Phil Vettel

It's safe to say that nobody knows what to expect from this year's Taste of Chicago. Stripped down to five days from its usual 10, the number of food vendors trimmed to 40 (compared with 59 in 2011) and separated from its traditional Fourth of July...

Trotting out familiar flavors in unexpected guises is almost de rigueur among serious young chefs these days, but few can match the wit and imagination on display at Trenchermen, a not-quite-3-month-old restaurant in Wicker Park. Savory seasonings...

Graham Elliot is hot. The much-decorated chef owns three Chicago restaurants and will be inducted into the Chicago Chefs Hall of Fame in two weeks. He shares screen time with Joe Bastianich and Gordon Ramsay judging "MasterChef" (just renewed for a...

Can a restaurant be a hidden gem if everybody knows about it? A road-less-traveled location and understated-to-a-fault exterior haven't prevented 6-week-old La Sirena Clandestina (which means "the hidden mermaid") from pulling in crowds to its Market...

Time once again for my annual exercise in humiliation, as I try to predict the star recipients in the 2013 Michelin Chicago Guide, which hits bookstores Wednesday. This is the third year that Michelin has published a Chicago guide, and if there's one...

To eat at Next is to share skull space with some of the most creative culinary minds in America. That is manifestly apparent after one dines at Kyoto, the sixth production, if you will, of Next's culinary repertory. For those who came in late: Next,...

For its latest menu, Next restaurant invested in a special piece of cooking equipment. A Weber kettle grill. Standing alongside the recirculating thermal circulators, Anti-Griddles, Sonicpreps and other high-tech gizmos that populate Next's high-tech...

Smooth and crunchy, sweet and salty, rich and acidic. Great dishes are all about juxtaposing opposing elements and achieving balance, and Baume & Brix, which opened two months ago in River North, revels in this balancing act, extending to the restaurant...

At one point of a dinner at Elizabeth restaurant, I was served a dark and rich maitake-mushroom tea (really a clarified broth) while a pure-white device on the table played Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit." Which made me think that chef/owner Iliana...

Dale Levitski's career arc is like that of most top chefs. In reverse. After running a couple of modest Chicago restaurants, Levitski found himself thrust into the spotlight as the surprise pick to succeed Grant Achatz at four-star Trio, and, just as...

If you haven't visited Tallgrass restaurant in a while, or worse, have never had the pleasure of this singular restaurant, let me humbly suggest that you make your plans now, or at least, soon. Because I don't care how many times chef/partner Bob...

There are at least three things you can count on at every Brendan Sodikoff restaurant. There will be a retro-cool, dimly lit atmosphere. There will be bread; roasted bone marrow with toast is a menu given. And there will be great soap in the restroom....