One menu item that piqued this cat's curiosity at Flo & Santos that wasn't sampled during previous visits was the "flying pork 'wings.'" You see, here at the popular South Loop tavern pizzeria, pigs fly straight out of the kitchen and to your plate in the form of pork shanks that have been brined, braised and Frenched to allow you to hold them like a chicken wing. more ›

From its quick transformation from an old La Canasta on Webster, Kith & Kin has emerged as one of the best new restaurant openings of the past year, most recently taking home the "Best New Neighborhood Restaurant" award in the Reader's "best of" issue. They've also added a lunch service and we thought last weekend was a perfect time to visit, since Lincoln Park was, for all purposes, deserted for the holiday. more ›

Restaurants, from white tablecloth concepts to McDonad's, have varied cycles of life. Pilsen's De Colores is currently capitalizing on the restaurant boom in that neighborhood in a way the restaurant that preceded it, Picante Grill, could not. Now a BYOB, simple taqueria using the family recipes of owners Sergio and Priscilla Reyes, the food at De Colores can be a hit or miss affair. more ›

One of the hottest restaurant openings in the past two months has been The Purple Pig. The comfort food palace, a collaboration between Heaven on Seven's Jimmy Bannos, his son Jimmy Bannos, Jr. and Scott Harris of the Francesca restaurant empire has drawn favorable receptions and packed tables since its opening. Steve Dolinsky wrote on his Vocalo blog that he hasn't been this excited about a restaurant opening since avec. more ›

With a name like "poutine" it's easy to assume that the diner staple of French fries, cheese curds and gravy is French in origin. You'd only be off by about 3,390 miles. The origins of poutine (pronounced "POO-teen") began, as most great creations, as a happy accident. The most often cited story: a Quebecois named Fernand LaChance was asked to pair the three ingredients together at the behest of a customer. LaChance replied, "ça va faire une maudite poutine" ("it will make a damn mess"). The fries tend to be medium cut so that they're soft inside while crisp outside. gravy is typically chicken, turkey or veal with a solid pepper note to it. We prefer our poutine with a sharp cheese curd, like cheddar. more ›

Laurent Gras' L2O (in the former Ambria space at 2300 Lincoln Park West) is hands down the most critically acclaimed new restaurant to open this year; trust us when we say it is better than advertised. Chef Gras' blog has also been a must-read. The blog has chronicled everything from designing and building out the restaurant to previewing menu items and being a consistent source of amazing food pr0n. more ›

A few weeks back a reader e-mailed Margaret asking where he could find good biscuits and gravy in town, the way he remembered it in the South. Being the boss, she forwarded over the e-mail and asked, "I'd like to know, too." more ›