Chicago : Deals/News/Events

Top Toques Pig Out

BuzzEditor — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:21:00 GMT

Vie

Photo: stevenjohnsonphotography

On Tuesday and Wednesday, December 15–16, get ready to go hog wild. That's when four of the city's top chefs are teaming up for “The Cadillac of Pig Dinners.” Both nights, Vie's Paul Virant, BOKA's Giuseppe Tentori, Perennial’s Ryan Poli and Top Chef winner Stephanie Izard will come together to cook a four-course dinner dedicated to the Hungarian woolly pig. The first night goes down at Western Springs' Vie, while the second will be held at Lincoln Park’s BOKA. Reserve your spot soon though, as both nights are quickly filling up (6:30 PM champagne reception; 7 PM dinner; $100 per person, plus $40 for optional wine pairings; call 708-246-2082 to reserve).

Mado Tackles a Whole Cow

BuzzEditor — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:42:00 GMT

mado

Photo: stevenjohnsonphotography

Bucktown head-to-tail emporium mado is going whole hog with beef at its next family dinner on Sunday, December 6. Nearly every part of the cow will be served in dishes that evening – including options like beef shank terrine, bresaola, corned beef tongue bruschetta, steak and kidney pie and mincemeat pie (6 PM; $80 per person; 773-342-2340).

Three Years of Marigold

BuzzEditor — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:04:00 GMT

Marigold

Photo: courtesy of the restaurant

To celebrate its three year anniversary, Uptown Indian Marigold will be offering three- and four-course wazwan (Hindi for feast) November 18–21, priced at $24.95 and $39.95, respectively. Dishes will include samosas, Kalonji chicken, malai kofta and kulfi. In addition, special evenings are planned, such a "60640 Night" on Wednesday, when diners located in the restaurant's zip code will receive the three-course wazwan for $19.99, plus a complimentary cocktail tasting, and a "Girls' Night Out" on Thursday, with complimentary henna tattoos, bindis and bangles plus specially priced cocktails (773-293-4653; reserve online).

Gemini Bistro Lures the Early Birds

BuzzEditor — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:05:00 GMT

Gemini Bistro

Photo: stevenjohnsonphotography

Lincoln Park’s Gemini Bistro offers up a nightly three-course $33 prix fixe from chef Jason Paskewitz, available from 5–6:30 PM. Dishes on the menu include autumn salad with dried cherries, candied walnuts, Roquefort and a champagne vinaigrette; Maine lobster ravioli; steak frites; and hot apple crisp (closed on Mondays; $55 with wine pairings; 773-525-2522).

Zocalo Goes Guaco-Loco

BuzzEditor — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:45:00 GMT

Zocalo finds reasons to celebrate.

Photo: courtesy of the restaurant

November 14 is apparently National Guacamole Day, and River West’s Zocalo is celebrating. The restaurant is offering two special flight trios that include mole with freshly diced avocado mixed with pork cracklings, tomatoes, red onion, cilantro, lime juice and serrano chiles, and guacamole mixed with fresh papaya, guava, habanero chiles and walnuts, both served with housemade plantains and tortilla chips (available now through November 14; each flight costs $10; 312-302-9977; reserve online).

Prime Time for Primehouse's Burgers

BuzzEditor — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:40:00 GMT

David Burke Primehouse

Photo: courtesy of the restaurant

Looking for a little lunchtime love? David Burke hears you. For the second time, he's brought back his Burger Week promotion at Primehouse, which offers lunchtime diners chef Rick Gersh's signature burgers for just $5 a pop (11 AM–2:30 PM; 312-660-6000).

Zagat To Go, Now On Android

BuzzEditor — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:27:00 GMT

Finally, something that both the iPhone and the Droid does: Zagat To Go, our popular smartphone application for finding ratings and reviews of over 40,000 restaurants, hotels, nightlife and shopping worldwide, has come to Google's Android phone OS. And not only can you search for your favorite spots, the home-screen widget will offer you a randomly selected nearby restaurant for you to try. To get the app, which costs just $9.99, point your finger to the Android Marketplace.

Turkey Time: Thanksgiving '09

BuzzEditor — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:31:00 GMT

Photo: Ion Sokhos

A Thanksgiving dinner where you don't have to clean up afterward is truly something to be thankful about. The following restaurants are offering meals for gobbling on November 26.

Big Jones

5347 N. Clark St.; 773-275-5725

This Southern-style Thanksgiving in Andersonville will include a four-course menu (and relish plate) featuring turducken with cornbread dressing, short ribs with mashed potatoes and sweet potato pie for dessert (11 AM–8 PM; $44 per adult, $20 per child).

