Friday from 6:30 to 9 PM, Viet Bistro and Lounge hosts a free tasting of spirits from North Shore Distillery, including gin, vodka, and the new Sirène absinthe; mixologist Rashed Islam will serve samples of two new martinis he’s created with North Shore spirits, and chef-owner Dan Nguyen will make appetizers. Reservations required.

Alliance Française hosts a cooking class with ingredients from Green City Market Saturday; participants will meet at 9 AM at the market in Lincoln Park to shop for organic lamb, tomatoes, French green beans, and early-fall apples. They'll then head to the Alliance Française kitchen to make tomato soup, roasted lamb with vegetable garnish, and an apple cake. $85, $75 members.

The Oak Park Micro Brew and Food Review, Saturday from 3 to 7 PM on Marion Street between Lake and North, features 50 craft beers from 15 local breweries, including Metropolitan, Two Brothers, and Goose Island, as well as locally sourced food from Oak Park restaurants like the new Marion Street Cheese Market, Trattoria 225, and Buzz Cafe. All disposable materials used at the event will be compostable or recyclable. A VIP event from 2 to 3 PM at Marion Street Cheese Market (100 S. Marion) includes a tour of the new eco-friendly facility, tapping of "select" microbrews, and samples of sustainable specialty cheeses. $35, $65 for VIP tickets.

The Whole Foods FlavorFest returns Saturday from 11 AM to 9 PM and Sunday from 11 AM to 8 PM at Webster and Racine, with free samples of natural foods, live music, kids' activities, and cooking demos from local chefs including Dean Zanella of 312 Chicago, Bruce Sherman of North Pond, and Jason Hammel of Lula Cafe.

Purple Asparagus, a nonprofit dedicated to "bringing families back to the table" by promoting good eating, hosts "Corks and Crayons," a fund-raiser dinner, Sunday from 4 to 7 PM at Webster's Wine Bar. In addition to food including specialty pizzas, crab cakes, and tandoori chicken kebabs, there'll be wine for the adults, plus live and silent auctions and kids' activities. $65 adults, $25 kids 13-18, $15 kids 2-12, free kids under 2 (members $60/$20/$12).

Slow Food Chicago also has a fund-raiser BBQ dinner Sunday, at 6 PM at Kendall College, to honor Chicagoland delegates to this year's Terra Madre, a Slow Food conference in Italy. Kendall students will cook and serve smoked meats and side dishes. $20.

Willis P. Jenkins, Allá, and Tirra Lirra play a fund-raiser at the Empty Bottle for the Dill Pickle Food Co-op Wednesday at 9:30 PM. The Logan Square community-owned grocery store, which now has 255 members, is slated to open at 3039 W. Fullerton by March 2009. $12, $10 in advance.

This week in Food & Drink, editrice Kate Schmidt takes on two of the newer Edgewater Ethiopian spots: the Middle Eastern-east African combo Green Village and the underappreciated Lalibela. Tasneem Paghdiwala runs down Blue Nile, which has been around the way for a while.

In the listings: 13 African restaurants.

This is as good a time as any to prop the work of my old journalism teach Harry Kloman, who for the past few years has been researching a book on Ethiopian restaurants in America. Check out his page on tej, the Ethiopian honey wine, as easy to make as it is to quaff (recipe included).

Greektown stalwart the Parthenon celebrated 40 years in the business in July with the release of The Parthenon Cookbook, by former Sun-Times food editor Camille Stagg, a nostalgic look at the restaurant's history along with a bunch of recipes from skordalia to pastitsio to avgolemono.

I maintain that the best thing at the Parthenon is the house-made loukaniko, for which there's no recipe. There is one, however, for that infamous Parthenon innovation saganaki, the battered, fried, and flamed cheese invented by proprietor Chris Liakouras that spread around the world with a million Opaas! Stagg carefully warns readers not to flambé the stuff at home--after all, look what happened to this poor woman--instead offering a precise description of how the staff does it: "The waiter pours 1/2 shot of brandy over each cheese serving and then ignites and serves it, dousing the flame with lemon juice."

You'd have never figured out that one on your own, huh?

One for the dumb criminals file: On her way home Saturday night, just after 3 AM, my roommate saw a drugged-out-looking white guy in his mid-20s trying to kick in the front door of Alliance Bakery. She called the cops and waited inside the entryway to our building, a few doors down, until they arrived about five minutes later, then went upstairs.

