenilworth Assembly Hall from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. kenilworthparkdistrict.org
NOW THROUGH AUGUST 26
“VISUAL RHYMESDIPTYCHS, TRIPTYCHS AND MORE”
The Chicago Photographic Arts Society’s latest exhibit is on display now in the second floor gallery space at the North Shore Art League. Artwork is available for purchase, and a portion of the sales will be donated to the North Shore Art League. northshoreartleague.org
NOW THROUGH AUGUST 31
FLOW: PAINTINGS ABOUT WATER
“Flow: Paintings About Water” is on display this month at Grove Gallery in Evanston. Forty percent of all sales from this exhibit will be donated to Alliance for the Great Lakes. grovegallery.shop
NOW THROUGH SEPTEMBER 21
PATTERNED BY NATURE
Celebrate our universal attraction to patterns through playfully planted gardens
and nature-inspired artistic installations that stretch the imagination at the Chicago Botanic Garden’s “Patterned by Nature” event. Visitors are invited to explore garden beds and installations throughout the garden that feature dynamic patterns, transformational art, and upcycled fashion. chicagobotanic.org
AUGUST 2 TO 3
HAIRSPRAY
The Grand Theater at Highland Park High School presents the high-energy production of the Broadway smash hit, Hairspray. uptownhp.org
AUGUST 4 TO 24
OUT OF OFFICE: ON THE TRAIL
Join coach Dave O’Connor at Middlefork Farm Nature Preserve’s George Beach Trail from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. for a private, smallgroup coaching experience designed for senior-level leaders who are navigating tradition, burnout, or big decisions. lfola.org
AUGUST 5 TO SEPTEMBER 23
SUNSET YOGA
From 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. each Tuesday, immerse yourself in the beauty of Lake Forest Open Lands Association’s Mellody Farm Nature Preserve while relaxing into a gentle, restorative yoga session that will incorporate breathwork and mindfulness. All abilities welcome! lfola.org
AUGUST 6
LEGO DROP-IN
Children ages 6 to 11 can stop by Lake Bluff Library to play with LEGO bricks from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Children under the age of 8 must be accompanied by an adult at all times. lakeblufflibrary.org
AUGUST 9
HISTORY LOVER’S GUIDE
TO CHICAGO
From 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., award-winning writer Greg Borzo will share Chicago’s unique history at Northfield Public Library. Hear about all of the city’s fascinating nooks and crannies. Registration is required. wnpld.org
AUGUST 13
GARLIC FEST
Highwood’s 14th annual Garlic Fest returns. Sample a variety of sweet and savory dishes, partake is garlic trivia, live music, and family friendly activities. celebratehighwood.org
AUGUST 13 TO SEPTEMBER 21
RACHMANINOFF AND THE TSAR
The Writers Theater 2025/2026 season begins with Rachmaninoff and the Tsar, a tale of Sergei Rachmaninoff, who recently escaped Russia in 1917. This new musical from Hershey
Felder features him as the pianist and main role accompanied by Jonathan Silvestri. writerstheatre.org
AUGUST 14
FOOD TRUCK THURSDAYS
Food Truck Thursdays continue in Highland Park’s Ravinia District from 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. More than a dozen food trucks will service food accompanied by live music and a family-friendly atmosphere. cityhpil.com
AUGUST 15 TO 17
47TH ANNUAL BONSAI EXHIBITION
The Midwest Bonsai Society returns to the Chicago Botanic Garden to showcase its bonsai across the Midwest. Vendors will sell trees, tools, pots, stands, and more. midwestbonsai.org
AUGUST 16 TO 17
EVANSTON ART AND BIG FORK FESTIVAL
Join fellow art lovers in
browsing wares from over 150 vendors at the Evanston Art and Big Fork Festival. Enjoy tasty foods, live music, and a Kids Art Zone. amdurproductions.com
AUGUST 17
BLOODY MARY FEST
Highwood’s Bloody Mary Fest returns from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Everts Park. Peruse more than a dozen vendors from near and far who share their unique concoctions and compete for the Proud Mary award. celebratehighwood.org
AUGUST 17
MOLLY SHANAHAN
At 1 p.m., 2010 Meier Award-winning choreographer Molly Shanahan will perform Spiral Body Techniques with the Mad Shak ensemble. All proceeds will benefit the Women Club of Wilmette and the performers. womansclubofwilmette.org
AUGUST 28 TO 31
CHICAGO JAZZ FESTIVAL
Enjoy all forms of jazz through free, high-quality music programming at Chicago Cultural Center and Millennium Park. The festival showcases Chicago's local talent alongside national and international artists to raise awareness and appreciation for one of the city’s most beloved art forms. chicago.gov
OCTOBER 15
JOSSELYN’S COCKTAILS FOR A CAUSE
On October 15, Josselyn invites you to an evening of celebration and impact at its signature fundraising event, with all proceeds benefiting Josselyn programming. This event will be held at the Glen View Club. josselyn.org
To submit your event for consideration, please email events@nsweekend.com
Bloody Mary Fest
BY BILL MCLEAN THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND
PHOTOGRAPHY BY
GEORGE PFOERTNER AND UIC ATHLETICS
MEDIA MAVEN
Highland Park High School grad Sam Brief earns first Sports Emmy at age 28.
