Earlier in the week, we brought you our favorite signs of the National Restaurant Association show. Taken out of context, they provide endless comedy gold, but they don't represent the true artistic potential of the NRA. That honor falls to the fake food. Now, we should be clear: we're not talking about "fake food" in the enviro-local-nutritional sense. While there was plenty of fried/preserved/artificial junk food being hocked at NRA, when we say "fake," we mean plastic. It makes sense that a restaurant show would need to display food, and most of it was real and ready to be sampled. But a fair amount of food at the NRA was sculpted, and some was better than others. In fact, we almost broke our teeth on a couple pieces that weren't glued down. Would you have known better? Check out the gallery. more ›

Trade shows always seem strange to an outsider - and the National Restaurant Association show, held in Chicago over the past weekend, was no exception. Most of these signs made some sense in context (though, the "vibrate your fat away" signs might not have) but for a member of the public, it looked like someone had gone mildly crazy. Our full impressions of the NRA show, including dining trends for the next year and a discussion of the new field of electronic menus and ordering systems, will be coming soon. But for now, enjoy the silly signs. more ›

Another trade show is out of McCormick Place but at least this one has bigger reasons than cost to blame. Supercomm, a major telecommunications trade show, has canceled its 2010 show, originally scheduled for October at McCormick Place. The reason? Lack of interest. Supercomm has been bleeding vendors to other, more focused trade shows over the past few years. more ›

This past weekend, Chicagoist visited the trade show of the National Restaurant Association and its sister convention, the International Wine, Beer and Spirits Event. Despite the downturn in the economy, the convention was still hopping, filled with new products, new packaging, extravagant pavilions and thousands of companies hoping to sell the “next big thing” in food service. You’ll be seeing products and companies that we met up with at NRA featured over the next several months but for now, here are a few notes from a first-time attendee. more ›

The annual National Restaurant Association trade show, beginning tomorrow at McCormick Place, serves two primary purposes. It's a showcase for new products tailored for the restaurant and food service industries. From point-of-sale systems and cookware to beverage dispensers and entertainment systems, NRA Show 2009 is one of the best places to find customers for the latest hot thing. more ›

Even with less people dining out these days, the National Restaurant Association is projecting a 4.4 percent increase in sales for the restaurant industry this year, to an estimated $558 billion. more ›