There are two things Gina Howie is passionate about: pastry and brunch. She and Brooke Dailey, a friend she met in pastry school, have devoted themselves to the pastry passion since 2007 at Lovely: A Bake Shop; now the pair have added Howie’s husband—and fellow French Pastry School alum—Bob Hartwig to the team and gotten serious about the brunch at Bakin’ and Eggs, a BYOB, breakfast-all-day spot in Lakeview. But there’s something else the group is incredibly passionate about, and that’s bacon: You’ll find it in the expected places (a breakfast BLT, a caramelized-onion-bacon-blue-cheese frittata) and some less-expected ones (mixed into waffle batter, baked into mac and cheese, pictured). The truly passionate will head for the maxed-out “bacon flight”—a showcase of five bacons, ranging from honey to jalapeño.

3120 N Lincoln Ave (773-525-7005). Mon–Sat 7am–5pm; Sun 8am–4pm.

Chicago Magazine’s Dish reported last week that the peripatetic Goose Island chef and consultant John Manion, who was brought in January to upgrade the brewpub’s menu, would be leaving to get things into shape over at Branch 27. Goose owner John Hall told Dish that Manion would be replaced by an internal candidate, and this morning, Goose PR announced that the company has chosen Andrew Hroza, who has worked at Goose for “several years,” and is a chef and certified Cicerone (beer sommelier), as the replacement. Hroza catered for rockers like Van Halen and Prince before coming to Goose Island, and he’ll be assisted in the kitchen by sous chef Matt Andorka. Last night was Manion’s farewell Thanksgiving-themed dinner, but the kitchen promises things aren’t slowing down: Tonight’s special is housemade goat sausage with pickled Brussels sprouts.

In the midst of this week’s Big Star pandemonium, perhaps there are a few of you out there who’d like to take a moment to remember the Wicker Park institution known as the Pontiac Café? If so, here’s some good news. Former Pontiac owner Buddy Eggert has moved the bar’s Honky Tonk Bingo over to Stanley’s Kitchen & Tap in Lincoln Park, every Tuesday at 8pm, “with the original Pontiac cast” intact, Eggert says. Along with bingo rounds, all pints are $3, Texas Tipsy Tea is $6, and shots of “Jim, Jack, Jose or Jamey” are $5. In keeping with the theme, whether intentionally or not, the menu at Stanley’s offers frito pie, “trailer chips” with bacon-cheddar ranch dip and giant burgers topped with green chile served with tater tots and a fried pickle, each of which comes in under $10.

Honky Tonk Bingo at Stanley’s, Tuesdays at 8pm, 1970 N Lincoln Ave (312-642-0007).

The latest entry into the annals of great food debates—Trotter v. Tramonto, Levy v. Zarzour—concerns not the ethics of foie gras nor the state of pastry but rather the single most banal phenomenon of our time: Twitter. The discussion, which began with Steve Dolinsky’s tweets from Big Star’s opening night and evolved (or devolved, depending on your taste) into a back and forth between Restaurant Intelligence Agency owner Ellen Malloy, Chicago Tribune writer Kevin Pang and food writers Michael Nagrant and Ari Bendersky, took over Twitter yesterday and has moved over to Facebook today, which makes it significantly easier to follow, and significantly more…verbose.

At stake is the question: Is it okay for a food personality to tweet about a restaurant on its first night? (Responses included: Yes, if it’s positive. Yes, if the writer recognizes that people care. Yes, if the person wants to be relevant.)

We* followed along, but kept mum. Sure, as food writers, we’ve got opinions. (I’m completely neutral about positive tweets, which are—since the Tapas Valencia misstep—all that Dolinsky has ever trafficked in. But I think anyone tweeting negative remarks needs to know that the repercussions can be pretty fucking serious. Michael Nagrant, a bold participant in this conversation, has failed to mention that after he tweeted about the Publican’s bad service at brunch, servers at the restaurant lost their jobs.) But as an eater, and as a reader, I honestly don’t care. And neither does the vast majority of the thousands of Twitter followers accrued by this crew of food writers. These followers RT like crazy when they find out what kind of hot dogs Lula will serve as Hot Doug’s on Halloween or what the process was behind building the oven at Nella Pizzeria or whether the $5 burger at Primehouse is worth heading over for. But when a bunch of food writers tap away on twitter about how to use twitter? And do it in a way that betrays the fact that they’re really in the conversation not so much for the philosophical discussion but rather because they think it will “strengthen their brand”? Well, it’s then that we can hear the sound of one hand tweeting.

*This post was co-written with David Tamarkin.

UPDATE: A Publican spokesperson says that no one was fired as a result of Nagrant’s tweet. Other sources disagree. But we erred in not giving the restaurant an opportunity to present its side of the story before this post first went live, and we apologize for that.

As we mentioned yesterday, Top Chef finalist Dale Levitski has taken over at Lincoln Park’s Sprout restaurant. Yesterday, GM Tofer Kristofer told me Levitski would be rehauling the menu, and he wasn’t kidding. While à la carte options are available, the menu is geared toward $60 three-course tasting menus. The three-page menu below shows the options for each course. And damn if it doesn’t look pretty rad.

