Chicago’s ‘It’ drinks

It’s a cocktail jungle out there. Drink menus are increasingly becoming so large, they sometimes rival a restaurant’s actual food menu. With a resurgence of the fashionable Cocktail Hour at area lounges, clubs and hotel bars, it can be quite daunting to decide which fabulous libation (or two) you simply must have. What’s in? What’s passe? What is the latest ‘It’ drink? And just hou much does it coset to be cocktail cool?

Tacklin’ Taste

Loosen your belts. It’s that time of year again. Starting today at 11 a.m. and continuing for the next 10 days, we’ll all be in a feeding frenzy at the 22nd annual Taste of Chicago. “We’re very excited about this year’s Taste,” says Cindy Gatziolis, director of public relations for the Mayor’s Office of Special Events. “We’ve got some great restaurants serving all different kinds of food, from Italian to Jamaican to Korean to Thai.

Nigella Lawson: Another British invasion

Good English food was an oxymoron until the Brits invaded America. Again. While they’re barging through our kitchens this time, we’re not so hot to keep them out. It helps that the latest imports such as Jamie Oliver, that hottie on the Food Network’s “The Naked Chef,” are easy on the eye. These days foodies are raising eyebrows at the sexy star of “Nigella Bites,” the delectable Nigella Lawson. She’s slim with model good looks, and this recent widow is raising a family without complaint or a ladle out of place.

Hamming it up for hunger

Step aside, Anna Kournikova. You’ve got some tasty competition on the pinup calendar front. More than a baker’s dozen of top Chicago area chefs have struck a pose to help fight hunger. Unlike the beefcake and cheesecake calendars flooding the market, there were no age, sex or physique requirements for these models, who gladly posed for the Northeastern Illinois Area Agency on Aging’s Holiday Meals on Wheels (Out of the Kitchen to Fight Hunger) calendar.