• Chez Pim's Menu For Hope fundraiser is still going strong (it lasts through Dec 21). So far, more than $50,000 has been raised to benefit the UN World Food Programme's school lunch program in Lesotho, Africa. Kalyn's Kitchen is the regional host for the Midwest, and there are lots of great regional prizes. Our friends over at Drive-Thru put together a yummy looking package, but what we'd really like is to win Movable Feast's offering of getting to hang out with Moto's Homaru Cantu and Ben Roche.
• We're sad to see Mas close it's doors. Chef/owner John Manion told Dish, “It’s a totally different neighborhood than what we opened to nine years ago. I’m ready to do something else. It’s my baby and I don’t have much of a security blanket but I’m looking forward to doing something new. I want to cook food again—not that I don’t at Mas—but I have different ideas [now].”
• Our love for TasteSpotting knows no bounds. A few days ago, we came across this photo, and our mouths started watering. What could be better on a cold winter night than homemade gnocchi with toasted hazelnut, brown butter and sage? Even better? Our Kitchen Sink is local. If you are reading, Chicagoist loves dinner invitations.

We really, really, wish we'd come up with the phrase "amuse-douche." Nicely done, Menupages. Chef Frank Brunacci is going to be at the helm of the restaurant in the yet-to-be-completed Trump tower. Michael Nagrant interviewed him and says he's "more of a haute comfort food purveyor than a food scientist," even though he likes to sling "shark bacon and olive oil ice cream." Check out the podcast here. File this under things we are pumped... more ›