We love to see chefs helping each other out. Last night, we received word that Brandon Baltzley, formerly of Mado, is hosting another pop-up dinner at Yuca Cafe in Bucktown tonight at 7. After the awesomeness that was his last pop up dinner, we were very excited. It got even better - Baltzley later informed us that he is just acting as backup for his friends, Jose Cervantes (former general manager of Rosebud) and Emmanuel Cadengo (former sous at Mado). He's bragged up Cadengo to us before, and it's great to see that sort of support. Whomever actually cooks your plate, the dinner will be six courses of Mexican food. Dishes like fish tacos, pozole, green mole with chicken and plantain, porkbelly with huitlacoche and white mole and bistec a la mexicana will fill out the $50 menu. The dinner will allow guests to BYOB, but wine pairings from Life's a Cabernet will be available for $22 dollars. more ›

The Butcher & Larder, the whole-animal butcher shop created by the team behind the dear, departed Mado is just about ready to go. We got a sneak peek inside of January's most-anticipated opening yesterday and talked with Rob Levitt, the driving force behind the new temple of meat. We've been a big fan of Levitt's work for years, so it was exiting to meet him and talk about the new space - and trust us, it's going to be something special. more ›

Earlier, we presented an interview with Brandon Baltzley, the former chef of Mado. We contacted David Richards, the owner, and asked about the situation - specifically about Baltzley's allegations about Richards' behavior and financial situation. Because this interview was not recorded, the interview is not presented as a transcript. However, all of the quotes are direct. more ›

Last week, Chicago magazine spoke to both Brandon Baltzley, the former chef of Mado who left the restaurant last week and David Richards, the owner of the restaurant, about the circumstances surrounding all of the recent drama. We wanted more detail, and contacted both Baltzley and Richards for more details on the story. Below is an edited transcript of our recorded conversation with Chef Baltzley. Below is an edited transcript of our recorded conversation with Chef Baltzley. We'll present Richards's side of the story tomorrow. more ›

Anthony’s update on the melodrama that is Mado caught our attention earlier this week. Not just because we love the restaurant and have been shocked to see things fall apart so fast. Embarrassingly, we have to admit some selfish concern on this one: bunches of us are sitting on Groupons for the restaurant that now threaten to become worthless. So, in the interest of...well...self-interest, we investigated. more ›

Remember when we detailed the recent saga of our former love, Mado? We thought it couldn't get any more complicated, and we were excited to settle back and try the new menu. According to Eater Chicago, it was not meant to be. It looks like the saga may end with Mado finally closing for good. Amazing - from a New York Times-lauded, popular restaurant to total destruction in less than 3 months. more ›

The Chicago food world was confused, then depressed, then excited, then confused again by the Mado saga of the past two months. Rumors swirled, the chefs, Rob and Allie Levitt, announced their sudden departure (taking their recipes with them), then the pair announced they were opening an amazing-sounding butcher shop, and then the restaurant rapidly reopened with a new chef and a new menu. Confused yet? It's been a roller-coaster ride of emotions, especially since we absolutely loved the old Mado. more ›

Apparently, the transition didn't take long. After this week's shocking revelation that Allie and Rob Levitt were leaving Mado to open an amazing-sounding butcher shop, many of us were really unhappy that one of our favorite spots would be left rudderless. The owner of Mado, David Richards, apparently doesn't believe in letting a good thing go - Time Out reports that Mado will reopen with a new menu, some new decor and (presumably) a new chef. No menu has been released yet, but we'll keep you posted. more ›

More details have been trickling out about the store, to be called "The Butcher & Larder" and located in Noble Square. As of Sunday, the pair who made Mado a nationally-recognized destination for meat cookery had left, and the new shop is scheduled to be open by Thanksgiving. more ›

I've been complaining a lot lately. Maybe it's the variable barometric pressure, or perhaps it's just that a lot of things in the food world have been annoying me. Despite price gouging and greenwashing, it's important to remember that there are many great things in the world of food, and sometimes, rather than ranting, a foodie rave is more appropriate. more ›

On Monday, October 11, Terzo Piano will be hosting a delectable-sounding "Farm to Fork Fest." Several of our favorite chefs will be cooking, including Allison and Rob Leavitt of Mado and Jason Hammel and Amalea Tshilds of Lula Café. Josh Adams of June (in Peoria) will also be joining the team. Any chance to have locally-sourced food cooked in front of you by this team is worth the $125 price tag - and if that wasn't enough, all the proceeds are going to the Greater Chicago Food Depository. more ›

The Chicagoist food and drink team finds butchering pretty damn fascinating and it's a long range goal here to eventually match knives with Rob Levitt of mado. The self-taught butcher's frequent classes at his Wicker Park restaurant are highly anticipated and frequently are packed. more ›

Chicagoist is starting a new series to get better acquainted with our local wine experts. We'll be chatting with sommeliers, wine directors, consultants, suppliers, vitners, bloggers...a lot of people who drink a lot of wine for a living. more ›

