After a profile of Chef Thomas Keller enraged local eaters everywhere, we decided to ask some of Chicago's best chefs to weigh in on the debate. more ›

Grant Achatz also lost his year-long recognition as having the best restaurant in North America, as his mentor Thomas Keller's Per Se moved ahead of Alinea on the list to sixth. more ›

If you're a Grant Achatz groupie, or a fan of chef memoirs, mosey on over to your favorite book-ordering location and order "Life, on the Line: A Chef's Story of Greatness, Facing Death, and Redefining the Way we Eat." Only short excerpts are available, but go read them anyway - stories of the moment Ruth Reichl told Achatz that Alinea was #1, of the day he realized he had cancer and his tryout for Thomas Keller at the French Laundry. It's unlikely that this will be as lurid as Kitchen Confidential, but we think it might be one of the most touching and informative culinary stories ever told. more ›

Often the food we eat as adults is informed by what we ate at home growing up. Coming from a family with deep Southern roots, this is a great time to be a Chicagoan who loves to dine out. Southern cooking and cocktails are everywhere. After many false heralds, this is the new bacon meme, really. more ›

Since Goose Island renewed the lease on their Clybourn brewpub at the last minute in 2008, they've been actively moving forward to improve both the quality of both its beers and its food. John Manion's short stint at the brewpub laid the foundation to the new menu advancements of current chef Andrew Horza. Hroza is a certified cicerone and well-qualified to know the intricacies between pairing beer with food. more ›

Those of us who've done the "make a reservation at Schwa" dance already know this scenario: you dial the number and are greeted with a stock message saying they're booking through a certain month and to leave a request after the beep, then you wait and wonder if they checked the message (or if you dialed wrong), then they — most likely Michael Carlson himself — calls to confirm your reservation. "We'll see you cats Thursday," is a favorite. The reservations are coveted even more, since Schwa only seats 26, is closed Sunday and Monday and that long-awaited reservation confirmation can sometimes take weeks. more ›

What have the intrepid local food writers and bloggers of Our Town and elsewhere been up to this week? more ›

Normally, the last thing Chicagoist wants to do on a hot Saturday afternoon is put on “business-casual attire” (that basically goes for any Saturday afternoon, really). But when it’s for a champagne reception at Charlie Trotter’s, it’s not a problem. And when said reception includes the opportunity to see some of the most influential chefs from around the world, well, we’re there. In case you haven’t heard — with all the media hype going on,... more ›

Alinea Chef/Owner Grant Achatz more ›

Author Michael Ruhlman more ›

Sharp eyes around these parts may have noticed a lack of restaurant reviews lately. That's because it's been cold, y'all. This recent spate of bad weather has reacquainted us with the simplicity of making pancakes. It's even easier when you're working from a pre-made mix. During our weekly visit to Lush Wine & Spirits this weekend, we picked up a twenty-ounce bag of pancake mix from the Sour Mash Bourbon Bread Company, a company co-founded... more ›

Color us not too shocked. Monday night's James Beard Awards were handed out in New York City, and Chicago's Shawn McClain took home the Best Chef: Midwest prize, beating out Naha's Carrie Nahabedian for the coveted award. McClain won for his work at Spring. Other Chicagoans weren't so lucky. Poor Grant: Danny Meyer over at NYC's The Modern beat him out for Best New Restaurant and Thomas Keller's famed French Laundry whupped both Jean Joho's... more ›

As we've seen in the past, Chicagoist has an affinity for certain types of produce. You know about our love/hate relationship with the glory of homegrown heirloom tomatoes and our unbridled lust and fervor for fresh picked apples, but we have a secret zeal that we’re only now willing, and dare we say, strong enough to reveal: sunchokes rock. If you’ve never heard of a sunchoke, also known as a Jerusalem artichoke, don’t be alarmed.... more ›

Looks like Charlie Trotter is staying put here in Chicago. Two years ago, when it was announced that the food court at the Time Warner Center in New York City would feature the crème de la crème of the culinary world, Trotter's simply named "Charlie Trotter's Seafood Restaurant" was to be the final jewel in a crown of restaurants that includes Thomas Keller's Per Se and Masa Takayama's MASA. Alas, the dream is over. Citing... more ›