Restaurant News: Halal Guys First Location Announced, Hot Doug Delivers Pizza

By Lisa White in Food on Mar 10, 2015 4:30PM

(Photo: The Halal Guys' Facebook)

- Fans of the famous New York City Halal Guys now have a set date and place for when they can start enjoying their beloved street meat in Chicago. In a press release Monday it was announced the first of five Halal Guys locations in Chicago is set to start serving in June at 49 W. Division St. The location is right near the intersection of Clark and Division, a prime spot near a strip full of busy bars and right off a Red Line station. The shop will stay open late on weekends so if your poor decisions lead you to the Hangge-Uppe, you'll have a new option to sop up your regrets with after.

- Doug Sohn has a lot of free time on his hands these days, so we weren't surprised when we found out he's taken a new job...delivering pizza. OK, truth is it is only for one night and for a good cause but we totally could see Doug's smiling face and happy demeanor working wonderfully as a delivery driver. Piece announced yesterday that on March 16 between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m., if you call in and order Doug's Atomic Pizza, you could end up with the man himself delivering it to your door. Two lucky winners who place an order for the Atomic during those hours will have it delivered by Doug and even better, on the house. And even if you don't actually win, you still technically win because you get a delicious pizza that also has 10 percent of its sales donated to Pilot Light. So mark your calendars, order up and cross your fingers.

- If you're heading to the James Beard Foundations Awards this year, which are taking place for the first time in Chicago, you now know the host for the evening as well as some of the chefs who will be serving up delicious bites at the reception after the awards. Eater Chicago reports that Alton Brown, most known for his Food Network show Good Eats, will be the host during the May 4 event. The impressive list of chefs cooking at the reception are the real stars of the evening, though. Representing Chicago will be Dave Beran of Next, Takashi Yagihashi of Slurping Turtle and formerly of Takashi and Jimmy Bannos Jr. of The Purple Pig. The roster also includes standouts such as David Chang of Momofuku, Tory McPhail of Commander's Palace, Daniel Patterson of Coi and many more talented chefs from across the country.

- Want a perfectly crafted cocktail at home but missing a few key ingredients or feel a bit clueless when it comes to perfecting a drink on your own? Then Cocktail Courier is here to help. Recently launched in Chicago, Cocktail Courier offers up a box delivered to your door with all the ingredients you need and instructions on how to make a round of wonderful drinks. They offer classics but also have a rotating menu of cocktails from local bartenders, which currently include options from Liz Pearce of The Drifter, Matty Eggleston of Nico Osteria and Peter Vestinos of The Betty. Former Chicagoist food and drink editor Anthony Todd broke down the price and what the package includes for the Sun-Times. At $6 to $10 per drink for a quality cocktail, it sure beats some of the local spots in price and likely quality of ingredients as well. We hope to check it out (spring porch drinking, anyone?) soon.

- Scofflaw has announced the name and chef of one of their upcoming endeavors, a seafood restaurant scheduled to open this month in Logan Square. Sink | Swim will see chef Matt Danko running the kitchen. Eater shared the news along with Danko's background which includes his most recent gig, executive chef at Jonathan Sawyer's Trentina in Cleveland. The team at Scofflaw also shared a video of Danko preparing a monkfish liver torchon dish...in reverse and with background music from The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou soundtrack. Enjoy below: