TOC: The Eminences Gris

It’s Media Roundup Extravaganza Friday, because why the heck not, and we feel like it.

Time Out Chicago, weekly magazine and live-blog hosts-with-the-mosts
• The centerpiece is a look at silent partners — not actual investors-who-don’t-participate, but the folks who aren’t chefs, staff, or money dudes who actually make the restaurant go. Highlights include the inimitable Ellen Malloy, uber-publicist behind RIA, and Tony Polega, the guys from Bukiety Flowers who does the arrangements for Alinea and others. Painters, beer suppliers, and kitchen logicsticians round out the collection of folks who should be on every restaurateur’s speed dial.

• David Tamarkin takes a look at the new Terragusto on Armitage, where the crowd is packed, the service pushy, and the food (especially the pasta) is just barely on the right side of the “is this really worth the crowd and pushy service?” question.

The new Tocco is up for , which is sleek and design-y but doesn’t carry that meticulous attention to detail through to the food. A solidly executed thin-crust pizza can’t make up for the astonishingly vacant service, clueless waitstaff, and all the rest of the uninspired food.

Piccolo Sogno chef Tony Priolo has two espresso machines and just got engaged on the ponte vecchio in Florence.

[Photo: storem/Flickr]

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TOC: The Eminences Gris