The annual Windy City Wine Festival, presented by Binny's Beverage Depot, takes place tonight and tomorrow at Daley Bicentennial Plaza downtown. We've never been overly impressed by the festival, but taking a look at the cooking and wine exhibitions scheduled we might be swayed to drop by. more ›

More Chicago Gourmet updates. Tickets went on sale yesterday for the Grand Cru Wine Tastings, September 27 and 28. Master sommeliers, including local talents Joseph Spellman, Alpana Singh and Serafin Alvarado, will select fifty of the best wines in the world for tasting. more ›

'Tis the season for free champagne tastings. Get started tonight at the Artisan Cellar (located on the first floor of the Merchandise Mart) with a sample of some rare bubblies from 4-6 p.m. Learn all about the history of smothered foods from author Wilbert Jones, the author of Smothered Southern Foods. Jones' lecture, "Smothered - Southern Style" is being held Saturday at the Chicago History Museum, sponsored by the Culinary Historians of Chicago. The lecture... more ›

If you happened to be dining at any one of a number of Chicago’s top restaurants last Monday evening and peeked your head into the kitchen, odds are you wouldn’t have found the executive chefs there. But that doesn’t mean they weren’t working. Instead, over 30 of the city’s best chefs and 20 United States Bartenders’ Guild members were donating their time and skills to Share Our Strength’s “Taste of the Nation Chicago,” just... more ›