We stopped into Fork last week to try some bites and beers, snapping pictures along the way to give you a view of their offerings. more ›

You may recall our visit to Rose Angelis and how we enjoyed the comforting Italian food - the tender calamari in spicy balsamic vinegar, the spinach pasta and the strawberries in caramel. We decided to head back to Rose Angelis and this time, snap some pictures for you to enjoy. more ›

Every time we go to a farmer's market, we're amazed by how much has changed from the week before. One of the best things about talking to farmers and buying local produce is that you get back in touch with the seasonality of food - when things are available and at their peak. Right now, the colors of the market are bursting into full bloom, as the market moves out of its green period and into the bright oranges, purples and reds of mid-summer. It's not quite peak harvest time yet, but if you haven't been to the market lately, go on Saturday. more ›

We stopped into The Publican on Monday night for dinner and were graciously allowed to step back into the kitchen to snap some pictures. This impromptu visit means that all of our pictures aren't labeled but we think you'll get a good idea of the offerings at this popular restaurant. Enjoy! more ›

On Tuesday, we took a look at some food from Viaggio and Chef Victor Perdue ("Uncle Vic"). Today, let's take a closer look behind the scenes. more ›

God bless the day we stumbled into Viaggio, just blocks from our home, and discovered a new favorite. During our first meal, we politely inquired if we could go into the kitchen and take pictures. By our second visit, we'd been down into the basement to watch Chef Victor Perdue (known as Uncle Vic) make fresh pasta. You'll have to wait for Thursday for those pictures. But today, enjoy some pictures from the Italian kitchen of Viaggio. Menu description and price included in the captions. Enjoy! more ›

During the cold winter months, we often walked under Block 37 - from the Washington Blue line to the Red line - and and it was there we discovered Beard Papa's. Starting in Japan in 1999, Beard Papa's spread throughout Asia before making its way to Canada and the U.S. For this, we're grateful. We decided to stop by and snap some pictures of the awesome cream puffs and other treats. Enjoy! more ›

We spent Sunday marveling at the sudden heat and eating, of course. To kick it off, the Food and Drink Writers of Chicagoist met up with our fearless leaders (F&D jefe Sudo and Jefe jefe Gilmer) at The Southern before the Blackhawks kicked some Shark tail. Enjoy some pictures from our brunch at The Southern - included in each caption is the menu description and price. more ›

Last week we attended a preview of the new menu items at Wiener and Still Champion (802 Dempster, Evanston, 847-869-0100). Many of the new additions are former off-menu items owner Gus Paschalis would serve to frequent customers; the country fried gyros were one such item. But nothing prepared us for the phallic monstrosity pictured above. more ›

Spiaggia (aka President and Mrs. Obama's favorite restaurant) gets the food pr0n treatment over at Menupages Grub Street Chicago today with a series of Stolpman-level photos from Carolina Bolado. The photo essay is also running to commemorate chef Sarah Grueneberg's one-year anniversary as Tony Mantuano's chef de cuisine. [Grub Street Chi] more ›

We're back with some more pictures from moto's kitchen. Take #1 explored some dishes, Take #2 showed the mad scientist side of Chef Homaru Cantu. This time we'll show the technique behind the new bagel and lox menu item, as well as get a sneak peek of a dessert by Pastry Chef Ben Roche not yet on the menu. Enjoy!
more ›

Podcast #2 is in the books and ready for public consumption. Considering that we're just a few days away from Valentines Day, we figured it would be interesting to talk about some sexually related things that no one else in town is either aware of, or won't consider discussing. That's why we're here! more ›

I'll be the first to admit that we give a lot of server space here to Laurent Gras and L2O. His Lincoln Park restaurant has — in less than a year — earned a reputation as one of the best in the city, become one of the crown jewels of the Lettuce Entertain You empire, and his blog detailing the creation process behind his menu items has long been one of the first we check on our RSS feeds If you haven't been L2O and have the means to eat there, it's worth the price. more ›

There's "food porn" (we prefer the term "culinary erotica") and then there's just straight-up smut. Laurent Gras' blog for L2O is possibly the best example of the former. One of the attractions of his and other chefs' blogs is that it pulls back the curtain to reveal that the Wizard is merely a man, albeit a very driven one. It's also been said that imitation is also the sincerest form of flattery. more ›

We made our way to Kohan to capture some of its food and drink for your eyes. While known for its sushi and teppan grill dishes, it also serves authentic Korean food, as well. Martinis are $5 (1/2 price!) all day Friday and Saturday. [Previous Chicagoist coverage of Kohan: 1, 2] more ›

