Robert Feder's Time Out Chicago blog gets a slight makeover today. For the first time, all of Feder's blog posts from his time at Vocalo/WBEZ are now archived to one website. more ›

A tipster sent us a link to what appears to be a possible redesign for ChicagoNow. Keep in mind that, if this is the case, it's far from the finished design. more ›

It was all about the Dominique Strauss-Kahn perp walk in New York, SFist got a shot of Doomsday false prophet Harold Camping's home when the rapture passed us by, and Boston welcomed the Cubs as an impending sign of doom. more ›

Chicago Bites is one of my favorite low-key food websites. Co-founders Bridget Houlihan Tammy Green have been doing great work since 2006. Houlihan announced this morning that she was leaving the site to pursue other projects, and she will be missed. more ›

2011 brings a new home for Robert Feder's media criticism at Time Out Chicago's website (with one mouthful of a URL). Feder whetted appetites for what was to come with a midnight reminiscence of where he was the moment Oprah Winfrey became Oprah.But it's today's entry that reminds folks of why he's still the best media critic in town. more ›

It looks like there will be no weekly Good Friday song from Kanye West this week as 'Ye is frustrated by leaks of what he claims to be unfinished versions of his songs. Kanye took to, what else, his Twitter feed last night to address the situation. We've presented his thoughts here in a single, full paragraph: more ›

• The lovely pictured is Amy Payne. Monday she was touted as Fernando Beteta's heir apparent as NoMI's Wine Director on Tasting Table Chicago. Wednesday she tweeted that she was leaving NoMI to take a job as a server at the soon-to-open Benny's Chop House. Oops! [TTC, The Stew, GS Chi]
• Two employees of Edelson McGuire LLC have filed a class action suit against Groupon claiming fraud. Groupon Andrew Mason responds. [TOC]
• Oprah donated $250,000 to Art Smith's Common Thread charity. [Benzinga]

• Michael Nagrant looks at all the new artisan bakeries opening in the area and says, "It Is Good." [Sun-Times]
• Jennifer Gavin, who should be acclimated to being yelled at by her bosses after participating in "Hell's Kitchen," is out after less than a month at the helm of Hyde Park Creole space The Big Easy, (formerly Orly's). Taking over for Gavin is Ronisha Preckwinckle, daughter-in-law of Alderman Toni Preckwinckle, the Democratic nominee for Cook County Board President. [Dolinsky/Vocalo]
• Grub Street Chicago's Helen Rosner is moving over to its big sister Grub Street New York. That means there's an opening at GS Chi. [Grub Street Chicago]

• In case the video above doesn't tell the whole story, Monte LaMonte loves the chilaquiles at Amigo Chino (5601 W. Irving park Rd.) [Off the Eatin' Path With Monte]
• Crain's Chicago Business profiles Rich Melman's sons, RJ and Jerrod, their wading into the family business and the competition they face from other local restaurateurs. [Crain's]
• Helen Rosner concocted a "Six Degrees of..." game, linking celebrities and chefs to Rich Melman. Connect Kevin Bacon to Melman, Helen. [Grub Street Chicago]

The key to being a writer is simple: you just do it. more ›

This week, we're counting down the top 9 stories of 2009 according to the Chicagoist staff. more ›

• Who is the chef behind the blog Butcher's Grip? Don't look at us to out him/her, especially since, for followers of snout-to-tail, it's isn't as though the chef is completely anonymous. [via Grub Street Chicago]
• Late night secret congee menus at Me Dee Café in Ravenswood. [The Food Chain]
• Delightful Pastries' second location is now open in Old town. [Drive-Thru]

