MONDAY 20
Conditions have not exactly been ideal for spending your summer treating yourself to meals at Chicago’s finest restaurants. Thankfully, many of them are answering the call of the broke with specials to suit shrinking budgets. Tonight, you can try Spring for considerably less with a menu featuring 15 different specialty cocktails for only $7 and small plates ranging from $4 to $10, crafted by chefs Shawn McClain and Josh Jones and bearing no resemblance to budget meals. Maine sea scallop with gnocchi, pickled mustard seed and wild onion, for example, is a distant cry from PB&J. 6–11pm.

TUESDAY 21
If you’re one of the many Chicagoans anxiously awaiting Top Chef winner Stephanie Izard’s next endeavor, West Loop restaurant-to-be the Drunken Goat, you may want to jump on this chance for a sneak preview tonight at the Chopping Block. Izard prepares signature dishes from her new menu, paired with wines. $150. 6–9pm. Reservations required. R.S.V.P. at 312-644-6360.

WEDNESDAY 22
Tonight’s “Muddle, Shake and Pour” at SushiSamba Rio competition is the ultimate contest for aspiring mixologists, 20 of whom will try to beat each other at the art of cocktail creation using ten fresh fruits and Leblon cachaca. Judges pick winners each round until the final contestants are left to create a cocktail using a secret ingredient in order to win a $500 gift certificate and a spot on the August drink menu. If you think you have what it takes, enter by calling the restaurant at 312-595-2300.

THURSDAY 23
Beer and fried chicken is a match made in comfort-food heaven and the inspiration for the Ina’s Chicken/Goose Dinner tonight, a three-course beer dinner to celebrate the restaurant’s switch to carrying Goose Island. Brewery reps are on hand to pour and answer your questions. $40. 5–8pm. For reservations, call 312-226-8227.

SATURDAY 25
Why would you want to subject yourself to eating a pile of turkey legs as fast as you can? Money, of course! Risque Café hosts a Turkey Leg Eating Contest tonight and the grand prize is $250. Sign up by Friday 24 for the ten-minute smorgasbord. When time’s up, they’ll weigh in your scraps to determine the winner. Should be pretty interesting considering it takes close to ten minutes to eat one turkey leg. $25 to enter. 1pm.

In other gluttonous news, the Taste of Lincoln Avenue Fest features a Jimmy John’s sandwich eating contest today at 2:30pm at the Montana Stage. If you hurry, you can make it to both!

SUNDAY 26
The Localvore Summer Series highlights seasonal ingredients from local farms at the KDK family of restaurants (Opera, Gioco, Red Light and Marche.) Like all seasonal foods, the window for trying it closes fast, and tonight’s the last night for Gioco’s menu featuring produce from La Quercia Farms, available in its entirety for $42. If one dish suits your fancy more than the others—say, tesa-wrapped pork belly with apples, Indiana sweet corn and red wine—you can also order them a la carte. 312-939-3870.