BYOB While You Can: The Red Lion Lincoln Square

The Red Lion, an English pub that poured pints in Lincoln Park for 27 years, has been open in its new Lincoln Square location since January, but due to a paperwork snafu, owners Joe and Susan Heinen have been waiting on their liquor license for what feels like a bloody long time…

Chicago Craft Beer Week Photos: Beer Fistival at Revolution Brewing

And on the ninth day, the brewers rested. Beer makers and drinkers alike gathered at Revolution Brewing on Friday, the final day of Chicago Craft Beer Week 2011, for a sold-out bash fittingly dubbed the Beer Fistival, featuring guest pours from area breweries, music from the Four Star Brass Band, and a new beer from Revolution dubbed Red Scare…

Dish Flash: Ian Schrager’s Plans for the Ambassador East and the Pump Room—Public and Jean-Georges Vongerichten

No one knew exactly what to expect when Ian Schrager bought the Ambassador East hotel (1301 N. State Pkwy.), home of The Pump Room, the most famous restaurant in the city for decades. Dish got a look at the official release on the project. The hotel will be called Public, and it will emphasize service over extravagance. The restaurant will still be called The Pump Room, and, confirming the unconfirmed rumors Dish had been hearing…

Chicago Craft Beer Week Photos: Beerfly Alleyfight at Haymarket

It was a multisensory extravaganza Saturday afternoon when Drinking & Writing Theater held its fifth annual Beerfly Alleyfight in Haymarket Pub & Brewery’s back bar. The event—part of Chicago Craft Beer Week, which continues through May 27—paired homebrewed beer with homecooked food and homemade art, but if that all sounds a little complicated, really, the operative word here is “beer”…

Reality Revamp: The Abbey Pub on Spike TV’s ‘Bar Rescue’

The Abbey Pub’s office manager, Leslie Galambos, spotted the casting call on Craigslist and thought, Why not? The next thing she knew, film crews and producers from the new Spike TV show Bar Rescue (brought to you by the makers of The Biggest Loser and hosted by the bar and restaurant consultant Jon Taffer) had descended on the ripe-for-revamping pub and live-music venue in Old Irving Park…