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Handpicked best food and drink events this week include The Radler Kickstarter Kickoff party (with sausages), Mole de Mayo in Pilsen, and much more.

At 59 years old, Rick Bayless is a James Beard award-winning chef, restaurateur and public television host. But before all that, he was on quite a different path.  

Chef Rick Bayless has conquered the mediums of television and print. Now, as co-creator of the Lookingglass production Cascabel, a new sensory explosion combining circus and food, he takes on theater.

Lookingglass Theatre, winner of the 2011 Tony Award as Outstanding Regional Theatre, will experiment with a dinner theater policy for a limited run, next March 23-April 22.It won’t be your suburban grandmother’s dinner theater, however.

If you’ve dined out in the past five years, chances are you’ve ordered from menus annotated with references to where the food came from: short ribs from Dietzler Farms in Elkhorn, Wisconsin; lettuce from Farmer Vicki of Genesis Growers in St. Anne, Illinois; and so on.

The Publican is nominated for Outstanding Restaurant Graphics (photo by Sifu Renka)The 2011 James Beard Foundation Award Finalists were announced via Twitter today.

It may be hard to believe, but Easter is just around the corner (really!). What better way to celebrate spring than with an homage to the incredible, edible egg: a tiny, minimalist package that contains amino acids, vitamins and protein.