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The Chicago Reader

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Best of Chicago, Food & Drink Jun 23, 2016
Readers' Poll
Best sommelier
- Tags: Food & Drink, Vera, Readers' Poll

Food & Drink, Restaurant Review Mar 9, 2016
The Spanish Square is a nostalgic love letter to Spain

An Andalusian expat’s Lakeview eatery would be at home on a corner in Seville.
- By Julia Thiel
- Tags: Restaurant Review, Spanish Square, Mara Baer, Manuel Moreno, Lakeview, Mfk, Vera, Salero, Mercat a la Planxa, The Spanish Square

Music, The Secret History of Chicago Music Jan 5, 2016
Electric blues guitarist Eddie Taylor was far more influential than famous

Eddie Taylor taught Jimmy Reed to play and backed the likes of John Lee Hooker, Elmore James, and Sunnyland Slim.
- By Steve Krakow
- Tags: The Secret History of Chicago Music, Eddie Taylor, Jimmy Reed, blues, guitar, winter blues, Benoit, Mississippi, Looking for Trouble, You'll Always Have a Home, I Feel So Bad, Masters of Modern Blues, Ready for Eddie, Bad Boy a Long Way From Chicago, My Heart Is Bleeding, Still Not Ready for Eddie, Blues Hall of Fame, Vera, Eddie Jr., Larry, Milton, Tim, Demetria, Brenda, Edna

Blogs, Bleader Mar 11, 2015
West Loop wine bar Vera is organizing its wine list by dirt

Will organizing the wine list by terroir at Vera make it easier or harder to get a wine you'll love?
- By Michael Gebert
- Tags: Food Chain, Food & Drink, Vera, Liz Mendez, Mark Mendez, terroir, wine, sommeliers, Next

Blogs, Bleader Dec 3, 2014
Next goes back to its beginnings in its fifth season

Two cheers for the newly announced 2015 menus at Next
- By Michael Gebert
- Tags: Food Chain, Food & Drink, Next, Grant Achatz, Nick Kokonas, Alinea, Grace, Vera, Salero, Cafe Iberico, Tock

Blogs, Bleader Oct 30, 2014
Jean Banchet nominees show a scene that's doing just fine, thank you

The Jean Banchet awards are announced, and show that our scene is still about where real people eat.
- By Michael Gebert
- Tags: Food Chain, Food & Drink, Jean Banchet awards, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Grace, L2O, Boka, Lee Wolen, Genie Kwon, Momotaro, Moto, El Ideas, Chris Pandel, The Bristol, Balena, Abraham Conlon, Fat Rice, Parachute, Tete Charcuterie, The Radler, Salero, Arthur Hon, Sepia, Liz Mendez, Vera, Senza, Sixteen at Trump, Megan Miller, Baker Miller, Jonathan Ory, Bad Wolf Coffee, Owen & Engine, Dusek's, A10, La Sirena Clandestina, Alinea, Ryan Sutton

Blogs, Bleader Oct 6, 2014
Previewing the normal Italian-American at Formento's

Getting a taste of what Formento's, at 925 W. Randolph, will offer when it opens in December.
- By Michael Gebert
- Tags: Food Chain, Food & Drink, Formento's, the Bristol, Balena, Chris Pandel, John Ross, Tete Charcuterie, Gene & Georgetti, Little Goat, Vera, La Sirena Clandestina, Next, G.E.B., Pizano's, Italian-American cooking, Italian-American restaurants

Food & Drink, Restaurant Review Oct 3, 2014
Recommended
It's not simple Spanish at West Loop's Salero

This new Randolph Row spot is an answer to Spanish minimalism.
- By Mike Sula
- Tags: Restaurant Review, Salero, Ashlee Aubin, Franco Gianni, Spanish, West Loop, Vera, Mfk, Randolph Row, Recommended

Blogs, Bleader Mar 7, 2014
Video
Chicken sandwiches—not that there's anything wrong with that!

Nonjudgmental chicken plus a new Web series, events, and more.
- By Michael Gebert
- Tags: Food Chain, Food & Drink, Leghorn Chicken, Element Collective, Jared Van Camp, Sieger Bayer, Culinary Historians of Chicago, Anthony Buccini, Dennis Lee, Table For One, White Castle, Two, Vera, Chicago Pit Stop Rescue, Video

Blogs, Bleader Oct 22, 2013
Video
In vino Vera: Two years of Mark and Liz Mendez's Spanish wine bar

The husband and wife reflect on what they've learned running their West Loop restaurant.
- By Michael Gebert
- Tags: Food Chain, Food & Drink, Vera, Carnivale, Mark Mendez, Liz Mendez, Matthias Merges, Video

Food & Drink, Food & Drink Feature May 23, 2013
Locavorism Inc.

