Stories by Daniel Hautzinger

From January 24 through February 9, hundreds of restaurants offer special fixed price menus during Chicago Restaurant Week. Here are some participants that opened or revamped last year. 

A prominent criminal is captured and offers information about an enemy of the Empire, whom Oskar begins to suspect is a high-powered government traitor.

Acclaimed for their beer and pizza, Middle Brow has begun applying its local, sustainable approach to wine, sourcing grapes from Michigan and experimenting with hybrid varietals tailored to the climate there. They're opening a second location in the state.

Comfort seemed to be the through-line of our most viewed recipes this year, whether it was a simple dish or an elaborate classic that still warmed the home and heart.

The porky rice-and-pea dish Hoppin' John is often eaten on New Year's Day in the South. Try Cook's Country's adaptation of Gullah Geechee cook Emily Meggett's original version. 

A flu epidemic complicates the holidays in Poplar as medical staff in addition to residents are felled by the illness, while a prisoner escape frightens the community.

Add peppermint flavor to homemade thin mint cookies reminiscent of Girl Scout Cookies with this recipe from PBS's Adrianna Adarme of the Fresh Tastes blog.

Try something a little bit different for the holidays with this rich, slow-cooked northern Italian dish that's similar to boeuf bourguignon.

The fifth seasons of both shows return to WTTW and PBS in January, and we have new previews of both.

The Gold, written by the creator of Guilt and starring Hugh Bonneville, Emun Elliott, Stefanie Martini, and more, is about a 1983 robbery in England that was the largest-scale ever at the time. 

King Henry VIII has decided he wants to marry Jane Seymour, but first his trusted advisor must dethrone Anne Boleyn.

We have a premiere date and first look for the upcoming four-part adaptation of Gill Hornby's novel Miss Austen, about Jane Austen and her sister. 

Thomas Cromwell's final chapter is on the way in Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, for which we have a new video preview – along with a look at a few other upcoming dramas. 

Henry wants to be free of Anne Boleyn in favor of Jane Seymour, and charges Cromwell to enact the change. A terrifying accident shows Cromwell the precarity of his situation. 

Milk Street releases its first baking cookbook in the same year that it launches culinary tours. Director of education Rosemary Gill spoke to us about both, and the cooking school.