Nobody had a merrier month of May than Sam Brief.
Five days after learning he’d won a Sports Emmy for his coverage of the Summer Olympics—also known as the “Five Ring Circus”—as an NBC Sports digital editorial producer, the 2015 Highland Park High School (HPHS) graduate exchanged rings with Jen at their wedding.
“I married the woman I love, and I got to be a part of an award-winning team in a field I love,” the 28-year-old Brief says. “I’ve been blessed.”
And super busy. Now in his fourth season as the TV and radio play-by-play broadcaster for the Windy City Bulls, the NBA G League affiliate of the Chicago Bulls, Brief also works as a content strategist for sportsYou, a sports communication company.
This winter he’ll return as the play-by-play voice at University of Illinois Chicago men’s basketball and Loyola University women’s basketball games.
“Doing what I’m doing was my dream in high school,” Brief says. “It’s reality now. My
general goal is to call the biggest, grandest games and events that sports offer. If that’s in basketball, great. But I don’t want to pigeonhole myself.
Maybe someday I’ll get to do play-byplay for a huge game in a sport that hasn’t been invented.”
Brief’s preparation for the 2024 Summer Games began in January 2024. It involved extensive research and
interviews. The Northwestern University graduate covered men’s and women’s track and field, as well as rowing, canoeing, modern pentathlon, and breaking (also known as breakdancing) for NBC Sports.
“Such an incredible opportunity and experience,”
Brief says of having to write and tell stories on the fly, often in the wee hours since he and his colleagues worked at the network’s Stamford, Connecticut headquarters
STOPPING AND STYMIEING
Defender Ava Walsh foiled forwards all spring in her final Lake Forest High School soccer season.
Strikers struck out virtually every time they took on Lake Forest High School (LFHS) left back Ava Walsh this past spring.
Soccer foes scored only two goals from Walsh’s patrol area in the 2025 season. The Scouts played 18 matches, or more than 1,400 minutes of action.
A foray anywhere near Walsh devolved often into an exercise in futility.
“Her reading of the game,” says LFHS girls’ soccer coach Ty Stuckslager of his four-year varsity starter’s glaring asset along the backline. “The state, I believe, underrated Ava. She deserved to be named an All-State player. She helped our attack, too, with her effective crosses and shots.”
Walsh netted a pair of goals and two more honors—All-Sectional and All-North Suburban Conference (NSC)—in her final prep season. The two-time All-Sectional and threetime All-NSC selectee converted a shootout penalty kick in the Scouts’ home playoff loss to
Lakes Community High School on May 23.
“It was sad and weird walking off our home field after my last game,” recalls Walsh, who plans to major in business and play club soccer at the University of South Carolina. “I got to play for great teams and amazing coaches. So many good memories. Those four years went by too quickly.
“I wish I could play one more soccer season, at least, for Lake Forest High School.”
Soccer and Ava Walsh go way back. It was love at first dribble, maybe even at first ball tap.
“I’ve been playing the sport for as long as I can remember; it’s been such a big and enjoyable part of my life,” says Walsh, who competed as a wing five years ago before becoming entrenched as a lockdown defender and embracing the position’s responsibilities.
