"Celebrity chefs" news and stories

• With the arrival of three new steakhouses, the River North neighborhood of Chicago has really steaked out its territory. (Ahem.)
• Speaking of stakeouts, if you're hoping to spot one of Chicago's many celebrity chefs, read on.
• You've had the deep-dish pizza. What else does Chicago have to offer? Try these dishes.
• It's the "beet generation." (Sorry.) Why is it they're suddenly every chef's favorite?

Have you ever wondered what the celebrity chefs of America do on Thanksgiving? The editors over at YumSugar reached out to chefs like Gail Simmons, Eric Ripert and Jose Andres and asked what their favorite part of turkey day was. Click here for the full gallery.

Celebrity Chefs Reveal Favorite Part Thanksgiving Over Twitter

Zombies fans, imagine this: What if the undead were not just everyday Joes and Janes, as they are in Dawn of the Dead or the new TV series (based on the comic) "The Walking Dead." No, these man-eating creatures would have names like Alton and Martha, and even Julia, and let's just say they would not use their knife skills for the power of good, as they do on food TV. The Denver "Westword" blog imagines it all too well with a riff on "The Seven Celebrity Chefs Who Would Make Great Zombies."

Endorsements are usually left for top-tier athletes and movie stars, but now chefs are in the mix too, endorsing things like stock pots, muffin tins and...automobiles? Yup. Thomas Keller, chef-owner of the revered French Laundry restaurant in Napa Valley, has signed on with BMW to enlist a fleet of the company's new ActiveHybrid 7 car (priced at $102,300), for the restaurant's new concierge service, reports Bloomberg.

The partnership is also being honored with a BMW-inspired menu at the restaurant, featuring a Four Story Farm apple-fed pork loin with bratwurst, braised red cabbage, apple dumplings and grain mustard sauce. It's German, get it?

While the restaurant-automobile deal is new, it isn't entirely out of left field -- the French Laundry and BMW share a similar (well-to-do) clientele. "Our guests at the French Laundry are people who have BMWs or are looking at BMWs," says Keller, as reported by Bloomberg, while BMW is vying for the top spot against Lexus, which "remained the sales leader through August," above BMW and Mercedes, Bloomberg notes.

Plus, Keller does have a couple in his garage -- a 5-Series wagon for daily use, and a 1978 BMW 320i, the first car he ever owned, which he lovingly restored four years ago.

Nothing quite spoils a $35 plate of lobster risotto like the specter of revolution.

A kind of proletariat fever appears to be sweeping through some of New York's finest restaurants. Forget picket lines, though. These workers are dragging their celebrity-chef bosses to court.

As the Wall Street Journal reports, famed Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto is the latest in a string of prominent restaurateurs to face lawsuits alleging violations of state and federal labor laws. A former employee of his New York City restaurant, Morimoto, is filing suit for depriving him of tip money.