Roll Out
Steven Song, who owned Tsunami, the Gold Coast sushi temple that closed last spring, returns to the scene with Masu Izakaya (1969 N. Halsted St.; no phone yet), scheduled to open late this month in the space that housed Minnies. It’ll be the second izakaya—Japanese after-work bar—to open in two months (Izakaya Hapa was first). “Izakaya dishes are a little bit…
There are miles and miles of endlessly sprinkled, technicolor-green grass in Palm Springs, and staring at it as I lounge by the pool shall be my ode to this over-hyped holiday. You see, I’m on vacation. It’s the first time in my nine Chicago years that I have missed St. Patrick’s Day—the bead-tossing, beer-guzzling, river-dyeing, midday-puking excuse for debauchery that, truth be told, I’ve never much understood…
“Chicago is too vibrant a town not to have more performance venues,” says the jazz violinist Diane Delin, who, with her husband, the jazz guitarist and singer Greg Pasenko, opened Club Blujazz on the eastern edge of Bucktown-Wicker Park last Friday. The couple run a recording label, also called Blujazz, and are drawing on their experience both behind the scenes and onstage (“We’ve been performing forever, and I’m old enough to say forever,” Delin says)…
Finagling our way into Chicago’s most exclusive new hot spot
A tip sheet for planning your visit
There’s a competition for everything, I guess—ugliest dog, extreme ironing, worm charming—but it never crossed my mind that somewhere, some people are going head-to-head over beer pouring. Tonight, that somewhere is Chicago, as the St. Patrick’s Day festivities swing into action and Guinness brewmaster Fergal Murray presides over a “pour the perfect pint” competition at Grace O’Malley’s in the South Loop…
”I wanted to do a little gourmet bagel shop that would utilize all these unique cream cheeses I came up with,” says Dion Antic, a partner at Wicker Park’s new bagel place. Cream cheese flavored with white truffle oil and pine nuts or with horseradish, Cheddar, and dill may sound gimmicky, but BoD also shakes … Read more
Bruce Finkelman and Peter Toalson, the masterminds behind Empty Bottle and Bite Cafe, give the gastropub a new spin at this trifecta restaurant, bar, and inn—and tackle all three with tenacious attention to quality. The executive chef, Jared Wentworth, offers the familiar (sloppy Joe, Kobe burger), as well as what some might consider the more … Read more
“Start with our fries,” says Brendan Sodikoff, Gilt Bar’s young owner. Sodikoff claims he spent two months trying every potato, every technique, every salt, and every seasoning before he “got there.” His fries set the philosophy for his River North restaurant, which he describes as “simple American food at popular prices”: Take something as basic … Read more
The Wanderer
Via Italy, Scotland, London, Northern Ireland, a cruise ship, and the line at Charlie Trotter’s, the peripatetic Isacco Vitali arrives in the western suburbs at Isacco Kitchen (210 Cedar St., St. Charles; 630-444-0202), which opened at…