Blessed with a sound skillset, Walsh also was adept at deciphering the opposition’s plan of attack and tendencies and adjusting to her mark’s adjustments. Elite soccer players possess
talent and brain power.
“You need to be ready for any situation and then make the right decision each time,” says Walsh, a tri-captain in 2025. “It’s tough back there on defense sometimes, while trying to be fast and aggressive.”
But Walsh looked forward to every opportunity to thwart a forward. Averting a certain sequence in the field’s first third also fueled her.
“Allowing a goal is a horrible feeling,” she says.
An uplifting feeling?
Watching Walsh play soccer the right way—relentlessly and intelligently—from her left-back slot.
“Ava’s contributions this year went beyond what she did for us as a soccer player,” Stuckslager says. “She also developed into a very good leader, not only in games but at practices as well.”
Ava Walsh
while the Games unfolded in Paris. “(Director of Digital Content and Programming) Julia Grassie and (Senior Editor) Keenan Slusher gave me the chance and mentored me.
“They answered all my questions and let me make mistakes, allowing me to learn and grow,” he adds. “We worked some crazy hours, and then we did wrap-ups and covered the Paralympic Games.”
Brief cut his media teeth in high school, roaming the sidelines at HPHS football games and other athletic contests and conducting postgame interviews for various outlets. Hardworking and professional as a wide-eyed teen, he had a passion for reporting that matched his love for sports.
“I owe so much to my mentors in high school,” Brief says of HPHS Media Center co-directors Tom Vogelsang and Diana Castro. “They guided me, encouraged me, supported me. I wanted to learn everything about media at a young age.”
Sam Brief
#HASHTAG
EDITED
BY
REDDING WORTH ILLUSTRATION
BY
TOM BACHTELL
#ON MY NIGHTSTAND
I always keep an essential oil diffuser next to my bed. I believe there are so many health benefits to essential oils and my favorite ones to diffuse are SWEET DREAMS by Snow Lotus (which you can pick up at In Fine Fettle in Evanston, where I also maintain a private Shiatsu/ Thai Yoga Bodywork Practice!) and JOY by Young Living Essential Oils. Additionally, I always have herbs from my acupuncturist, a tall glass of water, and I’m currently reading You Are A Badass by Jen Sincero and The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D.
After two decades of teaching yoga in the Chicago area and helping to cultivate vibrant yoga communities for various studio owners, KRISTIN ANDREWS noticed a pattern—individual instructors often built strong, loyal followings but were paid far less than what they deserved for the value they created. Driven by a desire for more autonomy, Andrews longed to create a space where she and other teachers could thrive on their own terms—without being beholden to anyone but themselves and their students. In 2024, Kristin founded Karma Collective to provide a fresh yoga experience in the heart of Wilmette. Open to yogis of all levels, Karma Collective offers an opportunity for teachers to have a sense of autonomy for their classes with a unique, community-focused business model. Karma Collective offers Hot Yoga, Vinyasa Flow, Gentle Yoga, Glow in the Dark Yoga (Glowga), New and Full Moon Sound Healing, West African Dance, Meditation, and more, with daily classes and special monthly events. Kristin took a break from yoga poses to share some of her secrets for leading a balanced life.
#IN MY EARBUDS
Spotify, Spotify, Spotify—I’m always curating playlists for my yoga classes, and I love a good mix of new songs and classics. I’m a huge fan of live music and am always in search of new music to keep things fresh and upbeat.
#ON MY MOBILE
I’m on Instagram daily as I have three accounts—@Yogichic is my personal account; @Karmacollectiveyoga, where I post about classes, special events, and happenings; and @Supyogaevanston, where you can find info about my Standup Paddleboard Yoga classes during the summer months. I love being out on the lake as much as possible in the summer. Whenever I have free time, I’m usually enjoying nature with my dog Marley, so he makes frequent Instagram appearances as well!
BY THOMAS CONNORS
THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND
DESTINED TO DESIGN
Interiors maven Laura Tribbett has been reading rooms all her life.
Laura Tribbett didn’t stand a chance. She was born to be an interior designer.
