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French Kiss

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From BB’s to Brigitte Bardot

The owners of BB’s (22 E. Hubbard St.), a pub that lasted less than two years, are in the process of reconcepting their River North space into Madame Tartine, a 1960s-style French brasserie. “French food is too serious in Chicago,” says Donnie Kruse, a partner. “We are going to have a lot of fun. Hubbard Street will become the Côtes d’Azur.” Kruse describes the décor as “feminine and realistic European,” and the food from chef Jon Foster (Savarin, Le Passage) as “approachable, honest, hearty French food.” (Think escargots, steak tartare, and plenty of rosé.) ETA: late June, says Kruse. “We’re just waiting for our trunks to get…

Best New Restaurants

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Twenty-one restaurants, countless thrills. Several of this year’s top new spots bend rules and influences; others give classic genres much-needed shots of adrenaline. Either way, all 21 of them loom large in a booming restaurant landscape where it’s getting harder and harder to do that.

Down By Foie

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Foie’d Logic

Chicago’s city council repealed the infamous two-year-old foie gras ban on Wednesday by a vote of 37 to 6, thus ending one of the stranger episodes in local politics. Alderman Tom Tunney (44th ward), along with cosponsors Emma Mitts (37th) and Bernard Stone (50th), introduced the repeal with no debate, reportedly over the strenuous objections of Joe Moore (49th), who, according to the Sun-Times, said it would be “the first time in my 17 years on the city council that a matter was…

Great Scott?

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My evil plan is working.

Writing about beer means that globe-trotting friends now feel compelled to lug choice brews—beady-eyed customs officials and baggage weight limits be damned—across land and sea to satisfy my beer tooth. Insert devilish cackle here.

My pal Venus spent the last nine months in Paris eating pastries and writing a dissertation on French agricultural history. I spent the last nine months trying not to kill the plants she left behind. When she returned last week, she came bearing beer as a thank-you. But not just any beer. The one that got away: Adelscott…

Trend: Gluten-Free Goodies

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The offerings at Rose’s WheatFree Bakery & Café may be gluten-free, peanut-free, casein-free, corn-syrup-free, and trans-fat-free, but they obligingly leave in the most important element: flavor.

Cute Restaurant Alert

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Go Now

Mixteco Grill (1601 W. Montrose Ave.; 773-868-1601), a 35-seat BYO restaurant named for a region of Oaxaca and the indigenous people who inhabit it, opened last week—and we’re smitten. “The food there is the only food that is 100 percent authentic Mexican,” says Raul Arreola, the chef/owner. “No influence of other food. No Mayan. No Spanish. No French.” Arreola, a Mexico City native, put in 11 years at Frontera Grill, and ascended to sous-chef at