Other media have been charting their favorite restaurant openings of the past ten years. Here at Chicagoist, we’ll let them have it and instead stick to the standard year-to-year review of what we thought were the top stories surrounding local food and drink. There’s been a lot to write about the past twelve months. In our four years covering food and drink for the site, this has arguably been the most rewarding year on the beat. more ›

It's simply a shame that New Glarus Brewing doesn't distribute their product to Illinois. The official line from New Glarus is that they had a hard enough time keeping up with demand in their home state of Wisconsin; the Carey's decision to leave Illinois was made easier when their former local distributor was merged into Southern Wine and Spirits seven years ago and SWS asked for $20,000 from the Careys to opt out of their distribution agreement (source). 'Course, that hasn't stopped some local establishments from bringing in New Glarus' offerings. We've had our share of Raspberry Tart at Delilah's, and one of the early selling points of the Burlington — besides Tankboy's incessant pimping of the place (kidding, Jim) was the poorly kept secret that their "house beer" was Spotted Cow on draft. more ›

Hard to imagine that Chicago, a city who's seen its major breweries go belly-up decades ago (save for a brewpub or two) could become the homebase for the offices of both the Silver Bullet and Purveyors of the High Life. But it could happen. Crain's reports today that the joint beer venture MillerCoors are eyeballing locations in both Chicago and Dallas for their headquarters and offices. more ›