When the July issue of Food & Wine landed in our mailbox this week, we had to do a double-take. Officially, it’s the magazine’s annual Best New Chefs issue. But it might as well have been the Best Chicago Chefs issue. 

For starters, Chicago is the only city with two F&W Best New Chefs on the annual list of 10: Koren Grieveson (Avec) and Giuseppe Tentori (Boka).

But that’s just the beginning. There’s also a profile of Grant Achatz (Alinea) and a recipe-driven feature on July Fourth grilling that centers around the family traditions of  Paul Virant (Vie, which we know is not in Chicago; we’re happy to annex Western Springs for the sake of argument).

Sepia makes the cut in a selective “Best New Wine Lists of ’08” feature, and Gale Gand and Rick Bayless contribute recipes to a “10 Famous Chef Dishes Simplified” story. (Gand shares a recipe for her versions of lemon meringue pie; Bayless kicks in a carne asada and black beans recipe based on a dish from Frontera Grill.) 

But wait, there’s still more! Chicago newcomer Laurent Gras (L2O), apparently an avid cyclist as well as a top-notch seafood chef, is the focus of “The 100-Mile Workout Diet,” another recipe-driven story about eating for endurance. Bonus: There’s a sidebar in which Gras talks about his favorite fish, including some of the lesser-known Japanese catches you’ll find on the menu at L20.

Salmon has a lot of fine attributes. Low in calories. Low in saturated fat. High in Omega 3 fatty acids. But, c'mon, it can get a little boring.

But Devon Seafood Grill says it's got the cure for you for salmon slump: Copper River Salmon. This seasonal fish is flown in starting the third week of May, and is special because it's the first salmon to return to Alaska's Copper River to spawn. Apparently, the effort to swim upstream in these strong, frigid currents contributes to the fish's rich taste -- at least according to this article we found online about it: "Copper River Salmon--What's the Big Deal?"

If you'd like to see for yourself what the big deal is, you might want to hurry: This stock will probably be gone around June 30, according to Devon. It's served seared with lemon butter ($35)-- but Devon says can prepare it any way you'd like. Click here for location

UPDATE: We’ve got more details on Piece’s charity auction, which lets you bid on a chance to have Cheap Trick lead guitarist (and Piece partner) Rick Nielsen deliver pies to your door.

At noon Friday, bidders can go to piecechicago.com for a piece of the action--you'll be directed to the eBay auction page from there. The auction will run for 10 days, and all proceeds will benefit PAWS.

The prize? Nielsen shows up at your house (Chicago or the ’burbs only) in his limo with five pizzas. No word on whether he’ll sing for his supper.

Even a box office heavyweight like Adam Sandler is helpless against a big, cuddly, animated panda with the voice of Jack Black. Thanks to months of marketing and other big-name voices like Angelina Jolie and Dustin Hoffman, "Kung Fu Panda" kicked up major dollars over the weekend, earning $60 million to top the box office. But Sandler still proved he can draw a crowd to even the most ridiculous premise, helping the surprisingly funny "You Don't Mess with the Zohan" bring in a hefty $40 million to land at No. 2. That's nearly $6 million more than "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry" made in its debut in 2007 ($34.2 million), which is nice because, ya know, "Chuck and Larry" was absolutely horrible.

Were you more drawn to the animated antics of "Panda" or the goofy assassin-turned-hairstylist plot of "Zohan"? Which looks better this week: "The Incredible Hulk" or M. Night Shyamalan's "The Happening?

 

It doesn't even a have a name yet, but our mouths are already watering. The soon-to-open spot (ETA: summer) from the team behind Blackbird has released a sample menu. Two words that caught our attention: Pork rinds. We're not sure how final this menu is, but some of the mentioned items we'd love to make the final cut:

Jarred rillete with rhubarb jam ($6)

Watermelon, heirloom tomato and cilantro boudin blanc with roasted cherries, frisée, summer truffles and hash browns ($15)

Vidalia and heirloom tomato salad with lemon aïoli and thyme ($6)

Casco Bay Buchot mussels with Gueuze (a lambic), fresh bay, celery leaves and butter ($14)

The early word is the bar is going to be well-stocked: Look for more than 100 ales, porters, lagers and ciders available by the bottle and another 12 on tap.

 

Oh, what a difference six months makes. And we’re not just talking about a few extra pounds here and there and one really bad haircut.

We’re trying to imagine what it must be like—what kind of toll it takes on you emotionally and physically—to cook 100 hours a week, like Antonia said she’d been doing since the last episode taped. But since we’ve never in a single week put in 100 hours of, oh, anything, we’re having a tough time.

We do know this: “There’s no such thing as al dente beans.” (Sorry, Antonia, we love ya, but your “I like my beans on the al dente side” defense was one of the weaker cases made at the judges’ table this season.) Girl was off her game this week, and she paid a dear price.

At least this means there will be some tension in the finale, which otherwise would’ve been a three-way Stephanie-Antonia-Richard love fest. With Lisa still around cursing and stomping her feet and—here’s a new one—groveling for compliments, there’s a much greater chance for drama.