According to an Alliance barista, by the time the police got there the guy had managed to bend the broken laminated glass enough to crawl inside. He'd eaten half a dog biscuit and some cinnamon crumb cake--the two most easily accessible items in the store--then passed out on the floor. You'd think once the guy had gone to all the trouble of kicking in the door, he could find something better to eat than dog biscuits. Then again, the biscuits are made fresh at Alliance--maybe they're worth a try.

When the Montrose Avenue Mr. Pollo closed shop a few months ago, it forced the poultry-loving habitues of the neighboring Montrose Saloon to walk an interminable two blocks from their bar stools if they wanted to retrieve a decent fire-roasted chicken. I know it's not exactly an impoverished neighborhood for pollo a la brasa, what with Brasa Roja down the street and Flying Chicken and D'Candela (my current fave) just a little bit further in opposite directions. But it didn't take long for the Peruvian Fina Estampa to announce its impending arrival in Mr. Pollo's space, ensuring the neighborhood's continued dominance in the realm of flame-licked spinning birds of South American origin. No opening date is posted anywhere visible, but that sign looks ambitious.

Fina Estampa, 2937 W. Montrose

Four years ago, I responded to an advertisement in the pages (stay with me!) of this newspaper soliciting applications for a four-week, all-expenses-paid cultural exchange to South Korea sponsored by the Evanston-based charity Rotary International. I was already deeply enthralled with Korean food, and I saw this as an opportunity to explore the cuisine and culture firsthand.

Accepted to the program, I got far more than I expected, since our embarrassingly generous hosts had us feasting at all hours of the day on a range of Korean cuisine--traditional and nouveau, high end, low end, and everything in between. Some of my companions weren't as thrilled with this relentlessness as I was, but I couldn't have hoped for a more thorough and intense immersion into a cuisine I previously thought I knew something about. 

Stuffing yourself silly isn't the point of these exchanges--they're meant to foster a spirit of international goodwill and understanding. But what better way to do that than to share a table and raise a glass? One of the best things I ever did.

For this spring's Group Study Exchange, Rotary District 6450 is sending a group to Norway, and it's now accepting applications. If you are a non-Rotarian professional (with a supportive boss), between the ages of 25 and 40, residing or working in northeastern Illinois, you are a good candidate. 

For more info contact David Baker, bakerd@iit.edu or at 773-929-6739.

Scoozi’s annual Tomato Fest starts Friday with a wine tasting ($20) and three-course “tomato-inspired dinner” from 6 to 8 PM ($50 for the wine tasting and dinner package). A market Saturday from 9 AM to 2 PM features locally grown heirloom tomatoes and green tomato apple pies as well as bread, fresh pasta, greens, and cheese; chefs John Chiakulas and Eric Young will give cooking demos using tomatoes. Sunday is for the kids (up to age 12), with a tomato stomp and pizza making from 4 to 6:30 PM.

The BBQ & Blues Summer Bash at Sheffield's, Saturday from noon to 6 PM, includes all-you-can-eat house-smoked ribs, pork, and chicken and unlimited craft beer, plus blues by Howard and the White Boys. $20. 

Mahoney's Pub and Grille (551 N. Ogden, 312-733-2121) hosts a "Beer Olympics" Sunday from noon to 10 PM with pub sports like Beer Pong, Flippy Cup, Cornhole, and Quarters, as well as Ping-Pong and pool. Scoring won't be based on alcohol consumption (which is optional) but on a point system; the first place team gets an all-expenses paid trip by limo to Chinatown for dinner at Won Kow restaurant. Teams of six can register until noon Sunday. $100 per team.

A Slow Food Chicago dinner at Le Lan Monday at 6 PM features bobwhite quail with spiced carrot puree and blueberry-balsamic reduction among the four courses, all with wine pairings. $75.

Goose Island's Lincoln Park location hosts a brewmaster dinner to benefit Green City Market Monday at 6:30 PM. Chefs including Paul Virant of Vie, Dean Zanella of 312 Chicago, and Paul Kahan of the Publican (which is apparently slated to open the same day) will prepare dishes like goat milk ricotta gnocchi with zucchini blossoms, yellow tomatoes, and pancetta. Each menu item will be paired with a Goose Island beer. $150.

Executive chef Michael Grieb and wine director Mark Wrobel of Fox & Obel and Brad Fuller of Paramount Merchants lead a BBQ and Beer Class Tuesday from 6 to 7 PM at Fox & Obel, pairing six craft brews with samples of “BBQ-inspired foods” from the store. Among the offerings: Napa cabbage and Granny Smith apple slaw with Blanche de Bruxelles, chicken and mango quesadillas with New Holland Zoomer Wheat Ale, and Gunthorp Farms pulled pork panini with Abita Amber Ale. $20.

