Posts for June 7, 2012 -- Grub Street Chicago -- Restaurant News, Openings, Chefs

Posts for June 7, 2012

Drew Barrymore Serves Own Wine at Wedding, Still Not Confirming Pregnancy

There will probably be wine waiting for her in the delivery room too.

You may have heard that Drew Barrymore got hitched in the backyard of her home near Santa Barbara yesterday to boyfriend Will Koppelman. Guests included Reese Witherspoon, Steven Spielberg, and Jimmy Fallon, and all of them were treated to some of Barrymore's brand-new wines at the reception. Alas, Drew herself couldn't imbibe because she is, obviously, pregnant — she and Koppelman are even clutching her swollen belly together in the wedding photo on the cover of People — though she still refuses to admit it to the press. We bet she still had a sip or two. A glass is totally cool, right? [Yahoo, The Cut]

6/7/12 at 3:33 PM
Openings
Comment

A Closing (Pane Caldo) and Three Randolph Openings (Alimentari, Embeya, City Winery)

By Michael Gebert

Pane Caldo.

More evidence that Randolph Street is (as Dish sort of put it) the dense red giant sucking all other neighborhoods into its gravitational field— especially the Gold Coast, apparently. Eater reports that Pane Caldo, a longrunning Italian spot for ladies who lunch on Walton, closed quite abruptly earlier this week— paper up in the windows, phone disconnected— but a message on the website says they'll relocate in the area. However, Dish reports that owner Antoine Cedicci will open a new restaurant next week in the former Meiji space next door to Blackbird. Alimentari, at 621 W. Randolph, will offer rustic Italian/Tuscan small plates, including a woodburning oven making Neapolitan pizzas. With the more expensive Blackbird and the soon to open Grace nearby, not to mention the always-packed Avec, it could be a smart location for a reasonably-priced, easy-to-like Italian spot.

6/7/12 at 1:15 PM
Awards
Comment

Rick Bayless Awarded Order of the Aztec Eagle

By Michael Gebert

Congrats to Rick Bayless, who was evidently as surprised as anybody when he learned he had been awarded Mexico's highest honor for non-Mexicans, the Order of the Aztec Eagle. The acclaimed Frontera chef joined a San Diego-based scholar, Wayne Cornelius, and Deborah Szekely, founder of the culturally and environmentally-activist spa Rancho La Puerta in Baja California, as the three Americans honored, in his case for his work in promoting understanding of Mexico's cultural and social heritage through his cookbooks and TV program Mexico: One Plate at a Time. [Eater/U-T San Diego]

6/7/12 at 1:15 PM on Grub Street LA
Video Feed
Comment

Watch a Russian Dude Take a Tank to White Castle’s Drive-Through

By Hadley Tomicki

Last week, we noticed lots of cars crash through the walls and windows of fast-food restaurants. We prefer the smooth driving style of this total badass named FPSRussian, who when not selling T-shirts that read "Don't Be Beech, Be Russian," appears to spend most of his time blowing shit up, shooting things, and flying totally cool helicopters through his adopted state of Texas. In dude's latest video, he demonstrates just how easy the approach to a drive-through can be, taking a full-size, WWII-era tank through the suburbs just to score some White Castle belly-bombers. As the girl working the window aptly points out, "That's pretty awesome." Get some, straight ahead.

6/7/12 at 12:00 PM on Grub Street Boston
Oreos
Comment

The Chinese Have Rectangular, Gum-Filled Oreos

By Kara Baskin

Circular and cream-filled, the way they should be.

There is a Kraft Foods "biscuit research lab" in China, where all sorts of peculiar snack and dessert ideas are executed. At this Austin Powers–like megaplex, "half science lab, half kitchen," white-coated researchers concoct marvels like chicken feet with pickled chili and rectangular Oreos stuffed with chewing gum instead of cream. Spoiler alert: This cookie didn't make it past the testing phase. Yet.

6/7/12 at 11:35 AM
Sweets
Comment

Sweets Report: It's Donut Day at the Trib, Take the (Free) Cannoli, and Candy History Saturday

By Michael Gebert

Fresh from the Vault.

The Trib does a pretty exhaustive roundup of doughnut news from all over; Phil Vettel looks at our matching set of three artisanal doughnut places, Doughnut Vault, Do-Rite Donuts and Glazed & Infused, here, and offers some other suggestions here (which could have used more bakeries— Fritz Pastry, Dinkel's, Swedish Bakery— and fewer fine dining places that just happen to have a doughnut somewhere on their dessert menu). With city doughnuts pretty well documented, the more intrepid doughnutologists look to the burbs and outlying communities, and Kevin Pang profiles Palatine's Spunky Dunkers.

6/7/12 at 11:15 AM on Grub Street NY
Overnights
Comment

Around the World in 80 Plates Recap: David Rees on Italian Grandmothers

By David Rees

Cat Cora knew she'd be the next one called in this game of Red Rover.Photo: Virginia Sherwood/Bravo

I must begin by thanking everyone who admitted to watching ATWI80P in last week’s comments. I’m happy to share my shame with you, as I believe all shame should be shared. Let us hold hands as we jump over the waterfall.

I’m drinking a martini!

6/7/12 at 10:23 AM
What To Eat
Comment

What to Eat and Drink at Stout Barrel House & Galley, Opening Tonight

By Michael Gebert

Photo: courtesy Stout Barrel House & Galley

When nightclub guys venture into gastropub territory, the result is River North's handsome new Stout Barrel House & Galley. The former Manor Nightclub has been transformed with a stout-colored interior making ample use of refurbished wood. The beer list covers many of the best craft breweries in Chicago (Half Acre, Metropolitan) and America, with 20 taps and another 30 in bottles. And the menu is creative comfort food with a seasonal spin from Chris Curren, who made a name for himself at the much-loved Blue 13. For lunch and dinner, that means it ranges from things like fried chicken and oxtail agnolotti to a ploughman's lunch; late nights are about food designed to soak up those craft beers like spare ribs and fish tacos; and for brunch on the weekends, it includes things like a Green Eggs & Ham Benedict. We just got the final opening menus, so check them out— five of them, for lunch, brunch, dinner, late night and beverages— below.

6/7/12 at 9:00 AM
Closings
Comment

Influential Lincoln Park Mainstay erwin To Close July 1

By Michael Gebert

Erwin Drechsler in the kitchen of erwin.Photo: courtesy Erwin Drechsler

One Lincoln Park/Lakeview restaurant which changed our restaurant scene forever, educating the yuppies of the 1980s and 1990s on food that was American, local and direct in its simplicity, Charlie Trotter's, is already closing. Now comes word that another spot which can lay claim to many of the same things, erwin, will be closing July 1. Chef-owner Erwin Drechsler and his wife Cathy will close their iconic neighborhood restaurant after 18 years, according to an email sent out to their mailing list last night.

6/7/12 at 8:30 AM on Grub Street NY
Jerry Coke
Comment

Jerry Seinfeld Not in Favor of Soda Ban, Prefers ‘Early Death’

By Taylor Berman

Dreaming of real Coke and Orange Crush.

Last night at the 2012 Baby Buggy Bedtime Bash, Grub Street caught up with Jerry Seinfeld about all things quenching and cavity-begging. A big fan of "the real-sugar Coke" as a kid and the man who once said "Breaking up is like knocking over a Coke machine. You can't do it in one push," his soda nostalgia still lives somewhere deep inside, hopefully in a place he can floss. "I don't think I'm in favor," he told us in private, while nutritious wife Jessica Seinfeld strolled the red carpet. But wait. It's not just for the taste of it ...

"Fatten them up, kill them off, and move them out."

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