The donation went to the Greater Chicago Food Depository. The Christmas Ale is long gone, but a new highly anticipated brew, their Bourbon County Brand Coffee Stout, releases this week. more ›

The Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau has enlisted Stephanie Izard to host its inaugural "First Bites" bash at the Great Hall of Union Station. more ›

Tomorrow the Publican is hosting a food drive. If you donate, you get free beer. more ›

Chef Gruneberg, who is the Executive Chef at Spiaggia when she's not off being fabulous, has created an Genoa-inspired wrap. Proceeds go to the Greater Chicago Food Depository. more ›

The continuing recession and high unemployment means food security is at a low point in Chicago. more ›

Remember Can Mario? Yeah, that was great. Turns out it's part of a much larger project - CANstruction. During CANstruction, architecture and engineering firms compete to build amazing sculptures out of food cans. There are ribbons, prizes and all the food is donated to the Greater Chicago Food Depository. Whole Foods is a sponsor of the event - hence the great can Mario. The sculptures are on display until the end of May, and if you go to the Mart you can vote for your favs. Some of them are worth looking at - there's a Wrigley Field, a box of Fruit Loops and a tableau of the Water Tower during the Chicago Fire. Check them out! more ›

The Greater Chicago Food Depository does some of the most important work there is - making sure our fellow Chicagoans are well fed. Since this mission lines up with our own (though on a somewhat different level), we whole-heartedly support their efforts. They also happen to throw some of the best benefit dinners in the business. On May 15, the Food Depository will be hosting its 15th Annual Girl Food Dinner at West Town Tavern. The 5-course meal, cooked entirely by female chefs, will blow your socks off, and the $150 ticket price goes right to the food depository. more ›

A major salvo was fired yesterday in the battle to provide access to healthy and affordable food to Chicago's most underserved neighborhoods. Mayor-Elect Rahm Emanuel, several alderman, civic groups, and local citizens were on hand to celebrate the grand opening of five Save-a-Lot grocery stores on the city's south side. It made for a morning of stirring speeches about the fight against blight, development in poorer neighborhoods, and, of course, the importance of having good access to good food. more ›

Earlier this morning we received a direct message on the Chicagoist Twitter fed from local raconteur Billy Dec. more ›

Last Wednesday, we attended the latest "86 Hunger" dinner at Naha, benefitting the Greater Chicago Food Depository. This series of dinners, hosted by some of Chicago's best chefs, brings together food lovers who care about problem of hunger in the city. They get a chance to eat some great food and donate a fairly serious chunk of money to charity. When the dinner is cooked by Sarah Stegner (of Prairie Fire) and Carrie Nahabedian (of Naha) it goes without saying that the food will be worthy of the cause. If you like what you see, there are two more 86 Hunger dinners coming up in the next few weeks, hosted by Custom House and Boka - check for details after the jump. more ›

Despite the fact that the economy is beginning to turn around, the number of Illinois households receiving food stamps hit record levels in December, and local food pantries have also revealed that more people are asking for help. Last month, 857,282 households were enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program--which is commonly known as food stamps--a figure that is up 12.7 percent from the previous year, according to the Illinois Department of Human Services via the Chicago Sun-Times. more ›

The Greater Chicago Food Depository has teamed up with some great Chicago restaurants for a second year of "86 Hunger" - a combination of tasty food and charity that always makes us happy. Starting on October 24 and ending in February, dinners will be held at West Town Tavern, Spiaggia, Naha, Custom House, Boka and Heaven on Seven. At each dinner, a special meal will be prepared by the chef, and all proceeds will go the Greater Chicago Food Depository. more ›

Share Our Strength's Taste of the Nation, one of the biggest gatherings of chef and bartending talent this year, takes place next Thursday at the Aragon Ballroom. The annual event raises money for for the Greater Chicago Food Depository, Near North Health Services and the Illinois Hunger Coalition, three organizations fighting the rise of childhood hunger in the greater Chicago area.. more ›

We're telling you about this fun event early because we don't want you to miss it. On May 16, West Town Tavern will hold its 14th Annual Girl Food Dinner. This is no typical dinner for a few reasons: 1) ALL of the $150 you will spend on your ticket will go to the Greater Chicago Food Depository and 2) ALL of the courses you'll enjoy will be prepared by a different, fantastic female chef - Karen Armijo, Nadia Tilkjan, Jackie Shen, Stephanie Izard, Susan Goss and Jess Oloroso. Speaking of Chef Susan Goss, she and her husband, Drew, have hosted and donated more than $150,000 to groups fighting hunger. Sound like a fantastic reason to donate some money? Yeah, we think so, too. Get your tickets here. more ›

