There's a mini restaurant/bar boom on North Broadway. We already told you about El Mariachi, which opened last week, but we can't wait until Finley Mahony's opens just a few blocks south on the corner of Waveland Avenue and Broadway. Owner Dominc O'Mahony -- who named the pub after his 5-month old -- is working his butt off this weekend to open by next week. Here's how it looked as of Wednesday.

The spot: Visiting Uptown's Cafe Too gives you two ways to feel good about yourself: First, you're supporting a project of the Inspiration Corporation, which helps those in need gain culinary skills and experience. Second, you're eating fresh, reasonably healthy food. A Saturday prix-fixe menu is a steal at just $16. The meal starts off with an appetizer such as green bean tempura with sweet Thai chili and soy sauce, or spicy chicken and pine nut wontons, then moves into entrees like teriyaki-glazed salmon or spicy vegetable tofu stir-fry. Finish off with dessert such as housemade cheesecake. In addition to a comfortable, green, yellow and brick-walled indoor space, Cafe Too offers sidewalk seating.

The bottle: Wine store pickings in the area are a little slim. Head a bit north to In Fine Spirits, where the service is friendly and the selection is solid. Owner Shane Kissack recommends a bottle of Marco Real Rose, a Grenache-based wine with hints of strawberry and raspberry sweetness, making it good for both a summer day and a dish with some spice to it. And priced at 10 bucks a bottle, it's another steal. --Allison Knab

Apparently, there's pent-up demand for another El Mariachi. A Wednesday-night crowd jammed  the bigger, more modern location on North Broadway, which opened last week across from the closed-for-now original (tiny El Mariachi II, however, further south on Broadway is still open). It took about 30 minutes to get a seat, but a pitcher of Cadillac Margaritas kept us happy enough. Our carne asada dinner was fine -- if not exactly riveting. The real problem: cheap cutlery. I thought my knife was going to snap in a half as I sawed through the steak. One tip: When you go, be sure to insist on what our server called the "molcajete salsa" instead of that rather mild pico de gallo they usually bring with your nacho chips. We left, however, with one nagging question: Who is that man staring at us from the ceiling? We put a call into the manager to try to get an answer. Until we hear back, we'd love to ask you if you have any guesses. (Click the picture for a larger view)

You took your sweet time snagging tickets to this year's Pitchfork Music Festival, and, well, you're now officially out of luck. One-day, two-day, and three-day passes were available for the fest--held July 13-15 at Union Park and featuring Yoko Ono, Girl Talk, Sonic Youth and more--but event organizers announced today that the massive music weekend is totally sold out. The good news for those timely people who already bought tickets is that set times were released today as well, allowing you to plan for which bands to see and start complaining about who you can't see because it conflicts with somebody else you love. (Must we choose between New Pornographers and up-and-coming dance party starters Klaxons?) Are you upset you didn't grab tickets sooner? What conflicts bug you on the schedule? Is Pitchfork just a warm-up for Lollapalooza, or is the smaller fest better because it simply offers fewer bands that you aren't seeing?

After a couple of quick shots of the chefs puttering about back at the Fountainebleau and a lingering shot of a goodbye note from Sandee, who was sent packing last week, Episode 3 opens in the GE Monogram Kitchen.

In this week's Quickfire Challenge, the chefs must "catch" shellfish from a murky tank in 30 seconds and prepare a dish using their haul in 30 minutes.

Crayfish go flying. Hung takes more than his fair share. Tre's net gives out on him and he ends up with a rather sorry-looking catch.

Everyone seems to be talking about the conch-what they'll do with it and how to work with it. Seems like a lot of work for a 30-minute challenge.

Dale sums it up nicely, if not eloquently: "We have half an hour to come up with a great shellfish dish, and I don't really have time to dick around with a conch."

Heh, heh. He said conch.

Micah proceeds to attack said conch with kitchen shears. Howie attempts the obvious: ceviche. Brian subscribes to a "less is more" approach, preparing a simple dish of steamed shellfish in white wine.

Dale whips up a spicy Italian sausage with tomato sauce, topped with a sunny egg. Though he incorporates scallops into the sausage, his is probably the farthest thing from a seafood dish that any of the 13 chefs present, and this worries us. (Not sticking to the parameters of the challenge cost Sandee last week, after all.) But this week's guest judge, Alfred Portale, chef and owner of the Gotham Bar and Grill in New York, doesn't seem to notice. Or maybe he just doesn't care. He thinks it has good flavor.

Bottom three honors go to Camille (who?), Tre (surprising) and Micah (not surprising). Camille's tea-heavy flavors are overpowering. Tre's proportions are off. And Micah's conch salad is just not right.

Brian's simple preparation of steamed shellfish wins, giving him immunity.

Next up: Elimination Challenge. The chefs must update much-loved family dinner classics like tuna casserole and sloppy joes, creating modern, lower cholesterol meals for their guests. They have $75 and 30 minutes to shop before cooking for one hour, on location, for two generations of members at the Miami Elks Lodge.

