Nellcote

As colonial kitchen tricks such as pickling and canning come back into vogue, it's no wonder preserved fruits and veggies have hit the cocktail world. Exhibit A is this year's drink of spring: the shrub. No, it's not an herb or a leafy plant; it's a...

You've already waited in line for popcorn at Garrett. You've endured verbal abuse at The Wieners Circle. And you've devoured the Chicago classic that is the Italian beef sandwich (Al's #1 and Johnnie's being the best, depending on who you ask). So...

If getting reamed by the notoriously grumpy Harrison Ford is a rite of passage for entertainment reporters, you could say I was finally initiated into the club March 18. In fact, you could say a few Chicago reporters were initiated that night. The actor...

Midway through my conversation with Imagine Dragons lead singer Dan Reynolds and his wife, Aja Volkman, in Nellcote's private dining area last week, Volkman — whose band, Nico Vega, opened for Imagine Dragons earlier that night at the House of Blues...

Chicago once again played host to a Mike Tyson-Evander Holyfield reunion Saturday, just like it did when the two former boxing rivals appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in 2009. But rather than reunite in front of a live studio audience, they smiled and...

Foraging, I said to the couple across from me. It's kind of the thing here. Blank stares. Foraging, it's kind of the thing that the chef, Iliana Regan, that young soft-spoken woman in kitchen whites with her arms covered in tattoos who just served...

Chicago Restaurant Week ends Sunday, but a few dozen restaurants will extend their $22 lunch, $33 and/or $44 dinner offers for a few more days, or more. This will be the fifth straight year this has happened; Chicago restaurants, happy with the extra...

The sixth Chicago Restaurant Week runs Feb. 1-10 (and, if history is any indication, for a few days longer). First-time participants Balsan, bellyQ, Frontier and Nellcote join a virtual Who's Who of Chicago dining rooms, more than 250 restaurants offering...

If only it were so easy to pithily proclaim 2012 as the Year of the (fill-in-the-blank). But there's really no one thread that neatly ties together the Chicago restaurant scene these last 12 months. A restaurant that put Chicago on the culinary map 25...

I have this problem. I made more New Year's Eve reservations than I can use. More than 100 of them, actually. Which is why, for the 12th straight year (and the 17th time in the past 19 years), I'll be giving them away to nimble-fingered readers who ask....

When it comes to adventures in dining and drinking, Chicago definitely delivered this year. Hot chefs expanded their empires with new restaurants. New words made their way into our nightlife vocabulary. And, of course, there were doughnuts. And pie. And...

The 2013 Michelin Guide, published last week, awarded stars to 19 Chicago restaurants, and bestowed Bib Gourmands (signifying good restaurants that offer good value) to 19 more. And congratulations to each and every one. But recognizing 38 restaurants...