As a kid growing up outside the Twin Cities, she loved building with Legos and making shoebox dioramas. By the time she was in high school, she was hooked on TV’s Trading Places and begged her parents to let her redecorate her room. When they gave her the green light, she took inspiration from a colorful comforter, sponge-painting the walls yellow and hanging a wallpaper border.
“It sounds super cringy now,” she says, “but I felt so empowered, and I’m really grateful that my parents gave me the freedom and the space to explore this passion.”
That passion took her first to Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, where she received a BS in Interior Design, then to New York.
“That’s when my true design education started,” says Tribbett, who worked in customer service at a furniture showroom before landing a junior designer job at William T. Georgis Architect. Gigs with other leading design professionals—including David Easton and Thom Filicia—followed. “My last role in New York was as the head of interior design for Danish architect Thomas JuulHansen. He needed someone to start and lead the interiors side to interface with his already strong architectural team. When my boyfriend, now my husband, moved to Chicago, so did I. I worked for Alessandra Branca in the Gold Coast for about a year when I decided that it was time to do my own thing.”
Tribbett—who lives in the city’s Fulton Market neighborhood with her husband, Charlie, and their two very young daughters—launched Outline Interiors in 2015 and has enjoyed sustained growth over the past nine years.
“What started out as just me designing literally any space that family and friends needed, has grown into a firm with six full-time employees, an established office in the West Loop, and unique, beautiful projects all over Chicagoland and beyond.”
In addition to getting a bead on a client’s taste and lifestyle, Tribbett works diligently to manage homeowner expectations.
“Online resources and social media are great tools for clients to communicate the look and feel they’re interested in, but it takes time to craft design options that meet their functional needs, aesthetic goals, and pricing and timeframe parameters,” notes Tribbett. “It’s my job to educate my client, and once we understand what those needs, goals, and parameters are, we can talk about budget and quality expectations. Many clients are inundated with online ads and emails from retailers with items that look great, but perhaps aren’t the best quality. This is where we come in—to steer them in the right direction.”
When a client purchased a house where the kitchen was “50 shades of margarine,” Tribbett’s charge was to better align the space with the rest of the home. She painted the cabinetry a deep green (Benjamin Moore’s Boreal Forest), updated the backsplash, and custom-designed a new island. She kept the slate stone floor because it carried out into other rooms and dressed the walls in a beautiful trellis wallpaper from Sanderson.
“One of the biggest upgrades to this space,” shares Tribbett, “was flipping an old coat closet to open into the kitchen and installing custom cabinetry and under-counter refrigeration. Pocket doors painted to coordinate with the cabinetry conceal this space when the client doesn’t want it on display.”
No matter what the project, Tribbett’s design approach comes down to creating “moments of joy for others,” which she calls “MOJO.” “Style, colors, textures aside, I want the space to function for the client and create a sense of pride in their home.”
For more information, visit outlineinteriors.com.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARIA PONCE BERRE
PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARGARET RAJIC
Have you ever had the experience of having read a memoir by a writer you’ve never met and discovered a shocking number of parallels in your individual lives? My Childhood in Pieces: A Stand-Up Comedy, A Skokie Elegy (Knopf, 2025) by award-winning poet Edward Hirsch, who is also the current president of the Guggenheim Foundation, is one such book for me.
For instance, we both spent formative years in Skokie. We share a connection to the same stretch of Hull Street, a road that only exists for a few blocks in the village. Thankfully, Mr. Hirsch was as intrigued as I was and graciously agreed to an interview in advance of his book tour, which will include a reading on October 19 at Temple Beth Israel in Skokie.
How much of a role did your poem “The Skokie Theater,” from your 1986 poetry collection “Wild Gratitude,” play in your decision to write My Childhood in Pieces: A Stand-up Comedy, A Skokie Elegy?
“The Skokie Theater” was the first poem that I wrote about Skokie. Even more crucially, the first poem in which I admitted that I came from Skokie. I had spent the first 30-some odd years trying not to acknowledge that in order to make a literary life. In my first book, “For the Sleepwalkers” (from 1981), there was not a single reference to Skokie. Zero. I didn’t think you could write about Skokie and be literary. Did you ever think at the time you wrote the poem that you would be writing a book of prose about Skokie?