Dale reminds us that his cooking style is based in reinventing classic dishes; we think this challenge should be a walk in the park for him. He plans to draw on his Russian-Lithuanian heritage to create a twist on chicken and dumplings. Instead of doughy dumplings, he'll play on a Lithuanian dish of pierogi-like pockets filled with chicken.

Then we see him at the market with a box of instant potatoes in his hand.

Tall C.J. think that's bulls**t, and says as much. We have a brief flashback to the wedding-cake-from-a-box controversy from Season 1. But really, anyone who's ever made mashed potatoes for a dinner party and found themselves up to their elbows in mash and butter right about the time the doorbell rings feels Dale's pain here. You can't blame the guy. Besides, he fesses up immediately when Tom comes around-and he's using them as an ingredient in his dough, not trying to pass them off as a homemade side dish. It's a smart move.

Service begins, and things go downhill quickly for the chefs. Tall C.J.'s take on tuna casserole is messy, and some of the colors floating about on the plate remind us of lake algae. It's followed by equally unimpressive versions of chicken a la king and franks 'n' beans.

Judge Ted Allen sums things up for the group: "We're in serious need of some Wow here. We've had three courses of Not Wow."

The skies open and down floats Dale, bowls of chicken-filled potato dumplings prepared with broccoli, horseradish and celery root in hand. Wow.

Ted appreciates that Dale seared the outside of the dumplings to add texture. Someone from the Elks club loves the sauce. Tom says very little, but nods approvingly, which is usually a good sign. Nobody mentions instant-tasting mashed potatoes. Padma declares the dish a winner.

We see a few more dismal dishes, and it's clear from the editing that our boy Dale is going to come out near the top. Indeed, he ends up in front of the judges' table with Howie, whose interpretation of a pork chop with applesauce drew raves from the Elks. Dale's dish was good, the judges agree, but Howie's was better. Howie wins a stack of Alfred Portale's cookbooks and a week in the kitchen at the Gotham with Portale and his staff.

Tall C.J.'s tuna casserole, alternately described by the judges as "frightening" and a "green blob" assures him a place in the bottom five. Yes, five. In what we believe is an unprecedented move on 'Top Chef," the judges have called five chefs before them. We're feeling pretty sorry for the Miami Elks right about now.

Micah's dry meatloaf, with its "odd aftertaste," earns her a place at the table too. She's joined by Lia, who undercooked her lentils in an all-around boring take on franks 'n' beans, and Sara M., who clearly had no idea what chicken a la king was before she attempted to reinterpret it. (Not necessarily a bad thing, if you ask us.) And though he has immunity, Brian is called out specifically so the judges can scold him for using lobster, which is loaded with cholesterol, in his dish. Also, the judges are growing tired of Brian's seafood dishes, and they want to remind him that there are other fish in the sea. And those fish are cows, pigs and chickens.

Padma asks Micah to please pack her knives and go, and she does.

This week was Dale's best showing yet, instant potatoes and all. And the carefully produced previews of Episode 4 lead us to believe that he goes before the judges table again next week-we just don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. We do know that the chefs will work in teams for the first time in the next episode, and this is often the point in the show when things start to shake down. Does Dale play well with others? Is he a leader in the kitchen? Moreover, was his performance this week just an instant potato-fueled fluke? We can't wait to find out.

Did you see the show last night? What do you think? Here's what our friends at The Stew are saying.

We have to admit, we were surprised by chef Charlie Trotter's generosity at the Share Our Strength's Taste of the Nation Chicago fundraiser Monday night at the River East Arts Center. After all, he was on-site to pick-up his award as Chicago's most sustainable chef from SOS, but he threw attendees a curve ball by auctioning himself, sort of. Trotter put an eight-course sustainable ingredient-focused dinner for 10 (served at his house) on the auction block, and he sweetened the deal by adding courses prepped by Graham Elliot Bowles (Avenues) and Michael Kornick (MK), plus guests get to raid his personal wine cellar with master sommelier Serafin Alvarado, and they'll get to meet Tallgrass Beef founder Bill Kurtis. Deep-pocketed foodies went in for the kill- the dinner netted $16,000. But we were kinda confused by the final results - sounded to us like Trotter ended up adding two more dinners for 10, but in the bidding frenzy it was hard to tell. Event manager Pam Gross settled the issue for us this afternoon; three lucky groups of 10 scored dinner at Sir Trotter's casa, shelling out a fat grand total of $48,500, which will go towards ending childhood hunger (SOS supports local agencies like the Greater Chicago Food Depository and Vital Bridges).

Bad news, culture hounds: Beloved South Loop performance space HotHouse is closing--temporarily. At least, we hope it's temporary. The popular art and music venue, founded in 1987 and known for eclectic bands, intimate art exhibitions, theater workshops and much more, will leave East Balbo Drive at the end of July, with plans to move to an as- yet undetermined location. Signature events--such as the Jazz En Clave Festival--that are held by the non-profit organization will be moved to other Chicago venues in the meantime, and regular programming will be reduced in the short term to prepare for the move. Business director Marc Harris sounds confident that this is the best thing for Hothouse, but we just hope that it will find a new home sooner than the Jazz Showcase, the historic downtown jazz club that closed in January and has yet to find a new location. After all, when HotHouse departed its Wicker Park location in 1995, it didn't officially reopen until 1998. Will you head to HotHouse before it closes? Where else do you go to whet your cultural appetite? When a venue says they're moving, do you worry that they're kaput?

