White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen will be at the Binny's South Loop superstore (1132 S. Jefferson) from 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. today for a meet-and-greet. Cost is $10 per person and the proceeds from the event will go to support the University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital. We're pretty sure that Guillen will swear at you for free if you offer unsolicited advice on tweaking the White Sox lineup. Saturday morning at Kendall......

It's a good day outside and with the combination of springing forward the clocks, the South Side Irish Parade Sunday, and warmer temps next week there are plenty of weeks to go out. Start the weekend off by leaving work early and heading to the Artisan Cellar at the Merchandise Mart, where they'll be having a tasting of the new-to-the area Graham Beck wines from South Africa. The free tasting runs from 3:30-6 p.m.,......

Taste Food and Wine is fast becoming one of our favorite specialty shops. A large reason for this is their tastings. This evening they'll be hosting a free wine tasting from 6-7:30 p.m. featuring Bordeaux selections from Château Lestrille. Louisa Chu of Movable Feast and Diary of a Foodie fame will be speaking at Kendall College tomorrow about what it's like behind the scenes of food television. Should be promising. Presented by the Chicago......

In just a few short weeks, Top Chef Chicago will hit the airwaves and we're counting down the days to the March 12 season premiere. In addition to placing the city's restaurant scene at the forefront of the series and the backdrop for the competition, there are three chefs with local ties competing for the title of "Top Chef." Valerie Bolon is a personal chef and instructor at Kendall College. She's also worked in......

The Green Grocer Chicago market is now open at Grand and Noble. And don't criticize just yet for grabbing onto the "green" moniker for marketing purposes; the owner of the place is named Cassie Green. Get it? The market's goal is to "work closely with Midwestern farmers and producers to provide our customers the freshest food available while supporting our local economy. By choosing primarily to work with Midwestern sources, we get to know our......

After months of spying and accounts of shooting around town, Bravo finally announced the contestants for the next season of "Top Chef" today (you can read the release here). While the lineup of chefs vying to impress Padma and company are largely from the coasts, three of the contestants have Chicago ties: Stephanie Izzard is best known around town as the former chef/owner of Scylla (replaced by the amazing Takashi) in Bucktown. Best known for......

The Dill Pickle Co-Op's benefit concert goes down tomorrow night at the Av-Aerie, 2000 W. Fulton. Bands scheduled to perform include Reds and Blue, Pit er Pat, and Detholz. Things kick off at 8 p.m. and the cost is a suggested $15 donation. Professor Bruce Kraig of the Culinary Historians of Chicago will be at Kendall College Saturday morning hosting a seminar on "Changes in Food Consumption Patterns After the Civil War." The seminar......

Every last Friday of the month, the bartenders and servers at Kuma's Corner donate their night's tips to a worthy cause. Tonight, it's all going to Windy City Roller Tahira "Tequila Mockingbird" Johnson, who's still recovering from her injury over the summer. If you find yourself gorging on the "Hatebeak" or "Goblin Cock" this evening, please tip better than you usually do. Just in time for Hanukkah, local food writer Leah Zeldes will give a......

We know from experience that local foodies can be a vocal and opinionated lot. Two new groups are now looking at adding their input to the discourse. The Greater Midwest Foodways Alliance, according to their mission statement, is "dedicated to celebrating, exploring, and preserving unique food traditions and their cultural contexts in the American Midwest." They plan on supporting the mission with public events, developing archival resources, and creating print publications. Their inaugural event, focusing......

Poor Didier Durand. The chef/owner of Cyrano's Bistrot was visited by the Health Department Wednesday on suspicion of selling foie gras, only to be shut down with a cockroach infestation. A Health Department spokesperson told Crain's that the infestation was "pretty severe," encompassing both the kitchen and a basement food prep area. Durand said the pest control company he uses thinks the roaches were a result of ongoing condo renovations above the restaurant. Unless he......

Looking to be famous? Think you know how to cook? Have the thick skin needed to put up with constant verbal abuse from an asshole Scotsman? Then polish your resumes, sharpen your knives and head to the Illinois Institute of Art on Wabash Wednesday. From 10 a.m. through 6 p.m. Fox is hosting an open casting call for the next season of Hell's Kitchen (via), hosted by the mercurial Gordon Ramsay. Producers are looking for......

Your theme this week, in honor of Earth Day/Week/Month: "Being Green." This is the song that Kermit the Frog made famous, but Ray Charles did a knockout version of it, and our favorite take on the song has to be Van Morrison's version from 1973's Hard Nose the Highway. It's so good, we insist on this song being played while our casket's being lowered to the ground. Let's dive in, shall we? Moo Moo, I......

If you think you overate this Thanksgiving weekend, you might feel a bit better after learning how much Patrick Bertoletti threw down his gullet. The 21-year-old culinary arts student at Kendall College won the annual turkey-eating contest at Artie’s Deli in New York last Wednesday, the Sun-Times reported. Bertoletti took first place after eating 4.8 pounds of turkey – and beating the second-place contestant by a whole pound. The competition had eight participants, and the......

Chicagoist picks up the Reader every week out of habit, more than anything. It's not that we don't have our gripes with the paper; we do. We also have more important things happening than to indulge in infrequent sophomoric commentary about Michael Miner, Liz Armstrong, and the music section - although Monica Kendrick always gets love from us for being a Motörhead fan. That said, if you consider yourself a gourmand, pick up this week's......

After much speculation, former Chicago alderman Edwin Eisendrath has decided to challenge Governor Blagojevich in the Democratic primary this coming spring. Edwin currently serves as Vice President of Academic Affairs for Kendall College. Prior to that he served as alderman for the 43rd ward from 1987 to 1993 and headed the Chicago regional office for the Department of Housing and Urban Development from 1995 to 1997 under President Clinton. Eisendrath lost a 1990 bid......

We're going to level with you, and in the process potentially scandalize the part of the Chicagoist food team who knows so much about booze in any form that we feel as though we should first check with him before consuming anything of the alcoholic variety: Sometimes? Sometimes Chicagoist will put a cube or two of ice in her red wine. Now, Chicagoist had the good sense not to sully the '02 Salentein she recently......