Lite Bites: What Your Favorite Chefs & Mixologists Are Up To Around Town

Paul McGee pic (left) via Haberdash Men; Jason Hammel photo via Chicago Reader

• Lula Café owner/chef Jason Hammel and Three Dots and a Dash partner/mixologist Paul McGee have teamed up for the ultimate Halloween bash at the trendy Logan Square resto. They've assembled some of the city's top bartenders as Lula transforms into The Violent Hour. Talent includes Brad Bolt (Bar DeVille), Josh Pearson (Sepia) and Benjamin Schiller (BOKA), who will serve scary signature cocktails at numerous stations. Starts at 7pm Oct. 31. No reservations; cash only.

• Grant Achatz (Alinea, Next, The Aviary) is participating in the annual Chicago Humanities Festival on Nov. 4. Too bad it's sold out!

• Former Erwin chef Michael Lathrop is now at Acre. Look for him to interpret the restaurant's farm-to-table concept in his own style.

This Is Every Girl's Fantasy: The First-Ever 'Chicago Chocolate Week' Is On Its Way!

This year we've indulged in Chicago Restaurant Week, Chicago Craft Beer Week and most recently Chicago Craft Spirits Week, so this next big event makes absolute sense.

When the Chicago Fine Chocolate Festival happens again in November, it's adding a new component: the first-ever Chicago Chocolate Week. That's when a number of high-profile restaurants showcase signature desserts Nov. 11-18, with 10 percent of sales benefiting Share Our Strength.

Here's who is on board thus far:

The Inaugural 'Spiaggia Sommelier Smackdown' Promises To Be One Hot Ticket For Charity

I typically don't write about what's going on in the local wine world because frankly the players appear to be a bit stuffy. Their cocktail counterparts are the ones with the colorful stories and events, but this upcoming November event should change that.

The inaugural Spiaggia Sommelier Smackdown, which will be hosted by Spiaggia sommelier Jason Carlen and The Boarding House partner/Master Sommelier Alpana Singh, happens on Nov. 14 and benefits The Cancer Research Foundation. It will also have top wine experts from some of the hottest restaurants in town going head to head in some "juicy" competitions.

Participants include:

Lite Bites: What Your Favorite Chefs & Mixologists Are Up To Around Town . . . And Beyond

Ming Tsai will be in Chicago next week.

• Kampai Mondays debuts on Oct. 29 at Arami with Ervin Guinto pairing eight courses with sake. The restaurant's certified sake professionals will team up with different sake producers each month for this event that's $50 per person (includes tax and tip). Two seatings available: 7-8:30pm and 8:30-10pm. Call the restaurant for a reso.

• Celebrated chef Ming Tsai will also be in town on Oct. 29 to promote his latest cookbook, Simply Ming in Your Kitchen. He'll first do a cocktail reception and book signing at Slurping Turtle (3-5pm), and then team up with Takashi Yagihashi at his eponymous restaurant for a six-course tasting menu featuring recipes from the cookbook (6-9pm).

• Iron Chef winner and Mercat a la Planxa partner/chef Jose Garces stopped through Chicago over the weekend to promote his new cookbook, The Latin Road Home. He also took time to introduce new items to the fall menu, which included such stunners as sopa de fortmage de cerveza (soup with crispy pork belly, truffle and potato) and ropa de cabra (braised goat with goat cheese with grilled baguette).

Are Bottled Cocktails The Next Big Bar Trend?!

Jake Melnick's bottled "Mexico: 5 A.M." cocktail. (Photo: Jake Melnick's)

I first encountered bottled cocktails during the recent Chicago Gourmet event when Olmeca Altos tequila had them on standby for chefs working the Supreme Lobster tent. What made these bottled Palomas especially delicious was the fact that they were carbonated, which meant that their all-natural ingredients would stay fresh longer.

We were treated to a host of even more bottled drinks at bellyQ during its first-ever Chef Karaoke Throwdown. For the event, Stephanie Izard (Girl & The Goat), Brian Huston (Publican), John Manion (La Sirena Clandestina) and others were charged with coming up with a signature cocktail to be bottled. We sampled everything from a margarita to a fernet-based elixir.

