Leading the charge, unsurprisingly, is Alinea, with an average check total of $736. that places Grant Achatz's restaurant at fourth on the list. more ›

2012 started off with a shocker of an announcement by Charlie Trotter. The chef who helped lay down the foundation for Chicago's modern restaurant scene announced he would be taking a "sabbatical" from cooking and closing down his eponymous restaurant at the end of August. more ›

We love food, we love maps, and we love public transit. Therefore, this chart by HartmanSalt gave us a lot of pleasure. It maps out the entire food industry in one place, from chefs (Chicagoans Homaro Cantu, Grant Achatz and Charlie Trotter made the list) to grocery store owners, food media moguls and cookbook authors. It's even interactive! Hover over any name for more information. If someone made one of these for Chicago, we'd have to do a little happy dance. Go forth and waste some time. via The Stew. more ›

One of the big happenings fine dining fans were looking toward was the opening of Charlie Trotter's planned restaurant in the Elysian Hotel downtown. Trotter said at the time of the announcement of his deal with the Elysian in 2006, "We're very choosy about who we get into bed with, to put it bluntly." more ›

Eventually, the rebels become accepted by the Establishment. Even in culinary circles. Twenty-one years ago, the fixed price menus Charlie Trotter was offering from a converted home on Armitage made some longtime chefs regard the brash upstart as a "reckless fusionist." more ›

• Leading off today is this hiring video put together for Lettuce Entertain You property Hub 51 Restaurant and Lounge, an exaggerated parody of Tom Vu infomercials. (via)
• Fresh off his appearance on last night's episode of Top Chef Chicago, Rick Tramonto has a blog over at Restaurant & Institutions magazine website. There are only two posts right now, but Tramonto's an in-demand chef and businessman, so only expect him to update when he has the time and/or something to write about. (Again, via).
• The Tribune ran a wonderful piece yesterday on how some of Our Town's best chefs would reinvent that all-American staple, the hot dog. Check out Shawn McClain's tofu version with kimchi and sport peppers, Rick Bayless' Chi-Mex hot dog, or Charlie Trotter's Asian tuna dog.

Valentine’s Day had always been a great excuse to go out to dinner. Unwilling to foist our screaming banshee toddler on fellow romantic diners these days, we’ve created a new luxe tradition to celebrate: after bed time, we’re reheating Charlie Trotter’s take out. more ›

The Tribune's Phil Vettel wrote on The Stew this morning about the just-released 2K8 AAA Restaurant and Hotel ratings. Chicago leads the way with more five-diamond rated restaurants than any other city. Furthermore, there are no surprises on the list, since it's identical to last year's awardees. Congratulations are in order to Alinea, Arun's, Avenues, Charlie Trotter's (his fourteenth straight year with a five-diamond rating), Everest, Seasons, and Tru for setting the standard in local... more ›

Coming just days after it hosted an epic dinner in honor of Charlie Trotter— with the guests being some of the best chefs in the country (and some from across the pond, too)—Schwa is closing. Time Out Chicago's Heather Shouse has has the big scoop on the TOC blog: Per [Chef Michael] Carlson’s wishes, we won’t divulge at this time the reasons behind the closing, but will relay that he is determined to return to... more ›

Normally, the last thing Chicagoist wants to do on a hot Saturday afternoon is put on “business-casual attire” (that basically goes for any Saturday afternoon, really). But when it’s for a champagne reception at Charlie Trotter’s, it’s not a problem. And when said reception includes the opportunity to see some of the most influential chefs from around the world, well, we’re there. In case you haven’t heard — with all the media hype going on,... more ›

Or, since this will be an Oktoberfest-intensive installment, "Das Freitagsbüfett." Most of these are around the general vicinity of Lincoln Park, Lake View, and Wrigleyville. Things kick off this evening with St. Alphonsus' Sixth Annual Oktoberfest Chicago. Admission is $5, or free if you RSVP at going.com/oktoberfestchicago. First St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church hosts their Oktoberfest Saturday from 5-10 p.m. Cost is $20 ($15 for seniors, $10 for children under 12). St. Michael in Old... more ›

"One Mint Julep" seems to be a fitting theme for this week, in both photo and song (Last.fm doesn't lie). Let's move on, shall we? Today is "Charlie Trotter Day" in Chicago, in honor of the 20th anniversary of the opening of his eponymous restaurant. The Sun-Times had a couple of nice pieces this week in conjunction. We linked to Janet Fuller's story of Trotter's first two employees, who are still with him today, in... more ›

Here are some things in the news to chew on while we're eating kabobs at the Velika Gospa. Macy's second-quarter profits don't look too good. Neither does the forecast for the residential real estate industry. A woman was run over by a garbage truck on the north side this morning. Indications are that she laid down behind the rear tires before it happened. Two apartment buildings in the Fulton Market were evacuated Tuesday after... more ›

Winston’s Market on Southport suffers from multiple personalities. But unlike Sybil, it’s a good thing. Opened last May, this former shoe boutique now houses a deli, a self-service restaurant, a beer and wine store, and a gourmet prepared-foods shop. Sound like they have too much on their plate? Not when we stopped by and noticed that the friendly staff had plenty of time to answer our questions, take our order (they didn’t even flinch when we asked for our bread to be toasted on the already prepared sandwich), quickly wiped down tables and chairs (why do other places always forget this?), prepared orders to go, and hand-delivered them to customers checking to make sure they had pronounced their names correctly, and waved at babies. Whew! more ›

