Chicago Restaurant Celebrates Halloween With Indie Rock Menu

Halloween costumes don't necessarily have to be worn -- just ask Phish, who don a "musical costume" every year and cover a famous album, like the Rolling Stones' 'Exile on Main St.' Now, as Time Out Chicago reveals, the city's popular eatery Lula Café is getting into the holiday spirit and "dressing up" its menu as popular indie rock bands. The costume is partly an homage to Chicago bands, but also pays tribute to another local spot, Kuma's Corner, a hard-rocking joint with burgers called the "Led Zeppelin," the "Mastodon" and a delicious-sounding "Judas Priest," which offers a topping of bacon and a bleu cheese dressing with apples, walnuts and dried cranberries.

On Saturday, Oct. 30, for one night only, Lula Café will become Luma's Corner, with house-designed menu items include the appropriately named "Built to Spill" (sloppy Joe, Idaho potato puree, sunny-side egg and pickles), the "Calexico" (adobe-steak burger, green chiles, avocado, grilled cebollitos) and the "Belle and Sebastian" (scotch egg, beet chutney, welsh rarebit).

For the curated burgers, Lula asked Tortoise's Doug McCombs, the guys from Shellac, Bobby Conn and the folks behind Drag City Records to come up with their own creations. McCombs went the breakfast-burger route, offering a pancake, burger, egg and bacon combination. We're assuming that those pancakes act as a bun.

The Shellac burger bills itself as "simple and delicious" and certainly offers a straightforward choice-aged angus beef topped with prosciutto, parmigiano, olive oil, sea salt, cracked pepper, balsamic vinegar and arugula. In other words, a burger and salad double threat.

Bobby Conn keeps his ingredients to a minimal, but offers something unique: a kimchi burger topped with asparagus and brie. Lastly, the Drag City gang went the toast route, offering up a steak tartare burger with garlic-marrow toast, red dandelion and a spittoon. Yes, a spittoon.

Forget candy -- should these curators ever decide to go the food route, we're thinking the transition from tour bus to kitchen will be rather seamless.