Dine at The Florentine anytime on Tuesday, June 21st, and 15% of your bill will be donated to Share Our Strength. Share Our Strength helps fight childhood hunger, sponsors events and dinners throughout the year to raise money. On the 21st, diners can go for breakfast, lunch or dinner - doesn’t matter, and there is no minimum order. If you’ve been waiting to check out The Florentine, now’s the time. 151 W. Adams more ›

One of the more surprising developments that came from the brewing of Sai-Shan-Tea was the decision of Goose Island to showcase it at the annual Great American Beer Festival in Denver. The festival has grown by leaps and bounds over the past five years — this year's version sold out five weeks in advance — with an estimated 49,000 attendees. more ›

Like Dark Lord Day (more on that tomorrow), WhiskyFest can command its high ticket prices because it sells the sizzle. Like Dark Lord Day, the annual celebration of all things whiskey and more produced by Malt Advocate magazine is a sold out event that brings passionate people to the Hyatt Regency Chicago to sample from hundreds of whiskies. more ›

The annual FamilyFarmed Expo has outgrown the confines of its old host, the Chicago Cultural Center, and will go down march 11-13 at the brand spanking new UIC Forum (725 W. Roosevelt Rd.). more ›

Here's something you can do without having to leave your desk. Kendall College Dean Chris Koetke will host a chat on artisan Cheese with John Brody of Sargento Foods and Chef Ulrich Koberstein, Executive Chef of the American Club in Koehler, WI and a chef ambassador of the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board. more ›

• Today: Chicago Wine School is hosting a course on Châteauneuf-du-Pape. This will include tasting a really good Pape and learning of some of the grape varietals that go into this classic French blend. (The Wine Consortium, 123 E. 23rd St., 6:30-8 p.m., $45.)
• Tomorrow: The highlight (such as it is) of Taste of Lincoln Avenue this weekend will be the Jimmy John's-sponsored sandwich making and eating competition. Recent Chicagoist podcast guest Patrick "Deep Dish" Bertoletti, Tim "Gravy" Brown and others try to eat as many sandwiches as Jimmy John's can make. Who can forget Marcus and Stolpman's visit to this last year? Laura didn't even have a zoom lens last year and said that was too much detail. (2:30 p.m., Taste of Lincoln Avenue Montana Stage, Lincoln Avenue at Altgeld)
• Sunday: If Deep Dish and Gravy didn't spoil your appetite, head back to Taste of Lincoln, where FIG Catering will be setting up shop for the day

Let's focus on some post-Valentine's, pre-Restaurant Week events this week: more ›

• Taste of Randolph Street begins this evening and runs through Sunday. This is a great way to sample some of the wares of the restaurants that make the Randolph Street District one of the best in the city without having to dress up. Seeing the one-two punch of Drive-By truckers and Bobby Bare, Jr. Saturday isn't bad, either.
• Pizza Fest Chicago 2008 takes place tomorrow and Sunday at the intersection of Fullerton and Racine in Lincoln Park from noon-10 p.m. The U.S. Pizza Team will be on hand. There will also be pizza eating contests, dough-tossing contests and other entertainment
• This will be our final Tour de Fat reminder for the week. Tomorrow, head out to Palmer Square Park at Kedzie and Palmer to partake of a lot of New Belgium Brewing selections, a bike parade, Mucca Pazza, and watch Joe M500 trade in his Jeep for a bicycle and pledge to live car-free for 12 months.

Last month the Chicagoist food and drink staff gathered at Binny's South Loop for a Riedel stemware seminar led by the current head of the company himself, Georg Riedel. For the better part of two hours, the exuberant Austrian alternately enraptured and berated his attentive audience, preaching the gospel that his Vitis stemware line (vitis being the Latin word for "vine") would make drinking any wine a religious experience. At one point we half-expected Riedel to proclaim, "If Jesus had this stemware at za vedding vere he turned vater into vine, it vould make za vine better!" more ›

Someone apparently reads the site: former Chicagoist staffer Lisa Shames attended Sunday's beer and charcuterie seminar at Custom House and e-mailed us to say that there were at least four people in attendance beside her who found out about the seminar via Chicagoist. We ran into at least that many people last night who said the same. more ›