If a wine shop has its own in-house chef — a Charlie Trotter-trained one at that — odds are it’s going to offer quite a different experience than those warehouse-sized ones you’re used to. And that’s just fine with the people behind Knightsbridge Wine Shoppe & Epicurean Centre. Open since 1986, this cozy Northbrook store takes buying a bottle of wine up a couple notches (the British spellings of its name and the fact that Knightsbridge, an area in London, is home to many of the world’s richest people are definite tip offs). more ›

If you happened to be dining at any one of a number of Chicago’s top restaurants last Monday evening and peeked your head into the kitchen, odds are you wouldn’t have found the executive chefs there. But that doesn’t mean they weren’t working. Instead, over 30 of the city’s best chefs and 20 United States Bartenders’ Guild members were donating their time and skills to Share Our Strength’s “Taste of the Nation Chicago,” just... more ›

June has been designated as Hunger Awareness Month, and just as the month is winding down, we have one big ticket event to mention in support. more ›

Maybe Charlie Trotter is having a change of heart as he reaches middle age, or maybe he sees how successful all the other celebrity chefs are with their multiple ventures. Either way, Trotter is inching ever closer to having "18 projects like (his) colleagues" by taking a chance on Las Vegas again, with plans to open two new restaurant concepts in the chi-chi Venetian Hotel come November. more ›

Le Francais, the Wheeling restaurant that was the gold standard of fine dining in the Chicago area during its heyday, closed down during Memorial Day. The Sun-Times reports today that the restaurant filed a notice with the Wheeling fire department that it was no longer operating. A busboy and food runner who requested anonymity said that owner Michael Moran did not tell his staff of the closing ahead of time, and that he only found... more ›

Quick, name the top five chefs in Chicago. Now name the five most famous chefs in the country. While the cuisines may vary from Grant Achatz's "molecular gastronomy" to Mario Batali's classic Italian, the one thing that most — or all — of these chefs have in common is the pale, pale, color of their skin. As Maureen Jenkins writes in today's Sun-Times, "the shortage of chefs of African descent is noteworthy if only by... more ›

You know those restaurants where you could close your eyes, point to anything on the menu, and end up with an out-of-this-world dish? That’s Don Juan’s Restaurante in Edison Park. Frontera Grill, Salpicon, and Adobo Grill may hold claim to some of the best Mexican food downtown, but family-owned Don Juan’s has been an Edison Park mainstay for just as long, or longer. On most nights, a lively crowd packs the main dining room with... more ›

Learn Something: Looking for a little culinary education in the coming week? Get your cheese and beer on at The Chopping Block in Lincoln Square on March 8. For an even forty bucks you get to meet Goose Island brewmaster Greg Hall and learn all about artisan cheeses and gloriously strong stout. New Chef: Never been to Boka Restaurant? Or perhaps you've been but weren't all that impressed. Well, Giuseppe Tentori is the restaurant's... more ›

"Your Friday Food Buffet" is a new feature where we combine business-related news concerning food and drink with tastings and fixed-price dinners happening around town this weekend. Pretty cut-and-dried, don'cha think? Anyway, we hope you like it. Starbucks finally drops act, admits inspiration for business model: After test-marketing in Chicago and other markets throughout the country, Starbucks rolled out their breakfast sandwiches and drive-thru service in Boston and select Los Angeles locations. No information... more ›

You didn't, did you? You did. You will be one of those poor souls watching clouds and cornfields pass by instead of watching Rex Grossman pass the ball. And really, we can't blame you. We had doubts, too, about the ability of the Bears to make it this far. Had we some extra cash on hand, we may have even booked a long weekend. Luckily for people who booked Jet Blue for their weekend getaway,... more ›

Chicagoist, unfortunately, has partaken in the snack box on a United flight. For those of you who have made the same mistake, you understand. And for those of you who haven't, don't. more ›

"We're very choosy about who we get into bed with, to put it bluntly" was how Charlie Trotter explained the news, reported yesterday by both NBC 5 and the Tribune, that he is the "iconic chef" developing the restaurant for the under-construction Elysian Hotel on East Walton. more ›

Takashi Yagihashi cut his culinary teeth right here in Chicago at Yoshi Café and Ambria before moving off to become executive chef at a restaurant outside Detroit. After a short stint in Las Vegas, and after winning the James Beard award for Best Chef in the Midwest 2003, Yagihashi returned to Chicago yesterday with the opening of a noodle stand on the seventh floor of the State Street Macy’s. Contrary to how that may sound (we don’t think Yagihashi has serious financial problems and is slinging noodles to anyone who’ll buy ‘em) this appears to be a well-calculated move for the chef who is scouting West Loop and River North locations for a possible restaurant opening next year. more ›

For further proof that Chicago has become ground zero for culinary innovation, AAA announced their 2007 Five Diamond-rated restaurants last week. Alinea and Avenues in the Peninsula Hotel joined Charlie Trotter's, Arun's, Tru, Everest, and the Four Seasons Hotel's Seasons Restaurant to bring our toddlin' town's number to an astounding seven. That's the highest number of Five Diamond-rated restaurants in the country for a single city. There was no mention of our favorite place to... more ›

The ratings found in Michelin’s restaurant guidebooks have been the culinary measuring stick for many European countries for something like 100 years. Just last year the guide finally began critiquing restaurants in the good old U. S. of A., starting with NYC and then San Francisco. If the rumors are correct, Chicago may soon be the third U.S. city to be reviewed by Bibendum — who knew the Michelin Man had a real name? The people of Snack, a NYC foodie blog, report that their Michelin sources have named Chicago as its next destination, which would mean that critics could be secretly reviewing our restaurants as we speak. more ›