Despite the obvious lameness of the family comedy sequel, audiences shuffled in two by two to see Steve Carell build an ark in "Evan Almighty," which topped the box office this weekend with $32.1 million. A few asterisks, though: *The movie cost more than $175 million. *It was expected to make upwards of $40 million over the weekend. *"Bruce Almighty" raked in $68 million in its first weekend in 2003, more than double the take for "Evan." Well, it just goes to show that $175 million may be a bit much to spend on CGI animals and an over-the-top and borderline offensive flood finale.

An unqualified success was John Cusack's "1408," which took second with $20.2 million and reversed the recent cold streak for horror flicks like "Hostel: Part II," which brought in less than $10 million in its opening weekend two weeks ago. Did you help Cusack turn things around for the horror genre? Will you see Steve Carell in anything, even "Evan"? Which are you more excited for this week: Bruce Willis' sequel "Live Free or Die Hard," Pixar's "Ratatouille" or Michael Moore's "Sicko"?

With Gay Pride weekend here, it brings to mind one of the first articles I wrote for Metromix, "Pride on a Plate," about gay-friendly restaurants (or as I so cheekily put it, where "'family-friendly' doesn't necessarily mean highchairs and Happy Meals"). The 2003 article holds up pretty well today: Of the eight restaurants mentioned, only three -- She She, Buddies, and The Room -- have closed. Tweet, despite a brief flirtation as a dinner spot, has reverted exclusively to the breakfast/brunch menu we first described. As for the rest: Ann Sather, Jin Ju, Las Mananitas, and Firefly are still among the town's faves. If I were writing the list today, I'd be sure to include Boystown's Adesso, HB...Home Bistro, pan-Asian siblings Pingpong and Wakamono, Andersonville's Hamburger Mary's, Ole Ole, and Anteprima, and well, so many others. But to get a real sense of how much dining options have improved for same-sex couples over the years, you need to read Rick Karlin's excellent article for the Chicago Free Press "Memory Lane: Chicago's hottest gay dining spots over the years." Chicago history buffs and foodies alike will get a kick out of it.

Nine years have passed since the last time the American Film Institute (AFI) compiled its list of the 100 greatest American movies ever made, but once again, Orson Welles' 1941 masterpiece "Citizen Kane" deservedly tops the list. Some strange changes have been made, though. "Casablanca," formerly No. 2, and "The Godfather," formerly No 3., have switched places. No complaints about having those up there, but what happened in the last decade to make "The Godfather" (1972) better than "Casablanca" (1942)? The popularity of "The Sopranos"?

Aside from a variety of shake-ups--somehow Martin Scorsese's "Raging Bull" jumped from No. 24 to No. 4 and the John Wayne Western "The Searchers" leapt from No. 96 to No. 12--there were also some newbies: 2001's "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" (No. 50), 1998's "Saving Private Ryan" (No. 71), 1997's "Titanic" (No. 83) and 1999's "The Sixth Sense" (No. 89). To that, we say "Whaaaa?" We're in favor of the addition of the first LOTR (by far the series' best), but people thought "Titanic" was lame about five minutes after it won Best Picture. "Saving Private Ryan" is one of Spielberg's great directing efforts but not one of his strongest movies overall. And "The Sixth Sense" not only doesn't truly hold up over time--does anyone like it as much the tenth time as they did the first?--but M. Night Shyamalan's career since then (including "Unbreakable," "Signs," "The Village," "Lady in the Water") proves his "I see dead people" thriller was nothing but a fluke. (Sorry if we just ruined the ending.)

If we're adding movies from the last decade, how about "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" or "American Splendor"? "Requiem for a Dream"? Or last year's "Children of Men"?

What do you think about the list? What should have made it? What shouldn't?

We tuned in for a second week tonight to keep tabs on hometown chef Dale Levitski as he battles it out for culinary glory on season 3 of Bravo's "Top Chef." Here's how it played out.

SPOILER ALERT!!

The show opens back at the Fountainebleau. Everyone brags or gripes about various things that went down on last week's episode. Then it's off to the GE Monogram Kitchen to learn about the week's quickfire challenge: "to create a delicious dish incorporating gorgeous Florida citrus." We also meet guest judge Norman Van Aiken, godfather of South Florida cuisine. And we notice for the first time that C.J. is really, really tall.

The chefs chop and squeeze and sautee. We wonder how Dale-a chef accustomed to working in the sensible Midwest, where everyone knows that blood oranges don't just grow on trees-will fare in this fruity, Florida-inspired quickfire.