We're sure you're sick of these posts reminding you about this meet-up, but hey, we really just wanted an excuse to repost the nifty little logo you see to the right. We mentioned a few other events going on tonight but we hope know you'll make time for us, right? Sure it's cold but that just means to get the extra heavy coat out for the trip over to Sheffield's (3258 N. Sheffield) where we'll be keeping cozy with plenty of beer and awesome people tonight from 7 p.m. until 10 p.m. (though likely beyond that). We're also using this as an opportunity to give back during the holidays, also making it a food drive benefiting the Greater Chicago Food Depository, which is seeing a greater demand for its services in this recession. So if you come, please bring a can or bag or two of food along with you to donate. Some of what the Food Depository needs the most of include: beans, chili, peanut butter, soup, canned veggies, cereal, pasta, rice, tuna, and canned fruits. So grab the cans, bundle up, and head over! more ›

We warned you we'd be bringing it with these reminders. We're a day away from our Holiday meet-up. Ric Hess, Phil Kuhl and the fine folks at Sheffield's (3258 N. Sheffield, 773-281-4989) have graciously allowed us the use of their Beer School bar for the occasion. We're also using this as an opportunity to give back during the holidays, also making it a food drive benefiting the Greater Chicago Food Depository, which is seeing a greater demand for its services in this recession. So if you come, please bring a can or bag or two of food along with you to donate. Some of what the Food Depository needs the most of include: beans, chili, peanut butter, soup, canned veggies, cereal, pasta, rice, tuna, and canned fruits. more ›

It's getting colder and the first snowflakes of the season may fall later tonight so it's time to think about holiday parties. Including ours! It's been a while since we've done our reader meet-ups on a regular basis so we're excited to bring them back and meet all of you, the awesome readers who make this site fun and worthwhile. Ric Hess, Phil Kuhl and the fine folks at Sheffield's (3258 N. Sheffield, 773-281-4989) have graciously allowed us the use of their Beer School bar for the occasion. We're also using this as an opportunity to give back during the holidays, also making it a canned food drive benefiting the Greater Chicago Food Depository, which is seeing a greater demand for its services in this recession. So if you come, please bring a can or two of food along with you to donate. more ›

Soup and Bread mastermind Martha Bayne sent out an e-mail blast today announcing the completion of the Soup and Bread Cookbook in time for the holidays. Bayne and book designer Sheila Sachs will be throwing a book release party next Wednesday at the Hideout from 5-8 p.m. more ›

Back in the early days of this-little-website-that-could we used to make it a practice of actually trying to meet our readers at a pre-arranged location to have some drinks, have a good time away from the flat-screen glow, get to know each other and (most important) thank you for choosing to spend a portion of your day reading Chicagoist. As you can see from this Flickr set, these "Reader Happy Hours" were very fun. more ›

The USDA released its annual report on Household Food Security (which is a sanitized way of saying "hunger") yesterday and the results were sobering. An estimated 17 million households, or 14.6 percent of the population, has experienced "food insecurity" at one point in the past twelve months. These figures are the highest since the USDA started tracking numbers in 1995. more ›

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 ›

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, The average commute in Chicago lasts 31.6 minutes. That's among the nation's longest and, if we're "average" in any way, usually means that coffee is necessary whether you park, lock your bike, or leave the train or bus. 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 ›

Starting this Wednesday and running through April Fool's Day, Hideout will be transformed into a soup line with a weekly dinner featuring three soups fashioned by Hideout staff, regulars, local chefs and maybe even a food writer/blogger or three. more ›

Just because it's a short holiday week doesn't mean the President-Elect is resting on his laurels. It's been a busy week for Obama, especially in the news. more ›

The holidays have arrived, and though we always encourage our readers to Give Back, please consider doing what you can this season to spread a little extra holiday cheer. more ›

The tough economic climate in which we're currently mired is hitting everyone. CBS2 reports that rising unemployment and higher costs for food and gas is taxing food pantries throughout the area as demand begins outstripping supply. more ›

Chicago has just been awarded the dubious honor of having the highest gas prices in the nation, according to the latest Lundberg Survey. Area residents are paying an average of $4.07 for a gallon of regular gas, and nearly $4.60 for a gallon of diesel. more ›

We're leading off today's awesome round-up by reminding everyone that, as Roosevelt "Rosey" Grier says, it's alright to cry. People seem very stressed out today — Holiday stuff? Lack of daylight? Weird diet? — but don't keep it bottled up. Let it out, and recover with some things that should cheer you up and quick: more ›

Before we go to the listings, we want to bid farewell to the Tribune's Kevin Pang, who's heading over to the Tempo section. But he leaves the food beat with a profile of Peter Engler, the city's foremost expert on mother-in-law sandwiches, street food and other south side cheap eats. Shaw's Crab House concludes this year's edition of their "Royster with the Oyster" festival with their annual tent party at their Hubbard Street location tonight.... more ›