If you haven’t heard yet, Chicagoans are being asked to turn out the lights from 8 to 9 p.m. Saturday (click for details) as part of the World Wildlife Fund’s global movement shining the light on (pun intended) climate change. Since many of us will likely be out for the night, here are a few local spots where you can still feel like you’re doing your part.

Where: The lobby bar at Inn of Chicago 
What: Drink Eco-tinis ($14) made with Rain organic vodka, muddle raspberries and raspberry liqueur. Acoustic entertainment—and candlelight, natch—rounds out the night. As a bonus, guests get glow sticks. (Note: Save for your next rave.)

Where: Bluprint 
What: Lights are off: Sip Mother Earth on a Buzz cocktails ($5) made with Square One organic vodka, organic wildflower honey, lemon, mint leaves and lemongrass water

Where: Seasons restaurant at Four Seasons Hotel Chicago
What: Dine by candlelight from 8 to 11 p.m. Four Seasons restaurants around the world will be taking part too, from Sydney to Chicago.

Where: Cityscape  
What:  Sip themed cocktails by candelight. Check out The Energizer ($8) made with caffeinie- and taurin-infused V2 Vodka and cranberry and grapefruit juices.

Where: Cyrano's
What: It's a veritable festival of candles, promises Chef Didier. He'll offer dishes a la carte ($19.95 to $24.95) from braised beef Bourguignon, cassoulet, roasted goose, Bergerac coq au vin, rabbit fricasse with olives, lamb navarin with braised parsnips and more. Plus, he's running the promotion starting Thursday.

Where: Le Bar
What: Sofitel turns off the exterior lighting, but turns you on to a complimentary appetizer from 8-9 p.m.

Right now only two bands are confirmed--Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails--but starting at 10 a.m. tomorrow you can snag early bird tickets to Lollapalooza (Aug. 1-3) for $175. That's pretty steep, especially considering these tickets are limited and prices will increase later on. But if the overall fest lineup (to be announced April 7) is as exciting as Radiohead and NIN, it's worth it.

Click here for more info:

http://chicago.metromix.com/music/rock/lollapalooza-2008-grant-park-museums/329471/content

The nominees of the 2008 James Beard Foundation Awards were announced this morning, and Chicago earns its rep as a world-class place to get some grub -- provided you like mostly three- and four-star grub.

Alinea's Grant Achatz (pictured above) is again in the running for Outstanding Chef, while Graham Elliot Bowles (for Avenues, though he has recently announced his departure), Carrie Nahabedian (Naha) and Bruce Sherman (North Pond) make up three-fifths of the nominees for Best Chef: Great Lakes, a region that includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio.

Spiaggia is nominated for the Outstanding Service Award. Brain Duncan, wine director at Bin 36 is nominated for the Outstanding Wine Service Award. Mindy Segal (Hot Chocolate) is nominated as Outstanding Pastry Chef. Richard Melman of Lettuce Entertain you Enterprises is up for the Outstanding Restaurateur Award. The Santa Monica, Calif. design group Robert Louey Design is nominated for Outstanding Restaurant Graphics for its work with Sepia.

In Chicago media, Vince Gerasole from CBS2 Chicago work for Table for Two is nominated for Television Food Segment. WTTW's Geoffry Baer is nominated for "Foods of Chicago: A Delicious History" in the Television Food Special category.

Our question: Who's missing? If you were on the James Beard Foundation awards committee, who would you have nominated from Chicago?

When we heard Abt Electronics had added a full-service cafe and wine bar to their Glenview campus, we had one initial thought: Are they hoping people will go drink a bottle of wine and by a bigger TV? So we asked company president Mike Abt that very question.

“Yes,” he said, not missing a beat. Though Mike insists their reason for opening the restaurant stems from his father, CEO Bob Abt’s, long-standing desire to own an eatery, he admits they’ve seen good results by mixing electronics and booze in the past. “Sometimes we’d host charity parties in the store, and they’d cater the event and serve liquor, and we’d keep our store open an extra hour for these sorta-drunk people. It was easy sales. Our salesmen loved it; they all wanted to work that extra hour.”

Abt’s new eatery is called Jolane’s Cafe and Wine Bar. Read more about it in our round-up of off-the-radar spots around the suburbs.

Aside from never forgetting, an elephant also apparently never loses a fight, as “Horton Hears a Who!” topped the box office for the second straight week with $25.1 million. The Dr. Seuss adaptation held off a strong charge by “Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns,” (pictured above) which placed second with a solid $20 million. Not so solid were debuts for Joshua Jackson’s lame horror remake, “Shutter,” which was No. 3 with $10.7 million, and Owen Wilson “Drillbit Taylor,” which landed at No. 4 with $10.2 million.

Do these results mean Perry can do no wrong? Did you see any movies over the weekend, or were you too busy with the NCAA tournament?