Absolutely not. It seemed like a one-off. There were a few other poems along the way…I wrote a poem about my high school football coach in my third book (The Night Parade) called “Execution.” I was no longer ashamed of coming from Skokie and trying to be literary. But I didn't think that Skokie would be my subject matter. It hasn't been. There have been a lot of things about Chicago, and it has come up, but never in such a full-blown way. There are two hints in my book about this that I meant to be tells. One, a fortune cookie with a fortune that was preposterous—“Someday you will look back fondly on the past.” There's another one, later in the book, that says that Lincoln said that the place where he came from in Indiana was the most unpoetical spot on earth, and I said he'd never been to Skokie. Why was now the right time to write My Childhood in Pieces?
I started about two years after my mother died. I think everyone had died, and that had a big role. My first father died, my second father died, and my mother died. I began not really writing about Skokie but writing about them. I think they lived a kind of hustling, assimilated, Jewish American experience. Writing about them led me to Skokie. Mirroring one of the book’s subtitles, A Stand-up Comedy, the segments in the book read like a cross between poetry and stand-up comedy bits. Is this the format you always envisioned?
That’s the format that evolved. You're completely right; that's how it's structured. I found the way that poems and jokes are alike. It’s in the turn; the quickness, the compression, and the turn. Or what the Italians in the sonnet call the volta. The volta is the swift change. That's like the cut in the joke. This structure was tremendously liberating. I could use it even when the jokes weren't meant to be funny or even meant to be jokes. I could have the title, I could have the setup, and I could have the coil. The coil could be sad, it could be poignant, it could be sad and funny, it could be a lot of different things, but that's the structure. For some reason, the world just came flooding back to me.
Did you return to Skokie as part of your research process while writing the book?
Yes. My sisters live in Chicago. We went back to our old neighborhood. We got a tape measure. I wanted to measure the distance between our houses where we grew up. I wanted to know exactly the distance between our houses in the development. We also measured the driveways. I told my best friend from high school this. He said “You embellish every story why, would you
want to nail down a random fact like that?”
I wanted a kind of ethnographic accuracy about those kinds of details. Just to be sure, my sisters and I walked down the block and counted every house on the block. We kept getting confused because they all look alike.
Many Jewish families in Skokie shared the trajectory that Chicago’s Albany Park neighborhood was a stopover in the northern migration toward the suburbs. You wrote about your grandmother living in that neighborhood. Do you have any fond memories of Albany Park?
Very much so! I'm associated with a world. Your point is a good one. This is something I discovered in writing the book
because I began reading. You just move with your family. I didn't understand that we were following Jewish migration. I knew there were a lot of Jewish people around us. I knew there were a lot of Jewish people around my grandparents, but I didn't know that they were they were moving in directions that other Jewish families were moving. It just never occurred to me. That was just a surprise to me, to see you're part of a larger context. I think that's often the case when you're young. You don't know. You just go along. Whatever your family is doing seems normal to you. Then, later, you discover that it either was or wasn't.
BY GREGG SHAPIRO
THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND
Edward Hirsch PHOTOGRAPHY BY MICHAEL LIONSTAR
NORTH SHORE FOODIE
MUSSELS IN WHITE WINE + PERNOD
BY MONICA KASS ROGERS THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND
BY MONICA KASS ROGERS FOOD EDITOR THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND
Classic preparations of moules marinières (sailor-style mussels) go back centuries in France and Belgium, requiring nothing more than mussels, shallots, white wine, and butter. Chefs worldwide have tweaked the traditional recipe, adding herbs, sometimes cream, and, in my favorite rendition, garlic, gorgeously ripe tomatoes, and Pernod.
Pernod, the anise-flavored French liqueur, goes so well with mussels that I’ve never been able to return to the “just with wine” version. I’ve specified 3 pounds of mussels here, allowing 1 pound for each person for dinner, or there’s plenty for 6 guests if serving as an appetizer. Be sure to have crusty baguettes to soak up the buttery broth. Or, do as the Belgians do and serve with fries and good beer.
