Broadway in Chicago’s ‘101 Dalmatians’ a dog of a musical

“Cruella de Vil, Cruella de Vil, if she doesn’t scare you, no evil thing will….”
Was there ever a scarier, freakier villain than Cruella de Vil? The scrawny, witchy society dame determined to make dog-skin coats out of Dalmatian puppies is scarier than ever in “The 101 Dalmatians Musical,” playing in a short run at Cadillac [...]

Can you handicap Chicago’s Top Chef Masters?

We have upped the ante in our Top Chef Masters contest.

Earn triple points at Lettuce Entertain You today

Today is Triple Points Day at Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises! Members the restaurant group’s Frequent Diners program will threefold points toward future meals if they dine at participating restaurants today.
Lettuce Entertain You was the first Chicago chain to offer a Frequent Diners program, one of many innovations the company, perhaps the single most influential [...]

City of the big sandwiches: Four uncommon Chicago meals on a bun

Classic, uniquely Chicago sandwiches you may never have tasted
When it comes to sandwiches, Chicago is not polite. We don’t settle for dainty bites coolly eaten with little finger cocked. Chicagoans go for big, sloppy meals on a bun — hot, two-fisted, lean-forward food that leaves you licking your fingers.
The Chicago-style hot dog, of course, is [...]

Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble in Edgewater

City Lit Theater in Edgewater cooks up a gritty, physical version of “Macbeth,” Shakespeare’s spookiest tragedy, boiling with energy and full of sound and fury.
Rebecca Hamlin’s shadowy, cave-like set and Sean Mallory’s eerie lighting set the stage most effectively for this murderous tale, and Branimira Ivanova’s costumes — particularly the three witches’ — continue [...]

Eat this! Sformato, an airy, eggy, Italian way to use seasonal vegetables

What it is: A sformato is a molded dish from Italy, typically made with beaten eggs, and falling texturally midway between souffle and flan. It can be sweet or savory.
Sformati are frequently made with seasonal vegetables, but they can contain almost anything, even macaroni or chocolate. At Piccolo Sogno in West Town, Chef [...]

Coletta’s cuisine, simplified

Chef John Coletta of River North’s Quartino has a new cookbook out, “250 True Italian Pasta Dishes: Easy and Authentic Recipes.” The recipes are wide ranging, and in fact, the book offers much more than pastas, and even he admits that the recipes aren’t all “true Italian” (although most of them are), but they [...]

Top 10 Chicago restaurant recipes of 2009

The Dining Chicago blog hasn’t been around a whole year yet, and our weekly “Eat this!” recipe column has been going an even shorter time, but that isn’t going to stop us from giving you a list of our most popular recipes from 2009. The list below contains our most-visited recipes from local restaurants.

Petterino’s, Loop: [...]

21 cheap dates for New Year’s Eve in Chicago

If you’ve been putting off making New Year’s Eve plans because funds are short, don’t worry. You don’t have to spend a fortune to celebrate the end of 2009. Although, sadly, big municipal celebrations have fallen victim to the economy this year, there are still plenty of low-cost options for Dec. 31. Here are 21 [...]

Writers’ Theatre hosts a marvelous party of Noël Coward favorites

 
UPDATE: Extended through April 18. Also, see more Coward in Chicago.
Noël Coward (1899–1973) is one of the lasting symbols of the glamour and wit of the pre-World War II era. Playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, director, producer … but more than those: As Time magazine said of him, “Coward’s greatest single gift has not been [...]