WARREN OAKES

Warren Oakes co-owns Boca Fiesta restaurant, plays drums in Sunshine State, and is a former member of Against Me!

What was the food highlight of your year?

My food highlight was a pilgrimage to the very recently closed Hot Doug's in Chicago. (RIP)

I have eaten at Doug's easily a dozen times over the past 8 years and consider it to be, perhaps the most perfectly executed concept I've ever experienced. The menu was focused and expansive simultaneously, with the format unwaveringly tube-shaped meat, but the variations were epic. I had venison, wild boar, kangaroo, foie gras, buffalo, elk, and reindeer dogs at various times, paired with duck fat fries on the weekends. As far as I know, Doug Himself took every single order every single day. Believe the legend! Hot Doug's was the real deal and will be missed. 

What was the music highlight of your year?

Directly after waiting in line at Hot Doug's for about 5 hours in order to get our final fix, my fearless co-pilot and I rented a car and drove to the twin cities to eat a Jucy Lucy (burger with a molten cheese core) at Matts bar in Minneapolis and then crossed over to St. Paul to see the Replacements! Old buds Hold Steady and Lucero opened the show and every band KILLED IT. Perfect combo trip of food and music. Shout out to MKR for being my partner in crime!

Was there a moment when food and music came together in a memorable way?

Eating Cuban sandwiches in Miami after a really fun Sunshine State show at Gramps deserves a nod. Yum!

@bocafiesta

BRENT STICKELS

Brent Stickels is a reformed tour manager, co-founder of design and branding firm YYES, and director of See Change, an annual conference on visual communication.

What was the food highlight of your year?

Ishnala Supper Club sits deep in the forest on a rock outcropping above Mirror Lake in Lake Delton, Wisconsin. Originally a log cabin trading post built in 1826, the Hoffman brothers bought the land in 1953 and created a supper club that may well have inspired Disney’s Frontierland. This past summer Jane, my wife, and I rented a cabin around the lake from Ishnala. One evening, we canoed up Mirror Lake at sunset, beached the canoe under the restaurant, and climbed the steps up the bluffs to Ishnala’s front door. Arriving feels like steak-house Mecca, from cocktails at the glassed-in arrowhead-shaped bar in the treetops to shrimp cocktail and ribeye steaks in the panoramic dining room. An after-dinner cocktail on the wraparound deck, then we canoed back in the moonlight across the inky lake. There might be better steaks in the world, but the whole experience of Ishnala makes it unparalleled.

What was the music highlight of your year?

The Replacements hometown return was Minneapolis’ most anticipated event in a very long time. Held at a shuttered minor-league ballpark near a train yard, the madness for tickets, the press buildup, and the radio tributes all created an air of excitement: this was the 'Mats, and they were coming home. I don’t have much tolerance these days for large crowds or long sets, but when the Replacements took the stage it made me feel like I was 17 again. By the time they were done tearing through the 2-hour set I was ready to buy an Ampeg SVT and start a band again.

Was there a moment when food and music came together in a memorable way?

The city of Avalon, on Catalina Island, is a place where time stopped and you can still glimpse pure California beach culture the way I imagine it was in the 60s. This past fall we rented a place on the hill above town and, in the afternoons, we would walk down to the shack at the end of the pier to buy fresh fish for dinner. One evening we were cutting up opah for ceviche and drinking a crisp white wine. I scanned the FM dial and came across KISL, Avalon’s community radio station. As the playlist careened from an all-girl Black Sabbath cover band to Tom Waits to Bill Withers, it reminded me of the college stations I grew up with, like KSDT and KCR, and the importance of hand-picked music in this era of algorithms. The simple pleasure of home-made ceviche, a deck overlooking unspoiled California, and an eclectic playlist buzzing over indie airwaves. Perfection.

@yyesbrent

ROB WILCOX

Rob Wilcox does alternative radio promotion for The Syndicate and plays in the band By Surprise.

What was the food highlight of your year?

