Slurping Turtle

Zagat, publishers of the reader-review based Zagat Guides, has released its second-annual “30 Under 30” list of Chicagoans in the restaurant and hospitality business. The list, intended to recognize up-and-coming talents rather than...

Another month, another week of discounted dining. In January we had Chicago Restaurant Week; starting Sunday, and running through March 22, we have Chicago Chef Week, which will feature 75 restaurants offering three-course lunches for $22 and three-course...

Valentine's Day is one week away, and as some of you have already discovered, restaurant reservations are going fast. That's the bad news. The good news is that Valentine's Day is one of the biggest days of the year for reservation no-shows. So if the...

A roundup of restaurants reviewed in 2012 by critic Phil Vettel. Acadia ✭✭✭ 1639 S. Wabash Ave., 312-360-9500. Ryan McCaskey's gamble to place a luxury restaurant in the South Loop is, so far, paying off. People are crowding into...

If only it were so easy to pithily proclaim 2012 as the Year of the (fill-in-the-blank). But there's really no one thread that neatly ties together the Chicago restaurant scene these last 12 months. A restaurant that put Chicago on the culinary map 25...

I have this problem. I made more New Year's Eve reservations than I can use. More than 100 of them, actually. Which is why, for the 12th straight year (and the 17th time in the past 19 years), I'll be giving them away to nimble-fingered readers who ask....

Here's a mini tradition that I wish would catch on in a big way: New Year's Day pajama brunch. There's nothing quite so entertaining as sitting down to brunch in a room full of nominal adults wearing brightly colored flannel. Factor in the condition in...

Coffee is now good for you. According to a research study, it may help prevent Type 2 diabetes, Parkinson's, stroke and dementia as well as help you live a little longer. But java lovers know this: Another study says that drinking three or more cups of...

Laura Pincus Hartman stood before a congregation in a church just south of 75th Street, gazing at anticipatory faces.    The pastor had just finished preaching an hour-long sermon from the Gospel of Mark about Jesus healing a woman. Hartman was about...

Takashi Yagihashi, a fine-dining chef if ever there were one, is adjusting to life as a casual-restaurant owner. It probably helps that his new spot, Slurping Turtle, has been a runaway hit since its doors opened in late November. "I was hoping for a...