Restaurant News: Roots Handmade Pizza Opens, Nomi Kitchen Almost Ready

By Anthony Todd in Food on May 31, 2011 8:20PM

- Roots Handmade Pizza, which will be serving "Quad Cities" style hand-tossed pizza, opens tonight. Owned by Greg Mohr and Scott Weiner (of The Fifty/50), the West Town pizza joint will also feature more than 70 Midwestern beers and a house brand of root beer. Before you ask, "Quad Cities" pizza is characterized by a thin, spicy sauce and a malt crust, mad with brewers malt.

- Eater Chicago got an early look inside the newly-revamped Nomi Kitchen, set to open on the 3rd. Reservations have been available for a while, and the space is gorgeous - an open kitchen, a Molteni oven and a raw bar, making it a possible candidate for our Throwdown. We're guessing it'll be packed, but if you stop in on the first couple of days, you might be able to get a table.

- Grant Kessler will be guest-bartending at Prairie Fire tonight! A Chicago food photographer, local food nerd and all around good guy, Kessler will be mixing up a North Shore Gin cocktail with rhubarb, and the proceeds will go to benefit the Academy for Global Citizenship. Special appetizers will be served, and Kessler will be behind the bar from 6-8 PM.