Dale comes through, whipping up a citrus salad of watercress, Belgian endive and shaved fennel soaked in pastis, accompanied by a lemon-poppyseed and goat cheese blob of some sort. It sounds kind of tasty, but Norman thinks it might have needed a bit of olive oil to balance all of the sunny citrus flavors. Norman's being a tad harsh all around, so it's hard to tell if this is a make-or-break criticism.

Dale pulls through. Micah and Sandee surprise us by landing in the bottom three. Tall C.J., Tre and Hung are the top three. Hung wins for his slow-roasted sea bass with a salad of watercress and radish in a citrus sauce. Of course, as he tells us, he didn't expect anything less.

On to the elimination challenge. Oops-we mean the Kingsford Charcoal Elimination Challenge. The chefs are to prepare food for a gourmet barbecue thrown by Miami foodie Lee Schrager. They'll have 30 minutes and $200 to shop, two hours to prep and two hours to cook.

We see Micah on the verge of a breakdown in the produce section. We see Brian making seafood sausage. We see Sandee practicing tai-chi in her pajamas on the balcony at the Fountainebleau. We see lots of Glad products. But we don't see much of Dale.

Cut to elimination challenge. Lee Schrager welcomes everyone to his Moet & Chandon Barbecue. (Wait, isn't it a Kingsford barbecue? Forgive us, the Miami heat must be getting to us ... or maybe it's just this dizzying array of product placement.)

The chefs cook; Tom does his walk-throughs. Still, we hear nothing from Dale. But we do hear this gem from Joey: "From what I hear, Howie's dish tastes like sawdust. You know, you do something like that in New York, you're going home." And this one: "He's a kiss-ass. That's why he moved to Vegas-cuz he can't hang in New York." Note to Joey: You're in Miami now. And we're tired of hearing about how you're from New York.

The chefs pack up their things. There's a lot of trash lying about. Good thing there are Glad ForceFlex trash bags handy.

Back at the judge's table, everyone agrees that today's food was pretty good. Still, someone has to go. At this point, we're pretty sure it's not Dale. Except for a brief shot of him standing in the kitchen at the Fountainebleau and looking sleepy, we haven't heard a thing from him since the first commercial break.

The judges talk among themselves. One thing leads to another and ... gasp! ... Hung and Tre both fall from grace. Tre's salmon is called "salty" and "bland," and Norman ventures that he didn't use enough acid. Hung's dish was too simple. Brain's seafood sausage, on the other hand, was very interesting.

Sara N., Brian and Micah are in the top three. Brian wins.

That's nice, but seriously: Where the heck is Dale?? We're starting to worry about him.

Howie, Joey, Sandee and Tre are called before the judge's table. Sandee's vanilla-poached lobster is accused of not being a barbecue dish. "There's three little words that go with barbecue: low and slow," Norman tells us. Huh? Isn't that two words? Since when do conjunctions count? Whatever. It's clear that Sandee's dish was neither low nor and nor slow

Padma asks Sandee to pack her knives and go, and she does.

The chefs are shocked. Sandee, according to Hung, "is a really cool girl." We're kind of surprised too. But mostly, we're worried about Dale. Is he OK? What could possibly have happened to him after the quickfire challenge?

We're thinking this sort of editing-his total absence from the storyline, we mean-can't bode well for a contestant. Are there any other theories out there?

Finally, could Sandee's departure mean anything for Dale? He is the last of the mohawk-ianed now, after all.

The spot: The brick walls, sharp lines and wood ceiling of this newish Lincoln Park Vietnamese spot Simply It are a welcome dash of calm amid Lincoln Avenue's overabundance of sports bars and fast food joints. Dishes range from salads to soups to rice noodles and curry, but seafood dishes really shine-not surprising given the Southeast Asian nation's nearly 1,800 miles of coastline. A get-it-while-it-lasts special features two tempura-style softshell Maryland crabs served with grilled eggplant ($11.50). But don't panic if you miss the window on the crabs-other tasty seafood dishes are permanent features. The grilled shrimp pasta ($8.50) combines perfectly plump shellfish with vermicelli noodles, cilantro and mint, and a crispy red snapper ($17.50) is flavored with a chili, garlic and lime sauce.

The bottle: The usual suspects for Asian cuisine work equally well with Simply It's seafood dishes, says Margaret Hlavaty, French and Italian supervisor at Sam's Wine and Spirits, including Alsatian options like gewurztraminer and riesling. If you've already had your fill of gewurztraminer for the summer, though, Hlavaty says a French or even a California syrah, both lighter than an Aussie shiraz, will go surprisingly well with spicy seafood dishes. She suggests the 2004 Earl Lemenicier Cornas ($33.99) from France.  -- By Allison Knab, metromix special contributor

He died about, oh, 107 years ago, but Chicago's on the cusp of an Oscar Wilde throwdown, with dueling pubs about to open, both paying homage to the Irish-born wit. The first, Wilde Bar and Restaurant, is slated to debut at 3130 N. Broadway in the former Tru Value space this fall. Owner Martin Cournane has been teasing the neighborhood for weeks with posters that include Wilde's most famous quotes.

