More Chicago Gourmet updates. Tickets went on sale yesterday for the Grand Cru Wine Tastings, September 27 and 28. Master sommeliers, including local talents Joseph Spellman, Alpana Singh and Serafin Alvarado, will select fifty of the best wines in the world for tasting. The ticket price, however, is steep: a nice, round price of $175 per person (that's on top of the $150 tag to enter Millennium Park for Chicago Gourmet). That's some serious......

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......

Gas prices continue to rise and food prices are right behind, riding the bumper. As a result, not only is the move toward fresh, local ingredients (which require less transport) becoming more important but food banks are finding themselves in short supply. America's Second Harvest, the nation's largest charitable hunger-relief organization, is teaming with Epicurious.com to sponsor an event that will not only raise money for hunger relief, but also give attendees a taste......

While a sizable portion of the greater Chicago area were making a beeline to the Feist/Juana Molina show at Ravinia Friday night, we were at a loft in Humboldt Park taking part in another one of Efrain Cuevas' Clandestino dinners. The five-course menu Cuevas had planned was teeming with a lot of bright flavors, spices and acidity, so we were looking for a wine that could pair well with all the courses. From our kitchen......

It's mid-July which means that many tastings and fixed price dinner events have a Bastille Day theme. Here are a few of note Whole Foods Lakeview (3300 N. Ashland), one of the WFs not shut down with a rodent infestation, is hosting a tasting of seleced wines from local distributor Cream Wine Company from 4-7 p.m. this afternoon. Both Lush Wine and Spirits locations (1257 S. Halsted and 2232 W. Roscoe) are hopping on Bastille......

Hybrid grapes, with regard to winemaking, are often ignored or ridiculed by the wine "experts." Sometimes this is with good reason; a mere mention of the word "chardonel" transports us back to Sundays at the Magic Pan. But these "frankengrapes" have their attributes. One such grape is the cayuga, a hybrid of Seyval Blanc and Schuyler that vintners from the Finger Lakes to the Midwest have embraced for its ability to withstand frost, its high-yield......

We've got a Taste of Chicago preview for you later. In the meantime, here are some things around town to check out in the coming days. The Red Witch Pirate will set sail this evening for a 2-hour cruise and dinner with food catered by Bonsoiree. Cost is $45 and interested parties may RSVP here. The churrasco-meets-slow-food restaurant ZED451 (739 N. Clark St.), which has become one of the hottest destination restaurants in town largely......

Discounted passes for September's Chicago Gourmet event at Millennium Park will end Monday. If you want to save $20 off the $150 ticket price, act fast.......

A couple of localvore items of note to start: If you haven't checked out Fruit Slinger, do so. This blog chronicling the life of a freelance writer working on an orchard in southwest Michigan and his interactions at local farmers markets is engaging without over-the-top snark. It's a wonderful addition to the RSS feed. There was an interesting article at Salon.com on the concept of "food miles" and whether buying local is better for the......

Sam Adams head honcho Jim Koch will be at Binny's South Loop this evening from 5-7 p.m. Koch will be pairing several Sam Adams selections with various summer grill dishes, as well as give a historical overview of how he founded Boston Beer Company using his great-grandfather's recipes. RSVP to (312) 768-4400. Folks around here love a good riesling. Lucky for us that it's Riesling Week and Julia Thiel has comiled a list of......

This is wheat ale weather, people. This evening from 6-9 p.m. at West Lakeview Liquors, Kalamazoo Brewing Company (popularly known as Bell's) will be tasting out the amber, wheat and hop solution brands. The Lincoln Park Young Professionals will do their best to tie status symbols together this evening with their summer wine festival at Howard Orloff Imports (1924 N. Paulina). Cost for the $35 per person event will grant you access to samples......

Graham Elliot Bowles' eponymous restaurant (217 W. Huron) had a soft BYOB opening over the weekend. Mike Nagrant attended. So did we (bypassing a planned trip to Lincoln Square Mayfest) and HOLY SHITE we can't return fast enough. If what we ate was an indication of what Bowles has in store, this will easily become the most sought after reservation since Art Smith opened Table Fifty-Two last year, except without Oprah's army having been......

The press conference yesterday announcing the September Chicago Gourmet festival at Millennium Park went off without a hitch. Mayor Daley brought to the conference the "Chi-CAW-go is a world class city" enthusiasm that earned us (read: him) the right to fight for the 2016 Summer Olympics. Reading the press release last night, however, caused us to break out in cold sweats. If you want to attend the festival, it'll cost you a cool $150......

Last month the Chicagoist food and drink staff gathered at Binny's South Loop for a Riedel stemware seminar led by the current head of the company himself, Georg Riedel. For the better part of two hours, the exuberant Austrian alternately enraptured and berated his attentive audience, preaching the gospel that his Vitis stemware line (vitis being the Latin word for "vine") would make drinking any wine a religious experience. At one point we half-expected......

The listed events were chosen by the editors of Chicagoist and brought to you by the 2009 Toyota Corolla. Free Rock Evil Beaver's still around, you ask? Shocked us, as well when we saw that they were playing a free show at Cobra Lounge tonight. Evie Evil is still on bass with what appears to be a rotating succession of drummers every 9-12 months (all except for original drummer Laura Ann Beaver have bios......

There's a fantastic wine store in the West Loop called Just Grapes with employees who know so much about wine, you'll go as much for the education as you will for a great pour. The wines are arranged by their flavor profile and line the walls of this beautifully designed store. This excellent wine shop has a private room in which we attended their most recent food and wine pairing seminar last night and were......