The Chicagoist food and drink staff recently dined at Ina's for breakfast (). Here are some pictures. Enjoy! more ›

Nacional 27 allowed us into their kitchen to bring you some pictures of their offerings. Special thanks to "El Presidente" Adam Seger C.C.P. (.) and Chef Chico for allowing us to photograph their food. Enjoy. more ›

We recently had friends in town and decided to take advantage of Marche's fixed price menu on Monday and Wednesday nights ($28.95 for a three course meal). Photos taken by our much more talented photography friend, Chris Lynch, AKA "LynchSeattle". more ›

The Tribune has what they say are their best food photos online today. And they sure are pretty, although, for our two cents we'll always take a shot like Zesmerelda's beautifully framed photo of Crofton on Well's Indian Pudding. more ›

Food writer John T. Edge, in the latest edition of the under-appreciated Oxford American magazine, profiles scientist and serious eater Ken Ford, who has a depth of culinary knowledge that is earned only with constant searching. In profiling Ford, Edge raises an interesting observation about a common slang term used to describe a gourmet: more ›

Because it's never too early in the day for a little bit of food porn. Chicagoist heard from a little birdie that Tim Graham, chef de cuisine at Tru, is serving a fourteen-day aged Kobe ribeye soaked in a marinade of dark sake and soy sauce before grilling. That steak is then served with mashed and corked potatoes. Now we love us some Kobe beef. Next to Piedmontese it's one of our favorites. Right now... more ›

Hearts all across Chicago were broken last January when Zephyr closed its doors. We walked past its former space a few days ago and wouldn't you know, construction workers were busy building what looked to be another restaurant. Alas, it won't be Zephyr 2.0 but rather an Irish-style bar and restaurant (pictured), opening in March 2008 (to their best estimate). The workers didn't know what it was going to be called. New York Times writer... more ›

In our experience, most people who eat at Costello's Sandwich and Sides get the same thing every time. It's their Costello's Match. Former Chicagoist editors Scott Smith and Erin Shea love the Heartland and Smokin' Turk, respectively. Our boyfriend's favorite is the Italian Grinder. For us, our Costello's Match is the Turkey Focaccia. Generally speaking, the Turkey Focaccia is a basic turkey sandwich — turkey, provolone, lettuce, tomato, vinaigrette. But what makes this sandwich... more ›

Check, Please! just launched an interactive video-based website today where visitors may send in restaurant recommendations and audition for the show. The site also contains over 300 reviews from the show's run, the one-minute segments that began running on NBC 5 on Tuesdays and Fridays (NBC 5 is a partner in the site). Now you can look up recent reviews in case you missed a recent review or just want to view a truncated... more ›

In what's become an annual feature here at Chicagoist and a personal favorite, we canvassed the staff for some of their best recipes and put together a potluck of amazing proportions to fascinate your taste buds, amaze your family (even the ones entranced by the football games), and bring about peace on earth - or at least in your family - for a few hours through the miracle of tryptophan, simple starches, and sugar... more ›

LAist is experimenting with blogging dates from J-Date, but finds the best men are found offline. Some date vicariously online and that is one reason why porn is big -- really freaking big -- so they ask if they should cover XXX since the heart of it lays in the city's San Fernando Valley. A writer grapples with her food porn photography obsession, another gets censored on Flickr, one gets scooped by the LA... more ›

We love food porn at Chicagoist. Like "porn" porn, food porn isn't as good as the real thing ... but that doesn't seem to stop us from lusting after the food featured so beautifully on blogs like La Tartine Gourmande. more ›

If variety is the spice of life, then fans of online food writing just entered their own little spice house. It may seem as though these new entries are playing catch-up with the well-established, familiar bastions of food porn, but they do have different things to offer and influence established food coverage in Chicago. Gapers Block just launched their food blog, Drive-Thru. If you're familiar with the GB style, you know what to expect. You... more ›

In the spirit of year-end lists, here are Chicagoist's top food events and trends (both good and bad) of 2006. more ›

Venture to the Southwest side enough and one will find that Mexican restaurants pop up like the ragweed we’ll be pulling from sidewalk cracks come spring; some of those serve food that doesn’t taste much better. And so it was that Chicagoist’s Bridgeport Bureau Chief found himself hopping on the Orange Line Monday, camera in tow, to find one that stood out. Luckily we didn’t have to go farther than Las Islas Marias at 5401... more ›