Five Quirky December Pop-Ups to Know

Bunny, the former chef and co-owner of adored neighborhood restaurant Cafe Marie Jeanne, has teamed up with Alpine-style spot Table, Donkey and Stick in Logan Square for a Monday night dinner series set for two evenings in December. Each event will feature three courses as well as bread service, “accouterments,” and other treats. Menus are subject to change, but lineups are currently set for calf brain toast, coq au vin, and pot de creme on Monday, December 12 and duck frites with mysterious “special guests” on Monday, December 19. Tickets ($55) and more details are available via Tock.

Wrigleyville sports bar Graystone Tavern has conjured a winning formula with Eight Crazy Nights, a rare Hanukkah-themed pop-up founded in 2019 that eschews the familiar red-and-green wave in favor of latkes, drag bingo with queen Merriam Levkowitz, and plenty of boozy beverages like the Mensch Mule and Sabbath Night Fever. Additional details and a full menu are available online.

Already winter-weary Chicagoans can swap out a potentially snowy Christmas for a brief trip to the Big Easy at Ina Mae’s Reveillon Dinner, chef Brian Jupiter’s take on New Orleans’ traditional Christmas meal first popularized in the 1800s by the French Creoles who dominated the city’s early settlement. The family-style affair will offer seatings at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. and feature four courses (each with an accompanying cocktail) such as gumbo yaya, Frenchman Street seafood pasta, and more. Diners can also expect live music from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tickets ($68) and more details are available via Tock. Ina Mae will donate a percentage of proceeds to New Orleans-based nonprofit Son of a Saint, a mentorship and support program for boys who are fatherless due to death or incarceration.

Locals looking to supplement seasonal niceness with a little naughty energy can have it all at the holiday edition of Way Out’s burlesque series, which performer and producer Lilly Rascal promises will feature plenty of acts themed around Christmas, Hanukkah, and other winter festivities. Circus performer Slightly Spitfire, for example, will treat attendees to an Elf on the Shelf act and “tassel kitten” Saint Pegapuss (tasked with retrieving costume pieces and props after each act) will be dressed as the Grinch. The show itself is free, but patrons are encouraged come prepared with cash to tip performers in the holiday spirit.