We receive more press releases than we care to sort through. But one from Austrian stemware giant Riedel held our attention, mainly because of all the phallic or sexual entendres that popped in our head while reading. 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 ›