C-House

166 E. Superior St.; 312-523-0923

Keep your Thanksgiving seaworthy with the Affinia Hotel's seafooder, which will be offering a three-course prix fixe featuring sweet potato soup with chestnut marshmallow croutons, whole roasted trout with parsnip and celery root rémoulade, and caramel-roasted apples with fromage blanc ice cream and molasses cookies (4–9 PM; $39 per adult, $19 for children under 12).

David Burke’s Primehouse

616 N. Rush St.; 312-660-6000

This New American steakhouse inside The James Hotel will serve a four-course prix fixe from chef Rick Gresh. Highlights include squash and ricotta cheese ravioli with Benton bacon and aged maple syrup and sherry vinegar; spiced brown sugar and honey ham; and walnut praline cheesecake with burgundy poached cherries, sour cherry sorbet and walnut nougatine. As a bonus, there will also be a leftover giveaway, which includes a "leftover" sandwich of roasted turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce on country bread, and a pumpkin pie cookie (11 AM–9 PM; $39 per person, $15 for children under 10; children nine and under eat free).

Eve

840 N. Wabash Ave.; 312-266-3383

This Gold Coast New American will serve four different prix fixe menus (called "North," "South," "East" and "West"). Highlights include roasted chestnut bisque with cranberry-orange sorbet, herb-roasted heritage farm turkey served with sausage and black walnut stuffing and sage gravy, and pumpkin chocolate bread pudding (1–7 PM; $45 per person; for the menus, click here [PDF]).

Lockwood

17 E. Monroe St.; 312-917-3404

The New American inside the Palmer House Hilton rolls out unlimited champagne for adults and sparkling cider for children, along with a Thanksgiving buffet featuring roasted turkey breast, country ham and sweet potato marshmallow gratin (11 AM–8 PM; adults, $55; seniors, older than 65, $45; children under 12, $25).

Markethouse

300 E. Ohio St.; 312-224-2200

The Doubletree Hotel's Streeterville New American offers a two-course prix fixe from chef Scott Walton, centering around a Slagel Farms turkey with wild rice pilaf, sage gravy and a chestnut and apple brioche stuffing and pumpkin pie with pecan praline ice cream for dessert (noon–10 PM; adults $24, $12 for children 12 and under).

Prairie Grass Cafe

601 Skokie Blvd., Northbrook; 847-205-4433

This Northbrook New American will feature classic entrees, sides and desserts, including oven-roasted turkey with apple-sage stuffing and sweet potatoes with marshmallow topping. The desserts, made from chef Sarah Stegner's mother’s recipes, will be pumpkin and pecan pies (2:30–7:30 PM; $45 per person, $15 for children under 10).

SugarToad in Naperville

2139 CityGate Ln., Naperville; 630-778-8623

This Naperville New American is offering a three-course menu from chef Geoff Rhyne. Highlights include country pork pâté with cranberry chutney; American Kobe top sirloin with Yukon gold potato croquette and oyster and mushroom sauce; and a white-chocolate bombe with Grand Marnier ice cream, almonds and cherry compote (11 AM–6 PM; $45 per person; children ages six–12, $22.50; kids under six eat free).

Vermilion

10 W. Hubbard St.; 312-527-4060

Spice up your Thanksgiving with a six-course prix fixe at this River North Indian–Nuevo Latino spot. Expect eclectic offerings like feijoada, black cardamom–smoked turkey breast and pumpkin pie horchata (noon–10 PM; $45 per person; vegetarian prix fixe, $40).

ZED 451

739 N. Clark St.; 312-226-6691

This Eclectic steakhouse in River North will add seasonal goodies to its usual prix fixe, including herb garlic turkey with cranberry apricot chutney, hickory-smoked ham, pumpkin custard and, to drink, a cranberry mojito (noon–9 PM; $44 per person; 312-266-6691).

Pinot Days Are Here Again

BuzzEditor — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:40:00 GMT

Pinot Days logo

Photo: courtesy of the Pinot Days Festival

Pining for a good Pinot? Not to worry. On November 14, from 1–5 PM, Navy Pier becomes wine country when more than 50 Pinot producers pour their wares at the third annual Pinot Days Festival. With more than 300 varieties to sample, including the newly released 2007 vintage, this should once again be a great way to sample vino, talk to winemakers and interact with other oenophiles ($50 per person; click here to purchase tickets).

