The New York Times Magazine ran an interesting interview yesterday with Frontera Grill's Rick Bayless, with accompanying photos taken at his Bucktown home. Bayless cops to not cooking Mexican at home, which makes sense since he's around it five days a week at Frontera and Topobolampo. Bayless also grows a substantial amount of the produce for Frontera - about $25,000 worth - in his backyard, which is in line with his localvore sensibilities. more ›

Here's something to waste your time, and the remaining good areas of your livers, without getting Trivial Pursuit answers wrong. The premise of "365-Beer" is a simple one: participants attempt to drink 365 different beers in 365 days. For those of us with some common sense, there are lower targets available. Every beer logged then enters a larger database, giving participants an idea of the range and scope of breweries that they may have... more ›

We came home from work Friday night with a simple plan: order in from Phil's Pizza, crack open a beer, and veg out watching some DVDs while the dog curled in front of the fireplace. And the plan was unfolding effortlessly. Phil's had the pizza delivered in under an hour, the fireplace was roaring so strong Emmy wasn't begging for pizza, Val Lewton's "Cat People" was queued in the DVD player. more ›

Our Saturday night was spent under a mass of clouds at the Windy City Wine Festival, brushing up on varietals with which we were unfamiliar. One of the exhibitor booths was promoting a limited edition beer, "Frederick Miller Classic Chocolate Lager." The surname should have been a dead giveaway that this beer was brewed in all sorts of wrong. But, we had to taste it anyway; certainly we weren't surprised to find that this shite tasted like Miller High Life with a melted Hershey bar added to the mix. Turned out, that's what it was; another cynical offering from Miller Brewing. It reminded us of how much we love our favorite stout. more ›