Vapiano Opens, Bin 36 Hosts Harvest Event, New Menus Debut at Big Jones and Graham Elliot

By Amy Cavanaugh in Food on Oct 1, 2011 8:00PM

Today in food news, Vapiano opens, Big Jones and Graham Elliot debut new menu formats, and Bin 36 hosts its ninth annual harvest event.

• If your afternoon is wide open tomorrow, then head to Bin 36 for their ninth annual harvest event. Running 1 to 4 p.m., the ticketed event (tickets cost $36) includes free wine and bites. You’ll also learn to distinguish between wines, to mix and blend and create your own blend of wine. Find out more and snag tickets here.

• Vapiano, a fast casual European eatery, opened its first Chicago outpost yesterday in Lincoln Park. While we haven’t been yet, this writer has been to some of the D.C. outposts and likes the quick pizzas, pastas, and wine, most of which run from $7 to $10.

• If you head into Big Jones or Graham Elliot, something will look a little different—the menu. Both restaurants debuted newly reorganized menus last week. At Andersonville Low Country eatery Big Jones, the menu is now broken into butcher’s block, fish, vegetables, meat, sides, and desserts, as opposed to appetizers and entrees. At Graham Elliot, the menu now combines the a la carte menus and tasting menus into one, which aims to show "the cohesive nature of our menu as a tasting experience."