Openings
Open now: Tony Hu is hitting the suburbs again—following the success of an expansion into Evanston, he’s opened the latest location of Lao Sze Chuan in Skokie (9434 Skokie Blvd., Skokie, 847-677-4262).
Open now: The takeout-friendly café Real Kitchen has a second location now (3301 N. Sheffield Ave., Lake View, 773-857-1240), and this one’s a little more geared for sitting and eating—with 10 indoor seats as opposed to the original’s six, plus a BYO policy and a patio.
Thursday, July 17: The seventh Chicago outpost of coffee mini-chain Intelligentsia (1609 W. Division St., Wicker Park) will be ready to pour at 6:30 a.m. tomorrow morning in their newest coffeebar, which is all kinds of Scandinavian chic inside.
Thursday: Some quick-change action in Logan Square: Telegraph’s takeover and transition into the new home of Webster’s Wine Bar (2601 N. Milwaukee Ave., 773-292-9463) is finished—Webster’s had previously poured in Lincoln Park and closed up their original location in June.
Morsels
The dramatic story arc of TMIP (8734 W. 400 N., Michigan City) has officially come to an end. Brandon Baltzley’s attempt at a hard-core farm-to-table (literally—it was on a farm) restaurant was shut down by LaPorte County authorities just days after opening due to improper permitting. Without enough money to get up to code, Baltzley decided to officially pull the plug. He wrote on his website yesterday that he’ll be leaving the Midwest to focus on a calmer family life.
An intriguing dairy dessert special at Tanta (118 W. Grand St., River North, 312-222-9700): They’ll be serving a take on the Peruvian treat queso helado, which, in spite of its cheesy name, is made of a four-milk ice cream and comes topped with cinnamon, coconut, and a rice tuile.
Downtown lunchers, there’s a good meal deal at Tre Soldi (212 E. Ohio St., River North, 312-664-0212) between 11:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. They’ve got pizza by the slice for $3.50 (and that includes their specialty pies, such as one topped with fried eggplant). You can add a drink for $1.50—which means a meal for $5 total. Tre…sold!