Food
New Restaurants Coming to the Chicago Area in Summer 2026
The days have once again begun their inexorable shortening, but it's a long time before those summer evenings perfect for a patio, cocktail, or sweet treat disappear.
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Fatima Zabiha Foods was started by a Pakistani immigrant who realized that "halal" meat in the U.S. was ill-defined. He wanted meat that conformed to his expectations. Now Chicago is a leading provider of halal meat, and Fatima continues to grow.
Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson is the second Black man to be elected to office (Eugene Sawyer was appointed), almost 40 years after Harold Washington won election to become the first Black mayor of Chicago.
Farro risotto "has some room for error," says Chef Devon Quinn of the Avondale restaurant Eden. "Compared to a regular risotto with rice that you can overcook, farro is a lot more lenient."
Devon Quinn operates not just the Avondale restaurant Eden and the various catering businesses of The Paramount Group, but also grows a wide variety of plants for their use in a greenhouse. "It’s just about that connection from earth to plate,” he says.
Louis-Auguste and Marie Antoinette are to make their first official trip to Paris, but an outbreak of illness in the king threatens plans, and has the young couple faced with prospect of becoming king and queen.
Romances are being stymied left and right, both by participants (Lady Denham, Beatrice, Charlotte, Lord Montrose) and outside forces such as Alexander Colbourne. A crisis is brewing.
Nurse Crane's competence is called into question as the board of health questions whether she should retire, while a gastroenteritis outbreak at the clinic necessitates a quarantine.
Blancmange is similar to panna cotta, a simple custard-like set dessert that was once quite popular, especially in Europe. Try a recipe for it from Call the Midwife: The Official Cookbook.
“It’s a totally bonkers period,” says Annie Gray, a food historian and the author of a new cookbook focusing on British food from 1956-1970, the era of Call the Midwife. But the food "tells us so much about social attitudes" and more, she says.
The king begins to take an interest in Marie Antoinette and hates being caught in the middle of her rivalry with Madame du Barry, as Provence searches for his own wife.
Georgiana faces opprobrium in a trial that could take away her fortune, as Samuel tries to defend her and an old flame resurfaces. Charlotte's feelings towards Alexander warm again, while Augusta has her own growing romance.
Trixie has decided to learn to cook before her marriage to Matthew. Nancy has fallen into trouble but doesn't want to tell anyone. Shelagh helps a mother and daughter sundered by a difficult diagnosis, and Sister Veronica aids a woman with an abusive husband.
With a mayoral runoff election next week, more expressway traffic, and plans for a busy summer in Grant Park, there were plenty of headlines to keep up with in Chicago this month. Take our March news quiz.
The final, ninth season of Endeavour, which consists of three episodes, has an airdate. It will also be accompanied by a new mystery, and a special looking back on the show.
Even today there is a huge disparity in the number of women head chefs, but achieving success in the food industry earlier on was even less common. Meet some of the women who influenced Chicago and America's attitudes towards food.
