The Chicago Sun-Times proudly talks about an invasion of high-profile, out-of-town chefs in the Windy City, including Amada/Tinto's Jose Garces (who's actually a native Chicagoan).

Garces' Catalan tapas restaurant Mercat a la Planxa opened in March. ("Mercat" means "market" in Catalan. Not to be confused with meerkat.) Michael Fiorello, who'd been a chef at Amada, was transplanted to Chicago as chef de cuisine.

"I've been wanting to get home for 13 years," Garces says. "Chicago's come to the forefront as a very modern culinary town. Along with Grant [Achatz of Alinea] and others who work here in town, that's transformed [this] from a meat-and-potatoes town to a culinary mecca."

Garces' next project, a Mexican called Distrito, is on track for a midsummer opening at 3945 Chestnut St.

The story also mentions a new restaurant called C-House from Marcus Samelsson, who was here for a Scandinavian minute in 2004 with the now-closed Stephen Starr eatery Washington Square.

Speaking of Starr: He brought Garces to Philly to work with yet another big-name out-of-towner, Douglas Rodriguez, at Alma de Cuba. Starr also drew Morimoto to Chestnut Street and briefly a few ago had Alfred Portale in the kitchen at Striped Bass.

Starr may have given up the idea of importing star chefs. He seems to have stopped the practice when he himself began expanding to other cities. None of his next projects -- Parc (opening in June) at 18th and Locust and his two places in the new Chelsea in Atlantic City (Teplitzky's and Chelsea Prime, planned for July) -- are celeb-chef driven.

Effie Bouikidis-Schweich of Effie's -- the sweet, little Greek BYOB at 1127 Pine St. in Wash West -- is planning another restaurant.

It'll be right across the street: 1120 Pine. Her father, Paul Bouikidis, also owns Pine Street Pizza down the street at 12th and Pine.

Bouikidis-Schweich says she and her dad are dickering over the concept (he wants Italian, while she wants American comfort food). No name yet. Either way, they'd like to open this fall.

AOL’s CityGuide has announced its nominees for City’s Best 2008, as in local dining and nightlife. Between now and July 10, people can vote for their favorite venues in categories such as Best Burgers, Best Cheap Eats, Best Romantic Restaurants, and Best Sports Bars.

A breeze through the list of nominees shows many usual suspects. And a few unusual ones.

Under Chinese restaurants, for example, Sang Dee. (Has to be Sang Kee.) Under "date spots, there's "Dimitri's." (Dmitri's, surely.) And under "romantic," so many people fondly remember Astral Plane but when voting, keep in mind it closed last year.

Calling your attention to the corner of 13th and Buttonwood Streets (that's a block below Spring Garden in the emerging neighborhood called Callowhill).

The building, which had been known as the Carriage House, was home in the last year and a half to two operations: Makers Local -- gone in a minute -- and Canavan's Pub -- gone in five.

Michael Pasquarello and Jeniphur Whitleigh, who own the thriving Cafe Lift down the block (and may be the cutest restaurant couple in town), have an eye to take it over and restore it to its roots. Or close, anyway. Pasquarello has been researching through city archives (try it!) and found a photo of the place from 1894, when it was a handsome bar in a hopping neighborhood.

They want to call it Prohibition, and if liquor-license issues can be resolved, they'd like to open in September. But first, they're getting married in early June.

Food & Drinq has obtained the tenant list at the gourmet food market that will be in the concourse of the Comcast Center (17th Street between JFK and Arch). Stores will begin opening June 2.

The market's location is killer, on the approach to the SEPTA platform at Suburban Station. Merchants envision Comcast workers stopping on their way out the door. For the lunchtime crowd that might want to skip Ralph's, there will be seating, too.

It's been no secret that Di Brono Bros. and Termini Bros. are going in.

And so is Susanna Foo, whose place will be called Sanxi. She was approached recently to get the last space, and now that life has calmed down at both her Center City restaurant and Susanna Foo Gourmet Kitchen in Radnor, she says she feels she can do it.

Not that the size of the 150-square-foot stand is any big deal. She says she'll open Sanxi -- after the province in China where her father is from (pronounced "SAN-shee") -- in November because she has to work on recipes that are conducive to takeout, such as dumplings, salads and a few entrees.

The rest of the lineup:

Jake & Max's Deli
Bucks County Coffee Co.
Tokyo Sushi & Catering
LaScala's (the restaurant at Seventh and Chestnut, doing quick-serve pizza and pasta)
Frank's Old-Philly Style Sandwiches (run by LaScala's)
Under the C (a seafood stand from the operators of Ardmore Seafood at the Ardmore Farmers Market)
Sook Hee's Produce (also from Ardmore Seafood)
Mexican Post (an offshoot of the local mini-chain).

Table 31, the Georges Perrier/Chris Scarduzio steakhouse on the street level, is due to open for beverage service May 18. Lunch and dinner are to start June 3.

Francis Trzeciak of Birchrunville Store Cafe, the highly regarded BYOB in the woods of Chester County, has added chef's duties at another spot in the woods of Chester County: the Inn at St. Peter's Village (3471 St. Peter's Rd., 610-469-2600; use 19470 as the zip for Mapquest).

Trzeciak, with chef de cuisine George Cook, is doing a similar dinner menu of simple, modern French cuisine at the stunning restaurant overlooking French Creek; entree prices range from $21 for the semiboneless organic breast of chicken, Dijon mustard, fresh herb and hazelnut crust, up to $35 for the Black Angus strip steak, black peppercorn crust, roasted portobello. It's open Wednesdays through Saturdays, and for Sunday brunch.

Here's the dinner menu.

Photo: Trzeciak in his herb garden at Birchrunville Store Cafe, by Linda Johnson / The Philadelphia Inquirer

Apothecary Bar + Lounge will gently open to the public tomorrow (5/7). It will likely be another week or even two before the second floor and roof deck are opened but the ground floor will be open to the public.

Meanwhile, here's its menu.

Photo by Michael Bryant / Inquirer Staff Photographer

New Wave Cafe, across from Dmitri's at Third and Catharine Streets in Queen Village, will put out a free buffet tonight (5/6) to mark its 23d anniversary.

Sometime during the night, there will be a one-hour open bar.

Native Los Angelino Chris Hora, who boasts a globetrotting culinary resume, is creating a BYO called Root at 1033 Spring Garden St., in the spot on the edge of Center City that was Palate.

Hora is intrigued by slow food and sustainable ag, and it'll be reflected in his lunch and dinner menus.

Hora did time at Coyote Crossing in Conshy and West Chester and talks of working for Wolfgang Puck in L.A. at Chinois and Spago, and consulting in assorted spots: the French Alps. (Oui.) Jackson Hole, Wyo. (Yee-hah.) Prague. (Czech.) He says Philly has been receptive to good restaurants.

He's hoping for a late-May/early-June opening.

The new Chipotle store at 133 W. Lancaster Ave. in Ardmore will dispense free burritos and beverages from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday 5/8.