Saturday mornings have meant a few things to me over the years. In my childhood, I reserved them for an unreasonable amount of Life cereal and cartoons. In my 20’s, Saturday mornings meant brunch. Now they mean getting up at 6 a.m. to the sound of various children crying, turning on cartoons and wondering if there might — just might — be a way to reclaim these mornings.
It turns out, there is.
Every Saturday morning the Davis Theater in Lincoln Square opens up Theater 1 to its delicious restaurant, Carbon Arc Bar & Board, with a special direct-connect hallway and shows cartoons while serving brunch.Since you’re probably a little sleep-deprived and your brain might not be able to process a parenting discovery of this magnitude, allow me to break down what this means in even simpler terms. Your children (and you, if you are so inclined) can go in and out of the movie theater and watch cartoons while you devour brunch and drink mimosas in the restaurant. There is only one way in and out of the theater, so there is no way to lose the children since they have to pass you as they attempt to escape. Your kids get Saturday morning cartoons and you get adult conversation at a restaurant while also potentially consuming societally-accepted alcohol before noon.
This is the cross-section of your childhood Saturday morning cartoons, your boozy brunches of your 20’s and the freedom to make the lame parent jokes you now somehow love. Add to that the fact this all takes place at a locally-owned theater in Lincoln Square, one of my favorite neighborhoods in the city, makes this unquestionably a mark in the “win” column.
The cost of admission is free (I hope you were sitting down for that); you just pay for the unmentionable amount of delicious brunch and drinks you consume. Cartoons start around 10 a.m. every Saturday and go until about 12:15 p.m. The showings are different every week and the schedule can be found here. Reservations are accepted.
So hop on that Brown Line ‘L’ to Western and I’ll see you there Saturday morning. I’ll be the one secretly wishing I could eat some Life cereal with my mimosa.
If you go:
Davis Theater
4614 N Lincoln Ave., Chicago
