A couple weeks back a post ran about Cochon 555, the snout-to-tail pork competition Sunday at the Drake Hotel featuring Graham Elliot Bowles, Stephen Dunne, Chris Pandel, Patrick Sheerin and Sam Burman. Each of them is tasked with breaking down and preparing a heritage breed pig for eating. Since then your humble food and drink editor was invited to be one of the judges for the event. I have no earthly clue what I bring to the table that chefs Koren Grieveson, Rick Gresch, Seth Siegel-Gardner and Doug Sohn don't, but it should be a fascinating time. more ›

The merger of Anheuser-Busch and InBev last year made Boston Beer Company the largest American-owned brewery (if you already knew that, give yourself a Mighty Marvel No-Prize). Not the biggest fan of Sam Adams brews here, for a variety of reasons unrelated to this post. Now that this review has been qualified, let's get on to this week's selection. more ›

As Karl and I discussed in yesterday's podcast, if you're going out to dine at one of the participating Chicago Restaurant Week establishments and want a cocktail or two, expect your tab to increase really quick. more ›

With more out-of-town, internationally acclaimed chefs now able to find Chicago on a map, we could be reaching a point where "Rock Star Chef City" hits critical mass. And that's without Gordon Ramsay's recent threats to test the local waters. In short, when a chef earns the name recognition and acclaim affording him to branch out to different cities, he starts to balance that fine line between chef and restaurateur that draws the watchful eyes of the critics. more ›