• Sky Full of Bacon's Mike Gebert offers up his Rules for Dining (inspired by/apologies to Michael Pollan) [SFoB]
• Chicago Eats TV launched this week, promising "hot and fresh videos about some of the most unique places around." So far their curioaity has taken them to Yak-Zies, Jake Melnick's, McGee's Tavern, Cans and Redhots and Fries. Way to take the road less traveled. [Chicagoeatstv.com]
• Bleeding Heart Bakery starts a bread co-op this Saturday with Polenta Asiago Roasted Garlic Bread. Orders must be received no later than 7 p.m. every Friday (order by calling 773-327-6934 or via e-mail) and will be ready for pickup 1 p.m. Sundays. And it's only $5 a loaf. [Inbox]

• food 52's Tournament of Cookbooks features Grub Street Chi's Helen Rosner choosing between Eugenia Bone's "Well-Preserved" and "Babycakes" from Erin McKenna. [food 52]
• Lula Café is turning into a zombified version of Hot Doug's for Halloween. We don't know what jumped the shark here. [TOC]
• A new website, Beer Menus, is working to list the beer menus of Our Town's best watering holes. [Beer Menus Chicago]

Want a chance for a free dinner for two Sunday? then e-mail Lockwood chef Phillip Foss here. He'll be giving away a civet of wild hare for two. What's a civet of wild hare? In this instance it's a hearty french stew with a base of red wine, herbs and sometimes thickened with blood. we wouldn't put it past Foss to try that, either. He'll pick the winner tomorrow at 4 p.m. [The Pickled Tongue] more ›

Sad news food writing wise on two fronts today. First comes news that the venerable Gourmet magazine will be shutting down operations as part of a cost-cutting move spurred by a decline in ad revenues by parent company Conde Nast. A Gourmet byline is a holy grail among food writers and, under the editorial leadership of Ruth Riechl, some of the magazine's content was simply poetic. The loss of Gourmet's print concern leaves a void. A Conde Nast memo indicates that Gourmet's tv programming, book publishing, and recipes on epicurious.com will remain unchanged. more ›

• It's apple season. Here's a recipe for apple pear crisp .[Stresscake]
• Chicago's Downtown Farmstand is giving away free apples from Seedling to mark its one-year anniversary. [Inbox]
• Mindy Segal bows out of the Elysian Hotel project to focus on Hot Chocolate. [The Stew]

• Protestors from the company who helped build out Rick Bayless's XOCO set up shop outside the white-hot torta shop yesterday. [Grub Street Chi]
• Monica Eng reports that Sprout at 1417 W, Fullerton, is set to open October 3 as an all-organic restaurant. Get this: entrees are topping out at $120. Maybe owner Satko Ibrahimovic should check out Crust to get an idea of fair pricing for organic food. [The Stew]
• More non-Yelp reviews of Nana are coming in. This one is a positive review from David Hammond. [Reader]

• Vocalo was at the Chef's Collaborative Summit this week and filed interviews with Judith Schad of Capriole Goat Cheese, the Signature Room's Patrick Sheerin and Cleetus Friedman of City Provisions. [Vocalo 1, 2, 3]
• Soup and Bread: The Cookbook is on its way in December. [Soup and Bread]
• Over at Drive-Thru, Whitney Merritt's ongoing interview series of food bloggers focuses on Marathon Val [Drive-Thru]

I am a chef who likes to cook more than proliferate and manage restaurants. That’s why Frontera Grill, Topolobampo and, now, Xoco are all together. I can slide from one kitchen to another, tasting and training and coaching and cooking. Cooking is why I became a chef, and I never want to get too far from it. more ›

Here's what we've been wasting our time reading this week. You should, too: more ›

• Growing Home, Inc., which in our humble opinion does the Lord's Work with its organically certified urban farms in Englewood, is facing a $100,000 funding gap. If you've ever had their greens or other produce, please give what you can. [Inbox]
• The Green Chicago Restaurant Co-op launched a "Guaranteed Green" initiative that will help diners find and support the restaurants that "that take significant steps toward protecting the environment." on hand for the launch were Rick Bayless, Ina Pinkney, and Helen Cameron of Uncommon Ground, which also received the Co-op's first honors. [Inbox, again]
• "Are the Peaches Any Good?" Next time, ask a stupid question. [Fruit Slinger]

