Burgers Made Me Dumb
The downside to working as a food writer
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French Bliss
The Timeless Allure of the Bistro
Joseph Calabrese (owner of Zia’s Trattoria and veteran of Ambria and Spiaggia) has gone French at Café Touché (6731 N. Northwest Hwy.; 773-775-0909), a block from Zia’s. Calabrese describes the 80-seat spot—designed by his wife—as “a cross between a café in Paris and a French Quarter look in New Orleans.” The menu is straight-up…
Weekend Photos: The Cedar Hotel
We predict two summer hits: The Cedar Hotel (1112-1114 N. State St.) and its 24-ounce sunny-yellow take-home cups, both of which debuted this weekend in the Gold Coast from the combined minds of the guys behind Manor and The Fifty/50 and the combined patios of the long-dormant but…
Dish Flash
Quince Adopts a New Motto
Quince at the Homestead (1625 Hinman Ave; Evanston; 847-570-8400), which loses chef Pete Balodimas at the end of the month, has named a pretty darn good replacement: Andy Motto. Motto, 33, was a big shot at Old Town Brasserie and Le Lan, and a smaller shot at The French Laundry, Les Nomades, and Le Français. “I think it will be…
Streeterville Boots Up
Aqua Man and His Wife
Pelago Ristorante (Raffaello Hotel, 201 E. Delaware Pl.; 312-280-0700), a 60-seat spot slated for a Streeterville boutique hotel, sounds like quite an upscale production. Italian porcelain chandeliers, white leather chairs, a mother-of-pearl fireplace, an aqua vestibule, aqua blue damask banquettes, and three meals a day from Mauro Mafrici (Manhattan’s Lo Scalco), a Trieste native plucked from obscurity by…
Weekend Photos: Luxlounge
Gold Coasters scored a new spot to sip this weekend, when the neighborhood standby Luxbar launched its new second-floor, Saturday-nights-only hangout, Luxlounge, touted for an all-female staff of servers and DJs. Our photographer—also, we note, a woman—was on the scene…
Last Call
Just as I was getting comfortable on my stool, the bar closed: This is my last post as The Chaser. I’m moving down South this weekend—following Mr. Chaser to graduate school—and will be, with a mixture of sadness and excitement, trading the Matchbox’s Manhattans (ah, bourbon-soaked cherries!) for something likely involving sweet-tea vodka. I leave you with a list of the bars I’ll be pining for and…
A New Stakeholder
Starting Over
The star-crossed space at 444 North Wabash Avenue has another chapter. You may recall it as the former Jazz Record Mart or the place that Jason Paskewitz and Phil Lotsoff had rebuilt a few years back to house Jackson Park Bar and Grill, which never opened. Now it has been leased to…
Weekend Photos: Division Ale House
Never mind the fish and chips, the see-and-be-seen patio seating, or the Tiffany-style chandeliers. When it comes to Division Ale House (1942 W. Division St.; 773-384-6886), the new Irish-ish pub from the owner of Wicker Park’s People Lounge, we’re most curious about the “portable tabletop beer tower,” a device that sounds either frighteningly frat house or…
Hotel Action: Elysian
Jason McLeod, exec chef of the Elysian Hotel’s two restaurants, Balsan and Ria, has got a handle on Balsan’s artisanal comfort food three meals a day—croissants, gourmet charcuterie, wood-burning-oven pizzas