The featured chef for tomorrow's cooking demonstration at Green City Market is Susan Goss of West Town Tavern. West Town Tavern is long a fave of the Chicagoist food and drink staff; Goss is one of the few to get us to eat fried chicken in the summer. The demonstration starts at 10:30 a.m. Hard to believe that when we mention pinot noir to casual wine drinkers, they still start quoting from "Sideways" three......

Within the last year or so, Brussels sprouts seem to be popping up as a side dish on every restaurant menu we lay eyes on. As we happen to love this oft-reviled vegetable, we consider this true progress, but we know a lot of people are skeptical. If mistreated, the Brussels sprout is a uniquely disgusting vegetable, but in the right hands, it can be so scrumptious that you forget you’re eating something healthy. Below......

Chicago has more cozy neighborhood joints than any other city we’ve ever lived in. Even better, some of those places have absolutely amazing food. Every hardcore foodie we know has been raving to us for months and months about Drew and Susan Goss' West Town Tavern, but we only got around to going last week. And then we liked it so much, we went again just six days later. Golden wood, exposed brick, soft lighting......

The listed events were chosen by the editors of Chicagoist and brought to you by the 2009 Toyota Corolla. Music During the day, she's the Chicago correspondent for the Nikkei stock exchange's newpaper. After hours, Yoko Noge is one of the more adventurous musicians in the city, with an innate grasp of the blues that many folks born and raised in this city would kill to have. Singing both in English and Japanese, Noge......

Ah, the smoking ban. Home to lots of hearty discussions. Since January, proprietors and patrons have been either meekly complying with or blatantly ignoring the ban, while some just snicker at the smokers miserably standing outside in the cold. Meanwhile, West Town Tavern owner Susan Gross collected now-obsolete ashtrays from the community’s bars and restaurants and asked Chicago artists to turn them into signature works of art. Beginning tonight the new exhibition Ashtrays to Art......

Before we go to the listings, we want to bid farewell to the Tribune's Kevin Pang, who's heading over to the Tempo section. But he leaves the food beat with a profile of Peter Engler, the city's foremost expert on mother-in-law sandwiches, street food and other south side cheap eats. Shaw's Crab House concludes this year's edition of their "Royster with the Oyster" festival with their annual tent party at their Hubbard Street location tonight.......

In case you hadn’t noticed, Chicagoist was a little cranky yesterday morning. After our second full day of the Green City Market Localvore Challenge, with our ‘allowed’ food pretty much gone, we were feeling a bit deprived. Once again, the feeling of only wanting what we can’t have was rearing its ugly head. Plus, we couldn’t shake the fact that if we knew how to really cook (sorry mom!) our localvore lives would be a......

This week, just for "guest", Chicagoist decided to tie this installment of the "Buffet" into Lollapalooza. We also have an update on Bell's, some other newsworthy items, and the usual complement of events. - A forum thread started at Beer Advocate earlier this week asked the million-dollar question: When is Bell's coming back to Illinois? Standing out among the speculation was a reply from Larry Bell himself. Bell told the forum that he's been talking......

Your theme this week, in honor of Earth Day/Week/Month: "Being Green." This is the song that Kermit the Frog made famous, but Ray Charles did a knockout version of it, and our favorite take on the song has to be Van Morrison's version from 1973's Hard Nose the Highway. It's so good, we insist on this song being played while our casket's being lowered to the ground. Let's dive in, shall we? Moo Moo, I......

Famed Chicago chefs Gale Gand, Rick Tramonto and Rick Bayless are among those cooking sample dishes for the 13th annual Bag Hunger Auction. Held on Nov. 15 at the Hyatt Regency Chicago, the silent auction benefits the Greater Chicago Food Depository. Gand and Tramonto co-chair the event, which features more than 25 chefs from notable Chicago restaurants including Tru, Frontera Grill, Topolobampo, West Town Tavern, TIMO, 160 Blue, Ina's and Heaven on Seven. Food and......

If there’s anything Chicagoist loves, it’s giving the nod to girls with talent. And, we also love good causes. So imagine our delight with an event that does both. Enter: the 10th Annual Girl Food Dinner. Held last Sunday at West Town Tavern (1329 W. Chicago), the Girl Food Dinner raised funds for the Greater Chicago Food Depository. The full price of the $125 ticket went to the cause, and we’re happy to report, the......

Months back a frequent commenter to the site made the claim that “eighty percent of the wine drinkers in America would be fine with a good box wine” in response to an article about a recommended pinot gris. While that number may be dubious and ignoring the possible oxymoronic phrase “good box wine”, the reader sowed a seed that’s now being reaped as this article. We’ve all been somewhere like a party, gallery reception,......