Can a new business increase the amount of local food we eat?
- By Mike Sula
- Tags: Food & Drink Feature, Dave Rand, chefs, Zeeshan Shah, Andrew Lutsey, Testa Produce, Pilsen, meat, cheese, maple syrup, Butcher & Larder, Indiana farms, Illinois farms, farms, Wisconsin farms, meat, produce, storage crops, potatoes, carrots, beets, rutabagas, beans, sweet potatoes, spring greens, organic produce, Local Foods Grocer, farm-direct meat, farm-direct produce, Sysco, food distribution, food wholesalers, beef, pork, goat, lamb, poultry, ramps, asparagus, Prairie Grass Cafe, Old Town Social, Perennial Virant, Table, Donkey and Stick, Merle Kauffman, Ohio House Motel, regional food hubs, Peapod, Vera, farmers' markets, Mark Mendez, Green City Market, locavorism, restaurants, markets, Bob Borchardt, Harvest Moon Farms, restaurant suppliers, local food, wholesale grocers, retail grocers, Quarter Circle Seven Ranch, Frank Morgan, Gold Bond Ice Cream, Popsicle, business, Irv & Shelley's, Goodness Greenness, Rufus Haucke, Keewaydin Farms, Just Local Foods, Amish farms, CSA, community-supported agriculture, farming, agriculture

Food & Drink, Restaurant Review Apr 29, 2013
Recommended
Takito Kitchen steers the taqueria into new territory

An ex-Carnivale chef's adventurous take on tacos and other Mexican bites
- By Mike Sula
- Tags: Restaurant Reviews, taquerias, ceviche, Yucatan-style chile soup, chicken tinga, beef barbacoa, Wicker Park, tacos, Big Star, Antique Taco, Carnivale, David Dworshak, Vera, Mark Mendez, local produce, Mexican restaurants, beer, cocktails, mezcal, sherry, tequila, Mexican beer, agave, bars, Takito Kitchen, Recommended

Blogs, Bleader Sep 10, 2012
One Bite: Spencer's Jolly Posh black-and-white pudding

Blood sausage: it's not just for breakfast anymore.
- By Mike Sula
- Tags: Food Chain, Food & Drink, Spencer's Jolly Posh Foods, back pudding, white pudding, back bacon, Nick Spencer, blood sausage, British food, Irish food, morcilla, sundae, Vera, Butcher & Larder, Publican Quality Meats

Blogs, Bleader Mar 15, 2012
This week's food and drink events

The Good Food Festival, a curling and lasagna event, Saint Patrick's Day specials, and more.
- By Daniel Gerzina
- Tags: Food Chain, Food & Drink, Girl and the Goat, Kilgus Farms, Stillwater Artisanal Ales, Virtue Cider, Underground Goat, Cityscape Bar, Graystone Wines, Italiasia, Sheffield's, Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout, Good Food Festival, Localicious, Autre Monde Cafe, Big Bowl, Big Jones, Chicago Diner, City Provisions, Duke's Ale House and Kitchen, Province, Trattoria No. 10, the Bedford, Saigon Sisters, Browntrout, Uncommon Ground, Revolution Brewing Company, Half Acre, Goose Island, Templeton Rye, Sunnyside Up, Real Dirt on Farmer John, Markethouse, Lent, Bell's Ale, Green Line, Good Food Festival, Bruce Sherman, North Pond Restaurant, Mark Mendez, Vera, Rob Levitt, Butcher & Larder, Paul Virant, Vie, Culinary Historians of Chicago, Jennifer McLagan, Kendall College School of Culinary Arts, Chicago Curling Club, Twisted Butter, World Senior Curling Championship, U.S. Curling Team, Ram Brewery, Saint Patrick's Day, 25 Degrees, The Gage, Pizza Persona, The Southern, Jerry's Wicker Park, Renaissance Hotel Chicago, Dinner Tales, Blackbird, Paul Kahan, Mercadito, Patricio Sandoval, Olmeca Tequila, Chichicapa Mezcal, Double A, Firestone Walker XV, DJ Grimsborg, Mas de Gourgonnier, Daniel Hodge, H2Vino, Les Baux de Provence, Bistro Campagne.