SERVES 3 FOR DINNER; 6 FOR APPETIZERS
INGREDIENTS
• 3 pounds mussels, scrubbed clean under running water
• 1 1/2 cups dr y white wine (I used Pinot Grigio)
• Small bunch fresh thyme sprigs
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 3 medium shallots, peeled and sliced thin
• 3 cloves garlic, minced to make 2 tablespoons
• 1 large (or 2 small) very ripe heirloom tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons Pernod
• Small bunch fresh parsley leaves, minced to make ¼ cup
METHOD
CLEAN MUSSELS Remove and discard any “beards” (the byssal threads that mussels use to anchor to surfaces) by pulling the threads firmly toward the hinge of the shell until they release. Once well-scrubbed, place mussels in a large bowl of water and rinse again until water runs clear.
STEAM MUSSELS Add the wine to a heavybottomed 4-quart enameled pot or Dutch oven. Add mussels and thyme sprigs and cover pot. Heat to boiling over medium-high heat. Immediately reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes until the mussels have opened. Discard any that haven’t opened. Using tongs, remove mussels and thyme sprigs from pot and keep warm. Do not discard cooking liquid. Pour the liquid from the pot through a fine mesh strainer to remove any grit and set aside to make sauce.
PREPARE SAUCE In a sauté pan over medium heat, add butter and shallots. Sauté shallots for 3 minutes until softened. Add garlic and sauté 2 minutes more. Add the reserved mussel cooking liquid. Roughly break the ripe tomato into pieces and add to the pan. Simmer until the liquid has reduced a bit. Skim off any foam. Stir in three tablespoons of Pernod and half of the minced parsley. Simmer for 2 more minutes.
TO SERVE Spoon a bit of sauce into three (or six) serving bowls. Divide mussels between the bowls. Top with the rest of the sauce, tomatoes, garlic, and shallots. Sprinkle with the rest of the parsley. Serve hot with crusty bread for dunking and have bowls on hand for discarded shells.
TAPAWINGO
BY FELIX MCMILLAN, MAN ABOUT FILM ILLUSTRATION BY TOM BACHTELL
VERDICT:
Tapawingo is a lopsided cocktail of recycled indie tropes and genuine warmth. It’s not the next Napoleon Dynamite, but if you squint, you can still see why Jon Heder said yes. This small town comedy starring Jon Heder is a mix
Jon Heder, that ghost of early-2000s indie adolescence, resurfaces in Tapawingo—a smalltown comedy that hobbles along somewhere between tribute, imitation, and semi-sincere oddity. It’s a film that aches to be adored, but never quite earns the slow clap it seems to expect.
Heder plays Nate Skoog, an unmotivated, moth-eaten man-child in a fictional Virginian town who accidentally becomes a local hero when he defends a bullied teen. The setup is pure underdog pulp, draped in the kind of endearing awkwardness that once made Napoleon Dynamite a cult phenomenon. But while Napoleon was oddly transcendent in its weirdness, Tapawingo often feels like it’s reading from the manual on how to be offbeat.
To its credit, the film doesn’t phone it in. The supporting cast—especially Amanda Bearse as a steely town official and Sawyer Williams as the victimized teen—adds texture to a setting that could otherwise be cardboard. Visually, it’s clean and whimsically symmetrical, as if
Wes Anderson’s lens had a modest Midwestern cousin with a used Canon DSLR. There’s a kind of wholesome, backyard charm to the production design that suits the story well.
But the comedy? Patchy. Some moments delight—Heder’s comic timing, now weathered and slightly sadder, still lands in scenes that allow for nuance. Other moments rely on the same tired visual gags and deadpan quirk that have long since left the station.
The film’s tone is its Achilles’ heel. It teeters between sincere character arc and absurdist sketch, never quite committing to either. Nate’s transformation from slacker to accidental icon isn’t fully earned, and scenes meant to evoke emotion often feel like they wandered in from a better draft.
That said, there’s a kind-heartedness here that’s difficult to dismiss. Tapawingo wants to champion kindness, courage, and the quiet dignity of showing up for others. And while its script fumbles that message at times, the intent shines through—faint, but not insincere.
SOMETHING TO BARK ABOUT
Aboyer chef Michael Lachowicz serves up joie de vivre with a side of humor inside and outside his bistro in Winnetka.
BY BILL MCLEAN
ILLUSTRATION BY BARRY BLITT
Michael Lachowicz was 12 when he rode his bike to the Bartlett pizzeria where his mom worked as a sandwich maker.
