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"One of the perks of traveling for business is the opportunity to try new restaurants in other cities. While I was attending the International Home &amp;amp;amp; Housewares Show last month (click here for a preview of the new kitchenware that grabbed my attention at the show) I ate at three very different eateries in Chicago. First night out was spent at Tufano&amp;#039;s (1073 W Vernon Park Chicago, IL Tel: (312) 733-3393), an Italian joint I would never have found myself but that our hostess had seen featured on the Food Network&amp;#039;s Guy&amp;#039;s Diners, Drive-ins and Dives episode called Just Like Yesterday. And certainly spending an evening at Tufano&amp;#039;s was like stepping back in time ---a time when a bottle of Chianti could be purchased for just $20 and was served in juice glasses. Food was presented family-style---think heaping platters of fried calamari, sausage and peppers, and lemon chicken. Everyone seemed to know everyone at this no-reservations dive and before we left we were on first-name basis with Joey, the owner, who sat down with us to shoot the breeze for a few minutes. Must-try dish: the Tufano Special Salad with the most delicious salami ever!     The next night I ate at one of the hottest new spots, the very posh L2o, owned by Chef Laurent Gras. With its cool Asian-inspired d\u00E9cor and cuisine it was a far cry from old Chicago. Here, the tone was set from the very beginning of the four-course tasting menu, when the chef sent out a quail egg yolk in aspic (it resembled an eye ball) sitting on a bed of crumbled chorizo---intended to be an appetite teaser, it worked the opposite magic on some guests at the table. While the courses that followed featured, foams, jellies, and smoke my favorite dish was the pristine sashimi platter...proving sometimes the less you do to food the better.  On my last night before heading back, I ate with my favorite dining companion, my colleague Carolyn Forte, Director of Home Appliances and Cleaning Products, who walks the aisles in McCormick Place looking for the latest cleaning gear while I&amp;#039;m tracking down kitchen gadgets and gizmos. (Click here for her report on her top finds.) It&amp;#039;s our show tradition to spend the last night together at a place of our own choosing to wind down and compare notes. This year we ate at Sepia and it was our idea of heaven. Just like its website claims, it&amp;#039;s rustic yet refined, &amp;quot;stylish without being sleek&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;warm and inviting.&amp;quot; The seasonal menu lets the ingredients shine through. After days of eating out, I just craved a salad and the one here was simply perfect...baby lettuces from a farm just outside of Chicago tossed with a light vinaigrette that let the lettuce taste like, well, lettuce...nothing could have made me happier! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/food-recipes/a22215/a-taste-of-chicago-restaurants/>