Friday Foodie Forecast: Tax Day dining deals

Friday Foodie Forecast: Tax Day dining deals
Friday Foodie Forecast: Tax Day dining deals

Friday Foodie Forecast: Tax Day dining deals

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With the tax day deadline looming over our heads, why not soften the blow and indulge in good food while saving some serious cash. Pizzeria Via Stato and Chicago q plan to take away some of the sting with special discounted lunch and dinner three-course menus. Or head over to Goose Island Brewpub and discover memorable meals on minimal budgets as local author Heather Shouse releases her new book on the mobile food movement and brings together some of Chicago’s favorite eateries on wheels, at the city’s first Food Truck Summit. So while you’re busy scrambling to settle up with Uncle Sam, don’t forget to get out and treat yourself (taxes not included).

Celebrate Tax-Day at Chicago q

Chicago q gives tax-paying Chicagoans a slight respite by offering a special three-course prix-fixe menu that won’t break the bank this Monday, April 18. Available for lunch ($15) and dinner ($18), the tax day menu at Chef/Partner Lee Ann Whippen’s Gold Coast BBQ spot includes a choice of appetizer, entrée and dessert, and features menu items like bacon cheddar hush puppies, smoked dry-rubbed wings, pulled pork or Kobe brisket sandwiches for lunch, and half-slab baby back or St. Louis ribs for dinner. Entrees are served with a choice of cornbread, coleslaw or French fries. Dessert options include a choice of cookies or scoops of vanilla bean and cinnamon ice cream. Chicago q is located at 1160 N. Dearborn St., 312-642-1160. For more information, visit www.chicagoqrestaurant.com.

Food Truck Summit at Goose Island Brewpub

Join the mobile food movement. Chicago’s first food truck summit will be held at Goose Island Brewpub this Tuesday, April 19. From 7 to 10 p.m., local food writer and author Heather Shouse brings an array of the city’s mobile eateries together for the release party of her new book, Food Trucks: Dispatches and Stories from the Best Kitchens on Wheels. The event will feature books for sale from the Book Cellar, food trucks selling signature items, and the tapping of the limited-release Curbside beer - a Belgian saison brewed in collaboration between Shouse and Goose Island Head Pub Brewer Jared Rouben. Shouse, the Senior Food & Drink Correspondent for TimeOut Chicago, reporter for Food & Wine and co-author with Girl and the Goat’s Stephanie Izard of Girl in the Kitchen: How a Top Chef Cooks, Thinks, Shops, Eats & Drinks, will be joined by participating food trucks including Gaztro-Wagon, The Southern Mac, Sweet Miss Givings, Tamalli Space Charros, 5411 Empanadas, Hummingbird Kitchen, Flirty Cupcakes and Bridgeport Pasty. Shouse will be on hand answering questions and signing copies of Food Trucks ($20). Goose Island Brewpub is located at 1800 N. Clybourn Ave., 312-915-0071. For more information, visit http://www.heatherjshouse.com.

A Lunch Break at Pizzeria Via Stato

Speaking of discounted dining, Pizzeria Via Stato is offering Just Bring Me Lunch! - a quick three-course menu option designed to provide a satisfying, delicious meal in a hurry, available Monday through Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. For $9.95 per person, the weekday special includes a cup of the soup of the day, choice of sandwich on a warm, crusty baguette - think mild coppa, veal meatball, chicken pesto, BLT or prosciutto - and for dessert, a chocolate tart. For $4 more, guests can also opt for one of the thin crust, tavern-style pizzas instead of the sandwich (choice of classico cheese, margherita, vegetable, sausage, pepperoni, mushroom, four cheese, roasted fennel, roasted mushroom or proscuitto americano). Pizzeria Via Stato is located at 620 N. State St., 312-642-8450. For more information, visit http://osteriaviastato.com/pizzeria/.

-Dimitra Apostolopoulos