Later this year, owners of Uptown's Crew Bar and Grill will open The Wilde Pug (we're already picturing a dog reading poetry). Owners say this will be exactly the kind of gay bar Oscar would have loved. Well, we can picture him cozied up by the fireplace that's planned for the front bar, but we're not so sure we'd see him shaking it with some hot studs on the 700-square-foot dance floor as VJs keep the party going. Lord Alfred Douglas, on the other hand...

Turns out that "Top Chef" and the "The Next Food Network Star" aren't the only places cutting chefs this summer--Chicago kitchens are replacing their top toques faster than their tablecloths. First Eric Aubriot makes a hasty exit from Alhambra Palace, weeks after opening. Next, Aaron Whitcomb, says he can't take the heat at Room 21, and gets out of the kitchen after only about a month. Now, Moto's planned sibling restaurant, Otom, has replaced its exec chef -- and they're not even open yet. After "creative differences" with owner Joe Devito, say the restaurant's reps, Chris Jones is being replaced by another Moto sous chef, Daryl Nash, 33. The opening of the Warehouse District spot, however, is still on target for July 11.

If the (failing) FOX reality show "On the Lot" made you want to support your local filmmakers, now's your chance.

Through June 30, you can go online and vote for more than 200 full-length features and short films competing in the Independent Features Film Festival. One of those flicks is "Alleyball," a comedy about commitment from Chicago writer-director Dan Consiglio. The top 21 finalists in each category score a screening at New York's Tribeca Cinemas July 27-29. The best part? If you've got the time, you can watch every film in its entirety on the fest's site before you vote for your faves. Or just watch "Alleyball" here: http://www.independentfeatures.com/IFWeb/MovieDetails.aspx?id=32  Sorry, if you want to trek to New York to see the flicks on the big screen, the plane ticket's on you.

Finally! We've found a beer garden for people who wouldn't be caught dead in a beer garden and a library for people who wouldn't be caught dead reading a book! Ultra-fancy NoMi's Garden and Lounge menu now offers a "Library Selection" for "high-brow brews." We love it!

The current list includes seven small-batch craft beers specially selected for these rising summer temps. Among the selections: A $70, 750ML bottle of 2002 DeuS Brut des Flandres from Belgium. (That's the size of your typical bottle of wine.) A little bit more down to earth -- and closer to home -- is Goose Island Reserve Pere Jacques ($12).

Audiences don't seem to care if "Fantastic Four" is fantastic or not. The dopey sequel "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" glided its way to number one this weekend, taking in $57.4 million to beat the $56.1 million opening weekend for the first "Fantastic Four" in 2005. The week's only other wide release, the decent kid flick "Nancy Drew," couldn't solve the mystery of putting people in the seats, coming in at number seven with $7.13 million. Previous chart-toppers "Ocean's Thirteen," "Knocked Up," and "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" continue to hold strong in the two, three and four slots.

What did you think of "Fantastic Four"? Would you have seen "Nancy Drew" if you were, um, 12? Can Steve Carell save next week's "Bruce Almighty" sequel, "Evan Almighty"?

It's on. Local chef Dale Levitski came out with knives a-blazin' in tonight's "Top Chef" premiere. But did he make the first cut? Read on for a recap. But first, here it is by the numbers:

Mohawks: 2
"Gotta have passion" tattoos: 1
Glad commercials: 3
False testicles: 1
Arrogant, foul-mouthed New York chefs: 1
Chefs remaining: 14

SPOILER ALERT!

Here's what went down:

Within minutes of arriving, the chefs are presented with their first quick-fire challenge: create an amuse bouche using only ingredients from the buffet they've been grazing while getting acquainted.

Our boy Dale whips up an amuse of beef tenderloin wrapped with blue cheese, grape and sliced radish. Apparently having a Chicago-inspired W.W.G.D. (What Would Grant Do?) moment, he presents it on an herbed utensil.

Kindly, Tom says nothing about the awkward sprig of rosemary wrapped around the fork. He does, however, proclaim Dale's choice of blue cheese "a little too aggressive for a first bite." Dale lands in the bottom three. He's never really at risk, though: We knew the moment we saw Clay's disaster-in-a-Granny-Smith-apple that the sweet but in-over-his-head Southerner would spare everyone else the humiliation of finishing last in the season's first quick-fire challenge.

The gang heads off to check out their fabulous digs at the Fountainbleau. Ooh, ahh. Season 3 is set in Miami.

Next morning, everyone gathers in what we will likely refer to as the Kenmore Pro Kitchen several times throughout this season. But this is not the Kenmore Pro Kitchen. Someone has slipped in and replaced all of the Kenmore appliances with GE Monogram hardware.

In the GE Monogram Kitchen, the chefs learn that they will be working with exotic proteins-geoduck, black chicken, abalone, eel and the like. They'll choose what they'll work with based on the numbered knives they draw.

Dale draws knife No. 15. There are 15 contestants. Things do not look good for our hometown hero.

Dale ends up with alligator tail and monkfish liver. We learn he has tasted neither before. No, things do not look good at all. But Dale keeps his wits about him and digs in.

