MONDAY 18
If you’re wandering around the National Restaurant Association’s 2009 Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show today, make sure to stop by the NRA Show Bookstore for Takashi Yagahashi’s signing of his first book, Takashi’s Noodles. Yagahashi owns Zen spot Restaurant Takashi. If you’re looking to learn how to cook like him, rather than sign a book like him, catch his NRA culinary showcase at 12:30pm. Book signing starts at 2pm. McCormick Place. FREE!
WEDNESDAY 20
You don’t have to be an American Idol devotee to hit Chen’s season finale party. For just $10, guests can partake in a sushi buffet and get two top-shelf drinks and an appetizer. It’s a prime spot for watching the season finale and if you care way more about sushi than reality TV, those two drinks should help with drowning it out. 7pm. $10. Reservations required. 773-549-9100
THURSDAY 21
The thing about eating healthy is it seems like so much effort. If you want to be lazy about it, like us, take advantage of the Ten Super Foods World Kitchen class at Gallery 37 tonight. The class will give you a list of ten foods well-known for their health benefits and then show you how to incorporate them, so all you have to do is take notes and start adding those ten things to your grocery list. Reservations required. 6–8:30pm. $30. 312-742-8497.
FRIDAY 22
All this weekend, John Barleycorn’s Lincoln Park location celebrates the onset of summer with a three-day Memorial Day weekend backyard barbeque. An all-you-can-eat buffet includes rib tips, burgers and classic BBQ sides like corn on the cob and baked beans. 5–10pm nightly. $10. 658 W Belden Ave. 773-348-8899.
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