15 Minutes with … Kelli Zink

Who: Kelli Zink, 27, Chicago by way of Detroit
Job: Host and reporter, CelebTV.com
Status: Super single—”typical young professional girl who doesn’t have time for a guy, blah, blah, blah.”
Neighborhood: Gold Coast

After attending Michigan State University, where she was a Spartan cheerleader for two years, Kelli Zink started anchoring in South Bend, Indiana, covering local and national sports. In 2003 she moved to L.A. to help launch the NFL Network as a producer. “It was the kind of job that people automatically assume you’re cool and you’re into sports…

Have Smoker, Will Travel

7 Questions for Willie Wagner, the self-taught pitmaster/owner at Pilsen’s new 60-seat BYO, Honky Tonk Barbeque (1213 W. 18th St.; 312-226-7427)

D: How did you get into barbecue?
WW: I was a salesman for 18 years and got tired of it. Always had fun throwing parties and cooking for my friends, so I started a mobile barbecue business, and did some catering, too. Got a really good response, and it just grew into this spot…

Celebrity Beat: Keeping up with Kim Kardashian

L.A. socialite and one-time Paris Hilton sidekick Kim Kardashian came to town this past weekend to host Poparazzi Friday at Crobar. The event meant Kim got a night off from filming her reality-TV show, Keeping up with the Kardashians, which premieres October 14th on E! The show follows the lives of Kim and her nine siblings: Kim’s dad was the late O. J. defense attorney Robert Kardashian; her mom, Kris, is now married to Olympic gold medalist Bruce Jenner; between them, Kris and Bruce ride herd over a Brady Bunch-style brood (including MTV’s The Hills heartthrob Brody Jenner)…

Second Chance

Il Covo, a Bucktown Italian spot left for dead six months ago, gets a new shot of energy, Sardinian-style; Anteprima, a smooth new trattoria with a casual vibe, causes traffic jams in Andersonville.

Lettuce Serve You Pizza

Cool Mo.Di
The bar at Osteria Via Stato (620 N. State St.; 312-642-8450) is going bye-bye this fall, and in its place will be the Roman-style Pizzeria Mo.Di, outfitted with a gas oven. “I didn’t want to do what everybody else was doing,” says Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises chairman Richard Melman. “We don’t have to use wood to make great pizza. You need temperature.” Mo.Di’s recipe is based on a pizza in Rome that his team fell in love with a few years back, which he describes as “traditional, crustier than Neapolitan, yet light. Some of the pizzas will sport tomato sauce, others even more traditional San Marzano tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella. It’s what I love in pizza…

Barcabulary, Part One

The club-hopping cognoscenti have their own language—slang that, at one time, only a true nightlife enthusiast would use and/or understand, but that has begun, at least in part, to creep into the everyday vernacular (to wit, the “-ster” variations: scenester, hipster, clubster). Don’t be left sounding like your elderly grandma. Do learn the lingo; then post your own additions below for consideration in future updates…

The Pitfalls of Mr. Perfect

The Guy I’m Seeing met my parents a month ago, on the night of their 40th anniversary, at a party they held for 60 of their nearest and dearest. At the time, we were only a month or so into the relationship; usually I wouldn’t have thrown someone to the pack of wolves so soon, but, well, who doesn’t like a good party? Plus, dodging the question “What’s new in your life?” with “Work is going great!” was getting old. Now I could just shove TGIS in the face of anyone who asked.

We also agreed it would be a strategic move: With so many friends around, my parents would be too distracted to interrogate him. The plan…