The usual amount of chopping, dicing, searing, frying and nerve-wracking Colicchio walk-throughs ensues.

Dale emerges with a dish of mustard-seared alligator tail and monkfish liver braised with apple hash. There's a sherry vinegar gastrique, and an olive-oil poached shallot and leek salad on top.

Gail thinks the alligator is super tough. No one else says much about Dale's dish; they're busy raving about Hung's dish and Tre's dish. And no one is terribly surprised when Tre wins the round, an achievement that garners him a stack of guest judge Anthony Bourdain's books and the promise of a night of yakitori and hard drinkin' the next time they're both in New York.

Now it's time for the loser's procession. Dale finds himself in front of the judge's table with Brian, who committed the dual sins of frying his lovely eel and leaving part of his dish back in the GE Kitchen; Howie, who left more than just part of his dish back in the GE Kitchen; and Clay, of the aforementioned quick-fire challenge apple disaster.

Tom scolds Dale for serving chewy alligator. (C'mon Dale! What's with the rookie mistake? Everyone knows you can't cook alligator tail medium rare!) Bourdain reprimands him for trying to cruise through the first challenge by not being the worst.

In the end, that tactic works. Clay, whose dish Bourdain eloquently compares to something one might be served in economy class on an Air Cambodia flight, is the worst. And that, of course, means Dale can't be the worst.

Padma asks Clay to pack his knives and go, and he does.

Frankly, we're surprised at Dale's rather poor showing tonight. Granted, he didn't get any breaks, but we were expecting to be wowed. Instead, we got chewy alligator.

If Dale wants to hang with the big boys-so far, that's looking like Hung and Tre- he's going to have to step it up. We have no doubt he can ... but does he have what it takes to go all the way? And if not Dale, who?

That's all for this week. If you're still hungry for more "Top Chef" scoop, check out what our friends over at The Stew are saying about tonight's episode.

Are you ready, "Top Chef" fans? It's almost time to settle in on the couch with a bowl of popcorn (we'll take ours with white truffle oil and a nice, buttery chardonnay, if you don't mind) and let the slicing and dicing begin. Season 3 kicks off at 9 p.m. on Bravo.

Though we'll miss some of our favorite Season 2 personalities (especially Elroy Jetson, er, we mean Marcel), we're excited to finally see some local representation on the show-namely, Dale Levitski, the 34-year-old hot shot who's worked in more Chicago kitchens than we can count. Word is, Dale makes his mark in the first episode ... we're just not sure if that's a good thing or not.

While you're waiting for 9 p.m. to roll around, we've got two questions for you:

1. Have you read our interview with Dale yet? If not, what are you waiting for? He dishes on everything from taste-testing Season 2 champ Ilan's food to proving himself in the "Top Chef" kitchen.

2. Mohawk, faux hawk, no hawk? Discuss.

Be sure to check back after the show for a recap and some lively discussion of the episode. We'll be blogging-and keeping close tabs on Dale's kitchen capers-every week this season.

  The spot: Medici doesn't always win raves for its service, but that's not why we come here: Rare is the BYOB spot that offers both decent get-your-drink-on type food-pizza, sandwiches and burgers-and near-perfect outdoor seating. Grab a table on the spacious upstairs deck and order the popular thin-crust or pan pizzas. Sure, you can get all healthy with a spinach-and-goat cheese pie ($7.95-$21.95), but when you see a pizza with a name like The Garbage (sausage, ground beef, pepperoni, Canadian bacon, peppers and mushrooms, $9.25-$25.95), you just have to give it a try. Seeking a sandwich? Try the grilled portabella with ginger-sesame mayonnaise ($7.50) or the house burger ($7.25) atop a homemade potato bun.

The bottle: The combination of pizza and summer temperatures makes a light Italian red like Coltibuono's sangiovese ($10) a good pick, says Russ Peters, a manager at nearby Binny's Express. If it's really a scorcher, though, chill with a bottle of Tiefenbrunner pinot grigio ($13.99), a citrusy, stainless steel-fermented white. -- Allison Knab, metromix special contributor

Not sure if anyone's been back to Il Covo in a while, but it quietly changed ownership at the end of May. New owners include Carol Johnson, Nino Coronas, Domenico Fronteddu and Giovanni Carzedda, who are promising to bring the restaurant back to it its solidly Italian roots. "Things were getting too esoteric," says Johnson. "It was getting further and further way from a neighborhood place." Giovanni and Nino have resumes that include Trattoria D.O.C. and Pizza D.O.C. (which, by the way, quietly parted ways from each other last week), and will be adding the flavors of Sardinia to the Italian  menu (think Mediterranean seafood).

We're intrigued! Has anyone been yet? Can you give us a report?

...or not, depending on how you look at it: Pint-sized British rapper Lady Sovereign showed up at The Underground (56 W. Illinois St.) Friday, but failed to follow through on her promised live performance. Reps for the subterranean hot spot told us she cited "personal reasons" and didn't elaborate. But from what we saw, it seemed like she had no personal problem with partying at Billy Dec's club, while the owner and pal Jeremy Piven sat at a nearby table.

