Chicago Culinary Bookstore Serves Up a Menu of Holiday Gifts

With world-class restaurants on virtually every corner, it’s no surprise that Chicagoans like to dish up top-notch nosh at home too. Now there’s a new foodie bookstore to cater to their discerning palates. Located on the hip Halsted Street shopping corridor in Lincoln Park, Read It & Eat carries everything from well-known encyclopedic reference cookbooks to […]

Eat Pizza for Charity With Bake 425 and the Make It Better Foundation

Full stomachs. Happy hearts. Can’t lose. Join Bake 425 in supporting Warming Hearts and Hands, a program dedicated to providing winter outerwear and blankets to the underserved in Chicago. From Dec. 16 through Jan. 6, 15 percent of all purchases associated with the Make It Better Foundation will be donated to Warming Hearts and Hands. […]

New in Town: Arlen's Chicken in Evanston

Rise and shine! DMK Restaurants has opened Arlen’s Chicken in Evanston. It’s a casual fried chicken joint where you’ll find delectable fried chicken and biscuit sandwiches, crispy biscuits and tater tots, not-just-for-kids chicken nuggets and DMK’s signature killer milkshakes — the toasted marshmallow is to die for. If you can’t wait until you get home, […]

Ramen on the North Shore: Table to Stix Ramen in Evanston

It’s an unprepossessing location sandwiched between the bustling Gigio’s Pizza and a sadly empty Asian Express, but the small new storefront that is Table to Stix Ramen on Evanston’s Davis Street is poised to make a big impact. It’s the first true ramen restaurant on the North Shore (you can find a few farther afield […]

Homemade Eli’s Cheesecake: The Original Recipe

When the late, great Eli Schulman first opened the legendary Eli’s The Place for Steak in 1966, he hadn’t yet created the signature dessert that would long outlive the restaurant itself. It wasn’t until the late ‘70s that Schulman himself developed that über-creamy and delicious cheesecake — featuring a butter-cookie crust — that has become […]

George Trois: Country French Fare in Winnetka

Chicago has seen a slew of excellent modern Asian (Fat Rice, Parachute, Momotaro), Italian (Osteria Langhe, Formento’s, Ceres’ Table) and even Spanish restaurants (Salero, Bom Bolla, mfk) opening over the past couple of years. But aside from The Blanchard, there haven’t been many notable French newcomers. Now there is George Trois. This most ambitious endeavor […]

2015 Gift Guide: Foodies

Satisfy your foodie’s wish-list cravings with these sweet treats. 1. Cooking Class at The Social Table: Sign up for public or private three-hour cooking classes. Dinner themes include country supper, Italian table and French Bistro. The sessions are kept small and are held nightly. Starts at $75 per person, The Social Table 2. Monogrammed Copper Mugs: These mugs are handcrafted […]

A Fish Tale: 16 Great Chicago Seafood Restaurants

Everyone knows that Chicago — smack-dab in the heart of the Midwest and in-between coasts — is a hard-core steak town. But man does not live by red meat alone, especially if he wants to live for a while. So look to the water, be it lake, river or sea, for your next hit of […]

New in Town: 800 Degrees in Evanston

There’s no shortage of speedy, freshly made pizza around town these days; quick gourmet pizza in the Chipotle mold is all the rage. But 800 Degrees is different — this is Neapolitan-style pizza, with a beautifully blistered crust that’s just the right amount of chewy and char. The same company that brought us Umami Burger […]

Dinner Tonight: Quick Vegan Chickpea Curry for World Vegan Month

Plunging temperatures and the season’s first snowfall make me want to hibernate under eight or 10 blankets and practice my favorite brand of mindfulness — I am one with the couch. Ohm. The only catch is that winter weather makes even the sportiest of us loath to exercise. My solution? Ultra-healthy dinners, which means minimized […]