Restaurant

It's that time of year again, when we strip down to as little clothing as we can stand, and eat and drink outside as frequently as humanly possible. Patio season is upon us! It seems like every other restaurant is offering some kind of outdoor seating, and I could not be more OK with this. The only thing better than unlimited mimosas is unlimited mimosas outside because duh. That said, here are some tips from a restaurant veteran to get you through patio season. Most patios are smoke-free.

Guests at cocktail-centric hot spots used to have just a few, bland options if they didn't want to order alcohol with a meal - basically, water, iced tea or ginger ale. The tide is changing, though, as restaurants apply the same attention to detail once reserved for cocktails to non-alcoholic drinks. Unconventional and exotic ingredients such as sweet potatoes and pickled plums are finding their way into house-made sodas and syrups, while fresh juices and herbs replace canned or pre-mixed ingredients.

Chicago Chop Shop, a combination butcher shop, restaurant and event space, is set to open in July in a 100-year-old Wicker Park warehouse.  Located at 2033 W. North Ave., Chicago Chop Shop's counter-service butcher shop will open at 9 a.m. to offer meats along with sandwiches and antipasto salads. “Chicago loves their meats, and everyone I know has a grill and enjoys every moment of nice weather Chicago gets,” co-owner Nick Moretti said.  Co-owner Mario Minelli brings the meat cred from Minelli's Meat & Deli in Niles.

Corned beef hash on a brunch menu probably doesn't raise any eyebrows. But how about a fried plantain, black bean and hominy hash? Or spicy chickpea, yogurt and kale hash? These global twists on the starchy breakfast staple are the focus at the appropriately named Hash restaurant, which opened March 20 on Western Avenue near the border of Wicker Park and Humboldt Park. "If I just did American hashes, it would really be quite boring," said owner Maggie McCoy, who  ran the now-closed Bagel on Damen.

Hey college grads, are you fed up because you paid all that money for a degree and can't use it because the job market is saturated? Are you thinking about the 20-something Hail Mary pass of grad school because you don't know what else to do? Maybe you don't have to. Instead of diving deeper into college debt, let me present another option: the restaurant industry. I know, you're all thinking something like, "But I have a degree in business/philosophy/sandwiches! I'm gonna do bigger things than wait tables!"

Eating slices of cold fish might not sound as comforting in the dead of winter as slurping a bowl of hot soup, but that hasn't slowed a recent mini-burst of new sushi spots. From a charming BYOB in Lakeview to a sleek bar and kitchen in the South Loop, these four new additions to the sushi scene have no shortage of expertly rolled maki - and plenty of cooked dishes, too, to warm you from the inside out. Stetsons Modern Steak & Sushi 151 E. Wacker Drive 312-239-4491 Opened in: Early January Backstory: Inside the Hyatt Regency, Stetson's Chop House belonged to the tradition of old Chicago steakhouses - it was dark, played a lot of Frank Sinatra and had the requisite grand piano.

So much for best-laid plans. A few years ago, a man asked his girlfriend to take a tour of Sixteen restaurant as they dined there. She wouldn't budge. Nervous, the man excused himself from the table. It was time for Plan B. He expressed concern to Keith Mallini, who was working at the Near North Side restaurant at the time. They regrouped, and the man returned to the table. Soon, the woman left the table to go to the bathroom. When she returned, there was dessert, champagne and rose petals.

Everything about Howells & Hood , the new restaurant and bar set to open March 16 on the street level of Tribune Tower, feels huge. The street-level space measures 17,300 square feet, and will contain three full bars, 360 draft beer lines, two DJ booths and a private dining room complete with mechanically fogging windows. TVs are being installed along many of its walls, and French doors open onto a 300-seat patio on Pioneer Court that eventually will be home to two 26-foot, heated umbrellas, 16-foot fire tables and a clear view of the Trump and Wrigley buildings.

Outdoor patios downtown, in the Gold Coast and in River North could continue to stay open an hour later than spots in other neighborhoods during the week under a proposal put forth by an alderman. Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) on Thursday introduced an ordinance to once again extend the outdoor patio hours for the central business district, which is roughly bounded by the lake to the east, Division Street to the north, Roosevelt Road to the south, and LaSalle and Halsted Streets to the west.

Reservations opened today for Chicago Restaurant Week 2013, which runs Feb. 1-10. More than 200 restaurants in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs participate in Chicago Restaurant Week by offering prix-fixe specials, including a $22 lunch and dinner for $33 or $44. View the full list of participating restaurants and make reservations at eatitupchicago.com . Here's a look at the 28 Chicago restaurant that are new additions for this year: ...