Frankly, we're totally miffed, though not a bit surprised. Last month there was a big to-do over the Lady's onstage breakdown in Brooklyn-also a night when she was scheduled to perform following her opening act for the Gwen Stefani concert. News reports say she had a hissy and complained to the crowd about being broke and unable to pay rent.

Hey, Lady: Akon got behind the mic for a bit at Enclave on Friday after he also opened for Gwen. And Pete Wentz was able to DJ and dance at Enclave Saturday following his Fall Out Boy show. Get your act together before you piss off more people and lose fans that help you make money.

You could put George Clooney and Brad Pitt in a documentary about mold, and people would probably go see it. Fortunately, the two leading men were actually in the highly entertaining "Ocean's Thirteen," and the heist flick raked in $37.1 million this weekend to top the box office. This was well ahead of the still chugging-along "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," which placed second in its third week with $21.3 million. "Knocked Up" held strong in its second week, placing third with $20 million, and the new, just-OK penguin movie "Surf's Up" took fourth with $18 million. The flop? That would be "Hostel: Part II," which made only $8.8 million to finish sixth for the week. That's more than $10 million less than the original gore-fest made in its first week in January 2006. Does this mean audiences are no longer interested in Eli Roth's twisted brand of overseas punishment? Were crowds just focused on the eye candy in "Ocean's Thirteen"? Or were fans--at least in Chicago--still swooning over the stars' appearance at the red carpet premiere? (Watch our video here.)

Weren't willing to shell out $35 to see Fall Out Boy tomorrow at Northerly Island's Charter One Pavilion? How about $10? Then get crackin', because all remaining tickets are $10 until 10 p.m. tonight. Don't delay; FOB's Sunday and Monday shows are sold out. Are you a fan of the Chicago chart-toppers? Or do Pete Wentz's antics turn you off too much to even give them a chance?

Are you totally psyched to watch George Clooney, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Bernie Mac, Ellen Barkin and Jerry Weintraub (Yes, Jerry Weintraub!) arrive at the AMC River East Theater tonight for the Chicago premiere of "Ocean's Thirteen." We're assuming, of course, you didn't have the $2K needed to party with them afterward at the benefit for Darfur at Room 21 in the South Loop. Can't make it? Our movie critic Matt Pais will do his best Joan Rivers impression, working the red carpet, and getting quotes from the stars. Check back later tonight for his exclusive report.

In the meantime, if you could ask the stars one question, what would it be?

P.S. In other celebrity-sighting news, for just $75 you can meet candidate/comedian Al Franken at a June 13 fundraiser at Minibar. Doors open at 7:30 p.m., call the bar to RSVP. OK, so it's not Clooney, but it's not $2K either.

...cause for a catfight? If you ain't got a man to slip a rock on that ring finger, hightail it to Cabaret, honey! Show up at 9 p.m. Friday for a Moet & Chandon champagne reception, and 200 lucky ladies will receive a glass of bubbly with a sparkler in the bottom of their flute. All you have to do is bring your find to Geneva Seal jewelers to see if it's faux or fabulously real. Complimentary champagne? Great deal. Possibility of scoring some big bling? Priceless.

<<--The spot: Nothing says-OK, screams-summer like the bright green, yellow and orange hues at this compact (and jam-packed) Logan Square brunch favorite, The Hot Spot, where easygoing servers deliver fresh, homey concoctions. But The Hot Spot doesn't turn off its megawatt charm during the week, you know. So skip the fast food joints and stale diners, and check out its take on the "ultimate" grilled cheese ($6.75), which makes its case with three types of cheese, sliced tomato and ham on sourdough bread; a half-pound sirloin or turkey burger ($7.50) that includes three toppings of your choice, with options like sauteed mushrooms, mozzarella cheese and avocado; or a hefty chopped cobb salad ($8.50). To top it all off, sandwiches and burgers come with a choice of hand-cut potato wedges, pasta salad or coleslaw.

The bottle: BYOB at lunch? Oh, do you dare? Well, with June's increasingly warm temps, how can you resist? Plus, the Hot Spot's hanging lights, which punctuate the air over a large bar at the front of the restaurant, just cry out for afternoon cocktails-or at least a beer. Swing by nearby (and 24-hour) Foodsmart (2901 W. Armitage Ave.) and pick up a six-pack of Leinenkugel's Berry Weiss ($5.99), a seasonal, fruity-but-not-too-sweet beer with flavors of blackberries, elderberries and loganberries. Go ahead-we won't tell. -- Allison Knab, metromix special contributor.

Looks like Metromix Rock 'n' Vote 2007 winners Animate Objects are now trying to snag a spot on stage at this year's Lollapalooza in the annual Last Band Standing competition.

They're way behind, so vote now! (You're allowed to vote once per day per email address.)

On June 30, the top 100 vote-getters advance to the next round, when celeb judges including Lolla organizer Perry Farrell will narrow the list to 20. Those groups will be announced July 8, at which time they'll upload more MP3s to the contest site and have until July 20 to collect enough votes to make it to the Top 5. The five finalists will play a show Aug. 1 at Double Door to determine which two bands will rock Lolla, with one chosen by audience vote and the other chosen by a celeb panel, also including Farrell.

