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Sotto Breathes New Life into the Century-Old Italian Village

Maggie Hennessy

La Cantina inside Italian Village has been redesigned and updated into Sotto after decades of hosting memories like those made by Maggie Hennessy and her sister. Hennessy squares the new place against her traditions at the old. 

At Manny’s Deli, the Staff are the Beating Heart of a Multi-Generational Chicago Institution

Kathleen Hinkel

Manny’s Cafeteria & Delicatessen is a beloved Chicago institution, serving massive corned beef and pastrami sandwiches alongside pickles, thick potato pancakes, and golden matzo ball soup for nine decades now.

Chicago Restaurateurs Are Trying Out Alternative Models As the Industry’s Challenges Continue to Grow

Daniel Hautzinger

Parachute re-opens as a listening bar focused on music paired with casual food and drinks. Lula Cafe debuts a creative space for various ticketed events. In an adverse environment, independent restaurateurs are experimenting with new ways to succeed and survive.

What Does It Take for a Tiny Chicago Restaurant to Serve a New Menu Every Day While Wasting Almost Nothing?

Daniel Hautzinger

The dishes at Cellar Door Provisions are constantly being tweaked and refined according to the fresh ingredients they have, in an effort to keep things hyper-seasonal and generate as little waste as possible. 

A Chef Who Grows His Own Ingredients for His Restaurant

Daniel Hautzinger

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. 

As Morocco Defies Expectations at the World Cup, Discover One of Chicago's Only Moroccan Restaurants

Daniel Hautzinger

Morocco won a group containing the second- and third-place finishers in the last World Cup and then defeated the heavyweight Spain in the first knockout round of the 2022 World Cup. Khalid Kamal, the owner of the Moroccan restaurant Shokran, is rooting from them from afar, along with his family back in Morocco.

13 of Chicago's Most Iconic Diners

Jennifer Billock

Chicago is an outstanding food city—but you don’t have to eat at Michelin-star restaurants to enjoy the exceptional dining culture. The city’s (and suburbs’) diners are where Chicagoans of all types congregate for some quick, hearty food and hot coffee.

A Refugee Mother's Recipes Give Her Life and Inspire One of Chicago's Only Cambodian Restaurants

Daniel Hautzinger

Mona Sang opened Khmai Fine Dining, one of two Cambodian restaurants in Chicago, to share the recipes and culture of her mother, who fled the Khmer Rouge genocide and ended up in Chicago, where she supported herself and four children as a caterer. 

Memories of Chicago's Most Dearly Missed Restaurants, As Shared By Our Audience

Daniel Hautzinger

We asked our audience to tell us about closed restaurants that they sorely missed, and were delighted by the fond memories people shared of establishments throughout the city and suburbs, in a variety of cuisines. Is your favorite on the list?

A Day in the Life of a Fine Dining Restaurant

Daniel Hautzinger

What does it take to make a fine dining restaurant run smoothly—especially one like Avondale's Wherewithall, where the menu changes every week? A creative and organized chef de cuisine and multitasking general manager, for one. 

Ten of Chicago's Most Iconic Restaurants, Past and Present

Daniel Hautzinger

As iconic signs like Dinkel's and Orange Garden's disappear from Chicago, celebrate some of Chicago's most memorable restaurants, past and present, the kind of places where the surroundings are an inextricable part of the experience. 

Meet Chicago's James Beard Awards 2022 Semifinalists

Daniel Hautzinger

The list of semifinalists for the James Beard Awards has been released, and fifteen Chicago people and places in the food industry are on it. Meet them here.

Challenging the Culinary Industry's Gender Disparity by Helping Working Mothers

Daniel Hautzinger

Women are drastically under-represented as lead chefs in the restaurant business, but a new nonprofit aims to begin changing that. “I feel like the difficulties and the lack of systemic support for motherhood are a big part of why a lot of women drop out of this industry," says Beverly Kim.

Support Women-Owned Establishments During Women's Restaurant Week

Daniel Hautzinger

During Women's Restaurant Week, from August 26 through 31, you can support women-owned restaurants during the difficult times of the COVID-19 pandemic as some twenty establishments across Chicagoland offer various specials. 

Moving Beyond Phở at a Revamped Chicago Vietnamese Restaurant

Daniel Hautzinger

After remodeling, Lincoln Square's LC Phở n Grill reopened with an expanded menu that features harder-to-find Vietnamese dishes that the husband-and-wife owners workshopped while exploring Vietnamese restaurants in California.
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