Each month Mercadito offers Tacos for Strength, a tasty promotion that features a special taco created by a guest chef. more ›

We have no idea what the hell is going on in this video, other than it watching it now has us wanting a taco to back that ass up our way. more ›

In today's listings, the final clambake of the summer at Fulton's on the River happens today. more ›

Vegetarian food is not exactly hard to come by in Mexican restaurants. It does not take a whole lot of effort to throw some standard non-meat ingredients on a tortilla or taco shell and label it vegetariano. It takes more talent and a better understanding of the veggie palate, however, to serve up meatless meals with real south of the border flare and authentic Mexican taste. The folks at Los Portales in Rogers Park possess that skill. more ›

The end of April mean’s Chicago’s traditionally festive Cinco de Mayo celebration is just around the corner. What better way to start feeling festive than with easily accessible Mexican street fare garnished with fresh fruit and chili salsas. more ›

Mercadito, the modern Mexican hotspot in River North, has been hosting a series of cooking demonstrations for the past several months. We got a chance to attend last month's sold-out show, run by Chef Patricio Sandoval, and came back slightly deaf, pleasantly full and rarin' to go again. Take a look at some of the dishes and drinks from our experience and learn about the next demo, scheduled for April 25. more ›

Every third Sunday of the month, El Cid #2 in Logan Square is hosting a "pig & swig." The special of the day is pork, roasted in-house, which you can get in a taco or torta. We are suckers for pigmeats of all varieties and events with rhyming names, so you can bet we showed up to the first roast. These Sunday afternoon pig roasts will run at the Kedzie location from April to September. more ›

We have said it before, but some things simply bear repeating. Living on a vegetarian diet does not have to be boring or bland. All you need is an adventurous spirit, a palate to match and either a good dining guide or map of the city. Chicago is a food-lover’s oyster, and for the vegetarians among us it is literally stuffed with pearls. If you are craving good, authentic Mexican food, you can satisfy your hunger and your budget with a trip to Taqueria Mi Guadalupe in Rogers Park. Bland and boring step aside. The food here is excitante y caliente. more ›

During 2011 at Mercadito, charity and great tacos will go hand in hand. The "Tacos for Strength" program will be offering a different chef-designed taco each month as a special, and this month's taco was created by celebrated molecular gastronomist (and chef/owner of WD-50 in New York) Wylie Dufresne. His taco is made with tiny, bite-size soy falafel balls, pickled radishes, diced cucumber and white sesame puree. Interesting and vegetarian-friendly! more ›

Crisp, a Korean-style (twice fried) chicken wing hut, which opened its doors in 2008, began to change that by offering up a Korean twist on a classic American favorite. Then a new kid rolled into town, with flashy signs and a hip, trendy take on Korean classics. The new kid goes by the name Del Seoul, and it’s quickly winning over Chicagoan’s souls. more ›

For the next year, guests at Mercadito will have the opportunity to participate in a very special promotion. Each month, a guest chef will be designing a special taco, to be added to the menu for the whole month, and a portion of the proceeds from its sale will be donated to Share Our Strength, a national nonprofit dedicated to ending childhood hunger. more ›

It bears repeating: you can stumble into a place that serves a good al pastor taco anywhere in this city. It's the benchmark by which any taqueria should be measured. more ›

If you watch television you're sure to run across the archetype of the "cool dad:" the father who stumbles into middle age futilely trying to relate or stay relevant to his kids by adopting their slang and diving head first into their hobbies only to come across as the bumbling buffoon they fear becoming most. Usually you find the "cool dad" in drug awareness commercials, but actor Ty Burrell plays the role perfectly in the role of Phil Dunphy on the ABC comedy "Modern Family." Then there's the other "cool dad," who really was cool back in the day. He smoked, drank, trolled for some strange on the weekends, probably met his wife at some boozy last call at Green Mill one Sunday morning, settled down, had kids and now allows himself a chuckle or three whenever his teenage kids act out, thinking "Yeah, I remember my first beer." more ›

For those of you who, like our own Tankboy, have been frustrated by Big Star's seating policy and early kitchen closings (which we'll discuss in our review of the place later this week), here's a consolation prize. Big Star's takeout window opens today at 4 p.m. Be warned: like everything else Big Star does, the takeout window is cash only. [via] more ›

It was only a couple weeks ago that Big Star was announced as the name of the Paul Kahan taco joint in the old Pontiac Café space. Now there's a firm opening date: November 9. more ›

This list is really warming the cockles of our heart. Heh. Cockles. Anyway: more ›

The Reader's Guide to Late Night Dining is now online, and there's the expected eclectic mix of diners, hot dog stands, taco joints, upscale pub grub, and places where only the fearless dare enter. Even better is that the range of offerings encompasses a wide stretch of the city and connecting suburbs (big love for Gene & Jude's Red Hots in River Grove!). If you're at the stage in life where "I'll sleep when... more ›

Bridgeport, like many neighborhoods around the city, has a glut of Mexican restaurants with varying quality. So when we noticed on a cab ride home one night that Carbón (300 W. 26th St., 312-225-3200, open 11 a.m. – 10 p.m., 7 days a week), a “live fire” Mexican grill, had recently opened in a vacant-for-years storefront mere steps away from neighborhood mainstay Ricobene’s, we were skeptical. more ›

Chicago is a city full of iconic imagery. From its skyline and architecture, to its beaches and boulevards, to its trains and neighborhoods, take one look at any of those and you know that you're looking at home. The Maxwell Street Market once deserved to be listed among all those other landmarks. These days, Maxwell Street itself is unrecognizable. All traces of its open market glory were buried long ago by urban planning and the... more ›