Phil Vettel

Birrieria Zaragoza chef opening new Mexican pop-up in The Promontory space in Hyde Park

October 1, 2020 at 4:16 p.m.

Fresh off his well-received collaboration with Noah Sandoval (creating Pizza Friendly Pizza in the old Bite Cafe space), Bruce Finkelman is joining forces with another well-known Chicago chef. Finkelman, who...

James Beard award-winning chef comes home to Chicago to head new Four Seasons restaurant

September 21, 2020 at 4:17 p.m.

Since the creation of the Best Chef: Great Lakes award by the James Beard Foundation in 2007, a Chicago chef has won nearly every time. The last non-Chicago chef to...

Lawry’s to close at year’s end after 46 years in downtown Chicago — but leaves room for return

September 21, 2020 at 4:31 p.m.

Lawry's the Prime Rib, which has been a fixture on Ontario Street (just west of Michigan Avenue) for 46 years, is calling it quits at the end of the year....

Albert M. Friedman, chairman and CEO of Friedman Properties, stands in front of Nonnina restaurant, 340 N. Clark St., on Sept. 18, 2020. Friedman likened the current restaurant landscape to an episode of "The Twilight Zone," except to note that it's really happening.

Whether a restaurant survives the pandemic could depend on an uneasy dance with the landlord

September 18, 2020 at 11:28 p.m.

Restaurants, their receipts less than a third of what they customarily would take in, are unable to pay rent. Landlords, with mortgages and property-tax bills due, can't survive without income....

Jade Court, one of Chicago’s best Chinese restaurants, returns in October, far from its original home

September 18, 2020 at 10:29 p.m.

In 2018, I gave 17-month-old Jade Court three stars, and mused whether it was the best Chinese restaurant in town. With a kitchen crew overseen by Eddy Cheung (who had...

Italian restaurant Nonnina faced closing until it struck a creative partnership with the landlord

September 16, 2020 at 1:13 p.m.

As we watch Chicago-area restaurants continue to struggle from economic conditions brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, it's clear that returning to normal — or some approximation thereof — is...

Wells St. Market closes Friday, this time for keeps

September 14, 2020 at 8:00 p.m.

Wells St. Market, which reopened July 6 after weathering the first three months of the coronavirus shutdown (and was the first Chicago food hall to resume service) announced it will...

A bowl of cucumber gelee, in which the name "ever" is stenciled in thickened coconut milk, is served with pickled-cucumber strips, osetra caviar atop a medallion of crab leg, herbs and cashew powder and a "rock" of compressed coconut milk.

Review: Can a $285, 10-course tasting menu succeed during the coronavirus pandemic? Ever, the latest from chef Curtis Duffy, rises to the challenge

September 9, 2020 at 10:38 p.m.

How strange is it that my first indoor dining experience since mid-March was in a restaurant charging hundreds of dollars for the experience? Very. Is it insensitive to write about...

Offshore restaurant to remain open, even as rest of Navy Pier closes for fall and winter

September 4, 2020 at 5:43 p.m.

Offshore, the 56,000-square-foot restaurant and event space at the east end of Navy Pier, has announced that it will remain open after Labor Day weekend, even as the rest of...

Roger Federer, left, watches then-executive chef Joe Flamm cut some tomatoes for a pasta dish during a 2018 visit to Spiaggia.

Joseph Flamm’s new Chicago restaurant has a name, and optimistic opening date

September 3, 2020 at 10:50 p.m.

When Joe Flamm left his executive chef post at Spiaggia a year ago, word soon spread that Flamm, winner of "Top Chef" season 15, would be creating an Italian-Croatian hybrid...

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