• Sam's South Loop and Aigre Doux weren't the only notable closings this week. Joining them in the restaurant/retail graveyard are Mama Desta's Red Sea (the city's oldest Ethiopian restaurant) and Doggy's S.S. Soul Eatery. [Food Chain]
• Chicago Diner is guilty of making tired Sarah Palin jokes. Local blogger is guilty of overreacting to Chicago Diner's tired Sarah Palin jokes. [Grub Street Chi]
• I passed along some of the guanciale I made to Seth Zurer of Baconfest Chicago and Sky Full of Bacon's Mike Gebert. Here's Gebert's verdict. [Sky Full of Bacon]

• Behold the outfit Graham Elliot Bowles wore while guest bartending at Pops for champagne Monday. He talks about it briefly in an interview. [W magazine]
• A nonbinding "green food resolution" proposed by Alderman Margaret Laurino includes boilerplate from Food Sanctuary, one of the proponents of the now-overturned foie gras ban. [Martha Bayne, Food Chain]
• Minnie's in Lincoln Park is gone. [TOC]

• North Shore Distillery's Sonja Kassebaum writes a loving profile of graham elliot beverage manager/head mixologist Lynn House (pictured). [Thinking of Drinking]
• Baconfest news: the Publican is hosting the VIP Pro cookoff the day before the fest. [Baconfestchicago.com]
• Mike Sula cheers the return of kaiseki master Seijero Matsumoto. [Food Chain]

Update your bookmarks: Menupages Chicago (and all the MP blogs) was re-branded this morning as Grub Street Chicago in a very beautiful redesign. The (re)launch allows parent company New York magazine to extend the Grub Street brand into other cities through corporate synergy while losing none of the knack for hard news, aggregation and criticism that made the MP blogs must-reads. MP Chicago editor Helen Rosner is still at the conn, still obsessing over Grant Achatz, and still keeping tabs for a Pat Bruno slip-up. more ›

• Did you know you could eat slugs? Yes. They're excellent in tomato sauce.
• This is just for Spook: Check out those spicy Korean soups.
• If you're on Hell's Kitchen and you don't know how to make Beef Wellington, you're a donkey.

The Tribune's new blog network, ChicagoNow, has launched in Beta form. So far, there are over 30 blogs on the site with many more to come. We're reserving judgment on the self-described "Huffington Post meets Facebook" until it's up and running at full speed. Besides hosting the RedEye and several offshoots of that publication (Show Patrol and The Kyles Files), they've also incorporated other blogs such as Metromix and the already-Trib-owned Len and Bob blog to cover the Cubs TV booth team. Most notable of the pre-existing non-Trib blogs that have so far been added are CTA Tattler and Mike Doyle, of Chicago Carless, who is heading up Chicagosphere, a look at the Chicago blog scene. more ›

SXSW is more than just music. Granted, Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot [Ed. note: and, ahem, Lizz Kannenberg] are probably having the time of their lives traipsing across the 1,800 odd bands scattered amongst Austin, Texas, but you’ll have just as much fun reading NPR’s All Songs Considered twitter feeds, right? more ›

• In the wake of an article calling hamburgers "the Hummers of food," Helen Rosner lists local restaurants that source the beef for their burgers from local farms. Why Paul Kahan isn't getting his lamb from Mint Creek Farm, only he knows. [MP Chicago]
• Speaking of localvore issues, check out the expanded version of the Local Beet.[The Local Beet]
• The fine folks at Drive-Thru have been very busy this week. Chris Brunn and Cinnamon Cooper offer a couple vegan-friendly recipes; Cooper infuses vodka with her namesake spice; and Robyn Nisi made the mistake of replacing real lemon juice for her lemon ricotta cookies with ReaLemon. [Drive-Thru]