Today in restaurant news, Erin Mooney takes over at Custom House, Deleece is moving to new digs and the Black Sheep saga continues. more ›

- Jessica Volpe, owner of Chicagoist fav Pasta Puttana, has opened a retail shop in Noble Square. The spot opened last Friday, and we haven't had a chance to visit yet - but you'd better believe we'll be stopping in soon for some pasta-making lessons! The shop will carry filled and sheet pastas (filled pastas can't be found at her farmer's market stand) and according to Eater, on opening day she was carrying roasted beet pasta and ramp pasta. Yum. 1407 W. Grand Avenue. more ›

Hot off the wire - Spring, Shawn McClain's pioneering Bucktown restaurant, will be closing after New Year's Eve. "The close of the year seemed like the right time to let Spring go," McClain said. He plans to focus more on his other restaurants, Green Zebra and Sage (in Las Vegas). He will split his time between the two. If you're desperate for a fix at Spring, they will be offering special meals in November and December made of their most popular dishes over the years. Four-course menus will be $59. more ›

The National Restaurant Association's annual trade show runs through tomorrow at McCormick Place. Restaurants that typically are closed on Sundays and Mondays are open for both lunch and dinner, while food whores around town have had their cameras at the ready to grab shots with some of their favorite chefs in town for the show. more ›

The business partnership between Shawn McClain, Peter Drohomyrecky and Sue Kim-Drohomyrecky has been slowly dissolving over the past year. McClain decided to retain the vegetarian-focused Green Zebra while also focusing on Sage, his restaurant in Las Vegas' Aria hotel; while the Drohomyreckys now own Custom House Tavern outright. more ›

• Carnivale's guacamole is one of the best deals in the city Tuesdays throughout the winter. A small order of guacamole will cos in pennies what the high temperature of the day is recorded. So, if Accuweather's forecast holds true, that's 22 cents. (702 W. Fulton, 312-850-5005).
• Throughout the month of January, Custom House is bringing back their $5 burger during lunch service. (500 S. Dearborn, 312-523-0200)

In case anyone hasn’t gotten the memo, the economy sucks. In our beat, that usually means more coverage of expensive restaurants closing their doors, but there is a larger world beyond the reach of truffles and foie gras. Visits to the Greater Chicago Food Depository are up 35% this year, as more and more people need help to feed their families. Some of Chicago’s best chefs have decided to do something about it - and you can help them out. Plus, you can get some pretty amazing food. What could be better? more ›

Hosting ad-hoc soup kitchens have been all the rage this winter. From 1-4 p.m. Sunday at Custom House (500 S. Dearborn, 312-523-0020) the big boys get in on the act. more ›

There are a couple of really interesting beer dinners of note in the coming weeks that could wind up being hard reservations, if you're the type to wait until the last minute to get reservations. more ›

Foodandwine.com just announced their "Go To List 2008," where they list their top ten restaurant cities in the world, ten up and coming restaurant cities, and 300 dining destinations around the world. It should come as no surprise that our broad-shouldered city ranked #8. That's behind Tokyo, Paris and New York, but ahead of Stockholm and Vancouver. Credit where credit is due, Vancouver still has better skiing and gentlemens clubs. more ›

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A gift from Cupid's Treasures may be nice once in a while, but food is a time-tested aphrodisiac. Restaurants throughout the city are gearing up for one of their busiest days Thursday. Here is a list of price fixe dinners guaranteed to mae a romantic out of even the most callous individuals. more ›

when we made it a Unibroue weekend a couple weekends ago, we were floored by the quality of their 2002 Quelque Chose ale. Prior to either of the dinners we attended we thought we had tasted practically everything Unibroue had to offer. more ›

Someone apparently reads the site: former Chicagoist staffer Lisa Shames attended Sunday's beer and charcuterie seminar at Custom House and e-mailed us to say that there were at least four people in attendance beside her who found out about the seminar via Chicagoist. We ran into at least that many people last night who said the same. more ›

Last week we wrote about a beer and charcuterie dinner co-hosted by Custom House and Unibroue this Sunday for an all-inclusive $35. Since Spring Restaurant Group announced the dinner, it's become one of the hottest fixed-price dinners in town. more ›

