Jimmy Bannos (Heaven on Seven), Scott Harris (Mia Francesca), and at least one other big name in the Chicago restaurant world are joining forces, Voltron-style, to bring Chicago The Purple Pig, reports TOC’s Heather Shouse, in what might be the biggest restaurant news to cross our desks in a long while. The restaurant is slated to open in mid-September at 500 N Michigan Ave. And they’re playing to trend: pan-Mediterranean small plates all under ten bucks, a bar-centric atmosphere — and that name? “We like pork and we like wine,” head chef Jimmy Bannos (whose son Jimmy Jr., late of New York’s Del Posto and Esca, will be running the kitchen) told Shouse. Turns out when a pig drinks wine, it turns purple. Apparently this is common knowledge? [TOC/Out & About]
