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News Wed Feb 13 2008
Mmm, Midweek Links
• Schwa reopens tonight, and the Tribune has a look at its last 48 hours open, when Carlson and crew served the biggest chefs in the world and then abruptly closed, and some insight into the restaurant's return.
• Are restaurants really recycling?
• Starbucks will offer a couple hours of free wifi with purchase soon; in the meantime, they're going to close all its stores for a few hours on Feb. 27 to refresh barista's memories on how to make a decent espresso. (
• Nagrant thinks Sola's new monthly prix-fixe is a much better deal than Restaurant Week.
• In praise of expensive chickens.
• The Violet Hour and NYC's Death & Co. have organized a little bartender exchange. Considering Death & Co.'s recent near-death experience, this might be the ticket to help keep interest up while liquor license litigation lingers.
• Meantime, The Food Chain recommends you bypass the Slutty Bull (which is not served at the Violet Hour.)
• And seriously, how do you determine your Scotch tastes like urine? [via]
• It's sad that a bar is best known not for its cocktails but for a sultry version of the Statue of Liberty, but you take what you can get in Hoffman Estates. (Also, is that the best shot of Lady Liberty Metromix could muster?)
• Be choosy about your chocolate this Valentine's Day. From Vosges, perhaps. Or Bleeding Heart Bakery's organic chocolate handgun.
• Joelen certainly has some serious chocolate mojo.
• Centerstage would like you to consider some of the erotic foods beyond chocolate... uni and oysters, for instance.
• Mmm, sandwiches. Chicago MenuPages' users meditate on stuff between bread, while Time Out's Scott Smith dismisses Esquire's "best sandwiches in America" list as old news, Chicago-wise. Meanwhile Chuck Sudo likes Bagel Art's Fat Frank. (I'd opt for Chicago Bagel Authority's Bowler's Bagel. Steamed is better.)
• Blue Kitchen is on a slow-cooking kick, with recipes for oven braised beef stew and Moroccan braised beef.
• Follow up that meaty dish with a decadent limoncello tiramisu.
• And for the morning after, coffee and cinnamon rolls.
• Thinking of Drinking profiled former Drive-Thru contributor Tim Lacey, beverage manager for the Spring Restaurant Group.
• A little Blackbird foodporn.
• Not sure if it's worth driving to Naperville for dinner, but Macarena Tapas sounds great.
• It's a good time of year for smoking meat outdoors. Yes, really.