Speaking of drama: Dale! What the heck!? You almost blew Stephanie’s chances with your pork belly oversight. “Top Chef” viewers never would have forgiven you if you hadn’t come up with that chicharrones idea. (Seriously, don’t underestimate the power of a “Top Chef” fan scorned. Buddakan would have had an empty reservation book starting this weekend. Thinking about opening your own place? Forget about it.) But pork cracklings with fruit and proscuitto salad? Now that’s some pig.

OK, we’re ignoring the elephant in the room. How did pouty Lisa end up in the finals ahead of such fierce competitors as Dale? We’ll never know. In fact, we can hardly even talk about it right now. So instead, we drink.

We noticed more than a few creative interpretations of the Spanish language this episode, and though we’re not sure we’d do much better under pressure, we can’t let it pass. This week’s rule: Drink every time a cheftestant butchers the pronunciation of a Spanish word.

To recap:

Rule No. 1: Drink every time Lisa curses.

Rule No. 2: Drink every time a Glad product appears on screen. Chug for the first five seconds of any Glad commercial.

Rule No. 3: Drink every time Dale lashes out, directly or indirectly.

Rule No. 4: Chug for five seconds any time someone says “threw me under the bus” or similar.

Rule No. 5: Drink for every tight shot/zoom of a GE Monogram logo.

Rule No. 6: Drink every time Spike appears on screen wearing a hat.

Rule No. 7: Drink every time Tom says “interesting,” asks “Have you done that before?” or  “kind of just blinks and pulls his head back.”

8. Drink every time a contestant butchers the pronunciation of a Spanish word.

We’ll be chatting with Stephanie before next week’s finale. (And let’s just be honest and toss all journalistic impartiality aside for a moment: We can’t wait! Go Stephanie!) Got something you think we should ask her? Post a comment here and we’ll throw a couple of the best at her.

Check metromix.com and RedEye next week for the interview—and don’t forget to see what The Stew has to say about this week’s episode!

… but it will be soon! The Chicago outpost of Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz’s New York hot spot, Angels & Kings, will open in the address that was once home to Rockwell Lounge (which closed May 5) and Narcisse. We hear it’ll be a mid-June opening, so stay tuned.

 

 

There's little else that sends into a spiral of regression than, say, the smell of Play-Doh or the sight of a colorful pile of LEGO blocks. If you can slip out of work tomorrow to run over to Embassy Suites Lakefront (511 N. Columbus Drive), you'll find more than 75 (completely grown-up) contestants competing in a LEGO Build-Off, ongoing from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The lucky winner scores a full-time gig as a model builder for the company at their new LEGOLAND Discovery Centre, slated to open in late July in Schaumburg. There's been a LEGO Store in Schaumburg's Woodfield Mall for years, but this place will be a bonafide indoor theme park, with a cafe, store, exhibits from master builders and plenty of rides for rugrats--and will reside right across the street in the Streets of Woodfield complex. As for that model builder gig, we wanted to know what kind of salary comes along with playing with LEGOs all day, every day -- but LDC attractions manager Mike Pastor tells us it's to be determined, and commensurate with experience. Break out your LEGO resumes, people!

I suppose I should have expected a scene, but I wasn’t quite prepared for what I got when I attempted to see “Sex and the City” on opening night.

Here’s what I spotted at my sold-out 12:30 a.m. Saturday screening at the AMC Loews 600 North Michigan:

1. Barely in the theater door, a young party dress-wearing girl with tear-streaked face announces that her friend got kicked out of the theater. (Too many cosmos at the pre-party perhaps?)

2. Up the escalators to the theater: Gaggles of girls in full hair and make-up are wearing high heels and their best new summer party dresses. Didn’t expect to see any tiaras—but I did.

3. I’m surprised at how diverse the crowd is. Sure, there are your young, stereotypical female SATC fans, but I also spotted large groups of guys and co-ed crews. 

4. Time for my pre-screening bathroom break. Vomit on the toilets?! I had to check my ticket stub to make sure this wasn’t a frat house.

5. The crowd gets restless when the show doesn’t start on time. Gals in front of us start doing the wave. Seriously. Insert more cheering, hooting, hollering and chanting here.

6. When the lights finally go down it’s close to 1 a.m., and we go straight into the feature film—no previews. (Was the theater staff nervous about delaying the main event any longer?) 

7. When Carrie Bradshaw introduces the characters in an opening monologue, most of the crowd shrieks and claps in support of Samantha, resident hussy. Young women applauding the promiscuous nature of a single woman pushing 50—moms everywhere must be proud.

8. It was a long night—I didn’t hit the sack until nearly 4 a.m.—but I was totally satisfied by “Sex.”

 

 

How would Indiana Jones fare, you ask, if he was attacked by four stylish New York women?

At the box office, at least, not well. "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" fell to No. 2 with $46 million, well behind a big debut by Carrie Bradshaw and the gals of "Sex and the City." The big screen adaptation of the HBO phenomenon earned the top spot with $55.7 million. The creepy but forgettable horror flick "The Strangers," the week's only other wide release, took in a solid $20.7 million to land at No. 3.

Are you surprised that "Sex and the City" took down Indy? Can the ladies hold on this week against Adam Sandler's "You Don't Mess with the Zohan"?