Tim Laird, “Chief Entertaining Officer” of Brown-Forman Corporation, presents Mistology: The Science Behind the Cocktail, Wednesday from 7 to 9 PM at the Mid-America Club's Aon Center (200 E. Randolph, 80th fl.). He’ll address enigmas like how to keep carbonation in champagne and why bartenders always pour in alcohol before the mixer, as well as taking questions. After the presentation participants can practice mixing cocktails and nosh on appetizers. All proceeds go to the human rights organization Heartland Alliance. $15.

Last week I was smuggling mangosteens over the border, so Anne Spiselman filed a roundup of mostly Asian (and a few Mexican and Italian) frosty treats for this week's Food & Drink. Not a gelato among them. I like the look of that bingsu.

41 other frozen options follow.

Next week: Kate Schmidt does Ethiopian.

Headed north to Montreal and Toronto last week and made most of the appropriate pilgrimages for smoked meat, poutine, bagels, a depraved dream come true at Au Pied de Cochon, and much more. Along the way we kept encountering that discombobulating phenomenon of the travel doppelgänger--skewed Canuck incarnations of familiar characters from home popping up everywhere. There was the one-eyed cousin of my cat skulking down a Chinatown alley, and toothy Quebecois analogues of minor Chicago politicians plastered all over the light poles. And then we ate at Cowbell, Toronto's answer to Wicker Park's Mado.

Like Rob and Allison Levitt's newish loca-sustainable resto, Cowbell--which actually opened first, last year--operates in a small space with an ever-changing chalkboard menu covered with dishes made from animals butchered on the premises and high-quality locally sourced produce. It too is owned and operated by a couple--Karin Culliton and chef Mark Cutrara.

Cutrara's style (see pics) is a bit more complicated than Levitt's ultrasimple dishes, though we started with some relatively straightforward roasted carrots with mint yogurt and heirloom tomatoes and a house-cured charcuterie plate with an unctuous swab of lard. Next came Angus beef sous vide and a Berkshire pork sampler that at once was a porcine epiphany and a small disappointment.

See, everything I ate on this trip--and I ate extremely well--was overshadowed by a heartbreaking and hauntingly good meal at Montreal's notorious Au Pied de Cochon. I wish I could show you the Plogue à Champlain I ate there, a mountain of ham, potatoes, and foie gras atop a buckwheat pancake drizzled with maple syrup (wait--here's one). We started that meal with a ridiculously over-the-top crispy salad, a towering mound of greens larded with crispy, fatty porky bits and topped with a card-deck-size croquette filled with glistening fatty hock meat. God help me, I can't stop thinking about it.

So the limp, bland headcheese croquette that came with Cowbell's pork platter was a huge letdown. But on the other hand the loin (also done sous vide) was probably the most luscious, silky taste of that cut I've ever had, and along with the thick slab of cheek and a beautiful sausage with some house kraut it was overwhelmingly satisfying.

The point of all this is that Torontoans have gone crazy for Cowbell despite its inconsistencies. It was packed. And I think it's an indication of how far we have yet to go on this front that Mado (which also has some inconsistencies) hasn't made a bigger impact. Yet.

While I'm at it, it's criminal that we don't have a permanent market on the order of Montreal's Marché Jean-Talon or Toronto's Saint Lawrence Market. Anyway, Toronto and Montreal have major Mexican deficits. So there.

This past weekend my girlfriend and I rented a little black Hyundai and drove to Wisconsin for the Great Taste of the Midwest craft-beer festival, presented by the Madison Homebrewers and Tasters Guild and held in Olin Park on the shore of Lake Monona.

By my back-of-the-napkin math, the roughly 120 brewers serving at the Taste had more than 700 beers on offer. I only managed to try 21 (next year I'll know to ask for short pours), and paging through the festival guide now is pretty heartbreaking: Founders tapped their Kentucky Breakfast Stout at 5 PM and I missed it! I didn't remember to visit the folks who brew ciders from heirloom apple and pear varietals! Who even knew you could make plum mead!

