The good news is, someone in my family is eligible to enjoy a prix fixe menu at Chicago's Frontera Grill, Osteria di Tramonto, One Sixtyblue, or Coco Pazzo Cafe for $4. The bad news is, I have to pay $20, and we don't live in Chicago. If we did, however, I'd be all over Kids' Restaurant Week in Chicago, which runs June 21-28. Nineteen of Chicago's top restaurants are participating. The rules are: (1) come in between 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.; (2) kids under 12 pay their age; and (3) adults and older kids pay $20.08. The web site doesn't say anything about the menus, so I called a couple of the restaurants to find out what kids should... More

Though the name sounds the same, Ben Li is not the mop-headed Australian born musician that dated Claire Danes—that’s Ben Lee. On the other hand, chef Ben Li also rocks it out…Sichuan style in the kitchen at his spot Double Li in Chicago’s Chinatown. Many of the restaurants in Chinatown are run by Chinese immigrants who are decent home cooks, but not formally trained. Even if they’re formally trained, they tend to serve up a lot of Cantonese-American style eats, like cloying sweet and sour chicken, almond boneless chicken, and that tiki-fave crab rangoon to appeal to American palates. Ben Li, on the other hand is a culinary school trained chef from Chongquing. As a result, he understands nuance and... More

Cinco de Mayo is a day of national pride for Mexicans around the world, commemorating Mexico’s victory over French forces in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. We join in the celebration with our favorite Mexican food and drink. Best Tacos in Chicago: when it comes to finding the best regional Mexican dining outside of Mexico, Chicago is the best spot in America. I Drove 40 Miles for a Taco: In the suburbs of Chicago one finds Bien Trucha, an iconoclastic taqueria. Chi-Mex: A New Frontier: Mexican Inn turns out to be a very inspired delicious meshing of cultures, a unique Chi-Mex blend, and holds the middle ground between Bayless and Taco Bell quite nicely.... More

Screw the Michelin guide and its ilk. Like the SAT or personality tests, reductive rating systems that award mini constellations, forks, spoons, or pepper shakers can never see what's in a restaurant's heart. The endurance of these systems often encourage readers to skip the meat of a review and go straight to the final number as an arbiter of whether they should call for reservations. Some of these systems are just plain impossible. Consider the S. Pellegrino 50 Best Restaurants in the World. Did Gordon Ramsay U.K. really improve 11 spots in a year while its proprietor was out traveling the world berating and dehumanizing line cooks and restaurateurs? In one year, did Charlie Trotter's, which has been fine-tuning... More

Southern Foodways appears on Fridays as part of our collaboration with the Southern Foodways Alliance, an organization based in Oxford, Mississippi, that "documents and celebrates the diverse food cultures of the American South." Dig in! Photographs taken by Amy C. Evans SFA oral historian Amy Evans just returned from a weeklong fieldwork-gathering trip to the Windy City, looking for stories of transplanted Southerners who left their homes but held on to family recipes. Some of the people she visited include: James Lemons of Lem's Bar-B-Q, who left Indianola, Mississippi, as a young man, following his brothers to Chicago and into the barbecue business.Barbara Ann Bracy, who laughed as she remembered her Mississippi-born father opening the barbecue joint she still runs... More

Good magazine rounds up a list of the seven most delicious stretches of pavement in the United States. And they're all cheap eats. Making the cut are: Roosevelt Avenue, Queens, New YorkTravis Street, HoustonFremont Avenue North, SeattleBroadway, ChicagoSouthwest 8th Street, MiamiNolensville Road, NashvilleWest Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles Did your favorite eats street get snubbed?... More