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It’s been a rough fall for Sprout Restaurant. First, Monica Eng quoted Satko Ibrahimovic (then the chef-owner) talking about serving $120 entrées. In this economy? The internet was not pleased. Ibrahimovic was out before the restaurant even opened, replaced by Edward Walker, according to Metromix, and by a lower-priced menu. Then this afternoon, Restaurant Intelligency Agency owner Ellen Malloy dropped the news that Dale Levitski— who went from Trio to Top Chef fame, then worked on opening a restaurant called Town & Country (which was supposed to open in December 2008, but never did), then resurfaced recently with a supper club called Dine With Dale at Relax Lounge—will be taking over at Sprout. While a phone call to the restaurant was not immediately returned, an unconfirmed report from a source says that Dale will relaunch Sprout with an entirely new menu this weekend if not sooner. UPDATE: Sprout GM Topher Kristopher confirms that Levitski started a week-and-a-half ago. The restaurant is currently closed while Levitski retrains the staff and reconcepts the restaurant. Sprout will reopen to friends and family on Thursday and to the general public on Friday, Nov 13.

You’ve seen the oven. (If you haven’t, go see the oven.) You know it fires pizzas at 1,200 degrees, was constructed by Naples-based builders on site in Lincoln Park, and will be operated by Nella Grassano, formerly the pizzaola at Spacca Napoli (whose pizza is pictured at left). Now it’s time to see some pizzas. Well, almost time. To see some actual pizzas, you’ll have to wait until the end of next week: Nella Pizzeria Napoletana (2423 N Clark St, 773-327-3400), the latest project from the impossibly busy Scott Harris, is slated to open toward the end of the week of the 16th. But in the meantime, here’s the menu of antipasti, insalate, pizze and stuffed pizze to look forward to.
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Double A, the much-anticipated lounge beneath Mercadito, is set to open November 12 at 8pm. Last week, I spoke with the club’s cocktail consultants, Tad Carducci and Paul Tanguay—a.k.a. the Tippling Bros—to find out everything I could about the bar. Read the excerpts from the interview to find out what’s in store.

How the Tippling Bros assembled an all-star bartending staff—and why those mixologists aren’t (yet) designing their own drinks

JK: We have a pretty small cocktail community in Chicago. When you went about assembling the team of bartenders at Mercadito, you definitely took some of the best bartenders in the city.
Tad Carducci: Yes, we did.
Paul Tanguay: Absolutely.

JK: What was your thinking behind that?
TC: First and foremost, it wasn’t to try to poach anybody from anywhere. I had personal relationships with basically everybody on the team, and months and months and months ago, we started planting the seed, saying, we’d love for you to come and help us out. And when we let people know that we were finally ready and looking, everybody that we opened with came to us and said, “Yeah, we absolutely want to come and work with you.”

JK: Did the two of you come up with all of the cocktails at Mercadito, or was it a collaboration?
TC: We came up with the opening cocktails—that was all us. Part of the reason we hired the team that we did was so that we develop the opening list, kind of to establish the Mercadito culture on the drinks side, and then the idea being to slowly give ownership to the team, utilizing their creativity. Our next menu changes will have more contributions from the bartenders. We’ll always maintain probably at least half of the cocktails on the list, but then leaving probably the other half for the bartenders to play around with and really get creative.
PT: In terms of building a team, if bartenders contribute to the menu, they feel like they’re part of it—they take ownership of it a little bit more.

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Your where-to-go, what-to-eat daily.

Jake Melnick’s Corner Tap hosts its inaugural Battle of the Bhut: a contest to see who can eat the most hot wings from Jake’s. The twist: The wings are made with Bhut Jolokia pepper, considered, purportedly, the hottest in the world. Bill Kurtis will emcee the contest, and the winner takes home tix to a Bulls or Blackhawks game, plus a year’s supply of wings. The contest begins promptly at 6pm. 41 E Superior St (312-266-0400). No entry fee, no cover.

To celebrate the opening of its tenth downtown Chicago location (on Friday at 525 W Monroe St), Chipotle is hosting a pre-opening fund-raiser to benefit the American Brain Tumor Association. Order a burrito, burrito bowl, salad or taco along with a fountain drink for $5, of which all proceeds benefit the organization. 4–8pm. 525 W Monroe St (312-379-0247). $5.

Your where-to-go, what-to-eat daily.

Pets are too much like work. Adopt an herb tonight at Nacional 27—while enjoying cocktails and tapas in the bar. Herbs—from the N27 Mojito Garden—are free, but are available on a “first-come, first-adopted” basis. 5pm. 325 W Huron St (312-664-2727). Free to attend.

State and Lake and Goose Island brewmaster Greg Hall team up for a beer-pairing dinner featuring beer-cheese crostini, grilled-lobster salad, pan-roasted arctic char, slow-roasted pork belly—all paired with Goose brews. Dinner. 201 N State St (312-239-9400). $59.

Minibar has a new chef—Brian Merel—and a new menu, which calls for a celebration. Stop by tonight for Flights and Bites, featuring complimentary food from Merel’s Italian menu and Bombay Sapphire cocktails. 7:30–9:30pm. 3341 N Halsted St (773-871-6227). Free to attend.

Webster’s Wine Bar takes a look at What Time Does to Wine by tasting a host of diverse styles at different ages. Learn something. 7:30pm, reservation required: signup@websterwinebar.com or 773-868-0608. $40.

Wednesday means a three-course prix fixe at Browntrout: Tonight’s dishes include parsnip-and-pear soup and chicken breast with bacon-potato hash. Dinner. 4111 N Lincoln Ave (773-472-4111). $35, includes a wine pairing.