Facebook icon Twitter icon Instagram icon YouTube icon
Two layers of spice cake, with salted caramel frosting. It’s Portillo’s new salted caramel spice cake. (Courtesy of Portillo’s)

And yes, the salted caramel spice cake can be made into a shake.

A Red Lobster in Alexandria, Virginia. An additional 23 locations are scheduled to close as part of the seafood chain’s bankruptcy proceedings. (Ting Shen / Bloomberg / Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

A recent court filing shows that the company is rejecting the leases of an additional 23 locations by Saturday, Aug. 31, joining the more than 100 restaurants that Red Lobster closed earlier this summer. Once complete, the chain will have around 500 outlets left — a sharp decline from the 650 it had just last year.

,

Businesses around the United Center are used to serving throngs of customers during game days and concerts, but they’re hoping to score even higher sales with the Democratic National Convention in town.

A dish at Caribella in Logan Square on Aug. 7, 2024. (WTTW News)

Latin Restaurant Weeks are back with specials across the Chicago area. It’s an opportunity to sample flavors from across Latin America without leaving Illinois.

In this April 5, 2011 file photo, Pringles chips are seen in a posed photo at a West Bath, Maine grocery store. (AP Photo / Pat Wellenbach, File)

Kellanova was created last year when the Kellogg Co. split into two companies. Chicago-based Kellanova sells many of the former company’s most profitable brands, including Pringles, Eggo, Town House, MorningStar Farms and Rice Krispies Treats. It had net sales of more than $13 billion last year and has about 23,000 employees.

A waiter delivers food to patrons at a restaurant, Jan. 21, 2022, in Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier, File)
,

Both candidates unveiled their plans in Nevada, a state with one of the highest concentrations of tipped service workers in the country. 

Inside Novel Pizza Cafe in Pilsen. (WTTW News)

Novel Pizza Cafe is putting a modern twist on an Italian classic. The Pilsen spot is decked out with ‘90s-inspired throwbacks, and the food embraces a fusion of the owners’ Mexican and Filipino cultures.

Wisconsin Cheese Mart (Nicole Cardos / WTTW News)

From brats to cheese, downtown Milwaukee businesses are hoping for a boost from the Republican National Convention. So far, business has been on the slow side. 

Waiter with coffee cup. File photo. (Credit: Towfiqu barbhuiya / Pexels)
,

Advocates who have been pushing to eliminate statewide what is called the subminimum wage acknowledged Tuesday that their efforts to pass the measure during the General Assembly’s spring session won’t move forward.

A still from a trailer for season three of “The Bear.” (Credit: FX)

Season three of the “The Bear,” the wildly successful Chicago-set restaurant comedy (or drama, depending on the episode), will premiere June 27, network FX announced.

Food at Belly Bowl Asian Kitchen and Lounge in Bridgeport. (WTTW News)

The owners of Belly Bowl Asian Kitchen and Lounge experiment with different spices and flavors, offering a blend of cultures.

“The Polish Luther” paczki creation. (Credit: Jonathan Surratt)

The paczki many Polish Americans grew up eating, made with plum, rose or raspberry fillings, aren’t the only kind available these days. We take a look at the Fat Tuesday tradition. 

A restaurant worker is pictured in a file photo. (WTTW News)
,

Under a new proposal introduced last week in Springfield, all tipped workers in the state would have to be paid the equivalent of the Illinois’ regular minimum wage through a combination of wages and tips. If the tips fall short, their employers would have to make up the difference.

Home baker Agnieszka “Agnes” Hurtado whips up hundreds of paczki every year. (Nicole Cardos / WTTW News)

Paczki are fried Polish donuts filled with jam. Residents across Chicago and the Midwest celebrate the donut every year on Fat Tuesday, better known to some as “Paczki Day.”

La Josie in the West Loop serves modern Mexican cuisine. (Emily Soto / WTTW News)

Chicago Restaurant Week is dishing out examples of the city’s diverse and delicious culinary scene. The 17-day celebration invites diners to get out and try new eateries, with specialized menus at more than 400 restaurants across the city.

(Caio / Pexels)
,

A group of Illinois lawmakers have a proposal that would ban a handful of common additives in food made and sold in Illinois starting in 2027. California last year became the first state to ban the substances that are common in mass-produced and ultra-processed cereals, candies, salad dressings and sodas.