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~ Recently in Chicago Restaurants Category ~

Chicago Wine & Food Festival: October 21, 22, 2005

Before the wind starts to blow cold off the lake and your eyeballs want to crack and fall out of your head from cold, Chicago has a lovely fall with temperate days and exciting, dramatic thunderstorms. Perfect weather, if you ask me, for drinking wine and eating great food (if only to store up some fat for the winter that will soon fall like a cinderblock on the fragile and unprepared). Just in time, then, arrives the Chicago Wine and Food Festival, a three day extravaganza of top chefs, excellent wines, and a nice mix of celebration and education.... continue reading

Posted by: Alder on October 13, 2005 6:55 AM

Filed under: Chicago Restaurants , Food Activities , Wine Activities

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Restaurant Review: Le Lan, Chicago

It's not often that In the middle of a meal I start planning my next visit to the restaurant with anticipation. Sometimes this happens in some of the world's best restaurants, and my plans involve tallying monthly expense budgets and looking sideways at my cash flow. Perhaps more frequently it happens in restaurants that sit somewhere between the finest haute cuisine and the more casual dining that might characterize a bite out after work during the week. More often than not, these are restaurants that aren't radically innovative in conception, but their dining experiences offer small details that hint at... continue reading

Posted by: Alder on September 11, 2005 8:47 AM

Filed under: Chicago Restaurants

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Restaurant Review: Blackbird, Chicago

If you'll pardon a blatant and trite Beatles reference, I don't know whether anyone was waiting for this moment to arise, but as far as I'm concerned, a restaurant named Blackbird has certainly taken flight at the right time in the right place. Nestled along the West Randolph thoroughfare, a moderate walk or a five dollar cab ride from Wacker Drive and the Millennium Mile, Blackbird and its sister restaurant, Avec, establish a distinctly modern presence in the Loop. When I say modern, I really mean modern. Blackbird reminds me of a restaurant/bar in Amsterdam (whose name I mis-remember) that... continue reading

Posted by: Alder on March 22, 2005 8:58 PM

Filed under: Chicago Restaurants

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Gastronomy Behind The Scenes

There are a bunch of food and dining related public forums out there on the Internet, and I don't have the time to participate in any of them. Besides, 90% of the discussions there are either uninteresting or just drivel. Occasionally though, a gem pops up, and I'm thankful to have people like Alaina over at A Full Belly to point them out. Last week she highlighted someone who had posted a behind the scenes look at the kitchen of Grant Achatz, whose soon to be opened Alinea is the talk of the Chicago restaurant scene. One of the reasons... continue reading

Posted by: Alder on March 7, 2005 8:40 AM

Filed under: Chicago Restaurants , Ramblings and Rants

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Restaurant Review: Moto, Chicago

Smack dab in the middle of the meatpacking and grocery district of Chicago, it would be easy to miss Moto if you were not looking carefully, especially at night. On its block it is only one of two swanky modern designed fronts amidst a full lineup of brick-fronted produce purveyors that extend for blocks on either side. Alighting from your cab between all of the slumbering delivery trucks, you enter an airlock of sorts at the front of the restaurant and emerge into a narrow, but not cramped bar area and lounge at the front of the restaurant. The decor... continue reading

Posted by: Alder on December 20, 2004 10:31 PM

Filed under: Chicago Restaurants

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This page only has the last sixty entries in this category. If you're interested in digging farther into my archives, you'll want to use the complete list of archives to access my articles by month.

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