The son wasn’t hungry on that day. He craved a job.
“Mom saw me near the oven, slinging pizzas,” Lachowicz recalls. “She did a double take and then smiled. I smiled right back at her. She knew I had always wanted to work in a kitchen.”
More than 40 years later, that former enterprising youngster calls a restaurant’s kitchen his second home, though at times it must feel like his first. Chicago born Lachowicz, 55, is the chef/owner of Aboyer, a contemporary American-French restaurant in Winnetka that seats 85 to 90 diners.
Aboyer, formerly Lachowicz’s Restaurant Michael (2005-2020), means “to bark” in French.
“It’s patterned after bistros in Paris, where Parisians were known to eat out four, five, six days a week at a place that’s not sprawling,” says Lachowicz. “Patrons walked in and everybody knew their name, just like Norm on Cheers. We went with the French word for bark because orders are barked to the kitchen.
“We want our guests to experience good food in a lively, boisterous atmosphere.”
Lively? Boisterous? That’s Lachowicz to a T. Add fun-loving, engaging, funny, real, smart, innovative, and excessively grateful for family, friends, colleagues, and empty stomachs.
“One of the rewards of this profession is the instant gratification I get while watching someone enjoy a good meal in our restaurant,” Lachowicz says. “But when a customer tells me they were dissatisfied with their order, I give them a gift card. I’m truly grateful that they let me know and that we’ll get the chance to get it right the next time.”
Sober for 15 years and married to Wendi for three, Lachowicz—a professional cook or
Michael Lachowicz
I get up each morning and hit my knees to pray. I then ask God to help me get off the ground so that I can get on with my day at the restaurant.
chef for more than 40 years and a restaurateur for 28—considers Wendi’s sports-loving son, 13-year-old Stavros, his hero/son and “someone who has made me a better man.”
The family lives in Palatine.
“I don’t pray for things; I pray for acceptance,” says Lachowicz, who is part of the group (with chef Miguel Escobar and Sergio Angel) that runs the Fondita Miguel Mexican Restaurants in Winnetka and Waukegan.
“I get up each morning and hit my knees to
pray. I then ask God to help me get off the ground so that I can get on with my day at the restaurant.”
After serving as an entry-level cook at local restaurants as a teen, Lachowicz, an Elgin High School graduate, attended Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York and spent three years at Maxime’s Restaurant Francais in New York.
Other posts included those at Le Francais in Wheeling, Restaurant Pierre Orsi in Lyon,
France, Café Provencal in Evanston, Café La Cave in Des Plaines, and Les Deux Gros in Glen Ellyn.
He performed way better than par as the ace chef at Riverside Golf Club, and recently served as a consultant for a restaurant in West Chicago.
“Anybody in our industry will tell you, ‘Labor expense is off-the-charts high, out of control,’” Lachowicz says. “But I’d rather have five really good waiters than nine average ones. Sure, sometimes it takes a little longer to prepare a cocktail, but that cocktail from our bar will be an exceptional one and worth the wait.”
Among the outstanding fare at Aboyer is its 10-oz burger (Short Rib and Waygu Griddled, Thai Pork Belly, Lacy Fried Egg, Caramelized Onions, Gruyere & Dijonnaise).
“For years I’d resisted putting a burger on our menu,” Lachowicz says. “That burger, alongside a pile of fries, is my favorite item. It’s Stavros’ favorite, too. Adapt or die—it’s what restaurants must face, must accept. Most restaurants have been in constant flux for years. Here I am, reinventing myself many times. I’m hard to kill.
“We’re surviving and relearning, with hopes of thriving again soon.”
Small businesses are a big deal to Lachowicz. Without them, communities aren’t true communities; they’re more or less places with cookie-cutter spaces at practically every corner.
“I support small businesses where I live and small businesses in Winnetka,” says Lachowicz. “I can’t stress enough how important they are. When you support such places, you’re telling them that you care, that you appreciate their commitment to the community.”
Aboyer is located at 64 Green Bay Road, Winnetka, and Fondita Miguel Mexican Restaurant’s Winnetka location is at 544 Lincoln Avenue. Visit aboyerbistro.com and fonditamiguel.com for more information.
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