Since moving here five years ago, a lot has changed in terms of my eating habits. When you work in an industry that keeps you out late most nights, you spend a lot of time (and money) eating out, which doesn't always mean you're eating healthy either. With the exception of "brunch," which I willfully subscribe to, most of the time you have to grab food on the go. So, I've started to cook at home more often, and while it's still something I'm very much a novice in, it's incredibly fun and relaxing when you make the time to do so -- especially when you have a cooking partner in the kitchen!

In cooking at home, my highlight of the year was just last week when I decided to make stuffed peppers for the first time. I wanted to "healthy it up," so I tried substituting rice with quinoa, using ground chicken instead of beef, and tossing black beans to the mix for some extra flavor. I added some sautéed some garlic and asparagus as a side dish and it all tasted pretty fantastic. The whole meal was simple to make, cost-effective, and absolutely delicious!

What was the music highlight of your year?

I can't name just one, but several shows in particular stand out: 1. Watching both Chvrches and Cage The Elephant deliver career defining performances at Lollapalooza. 2. Attending American Football's first public performance in 15 years at the Beat Kitchen in Chicago. 3. Singing my heart out to The Replacements at their Forest Hills Tennis Stadium show in Queens.

On a more personal level, working closely with The Rentals and Braid was a pretty big highlight for me. Looking back on my 20s (I turn 30 next week), I think about which bands I've held onto as personal favorites, and how their albums played out more like a soundtrack for my own life. Getting to reintroduce both bands to radio programmers was a deeply personal and important experience for me. Both 'No Coast' and 'Lost In Alphaville' were among my top ten favorite albums this year.

Was there a moment when food and music came together in a memorable way?

I saw The Pizza Underground (a pizza-themed Velvet Underground parody band) and they gave out free pizza to the audience during their set. I don't think I'll ever forget that, or how weird it felt to eat pizza within 30 feet of Macaulay Culkin.

@heyrobwilcox

SEAN COURTNEY

Sean Courtney is a partner in the This Is American Music record label. 

What was the food highlight of your year?

This November, my wife, Rebecca, ran the NYC marathon, and while I am not a runner, I am a serious eater and walking all over New York for a week and eating everything in sight was incredible. Totto Ramen, oysters in Greenpoint, hitting a few of David Chang's places, amazing duck-liver pasta at Osteria Morini in SOHO, mutton chops at Keens, pastrami at Katz...not to mention daily helpings of bagels with smoked fish and slices of pizza or other street meat at 2am. Honestly...I felt like I ate New York City over the course of a week. I was lucky enough to have a hat-full of recommendations and as most people know, everywhere I turned was another bar, another bodega, another smell to chase...and I did my damnedest to accommodate it all. I can't wait to return.

What was the music highlight of your year?

Standing in the wings while the Replacements played had to be the highlight, right? I mean...it's the REPLACEMENTS and I'm standing in the wings about to have a heart attack...but to be honest, the music highlight of my year is almost the same thing every year: SXSW in Austin, TX. Of course, it has become a bloated ghost of what it was in years past...but it is still one hell of a time. It doesn't hurt that I meet up with a couple dozen friends from all over the country (and abroad) every year and seeing old and new favorite bands with them is probably the greatest thing I can imagine. This year's highlights included a raucous mess from Nashville called Diarrhea Planet with four or five guitars going at once, old friends like Have Gun, Will Travel and Lydia Loveless finding new audiences, seeing Ex Hex for the first time, and slamming a few tacos & Tecates between Natural Child and Reigning Sound...two of my all time favorites.

Was there a moment when food and music came together in a memorable way?

Food and music are always intertwined in my life...aside from friends, family & pets...what else is there? Thinking back to SXSW, I remember the deep fried deviled eggs, fried chicken & gizzards and Moon Pie Pie (that's right...a pie of Moon Pie) at Lucy's Fried Chicken as well as I remember who was playing (L'il Cap'n Travis, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Ramsey Lewis) that day. That same week, I was sweating every ounce of energy I had out to Grand Champeen at the Hole in the Wall...right after ducking out of the back door for ramen and sticky buns at Paul Qui's East Side King. We actually head to SXSW a day early so that we can do a "BBQ crawl" in Lockhart, TX...always starting at Black's and then on to Smitty's, and never making it any farther than a barstool at Lily's for a couple beers before heading back into the city. It's easy to find BBQ and tacos in Austin, but the town has so much more to eat than that...of course you do worse than a week of tacos & bbq.

