Your Friday Food Buffet
By Laura Oppenheimer in Food on Mar 9, 2007 7:00PM
Today is National Get Over It Day. Chicagoist is going to get over Del Toro closing, a crush on Molto Mario, our dream of moving to France to drink wine all day, the death of wine maker Ernest Gallo and ... we don't have anything to get over regarding the new Grand Mart grocery. We do think it is nice, however, that Guaranty Bank isn't lonely anymore.
Wicker Park tapas hotspot Del Toro is closing on March 18. Time Out Chicago got the word from Chef Andrew Zimmerman. “Doing a small Spanish tapas restaurant can be difficult because people come in and get a couple of things for a great price but not necessarily a whole meal,” Zimmerman told TOC. “But at the same time there are a bunch of other factors that conspired against us to make the place workable. But I truly believe we gave Wicker Park a really good small plates Spanish restaurant for the time we were here. It just wasn’t the right place at right time.”
The Food Network is invading Chicago. Molto Mario and Alton Brown will both be in town this weekend. Batali will be signing books at Fox and Obel, while Brown will be chatting it up at the Crate and Barrel on Michigan Avenue. A clever commenter at Drive-Thru noted that other Food Network stars are also in town for the Housewares Show and Common Threads benefit.
Volo brings out the good stuff. We did a study abroad stint in Paris, so we know just how serious the French are about their wine. Check out some of the fine offerings from Volo this Tuesday at their annual French Wine Dinner. At $65 a person, it isn't cheap, but for five courses with wine, it is a pretty sweet deal. More info here.
Wine maker Ernest Gallo died this week at age 97. We'll drink some Boone's Farm tonight in his honor. RIP.
Guaranty Bank gets a new neighbor. When the Cub Foods at 5740 W. Touhy Ave. closed, the Guaranty Bank located inside the store stayed open, all by itself. Luckily it will be lonely no more; Grand Mart grocery opened this morning at 8 a.m. Bank manager Sonia Vasquez told the Sun-Times. "I'm really excited. I can't wait. It's not going to be as lonely as it was."
Image via NNDB.