Lots of festivals, tastings and food-related events this week, people. Tonight: If you want to learn about warm weather wines, the Chopping Block's Merchandise Mart location is hosting a Wine Goddess class on the subject this evening from 6-7:30 p.m. You'll also be able to sample some lighter reds, whites and blushes. Suite 107 in the Merchandise Mar, $60. Tonight-Sunday: Chuck's Southern Comfort Café in Burbank is throwing their annual Cajun Fest, sponsored by Abita......

It's hard not to stumble across a food blog while browsing the web. Two recent newspaper articles shine a light on the positive and negative aspects of the rise of food blogging. The front page of the Sun-Times' food section this morning is all about LTHForum, from the origins of their formation, their wide coverage of neighborhood and off-the-beaten path eats, the immediate response that can make or break a restaurant, and their overall influence......

This week, just for "guest", Chicagoist decided to tie this installment of the "Buffet" into Lollapalooza. We also have an update on Bell's, some other newsworthy items, and the usual complement of events. - A forum thread started at Beer Advocate earlier this week asked the million-dollar question: When is Bell's coming back to Illinois? Standing out among the speculation was a reply from Larry Bell himself. Bell told the forum that he's been talking......

The major stories this week are the opening of Crust, the continuing saga of David Hammond, bug eater, and how — if Hammond decides to head to Beverly in the near future — he might have a Tippi Hedren moment fighting with the seagulls who've been dining al fresco on cicadas. There are still plenty of events happening in the next seven days. Here are a few of note. - This weekend would be a......

We know we have totally jumped on the cicada-covering bandwagon over the past few weeks. They are coming. They will be here soon. Where the F are they? Well, we don't know where they are. But we do know that the Reader's David Hammond has been all over the place talking about why we should be eating cicadas instead of complaining about them. We have mixed — super mixed — feelings on the practice of......

Chicagoist has never been shy about our love for the Mexican food in Chicago. From the cheapest tacos, to new takes on traditional dishes, to the city's upscale offerings, we've been all over the city tasting tacos, tamales, and tortas. Though we love our Mexican food in the Chicagoist office, we sometimes get the sense that the Mexican offerings in the city are overlooked by many in favor of some of the more "traditional" Chicago......

The Rosebud restaurants will forever be associated with Alex Dana. However, a captain is only as good as his lieutenants, and Dana had a very good one in Joe Farina, his longtime former corporate chef. Under Farina’s helm, the Rosebud restaurants maintained a high quality control across the board, as Dana expanded his franchises with alarming frequency and swift, surgical precision, culminating in their brief partnering in Ballo, their hip twist on northern Italian cooking.......