Unfortunately none of that bottled booze can be had on a regular basis, which makes the new offerings at Jake Melnick's particularly special. I know, right?! Who would have thought this Gold Coast sports bar would carry such concoctions!

For fall, they're serving up five specialty bottles, each priced at $12:

Former Momofuku, Schwa Chef Set To Open Offbeat Pastry & Coffee Shop In Roscoe Village

Jonathan Ory of Bad Wolf Coffee at Star Lounge Coffee Bar. (Photo: 312 Dining Diva)

In the late 1990s, there was a really cool coffeehouse in Roscoe Village called Kerouac Jack's, named after the famed novelist and poet. The colorful spot was popular for its regular poetry events and strong coffee, but unfortunately had some terrible pastries.

Coffee connoisseur Jonathan Ory doesn't remember Kerouac's, but he feels that the neighborhood is in desperate need of a good coffeehouse serving good pastries.

"You can get one or the other, but you cannot get both in this area and most parts in town," he says, adding, "That's why I want to open a coffeehouse."

When Ory opens Bad Wolf Coffee with wife Sarah in mid- to late-November a block away from the old Kerouac Jack's, his plan is to serve house-made pastries with coffee "the way it is supposed to be made."

The self-taught chef worked his way up from the bottom, taking jobs from busboy to dishwasher until he eventually found his way inside the kitchens of a number of highly regarded restaurants. He's had stints at the likes of the now-defunct, high-end Heat sushi restaurant, as well as Atlanta's Restaurant Eugene, Schwa, and most recently Momofuku Ko in New York.

A First Look at the Menu From New Leopold Chef

Leopold Executive Chef Michael Dean Reynolds. (Photos: Leopold)

By the time the smoked rabbit leg arrived to the table we were completely stuffed. We had already consumed 11 courses—and there were seven more to come!—but we couldn't resist this glistening piece of meat that was drizzled in rabbit reduction and sat atop rich layers of lentils, dandelion greens and mission figs.

For me it was the standout dish of the special media tasting from Michael Dean Reynolds, Leopold's new executive chef. It represented the type of hearty fare he cranked out when he was chef de cuisine at The Gage for five years.

And while The Gage is more formal with a downtown price tag, the Belgian-inspired Leopold is very neighborhood friendly with entrees not exceeding $23. Reynolds has also scaled down the menu from some of the heavier items (though he left the poutine and pierogi) and integrated his lighter style and approach to seasonal cuisine.

One of the biggest additions is the plats du jour, where he'll do daily specials such as braised short ribs on Wednesdays, a white bean cassoulet with duck confit and sausage on Thursdays, and a $30 three-course, prix-fixe mussels dinner on Sundays. Also, look for a Belgian-influenced brunch to start on Nov. 11.

Here are some of the highlights of the new fall menu:

Wicker Park's Late-Night Hang Rodan Goes Legit With New Chefs, Menus & Cocktails

Rodan's new Korean BBQ of marinated beef kalbi, hot rock, steamed rice and house-made kimchee. (Photos: Rodan)

It's been a few weeks now since Wicker Park's Rodan had a dramatic makeover under new owner, Eric Chaleff. The self-proclaimed heavy metal guitarist also curated the Asian-inspired beverage program and recruited a talented team to help him fulfill his dream of making the late-night hang a legit dining destination.

Corey Gillom (NoMI, Japonais, Longman & Eagle, The Slurping Turtle) and Michael Torto (Lockdown Bar & Grill) are behind the new menu with dishes that are contemporary and focused, yet remain neighborhood friendly. There's nothing above $15, with highlights ranging from the curry croquettes that come with a dill yogurt sauce to bao steamed buns filled with tofu, pulled pork or beer-battered fish.

What's certain to be a scene stealer will be the burgers—which have the influence from Torto's stellar days over at popular burger destination Lockdown. This time, they're dripping with Asian flavor, from the black bean burger with wasabi mayo to the Korean kimchee burger with pulled pork, chili aioli and a fried egg. He's also created a banh mi that comes with fried chicken, lemongrass tofu or pulled pork and topped with mushroom pate, pickled carrot, daikon and jalapeno.