20 ways to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago

 

Celebrate the ‘Celtic Muse’ at Davenport’s, Wicker Park, 8 p.m. tonight and Friday, March 19, $15 plus two-drink minimum. Gillian Kelly and Claire Bigley perform Irish favorites such as “The Nightingale,” “Finnegan’s Wake,” and “The Rising of the Moon.” $3 Harps and Guinness, too.

Visit the Irish American Heritage Center, Irving Park, through March 20. Events begin [...]

Two rivers: Drinking green in Chicago this St. Patrick’s Day

Who cares if they don’t tint beer green in Ireland?
I don’t know who first thought of green beer, but in a town that has — despite canceling one — still boasts two other St. Patrick’s Day parades, I shouldn’t have to tell you why green-tinted beer is a Chicago thing, or when and where [...]

Free Irish whiskey for St. Patrick’s Day

If you don’t start in the morning, you can’t drink all day. Binny’s Beverage Depot celebrates St. Patrick’s Day from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, March 17, with a free breakfast open house featuring Irish scones and coffee made with Feckin’ Irish Whiskey, plus music from the City of Chicago Pipers. The event takes place [...]

Has bacon jumped the shark?

It’s been nearly four years since I first wrote about the sizzling trend of bacon, and presenting — only slightly tongue-in-cheek — my signature recipe for bacon-wrapped bacon. That was just after John Scalzi taped bacon to his cat.
Bacon was still going strong more than a year later, when Pilsen Chef Justin Hall (Fig Catering) [...]

Lent 2010: 20 Chicago-area Friday fish fry favorites

A flotilla of deep fryers is going full tilt at local restaurants and bars. It’s Lent, the season of the fish fry, when Roman Catholics, some 2.5 million strong here in the Chicago area, and some other Christians seek out seafood each Friday throughout the 40-day, pre-Easter period of abstinence.

Check out these spots for your Friday fish fix.

Can you handicap Chicago’s Top Chef Masters?

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

Gung hay fat choy! Chicago Chinese New Year celebrations

With a clash of cymbals and the bang of drums and firecrackers, as well as traditional dragon parades and lion dances, the Asian New Year will explode into the Chicago area on Sunday, Feb. 14, with a variety of events at restaurants and around town.
Chinese legend says the noise and dancing animals chase away evil [...]

Can Chicago keep the Top Chef Masters title? Tell us and win

Graham E. Bowles
David Burke
Tony Mantuano
M. Samuelsson
Rick Tramonto

 
UPDATE: Prizes announced! Be first to pick the ending position of all five Chicago chefs and you can host a segment of Dining Chicago on TV with David Lissner at one of Chicago’s most famous restaurants, along with dinner. For 10 others who come closest, there will be [...]

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 [...]

10 top spots to spend Super Bowl Sunday in Chicagoland

The New Orleans Saints take on the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV on Sunday, Feb. 7. You could stay home and watch it on your dinky TV, but then you’d have to fix your own food and drinks. Here are some great alternatives around Chicago and the suburbs.

Murphy’s Bleachers Super Bowl Pig Roast, [...]