Ramen, at its most basic, is a dish that can bridge class and income levels, like a good burger or a hot dog. It shouldn't have to break your budget but, if it does, the ones that do are often worth it. Here are five of my favorite places to order ramen. more ›

Eater Chicago reached out to Bill Kim after hearing reports that someone was crank calling restaurants as the Urban Belly/Belly Shack owner, then getting straight-up "ooophh, nasty- you kiss your mother with that mouth" with the folks at the other end of the phone. more ›

Last night, the Girl and the Goat's Stephanie Izard joined an all-star team of Chicago chefs to host a "Friends of the James Beard Foundation" dinner. The Beard Foundation, American's foremost nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting fine American food, holds dinners around the country to support its operations, and the proceeds of last night's dinner will be used for culinary school scholarships. more ›

Food trucks are not the only culinary trend making its push from New York and LA. This weekend only Bill Kim of Belly Shack and Urban Belly and Jason Hammel of Nightwood and Lula Café (in partnership with Intelligentsia) will be let loose in the Logan Square Kitchen space to create their version of a "pop-up" restaurant (a temporary eating place set up in the site of another business). more ›

Although it happened in February, Hot Chocolate's fourth anniversary dinner still stood as my favorite overall dining experience last year. It was a seven-course marathon that increased in intensity and flavor with every dish, paired with some heavy duty beers and a music soundtrack that ranged from early Black Sabbath to pre-"Black Album" Metallica to the Twilight Singers. The proceeds from the dinner went to Share Our Strength, the DC-based non-profit dedicated to eliminating hunger in America by 2015. Quite simply, I was exhausted at the end of the meal. more ›

Urban Belly's Bill Kim announced Friday (via twitter, where else?) that Belly Shack, his sandwich shop in the old Vella Café space underneath the Western/Armitage Blue Line station, will open tomorrow at noon. You've been warned. more ›

From Chicago Mag's Dish: Urban Belly owner/chef Bill Kim has signed a lease to open Belly Shack, an Asian and Latin-inspired BYOB counter service restaurant at 1912 N. Western. Think Kim's Urban Belly, but focusing on sandwiches and salads without the "Really? That much for dumplings?" price tag. Kim told Dish that he plans on having menu items at Belly Shack top out at $10. more ›

The best beer and wine dinners are collaborative efforts where chef and winemaker/brewmaster get to know each other and their creations intimately. Even so, the number of these dinners we've attended where every pairing worked perfectly can be counted on one hand. more ›

One of the boldest moves made by a local chef in the past year was Bill Kim's move from the white tablecloths of Le Lan to the more comfortable and low-key atmosphere of Urban Belly. Kim's kim chi, pork belly and rice cake stew that he made for Hot Chocolate's fourth anniversary dinner is one of the best dishes i've eaten so far in this short year. more ›

Travel & Leisure magazine announced their list of 50 Best New American Restaurants. Stop us if these four local entries to the list sound familiar; L2O, the Publican, Perennial and Urban Belly. L2O and the Publican also made the "Hot Tables" list at Conde Nast Traveler. more ›

We love avec so much that sometimes we dream about the food; our most recurring dream being the bacon-wrapped chorizo stuffed dates. So we immediately became intrigued with the class, "Favorite Restaurant Recipes Revealed" at The Chopping Block when we noticed the date recipe was included. The class is also a chance to learn how to make Asian squash dumplings from Urban Belly, fire-cracked mussels with harrisa butter from Tizi Melloul and vanilla cupcakes from Sweet Mandy B's. This is a demonstration class, so you won't actually be making them, but you will get to eat generous tastings of the food prepared. We're not sure how exact these recipes will be but if they get us a step closer to recreating those dream dates at home then we'll take it. more ›

Last night Mindy Segal brought together some of the best chefs in the city to celebrate Hot Chocolate's fourth anniversary with a $100 per person dinner to benefit Share Our Strength, a non-profit that works with local food banks, restaurants and community groups to combat hunger at home. Segal is the chair of Share Our Strength's "Taste of the Nation" event, scheduled for August 13 at Ravenswood Billboard Factory (Full disclosure: this Chicagoist staffer is also on the event committee). more ›

Break out your party hats, on Monday, February 23, Hot Chocolate is celebrating its 4th birthday by hosting a ridiculous five course dinner complete with appropriately paired craft beers. Even better, ticket sales will benefit Share Our Strength, a national non-profit working to end childhood hunger. more ›

A few days after Le Lan chef Bill Kim announced he was leaving Le Lan (749 N. Clark) to focus on his new Urban Belly in Bucktown and Soul in Clarendon Hills, his chef de cuisine Chad Starling was named as the new executive chef of the River North eatery. more ›

From Crain's comes word that Le Lan Executive chef Bill Kim is leaving behind the river North French-Vietnamese outpost to open a noodle shop/casual eatery in Logan Square. more ›