One of our favorite dinners last year was a fixed price dinner at Custom House featuring beer pairings from Unibroue. The dinner was so successful that they're teaming up again on January 20 for a beer and charcuterie seminar from 6-8 p.m. The six-course event will match select Unibroue brands with two different types of charcuterie selections each. The full menu can be read here. more ›

Today we continue our series of letting you know about the New Year's Eve packages being offered by local restaurants so that you have enough information to make a decision and not wait until the last minute to grab a table. In case you missed yesterday's installment, we've linked to it here for your review. Vegetarians rejoice! Green Zebra will offer an all vegetarian, 5 course tasting menu priced at $75 per person, with an... more ›

There's a wonderful video at Crain's website, under their "Entrepreneurs in Action" section, on Englewood-based organic wholesaler Goodness Greenness. Goodness Greenness provides organic produce to scores of stores and restaurants throughout the area. Goodness Greenness also has a handy feature on their website that makes it easier for those of you who want to eat organic to find stores and restaurants that carry their produce. Simply enter your ZIP code and enter a search... more ›

We mentioned last week that Pinot Days hits Navy Pier this weekend. There are some auxiliary events in conjunction with the grand festival, running from 1 - 4 p.m. tomorrow. 312 Chicago is hosting a winemakers dinner this evening from 7 - 11 p.m. The $120 price tag allows diners access to sample 18 different award winning pinots, including a four-course meal (each course paired with two different pinots) and the chance to ask burning... more ›

Angels will get their wings this Saturday night at Custom House. From 6-9 p.m. Shawn McClain's South Loop steakhouse is hosting a fundraiser to benefit Blue Sky Inn. Frequent shoppers at area farmers markets might be familiar with Blue Sky Inn for the work they do with their transitional work program, "A Taste of Success." The program hires and trains homeless youth in baking pastries, which are then sold at farmers markets and through catering... more ›

A good drink can improve the quality level of a meal. It can make a mediocre dinner tolerable, or raise the bar on a perfectly cooked entree. The best chefs, along with their sommeliers, wine stewards, and spirits experts, plan a meal and its pairings with meticulous detail. Although beer and food have complemented each other for centuries, restaurants in the States are placing an increased emphasis on offering beer pairings for those who don't... more ›

Let's start the buffet off with this video this video singing the praises of the Harold's 6-piece wing dinner. The language is NSFW, but if you're watching this in the office, you're probably the only one left, so crank it. Memorial Day is the (un)official start of grilling season. We've had the grill on an eternal flame for two months now, but loaded up on fresh vegetables from the farmer's market, tri-tip steaks from... more ›

The annual Jean Banchet Awards were handed out last Friday, at the Fairmont Chicago's annual Grand Chefs Gala (proceeds from the event benefitted the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation). No surprise here, but Alinea racked up more awards — for best fine dining, best sommelier in Craig Sindelar, and — of course — Grant Achatz for Celebrity chef of the year. more ›

Twenty of the top chefs in Chicago are joining forces with Food & Wine Magazine for the 2006 Entertaining Showcase at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Wednesday, November 15. The list of participating chefs reads like a who's who of Chicago fine dining: Food & Wine Best New Chefs Michael Carlson of Schwa and Graham Elliot Bowles of Avenues, Grant Achatz from Alinea, Shawn McClain from Spring, Green Zebra and Custom House, and Andrew Zimmerman... more ›

When Chicagoist sees the ever-expanding restaurant options in the South Loop these days, we cannot help but be awestruck. Fans of haute cuisine or Zagat ratings can head to Custom House or Opera; budget-minded diners looking for something above average have Gioco and the Chicago Firehouse; habitues of cheap eats can head to Grace O'Malley's, Taste of Siam, Eleven City Diner, and Hackney's Printer's Row; the truly suicidal can grab a late night bite at the South Loop Club. more ›

It pays to know your pastry here in Chicago. more ›

With such a proliferation of food- and cooking-focused blogs and web sites out there, some days it's all Chicagoist can do to get to a handful of them to keep up. However, as is the case with the industry itself, the more the merrier. So in the same way we're always stoked to find a new approach to duck breast, we're equally as happy to find a blog with a different twist. more ›