Soo-ee! Pig plays and pig outs in August in Chicago

In Chicagoland this month, there are pigs”you can watch … and other pigs you can eat. Don’t get them mixed up!

Dog lovers, take your pet to Naperville

Now you can tuck into tapas right alongside your faithful companion.
The Spanish spot Meson Sabika in Naperville has opened a special al fresco dining area just for dogs and their owners. A specialty menu offers doggie dinners with a choice of raw or cooked salmon, grilled chicken, and raw or cooked beef tenderloin, served [...]

Ach du Lieber, it’s Oktoberfest in Chikago

 
Oktoberfest season continues, with a lot of Chicago places that aren’t remotely German the rest of the year going all oompah.

Prost! on Paulina, West Lakeview, 6 p.m. TONIGHT.
The restaurants and bars around the Brown Line’s Paulina L stop host an Oktoberfest pub crawl, beginng at The night begins at Frasca Pizzeria and Wine Bar [...]

Rosemont excitement

Rosemont isn’t one of our favorite places, but somehow, between O’Hare and all the hotels and businesses around it, we wind up there pretty often. One of our mainstays has always been Harry Caray’s. Between the pastas, Italian fare, burgers and steaks, there’s something to satisfy everyone, and prices range from $12 for spaghetti [...]

Chicago celebrates the season of the pig

This has certainly been a pretty piggy summer so far. Contrary to pork producers’ fears, the swine flu pandemic seems only to have whetted our appetite for pigging out. Pig roasts and other porcine feasts are popping up all over the place.
I can remember when local restaurateurs used to complain they had trouble selling [...]

Deals on wining and dining

Savor the summer, wine lovers, with some cool deals for sipping and supping.

On Monday nights, nine selected white wines and nine reds, by the bottle, are half off with dinner at the West Loop’s N9ne.

Fleming’s in River North and Lincolnshire has extended its populer “567″ deal to last all night, every night, through the end [...]

Inovasi: New on the North Shore

 

California winemaker Craig Becker pours his limited-production wines — including the 2007 High Flyer Viognier, 2006 Priest Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon and 2005 Peacock Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon — from 6 to 9 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, June 10–11 at the brand-new Inovasi in Lake Bluff.
Chef John John des Rosiers (ex-Bank Lane Bistro) has just launched [...]

Ravinia Festival season returns

 
Ravinia season starts up Friday, June 5, with the Ravinia Festival Orchestra’s performance of “Camelot.”
A few more highlights of the coming season:

Friday, June 12: The world premiere of Ramsey Lewis’s “Proclamation of Hope.”

Saturday, June 20: Misha and Cipa Dichter perform the world premiere of an unpublished work by Felix Mendelssohn: “Seven Songs Without Words, [...]

They’re ba-a-ack!

Well, sorta. Two old Chicago favorites will return in the next few weeks, spruced up and done over.
Melvin B’s, 1114 N. State St., that favorite hangout of the Gold Coast, is about to reopen with a newly expanded interior. New owners Scott Weiner and Greg Mohr of The Fifty/50 and Mike Bisbee of RiNo [...]