Last year more than 2,000 bands entered the online competition, and more than 850,000 votes picked out ToneDeff and The Cankles as the winners. (We caught ToneDeff at Lolla; check out our review).

We just updated New on the Scene Bars, and all we can say is: Get ready for the battle of the bar and grills. In one corner you've got, well, Four Corners Tavern Group (Kirkwood, Sidebar, Brownstone, Schoolyard and Gaslight) working on WestEnd soon to open on West Randolph. In the other is Eat Well. Drink Better (The Central, Grand Central, Union Park and Bar Celona), the group behind the soon-to-open English in River North. While each camp continues its respective tried-and-true approach of better-than-average bar food and cocktails for the budget conscious, we have to ask: What sets each new place apart from all of their other spots?

On one hand, you know that you can get a tasty meal and a drink at a good price. On the other hand, are these places truly putting a neighborhood stamp on each new venue or are they homogenizing your happy hour experience? Discuss.

In our dining feature today, "Flight Cool," we listed six sensational places to get flights of exotic ice cream flavors. Um, well, make that five -- we had to delete one spot. After we put the issue to bed on Friday afternoon, Graze, the not-quite-six-month-old small plate spot in River North, abruptly closed for good. (Too bad, pastry chef Jordan Rappaport's scotch rum-raisin ice cream sounded dreamy). "We were told Friday afternoon that we would not be doing dinner service...or finishing lunch service," executive chef Bob Zrenner told us this afternoon. "Our final paychecks would be in the mail."

It came as a bit of a shock to the entire crew, he says. They knew that the spot hadn't been quite as busy as they had hoped, but were quietly making adjustments to the menu to attract more customers. "Six months for a restaurant to make it or break isn't enough," says Zrenner. "It got to the point where [owners] were going to have to walk away or double down," he said. Sometimes, you have to know when to fold 'em, we guess.

As far as Zrenner is concerned, he's working on his resume (which also includes the now closed Tournesol and X/O, which has endured a recent metamorphosis, becoming Halsted's Bar and Grill.) "I'll see who is looking for an executive chef or chef de cuisine," he says.

Walking the streets of New York City, you'll find pizza joints every other block offering oversized slices thin-crust pies. (Now, don't get defensive; we put Chicago deep-dish in a completely different league.) You fork over a couple bucks -- as little as $1.50 in out-of-the-way nabes and as much as $3.75 in more touristy spots -- and take away a floppy, foldable slice on a doubled-up paper plate.

Thanks to New York Slices, which opened in Highland Parkearlier this year, the NorthShore has gained a Big Apple-style by-the-slice spot that's more than a step above Sbarro. Specialties include the Grandma (covered with plum tomatoes, roasted garlic and blobs of smoked buffalo mozzarella) and the White Cheese (topped with ricotta and a three-cheese blend). They even have the oddest slice we remember during our time in NYC: Penne Pizza topped with ziti.

Slices start at $2.90. Garlic knots -- tiny balls of dough doused in garlic butter -- cost a quarter, while cool treats such as soft-serve gelato ($3) and Italian ice ($1) in flavors such as mango, coconut and classic lemon are an equally good steal. Bonus: Unlike the no-frills, no-substitutions pizzerias in NYC, you can order your pie in a whole-wheat version here.

Thanks to Extrovert reader Brian Houdek eating on a cicada. OK, maybe not eating so much as chomping then spitting -- sort of like the insect version of chewing tobacco?

Got a video of you eating one? Send it along! clamorte@tribune.com

It's just not fair. The funny and somewhat sweet "Knocked Up" took in a perfectly respectable $29.3 million this weekend, but did it top the box office? Of course not, with the much less entertaining "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" sailing in at number one with $43.2 million in its second week. Oh well. At least "Pirates" fell a long way from its approximately $115 million three-day gross the previous weekend, and it's worth mentioning that "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," the last movie from "Knocked Up" director Judd Apatow, only brought in $21.4 million in its first week. Fortunately, audiences passed on the week's blah other releases "Mr. Brooks" (fourth place with $10 million) and "Gracie" (seventh place with $1.4 million). What did you see this weekend? Is "Knocked Up" a hit, even though it isn't number one? How excited are you for "Ocean's Thirteen" next week?

A phone message at the fabled Le Francais in Wheeling, at one point considered by some to be the best restaurant in the country, says that restaurant has "temporarily suspended service" -- with no other details.

Hmm.

I left a message yesterday seeking further details, but owner Mike Moran has not yet responded. Chef Roland Liccioni hasn't returned calls left for him at Le Lan, where he is also a partner. We do hope it's only temporary -- things were seemingly on the upswing after Liccioni returned in 2005 (he left after his first run from 1988 to 1999, being selected by founder Jean Banchet). But with increased competition for dining dollars in the 'burbs, some wonder if there be another act for this culinary institution.