La Madia Gives It Away: Gelato, That Is

BuzzEditor — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:55:00 GMT

La Madia

Photo: stevenjohnsonphotography

To celebrate its second anniversary, River North Italian La Madia is giving all diners on Thursday, November 19, complimentary housemade sambuca vanilla gelato studded with chunks of La Madia’s signature chocolate tortino (312-329-0400; reserve online).

Cooking With Coco

BuzzEditor — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:13:00 GMT

David Chang's pork neck with succotash

Photo and recipe: courtesy of Phaidon Press

For its latest cookbook, Coco, Phaidon Press turned to 10 world-leading chefs – Ferran Adrià, Mario Batali, Shannon Bennett, Alain Ducasse, Fergus Henderson, Yoshihiro Murata, Gordon Ramsay, René Redzepi, Alice Waters and Jacky Yu – to each pick 10 contemporary chefs from around the world. In turn, each of those chefs then wrote a menu and recipes for the book. The final product is more than 400 pages of gorgeous photographs, mouthwatering recipes and interesting tidbits from kitchens around the world. Want a taste? After the jump, get the recipe for pork neck with succotash from New York chef David Chang (of the Momofuku empire).

Pork Neck with Succotash
Serves 4
Recipe by David Chang

For the pork neck
300 g kosher salt
270 g sugar
6 liters hot water
2 bay leaves
25 g black peppercorns
6 liters cold water
10 g pink salt
1 pork neck

Mix the salt, sugar, hot water, bay leaves, and black peppercorns.
Mix the cold water with the pink salt.
Add the pork neck and confit 5 hours at 300°F (150°C) covered.
When tender, press between 2 sheet trays. Portion into serving size pieces.
Crisp on a griddle or pan to heat through.

For the succotash
100 g ground (minced) smoked, think-cut pork belly
12 g chanterelle mushrooms
250 g lima (butter) beans
175 g corn (sweetcorn) kernels
Butter for sautéing
1 tbsp tarragon, chopped
4 ml buttermilk
120 g butter
130 g arugula (rocket)

Sauté the pork belly, chanterelles, lima beans, and corn in a pan.
Finish with a pinch of salt and pepper, chopped tarragon, buttermilk, butter, and arugula.

A Wave of Street Food

BuzzEditor — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 21:14:00 GMT

Because of certain laws and ordinances, Chicago’s street-food scene is pretty sparse. However, that hasn't stopped Wave's executive chef Kristine Subido from setting up an international street-food menu at the restaurant every Wednesday night. It’s a killer deal – $10 gets you three street food items and a cocktail. This month’s offerings from Vietnam include a barbecued chicken banh mi and grilled lemongrass beef rice-paper rolls with peanut and sweet chili sauce. To see the full menu, click here [PDF] (from 5:30 PM onward; 312-255-4460).

Herbal Drinking

BuzzEditor — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:51:00 GMT

Nacional 27

Photo: courtesy of the restaurant

Farm-to-bar mixologist Adam Seger and River West's Nacional 27 want you to embrace your green thumb. They're inviting folks in for herb-based cocktails ($4–20), including a "garden" mojito and "gazpacho and tonics," complimentary tapas and a potted herb “adoption party” on November 4 at 5:30 PM. With winter approaching, Seger is parting with the herbs he uses in his farm-fresh drinks and wants to find loving homes for the potted plants, and adoptive parents will also go home with an adoption certificate, a herb care guide and cocktail recipes (312-664-2727).

ZAGAT.mobi, Now With Your Tweets

BuzzEditor — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:30:00 GMT

Read the latest Twitter entries on ZAGAT.mobi

ZAGAT.mobi just got Twitter-fied. Now when you look up restaurants on our award-winning mobile website, not only can you access our trusted ratings and reviews, you can also read up-to-the-minute comments about the restaurant on Twitter. You don't have to download or install anything to get in on the fun – simply visit ZAGAT.mobi on any web-enabled phone, be it an iPhone, a BlackBerry or a Pre, and see what people are saying about your favorite spot. Now that's something to tweet about.

Marketing Hump Day

BuzzEditor — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:23:00 GMT

Province

Photo: stevenjohnsonphotography

Province is finding providence in the market. Each Wednesday the West Looper is offering diners a special three-course prix fixe dinner ($38, $60 with wines) and lunch ($25 for three courses, $20 for two) based on the choice bounty available at Chicago’s farmer's markets. Expect dishes like Klug Farms pear salad with Spanish blue cheese, candied almonds and creamy sherry dressing and Dietzler Farms beef short ribs with Green Acres Farms carrots, sweet potatoes and caramelized onions (312-669-9900; reserve online).