Forget long road trips stuck in the car with squabbling siblings (although we had some of that, too): My 10-day trip to Italy completely redefined "family vacation." We spent a chunk of the trip holed up in a Tuscan villa, but we were officially there for my uncle's wedding, which took place in Rome at the magnificent Borghese Castle . Who knows? The next wedding I attend could be my own...
PLUS: A few spots to get your own trick-or-treat on
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Forget long road trips stuck in the car with squabbling siblings (although we had some of that, too): My 10-day trip to Italy completely redefined "family vacation." We spent a chunk of the trip holed up in a Tuscan villa, but we were officially there for my uncle's wedding, which took place in Rome at the magnificent Borghese Castle . Who knows? The next wedding I attend could be my own...
PLUS: A few spots to get your own trick-or-treat on
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Forget long road trips stuck in the car with squabbling siblings (although we had some of that, too): My 10-day trip to Italy completely redefined "family vacation." We spent a chunk of the trip holed up in a Tuscan villa, but we were officially there for my uncle's wedding, which took place in Rome at the magnificent Borghese Castle . Who knows? The next wedding I attend could be my own...
PLUS: A few spots to get your own trick-or-treat on
" />
Forget long road trips stuck in the car with squabbling siblings (although we had some of that, too): My 10-day trip to Italy completely redefined “family vacation.” We spent a chunk of the trip holed up in a Tuscan villa, but we were officially there for my uncle’s wedding, which took place in Rome at the magnificent Borghese Castle . Who knows? The next wedding I attend could be my own…
PLUS: A few spots to get your own trick-or-treat on
The Orbit Room presents a sleeker take on the corner-tavern theme.
Logan Square embraces its inner old man without falling asleep on its barstool
Window Treatment
“The South Side is hurting for restaurants,” says Dan McGee, a Chicago native who has worked in kitchens from Peru to Switzerland (and Charlie Trotter’s in between). So McGee repurposed his former Whittingham’s Gourmet Market as a 44-seat American restaurant called Dan McGee (330 W. Lincoln Hwy., Frankfort; 815-469-7750). The polished room is by Tom Nahabedian (who designed Naha for his cousin Carrie Nahabedian), and McGee’s menu has some interesting twists, like grilled halibut served on Asiago mashed potatoes with mushroom-shrimp compote. And that window that looks into the kitchen? “I wanted to see what was going on in the dining room, but the kitchen is so bright and the dining room is dark—I’m looking at…
One street. Two goals: making it from Evanston to downtown before dark, and trying as many places on Clark Street as humanly possible.
We scoured the city for the top offerings on Chicago’s world-class restaurant scene. From appetizer through dessert, from über haute pineapple rum soup to down-home juicy fried chicken, here’s your road map to the 124 yummiest dishes around.
C Food
Little by little, it seems every culinary star has begun setting his sights on Chicago. The latest is Marcus Samuelsson, the highly celebrated chef at New York’s Aquavit and Riingo, who announced his intention to open C House, a casual seafood restaurant in Streeterville’s Affinia Hotel (formerly the Fitzpatrick; 166 E. Superior St.), in March. “Chicago is an unbelievable food town,” says Samuelsson, 36. “And I want to be part of that.” C House’s menu will be full of crowd pleasers such as whole snapper for two, wild salmon, a lobster club sandwich, and a salmon burger—Samuelsson calls it “simplistic food built on great ingredients,” which may be a generic sound bite, but when a chef this talented says it, we take note. Look for an open kitchen in the dining room’s center to focus on small dishes, and rooftop seating to follow next summer…
Terrific Mexican food at Bien Trucha in downtown Geneva
One of Fox River Valley’s most highly anticipated openings in ages
Jacky’s Back
In January, Jacky Pluton, who flirted with four stars at Pluton a couple of years back, plans to open a traditional brasserie called Haussmann in the space that once housed MK North and Brasserie T (305 S. Happ Rd.; Northfield). “It will be a Chicago brasserie with Parisian flair,” says Pluton. “Some very rustic dishes, but some dishes will have more of a 2008 feel. We will do a lot of tableside, from rib eye for two to Dover sole to roasted chicken for two. And every day, we will have a baked fish in clay.” The restaurant, named for Baron Haussmann (a 19th-century French legend who rebuilt Paris under Napoleon III), is the latest attempt to succeed in a familiar address. “I think it is one of the best spaces in the North Shore,” says Pluton. “No one took advantage of it before. And I will be honest: I think…