Blogs, Bleader Dec 31, 2011
More best bites and sips of 2011

More notable bites and drinks from 2011
- By Kate Schmidt
- Tags: Food Chain, Food & Drink, Mike Sula, best restaurants 2011, Inovasi, John des Rosiers, Antico, Brad Schiedler, Matt Maroni, GaztroWagon, Royal Coffee, Ethiopian breakfast, Sable, Mike Ryan, Glenwood Sunday Market, Sweet Attila's, the Growling Rabbit, MorSo, Choo, GT Fish & Oyster, Boka Restaurant Group, Benjamin Schiller, Mark Mendez, Liz Mendez, Vera, Barbari

Blogs, Bleader Dec 29, 2011
133 tasty things from 2011

I ate it all
- By Mike Sula
- Tags: Food Chain, Food & Drink, Tamales Garibay, the Florentine, H Mart, Prince Creperie Cafe, the Sodfather, Chez Violette, MingHin Cuisine, Butcher & Larder, Leopold, La Taberna Tapas, Ruby's, Bistronomic, Paris Club, Leader Bar, Frontier, Ing, Lure Izakaya Pub, Birrieria Zaragoza, Cafe des Architectes, GT Fish & Oyster, Next Restaurant, Paris 1906, Tour of Thailand, Childhood, Underground Meats, Nostrano, Aviary, the Molecular Collective, Paul McGee, the Whistler, Goose Island Madame Rose, La Chaparrita, the Bedford, Pleasant House Bakery, Golden Pacific Market, Aroy Thai, Harvesttime Foods, Scottish Festival and Highland Games, Rancho Mateo, Humboldt Park Puerto Rican Fest, Lemonhart 151, Mike Ryan, Sable, Union Sushi & Barbeque Bar, Rustic House, Black Sheep, NoMi Kitchen, Autre Monde, Wisconsin State Fair, Telegraph Wine Bar, Al Dente, Roots Handmade Pizza, Masa Azul, Lao Hunan, Michael Jordan's Steak House, the Pump Room, Tozi Korean BBQ, Cai Fine Dining and Banquet, Maude's Liquor Bar, Phoenix tofu, Three Aces, Harvard Sportsmen's Club, Wat Dhammaram Songkran, 2007 Black Slate Porrera, Vera, Almawal, El Ideas, Snack Planet, JoongBoo Market, Nha Hang Viet Nam, Nathan Sears, Baconfest, Mick Klug Farm, Ripasso, jicama stick, Victor Mejia, Tortas Frontera, Matty Eggleston, Perennial Virant, Barrelhouse Flat, Ben Schiller, Jason Turley, Bar DeVille

Blogs, Bleader Dec 29, 2011
This week in Food & Drink: Best restaurants 2011

Our critics' eight favorite restaurants from 2011, along with ten honorable mentions
- By Kate Schmidt
- Tags: Food Chain, Food & Drink, Mike Sula, Next, Phillip Foss, Andrew Brochu, El Ideas, Boka Restaurant Group, GT Fish & Oyster, Giuseppe Tentori, Perennial Virant, Paul Virant, Brendan Sodikoff, Maude's Liquor Bar, Vera, Mark Mendez, Elizabeth Mendez, Tony Hu, Lao Hunan, Art Jackson, Pleasant House Bakery, Al Dente, La Taberna Tapas, Snack Planet, Telegraph Wine Bar, Key Ingredient, John Anderes, Jason Hammel, Lula Cafe, ash, Erling-Wu Bower, the Publican, gold leaf, the Burger Point, Burger & the Butcher, Cai Fine Dining & Banqjet, Del Toro

Food & Drink, Food & Drink Feature Dec 29, 2011
Slideshow
Our favorite restaurants of 2011

From three iterations of Next to the humble pies of Bridgeport
- Tags: Food & Drink Feature, 2011 in review, El Ideas, GT Fish & Oyster, Lao Hunan, Maude's Liquor Bar, Next Restaurant, Perennial Virant, Pleasant House Bakery, Vera, Next, Vera Chicago, Slideshow

Blogs, Bleader Dec 8, 2011
This week in Food & Drink

In this week's Food & Drink: Mark and Elizabeth Mendez's Vera, Key Ingredient cod milt, Cocktail Challenge kimchi
- By Kate Schmidt
- Tags: Food Chain, Food & Drink, Vera, Mark Mendez, Liz Mendez, Carnivale, Key Ingredient, cod milt, Rootstock Wine & Beer Bar, Duncan Biddulph, Jason Hammel, Lula Cafe, gjetost, Luke LeFiles, Hot Chocolate, kimchi, Malort, Brad Bolt, Bar DeVille

Food & Drink, Restaurant Review Dec 8, 2011
Recommended
Vera: a celebration of Spanish simplicity

A winning little wine bar represents two restaurant veterans' escape from Carnivale
- By Mike Sula
- Tags: Restaurant Review, Mark Mendez, Elizabeth Mendez, local food, Spanish cuisine, wine bars, cheese, Vera Chicago, Vera, Recommended

Food & Drink, Key Ingredient Aug 18, 2011
Video
Key Ingredient: Tomato Leaves

Uva's Mark Mendez works with something he says "tastes like a weed"
- By Julia Thiel
- Tags: Key Ingredient, Uva, Mark Mendez, David Dworshak, Carniavle, recipe, cooking, tomato leaves, Vera Chicago, Vera, Video

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