Much has been written here and elsewhere about how mado chef Rob Levitt uses every inch of the pigs, lambs and other meat he orders from his vendors.Levitt has said on many occasions that he considers it a near-sacred pact to use all the meat, as well as an economically sensible decision. His butchering skills are talked about almost as much as his cooking. 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 ›

One of the biggest things happening in the world of brewing these days is collaborative brewing. Bell's and De Proef just released their team-up. Three Floyds has worked with both Mikkeller and Dogfish Head. Tomorrow night Life & Limb, the collaborative beer effort between Dogfish Head and Sierra Nevada, will be given a proper launch at Sheffield's. Chefs are even making beer with craft breweries. Chris Pandel of the Bristol brewed a sahti with Goose Island, and need we remind you about Paul Kahan's trip to New Holland? more ›

It's December, which means that the focus is on winter ales for "BotW." This week's selection was suggested by Local Beet editor Michael Morowitz at mado's mutton dinner last month. mado's a BYOB establishment, which allowed Morowitz and I to trade samples of our beers. Specifically, a pour of my Malheur Dark Ale in exchange for his Jolly Pumpkin Noel de Calabaza. This is a sweet spiced ale that contains all the flavors associated with Christmas: sugar plums, figs, raisins and hot buttered rum. It paired as well with all those mutton dishes than the Malheur and at 9 percent ABV, you drink a bottle of this and you'll be all lit up like a Christmas tree. more ›

Craft breweries may receive (deserved) recognition for the inventiveness they're using to raise the profile of beer in the marketplace. It's wise to remember that today's brewers are merely dusting off techniques that date back generations, to those first groups of friars who discovered that fermenting malt made for a nice loophole to their fasting. The brewing history of the De Landtsheer family starts in the 1600s, but Emmanuel "Manu" De Landtsheer's Malheur (French for "misfortune") listed his first beer for public consumption only 12 years ago. The Malheur brews we'd shank a man with a sharpened toothbrush handle for are the ones brewed in the "methode champenoise" style. more ›

"Have you ever been to one of our family dinners?" Rob Levitt of mado asked us Monday night at the LTHForum GNR awards dinner. Allowing that we hadn't, Levitt's eyes lit up. "They're fun and, with this one, you're gonna be in for a real treat." more ›

You can always count on mado to go where few other restaurants will go in their quest to adhere to serving all things head-to-tail. Lately Rob Levitt's been on a mutton kick that will continue for the foreseeable future. Mutton — older, mature lamb &3151 is noted for its richness in flavor. Because it's a tough meat, however, mutton is best cooked long and slow. more ›

Just received word from the Bluebird's Jason Baldacci that the beer and wine dinner they were collaborating on with with mado and Webster's Wine Bar has been postponed. Baldacci e-mailed, "It's been a new challenge for all of us to put together an event between three different bars/restaurants, and we want to make sure that we're as prepared as possible, and that the dinner is going to be as good as we can all collectively make it." We'll let readers know when a new date is set. more ›

Looks like the Publican/New Holland beer dinner isn't the only must-eat dinner in town Sunday. Rob and Allie Levitt of mado are putting together a five-course dinner of their own featuring wood-roasted pig’s head with spicy greens and marinated chickpeas, spit-roasted leg of mutton and smoked trout with apricots, chilies and polenta abbrustolita. The dinner starts Sunday at 6 p.m. more ›

Sometimes it pays to subscribe to a restaurant's Twitter feed. Case in point: the hyper-seasonal and snout-to-tail experts at mado. Co-owner Rob Levitt occasionally posts updates to his feed letting fans know, among other things, what he and wife Allie are making in the kitchen and the not-uncommon complaint from a new customer regarding their commitment to using every bit of what they buy. Today Rob Levitt posted what the restaurant's "first piece of hate mail" to the restaurant's website It's a scan of highlighted capsule review of mado with the following written in green ink next to it: more ›

Mado, Rob and Allison Levitt's hyper-local Wicker Park restaurant with the constantly updated chalkboard menu, gets more love from the East Coast. Mado made Bon Appetit's upcoming list of the 10 Best New Restaurants in America (see the full list here). more ›

George Rasmussen of Swan Creek Farms provides quality artisan meats to restaurants throughout the city. More recently, Rasmussen has been a beneficiary of spent brewers grain from Goose Island's Clybourn brewpub. One of the early hits of John Manion's still-evolving menu overhaul there is the sliders made from Swan Creek's "beer-fed" pork. While making local deliveries a week ago Rasmussen lost his truck, trailer, generator and a lot of food intended to customers to a fire. more ›

This has been making the rounds at other blogs, but we still wanted to share it with you. Mike Gebert at Sky Full of Bacon followed around localvore hero Rob Gardner as Gardner acquired a pig's head from the Oak Park Farmer's Market, then took it to Mado, where chef/co-owner Rob Levitt promptly made testa (aka "head cheese") out of it. This video is not for vegans or the queasy, nor should it be. more ›

A couple of weeks ago we had the chance to stop by Mado, a new Wicker Park dining spot. Just off the main Milwaukee Street business district, Mado is tucked away in a cute little spot with exposed brick, chalkboards on the walls and pretty, understated décor. We’d heard a lot of good things, and went in with high expectations. more ›