One of this summer’s oddest suburban dramas has ended peacefully: After a few months at odds with the City of Glencoe’s liquor licensing process, Cibo Trattoria has finally been granted their license, and their full bar is now open. For a while there was uncertainty about whether they would remain open; it’s hard to compete […]
Lake Forest High School alums Ray Bozic and Jeff Urso have always been close friends – and big pizza fans. In 2011, they opened their first Donati’s Pizza in a tiny Lake Forest location; with success, they expanded the business to Mundelein and Rolling Meadows. Their newest location is in Lake Bluff, Bozic’s hometown, and this […]
There was a time—a long time, actually—when fine dining equaled French haute cuisine. End of story. Of course, that’s in the past, and many of those splurge restaurants have gone the way of the dinosaur. But the American love affair with French food survives, just in a less stuffy form. The Chicago area is filled […]
Kefi is a Greek word (roughly) meaning passion, exuberance, joy, a lust for life. Think Zorba the Greek dancing on the beach, or the Greek custom of smashing plates. For owner John Tasiopoulos, it’s an expression that sums up how he feels about his family, his heritage and his mother’s food. Because at its heart, […]
As if the tiny new corner bakery on Evanston’s Central Street, just east of the Metra tracks, wasn’t adorable enough, it turns out that owner/baker Beth Welch and manager Kate Noble share more than a love of sugar—they’re sisters! They first learned to bake and cook from their beloved grandmother as they grew up fourth-generation […]
Make It Better’s Best of 2015 drew more than 105,000 verified votes across 10 categories. Share your thoughts with us on social media using the hashtag #MIBBestof2015. Go-To Eats Brunch Ten Mile House (North Shore) This newcomer has won a legion of fans with their sunny morning meal, not to mention the Hangover Fried Rice. 1700 […]
Update Feb. 14, 2017: Marigold Maison is now located at 900 N. Milwaukee Ave., Lincolnshire. Bannockburn isn’t exactly on my destination restaurant radar, but now that I’ve been to Marigold Maison, I might just have to adjust my thinking. Suburban restaurants in strip malls aren’t generally my cup of tea, but the warm colors—marigold […]
When Theresa Lucas opened her original Good Grapes wine boutique in Glencoe in 2008, it was a tiny 170 square feet. In contrast, her recently opened Winnetka store is a spacious 1,200 square feet, with room for all of Lucas’ treasures plus a winekeeper that allows her to sample eight wines by the glass in […]
Tequila just screams warm weather to me. Maybe it’s from happy beach vacations in Mexico, where we learned that tequila has been around for at least 500 years. Distilled from the blue agave plant and produced in the Mexican state of Jalisco, tequila ranges in depth of flavor from the unaged blanco or silver tequila—perfect […]
When co-founder Sebastián Koziura started FRÍO Gelato in Evanston, he was looking to recreate the gelato experience of his South American childhood in Argentina. Gelato is big there, both as sweet treat and social pastime. FRÍO’s gelato base is made in-house with hormone-free milk and all natural ingredients; the South American influence is obvious in […]
