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Category Archives: Restaurants

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Chicago Restaurant Week

Chicago Restaurant Week is February 22-29. Sponsored by the Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau, participating restaurants offer three-course prix fixe meals, $21.95 for lunch and $31.95 for dinner. Restaurants include Aigre Doux, David Burke’s Primehouse, Fogo de Chão, and Naha. Click here for a full list of participants and to make reservations.

Restaurant reviews

Dear wasabigelatine,
You seem to know a lot about Chicago restaurants and I’d like to hear your opinions about them. Are you ever going to write any restaurant reviews?
– ChicagoFoodFan
Dear CFF,
There are a ton of websites where people can voice their opinions about restaurants — LTHForum, Yelp, and Metromix, to name a few — and the […]

Best Chicago neighborhood dining

A few weeks ago, the Tribune’s dining editors asked readers to nominate the best neighborhood for dining in Chicago and the suburbs and have narrowed it down to three finalists: Lincoln Square, Logan Square, and downtown Forest Park. I chose Logan Square because of its ethnic diversity — you can get really good Puerto Rican, […]

The best things I ate in 2007

Two thousand seven, for me, was one of those years I wish was just a bad dream. But as I reflect on the past twelve months, I’m thankful for the precious stretches of good times spent with family and friends, always over a lovingly cooked meal or hours of conversation at a cozy neighborhood […]

wasabigelatine’s 2007 holiday gift guide

Last Christmas a friend of mine received a Starbucks gift card from his boss. Not a very original gift, but it’s the thought that counts. And that thought must’ve been “I don’t want to offend you by not getting anything but I really couldn’t care less, so let’s see what’s in the lobby. Oh hey, […]

Budget dining in London

London is one of the most expensive cities in the world. Couple that with the pathetically weak U.S. dollar, and it’s enough to make you want to pick up two pints of lager and a packet of crisps for dinner and call it a night. When we were there in May, it was just over […]

The ultimate goodie bag from Charlie Trotter’s

Last Sunday, Charlie Trotter’s celebrated its 20th anniversary with an eight-course over-the-top extravaganza cooked up by Trotter and many other international culinary luminaries like Thomas Keller (The French Laundry, Per Se), Ferran Adrià (el Bulli), and Hester Blumenthal (The Fat Duck). The $5,000-a-head dinner also included a goodie bag any gourmand would almost pay the […]

Chicago celebrity-owned restaurants

Metromix has an article about “Chicago alternatives to hot celeb-owned restaurants on the coasts”, such as Justin Timberlake’s Southern Hospitality (it recommends Smoke Daddy for low-key BBQ and down-home cookin’) and suggests Japonais as a substitute for Ashton Kutcher’s Geisha House, which I’m sure offers delights with other ethnically-sensitive names like Mr. Miyagi’s Maki […]

Organic options in Chicago

Here are a few places in Chicago that serve organic food:
Crust (2056 W. Division, 773-235-5511) - This is Chicago’s first certified organic restaurant (pictured at left) and features sandwiches, salads, and “flatbreads”, which are more like ultra-thin crust pizzas similar to the wood-fired Neapolitan style, and definitely the highlight of the menu. While I enjoyed […]

2007 James Beard Nominees

Chicago totally rocks.
Our nominees:
Outstanding Chef: Paul Kahan, Blackbird
Outstanding Chef: Jean Joho, Everest
Rising Star Chef: Graham Elliot Bowles, Avenues
Outstanding Pastry Chef: Mindy Segal, HotChocolate
Best Chef, Great Lakes: Grant Achatz, Alinea
Best Chef, Great Lakes: Carrie Nahabedian, Naha
Best Chef, Great Lakes: Bruce Sherman, North Pond
Outstanding Restaurateur: Richard Melman, Lettuce Entertain You
Outstanding Restaurant: Frontera Grill
Outstanding Restaurant: Spiaggia
Outstanding Wine Service: […]

Santa Barbara

It’s been a while since I’ve visited California — the last time was a wonderful new year’s weekend in San Francisco in 2000 — so I was really looking forward to accompanying my husband on business to Santa Barbara. I’m not a huge fan of Southern California, but my friends assured me Santa Barbara was […]

I’m famous!

Well, not really…but here’s a picture of Josh and me at del Toro on the FLOR website! We’re in the third photo from the top. No, we’re not club-crawling see-and-be-scenesters or camera hos — I’d received an invite from Domino magazine (strange, since I’ve never even picked up an issue, let alone subscribe to it) […]

Chicken and Waffles

The first time I tried chicken and waffles was at Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles in Hollywood on Gower St. (The great thing about that restaurant name? You know exactly what you’re getting into.) I don’t know when I’d first heard of chicken and waffles since it’s not exactly common fare for a midwestern […]

Last weekend, I visited a couple of newer businesses in Wicker Park — the clothing and home design shop Hejfina and South American/Asian fusion restaurant/lounge Rodan, both on Milwaukee right across the street from each other. Both interiors are warmly minimal, deeper-than-wide spaces with clean lines and lots of honey colored wood. But that’s where […]