Tuscan cuisine highlighted at Winnetka cookbook dinner

  UPDATE: The event at Corner Cooks has been canceled. Johns will instead hold a limited, private cooking class at 1 W. Superior St., Chicago, on Aug. 31. Recipes covered include frittura di autunno, battered and fried fall flowers and vegetables; pan’ santo, bruschette with sauteed greens; ribollita, vegetable and bread soup; peposo, beef braised [...]

Tramonto tells all

Former Chicago chef Rick Tramonto, late of Trio in Evanston, Tru in Streeterville and Tramonto’s Steak & Seafood in Wheeling, tells the story of his life in a new book due out next month, “Scars of a Chef: The Searing Story of a Top Chef Marked Forever by the Grit and Grace of Life in [...]

Calling all Francophiles!

Chicago chef Jean Joho, chef-partner of Everest in the Loop and the as yet-unnamed concept due to replace his erstwhile Brasserie Jo in River North, will appear at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 28 at the Alliance Française of Chicago. The Alsace-born Joho is also proprietor of Eiffel Tower restaurant in Las Vegas and recently published [...]

Happy anniversary, ChicaGourmets!

It’s a lucky 13 for Chicagoland’s oldest and largest general dining club, some 700 members strong….

Is Chicago the capital of ‘molecular gastronomy’?

The launch of Moto’s “Future Food” TV show, together with closing of Ferran Adria’s groundbreaking El Bulli restaurant in Spain, positions Chicago as the world capital of molecular gastronomy.

Nahabedians to host a star-spangled evening

Chef Carrie Nahabedian and Michael Nahabedian, owners of Naha in River North, will host “Night of a Thousand Stars: Food for Thought,” at 6 p.m. Friday, April 16, at the Community House, 415 W. 8th St., Hinsdale. The Hollywood-themed evening of food, wine and spirits, music, auctions, and door prizes benefits Community Support Services, a [...]

Eat this! Whole-lemon pie, a legacy of the Shakers

This style of lemon pie is a specialty of a small religious group, The United Society of Believers, known as the “Shaking Quakers,” or “Shakers,” for their fervent worship services…. This version of the Shaker pie recipe comes from Chef Alain Roby’s new cookbook, “Alain Roby’s American Classics: Casual and Elegant Desserts.” Roby is the longtime executive pastry chef for the Hyatt Regency Chicago in the Loop

Coletta’s cuisine, simplified

Chef John Coletta of River North’s Quartino has a new cookbook out, “250 True Italian Pasta Dishes: Easy and Authentic Recipes.” The recipes are wide ranging, and in fact, the book offers much more than pastas, and even he admits that the recipes aren’t all “true Italian” (although most of them are), but they are [...]

This week on the foodie book tour beat

Two foodie book events are on the menu this week: Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François will kick off the promotional tour for their new cookbook, “Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day,” with a signing at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 28, at Borders in LaGrange. David Sax will give a talk and reading from his [...]

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 [...]