Photograph: Hilary Higgins, RedEye
Homeslice pizza
Opening this week:
Monday, 3/18: The Oregon native Clay Hamilton brings his hometown pizza to a log-cabin atmosphere at Homeslice (938 W. Webster St., 312-789-4600).
Tuesday, 3/19: The European-influenced menu at Guildhall (694 Vernon Ave., Glencoe, 847-835-8100) is brought to Glencoe by Christian Ragano (NoMI, Tru).
Wednesday, 3/20: Big-name chef Kendal Duque (Sepia, City Tavern) promises to push the 17,000-square-foot, retractable-roofed American Junkie (15 W. Illinois St., 312-239-0995) beyond typical bar fare.
Wednesday, 3/20: Breakfast lovers and Jerry Garcia listeners, head to the new BYOB fast-casual Hash (1357 N. Western Ave., 773-661-2964)—or order for delivery.
Wednesday, 3/20: Ingredients from you-know-what time zone comprise the menu at Central Standard (169 W. Kinzie Ave., 312-527-9409).
Wednesday, 3/20: The taqueria Takito Kitchen (2013 W. Division St., 773-687-9620) has good genes in beverage manager Adam Weber (Trenchermen, Mercadito) and David Dworshak (Carnivale, Spring).
Morsels
The finalists for Check, Please! hosting duties include the locavore chef Cleetus Friedman (City Provisions), the truffle importer Frank Brunacci (Sixteen), and the pastry chef/consultant Sarah Levy. The field of 17 is up for viewer voting through April 17.
Nobu, a glam restaurant brand co-owned by Robert De Niro and named for chef Nobu Matsuhisa, might come to 846-854 West Randolph Street.
Mindy Segal’s HotChocolate has a new chef in Dennis Stover (Longman & Eagle, Big Star).
Chicago’s restaurants are well-represented in the list of James Beard Award semifinalists. Balena, Grace, Naha, and Spiaggia made the cut, among others.
A roof fire at Old Town Social this Sunday was subdued in time for the restaurant to reopen at 7 p.m.