Anyway. Though I didn't get to half what I'd hoped to, I did sample some wonderful stuff. Bear in mind that I'm a bit of a novice at this, and still get excited about things that veteran beer snobs tend to dismiss as trendy nonsense--imperial IPAs with exotic hop varieties, for instance. I tried to get outside my comfort zone at Taste, and here are some favorites:

Surly Darkness 2008 (pictured, in my souvenir tasting glass): Very possibly the best stout I've ever had. Only Three Floyds' Dark Lord can compare, and that's a bit apples-and-oranges. Dark Lord is richer and heavier (though Darkness is hardly light--we're talking grades of motor oil here), but on the other hand I feel like I could drink more than four ounces of the Surly without needing to lie down and rest.

Minneapolis Town Hall Thunderstorm: A strong honey ale with orange zest and lemongrass. Not too sweet, with bright, clean fruit flavors instead of the vague, fusty, caramelized notes in MTH's mango IPA. Really wonderful.

Three Floyds AlphaNaught: A hybrid of Alpha King pale ale and Dreadnaught imperial IPA. I went back for this three times. Combines the mango-peach aroma of Dreadnaught with even more assertive piney bitterness. If FFF bottles this, I will fill my basement with it, just in case we have an apocalypse.

Upland Blueberry Lambic: We missed this Indiana brewery's Bumblebee Saison, which was tapped late in the day and apparently consumed entirely in mere minutes. But we did manage to elbow our way to the counter for a splash from the lone bottle of their blueberry lambic, and it justified all the fuss. Lovely violet in color, sour and funky and fruity in perfect balance. (By which I mean "makes Lindemans taste like Kool-Aid.")

Jolly Pumpkin Calabaza Blanca: A wheat beer aged in oak. If you've had 312 or even Oberon you probably think of wheat beers as sweet and mellow, but this cuts through all that with a nice earthy sourness and almost Belgian spritziness. I like wheat beers better the Calabaza Blanca way, as it turns out. 

Viking Mjod: Please pretend there's a Scandinavian-style slash through that "o." This is a honey brackett from Viking Brewing in Dallas, Wisconsin. Similar to mead but with added malt, it's lighter, drier, and more complex.

Piece Camel Toe Double IPA and Dysfunctionale: The only Chicago beers I tried. Two more reasons to brave the sports-bar-style profusion of flat-panel TVs at Piece's cavernous Wicker Park pizzeria and brewpub. I can't recommend the pizza--it's only so-so--but their beers are outstanding. Pick up a growler and take it somewhere less obnoxious to share with your grateful friends.

Surly Bourbon One: OK, this was late in the day, so I can't say much. But I do know that I've often found the whiskey flavor in bourbon-barrel beers too dominant--that tannic corn-mash bite just comes out on top of everything, and you can't taste all the stuff going on inside the beer. This dark lager was an exception, with all the different notes balanced and integrated--and right out of the tap, rather than cellared for a year. It's also the only lager I had all weekend that I'd seek out again, despite stiff competition from all those ales. When will these guys start distributing for real in Chicago? Minnesota isn't that far away.

The morning before the festival we made the drive to the New Glarus brewery. I picked up a few six-packs, two big bottles of their heavenly Belgian Red, and four-packs of two "Unplugged" series beers, a Berliner weisse and a smoked porter. (Enigma, one of the Unplugged beers from 2007, was a fascinatingly strange and delicious sour smoked cherry ale, so I'll try anything New Glarus comes up with at this point.)

Alas, even though the second New Glarus facility south of town is now up and brewing, the company has no plans to distribute in Chicago. They seem to have made a principled decision to remain an "indigenous" business, as one of their many slogans has it.

Overall the Taste experience was surprisingly trouble-free for an event explicitly dedicated to public drinking--the only thing I could really complain about would be the high incidence of big dudes going "Wooo!" late in the day. I'd like to compliment the Taste organizers on their smarts--even if this weren't the 22nd annual festival, it'd be clear they've been at it for a while.

At the grounds there was no parking at all, not even bike racks. We were encouraged to get to the fest on foot, by free shuttle bus, or by subsidized one-dollar cab--anything to keep us from operating machinery more complicated and dangerous than a cigarette lighter or ball-point pen.

There were also several free water stations--basically perforated pipes suspended horizontally over metal washtubs, so that you could rinse your sampling glasses, wash your hands, and take a stab at staying hydrated, all without creating plastic-bottle litter or standing in line. 

Kilt count: seven, at least that I saw. And the gentleman at the Kuhnhenn booth who served me a dram of "fraoch" (an ancient style of heather ale, sweet and musty, that tasted oddly like a blend of flowering grasses and chicken soup) was wearing a full plate-mail helmet and a Dead Kennedys T-shirt.

Anybody else out there in Internetland go to the Taste? What especially excellent beers do you dimly remember drinking?