The listed events were chosen by the editors of Chicagoist and brought to you by the 2009 Toyota Corolla. Frozen Yogurt, Frogurt, Whatever, It's Free Today marks the opening of the new Starfruit store in Wicker Park. Falling right in line with tax day, they're giving away free samples of kefir frozen yogurt while supplies last. 1745 W. Division $10.40 Celebration Pops for Champagne is hosting its annual 1040 Tax Relief Celebration today from......

The listed events were chosen by the editors of Chicagoist and brought to you by the 2009 Toyota Corolla. Fundraiser Here's a "Top Chef" spoiler for you: tonight's episode was taped at the 2007 Celebrity Chef Ball. The annual event at Macy's, whose proceeds go to support Meals on Wheels Chicago, raised over $200,000 last year. Tonight you can catch a preview of the episode at Jake Melnick's Corner Tap, which is hosting the......

The Tribune reports today that Wirtz Beverage Group, which is best known locally as Judge & Dolph, Ltd., is in the final stages of purchasing Glazer's Distributors of Illinois. When the deal is finalized, Wirtz Beverage group will once again become the largest distributor of beer, wine and spirits in the state. Glazer's, which operates locally as Union Beverage/National Wine and Spirits (best known for getting Larry Bell to take his kegs and haul ass......

The listed events were chosen by the editors of Chicagoist and brought to you by the 2009 Toyota Corolla. Wine Tasting Most of you readers know that we get an inordinate amount of our "BotW" selections from Lush Wine & Spirits, so much so that it's easy to forget that they mainly sell wine. Their "School of Lush" wine lesson series is an informative and fine way to understand and educate yourselves about wine.......

The listed events were chosen by the editors of Chicagoist and brought to you by the 2009 Toyota Corolla. Music Tonight's Gutter twins show at Metro tonight is easily our most anticipated concert so far this year. The paring of Mark Lanegan and Greg Dulli was electrifying when they Lanegan toured with The Twilight Singers last year, but the time the two shared on-stage was far too brief. The group's long-awaited first disc, Saturnalia,......

It's a good day outside and with the combination of springing forward the clocks, the South Side Irish Parade Sunday, and warmer temps next week there are plenty of weeks to go out. Start the weekend off by leaving work early and heading to the Artisan Cellar at the Merchandise Mart, where they'll be having a tasting of the new-to-the area Graham Beck wines from South Africa. The free tasting runs from 3:30-6 p.m.,......

The listed events were chosen by the editors of Chicagoist and brought to you by the 2009 Toyota Corolla. Theater Pegasus Players and Live Bait Theater are the co-producers behind Steven Simoncic's "Heat Wave." Based on the book of the same name, this play takes a look at the heat wave of 1995 which took the lives of 739 Chicagoans and asks if the deaths could have been prevented and what went wrong. 1145......

The listed events were chosen by the editors of Chicagoist and brought to you by the 2009 Toyota Corolla. Music Pat McCurdy is one of those people who have been around forever. Seriously. Literally forever. His everyman songs appeal to a wide swathe of the population, which would explain his loooong-running Monday night residency at Beat Kitchen. He's sort of like a cross between Robbie Fulks and Jimmy Buffet, if you can imagine that.......

The following events were chosen by the editors of Chicagoist and brought to you by the 2009 Toyota Corolla. Music Raul Midon has slowly developed a strong and dedicated fan base with constant touring behind his own hybrid form of soul songs steeped in pop sensibility, calling upon influences ranging from Stevie Wonder to Paul Simon to Bill Withers. His albums tend to be too slickly produced for our ears but in concert Midon......

Taste Food and Wine is fast becoming one of our favorite specialty shops. A large reason for this is their tastings. This evening they'll be hosting a free wine tasting from 6-7:30 p.m. featuring Bordeaux selections from Château Lestrille. Louisa Chu of Movable Feast and Diary of a Foodie fame will be speaking at Kendall College tomorrow about what it's like behind the scenes of food television. Should be promising. Presented by the Chicago......

The listed events were chosen by the editors of Chicagoist and brought to you by the 2009 Toyota Corolla. Music Spazz-poppers Hidden Mitten play Double Door tonight. The band specializes in turbo-charged melodies and, from what we can tell, super-short mini-skirts. How can that not rock? If you miss them tonight we also hear they're playing The Mutiny tomorrow, mini-pitchers in hand. 1572 N. Milwaukee, 9 p.m., $8, 21+ Wine We used to do......

The listed events were chosen by the editors of Chicagoist and brought to you by the 2009 Toyota Corolla. Film Have you heard the new place to play hooky is the Portage Theater's classic Wednesday matinée series? Last week it was the Marx Brothers at their most anarchic. This week Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald star in "I Married an Angel." This classic 1942 fantasy features some classic Rogers and Hart songs sung beautifully......

Delilah's held their annual vintage strong ale fest Saturday afternoon. As a beer lover, we could ask for nothing more. We had the opportunity to sample vintage barrel-aged selections from over 20 breweries. Many of the breweries represented brought different vintages of the same ales, which made for some interesting vertical tastings. Sierra Nevada came correct, with selections of their Bigfoot Barley Wine ranging from 1998 to present-day. Unfortunately the event was marred by......

Ah, late February in Chicago. Cubs tickets go on sale today, there's a forecast for a high temperature above 35 degrees next week, and thousands of indie rock kids around Chicago will soon be shedding their parkas for high-priced hoodies bought from Wicker Park boutiques (tip: ours cost us $12 at Target!) for several worthwhile shows around the Chicago area. Lots of tickets go on sale this weekend. So, despite this crappy weather, there is,......