@wigginstock

COREY FLEGEL

Corey Flegel runs the southern indie record label This Is American Music.

What was the food highlight of your year?

I ate some pretty amazing meals this year, but my staple of the summer was your basic bought-off-the-back-of-a-truck tomatoes with white bread, Duke's Mayonnaise, and a lot of pepper. I must have eaten about 300 of them. Sometimes I'd throw some bacon and Wickles Pickles on them just to get all fancy with it, but nothing beats a classic tomato sandwich.

Also, I have to extend an eternal hat tip to the outside meat Pulled Pork Sandwich and bag of Zapps lunch meal at the mighty Fox Brothers BBQ in Atlanta, GA. Always a favorite.

What was the music highlight of your year?

Getting to meet and see The Replacements at the Shaky Knees music festival in Atlanta last May. It was simply overwhelming to see them play, much less be in their presence for a good portion of the weekend. Tommy Stinson is indeed the coolest man in the universe. Also, Billie Joe Armstrong (who was playing with the Mats) told me that he's heard good things about our label that same weekend, and that was pretty mind blowing by itself.

Was there a moment when food and music came together in a memorable way?

Eating at Donanelle's in South Mississippi. My girlfriend and I were down in Wiggins, Mississippi that weekend celebrating my birthday and overindulging on God knows everything with some of my favorite friends in the world. It’s this total dive-y roadhouse steak joint in the middle of nowhere on Hwy 49 where the steaks are amazing and everything else is fried. Maybe the best thing about eating at this place is the super epic Classic Rock that gets blasted in there. All six of us place dollar bets on what artist will get played next; correct guesses take the pot and we keep drinking and listening until we basically fall out. It was and always is gloriously fun times. Lots and lots of .38 Special, Bad Company, Seger, with sprinkles of Steely Dan, Boz Skaggs, and Gerry Rafferty.

@coflegel

TOMMY HABETZ

Tommy Habetz is co-owner of Bunk Sandwiches and Bunk Bar in Portland.

What was the food highlight of your year?

The food highlight for me was a dinner that Nick and I were lucky enough to be a part of a few weeks ago in Toronto. My friend, Scott Vivian, invited us up to take part in a Charlie’s Burger dinner with the Group of 7 Chefs and David Bazirgan from the 5th Floor in SF. We got to cook alongside some of Canada’s best chefs. It was a great dinner, so much fun. It really opened my eyes to the incredibly talented chefs living and working in the great white north. David Bazirgan did a great Walleye poached in horse fat. And Matty Matheson did a sort of a Horse Pot au Feu. Eating horse is pretty common in a lot of other countries, but still is a hot button topic in Portland, OR. I really don’t understand why it is socially acceptable to eat cows, ducks, deer, etc., but horse is a no-no. Or is it a nay-nay, maybe? Anyway, one animal’s life is just as important as another animal’s life - And, as a disclaimer, selling horse meat is still illegal in the US, including Oregon. It was a great meal, and incredibly eye opening and educational to boot. Unfortunately, Mayor Rob Ford and Drake weren’t there, but you can’t have everything. Thanks, Canada! 

What was the music highlight of your year?

I feel so lucky to say that this is a really tough question. There have been so many musical highlights this past year: Parquet Courts, Deafheaven, Angel Olson, Love Language…so many great shows at Bunk Bar. But the highlight, for me, was getting to go to Chicago to Riot Fest with my brother, Michael, to see The Replacements reunion, and then an after show from the one and only Rocket From the Crypt at The Double Door. They shook both doors off, goddamnit. So good. 

Was there a moment when food and music came together in a memorable way?

Food and music came together for me at Huichica Festival at Gundlach-Bunschu Winery in Sonoma. Whether it was driving through the Redwoods blasting “I Am a Tree” by GBV, eating Poppycock. Or maybe somewhere right about here: Bob Weir! Muffalettas! God bless America!

@tommyhabetz