First, I want to again congratulate our winners of the Wildfire Soup Contest. I really appreciate everyone that contributed a recipe. I had a blast with the entire process; from picking out the four finalists, gathering the ingredients (some were really hard to find!), then carefully following the recipes to make the soups the best they could be so they could all do well in front of the judges...whew, now that's pressure! We will be running all of the soups at some point throughout the next year. We will start with the grand prize winning soup, Beci's Kansas City Steak Soup in the month of December followed by, in no particular order, Jeff's White Bean and Kale , Karen's Unstuffed Cabbage and Lea's Black Bean and Pumpkin soup.

The best food holiday of the year was last week, and I hope everyone had an enjoyable and delicious Thanksgiving. My family and I had a 16 lb. All-Natural Plainville turkey from Pennsylvania. It was by far the juiciest turkey we've had. I made a simple brine of fennel, coriander, mustard seed, bay leaf, sugar, salt and water. Then I put a marinade in the cavity and under the skin that consisted of butter, shallots, fresh herbs and lemon zest. The bird roasted in the oven for 2 hours covered in foil and 2 hours uncovered. We had plenty of traditional sides to complete a colorful plate. The highlight of the side dishes was balsamic glazed cipollini onions from the farmer's market.

We were sad to say goodbye to our much loved Macadamia Nut Crusted Halibut. Halibut season will make a happy return in the middle to third week of March. Our new fish special is fresh line caught day boat cod from Portland, Maine that is flown in daily. This flakey, juicy white fish is lightly seasoned with salt and black pepper, dipped into our seasoned flour, spice and cornmeal mix, lightly coated in slightly beaten egg whites, then dipped into a panko crumb and parmesan cheese breading. We then roast it in our wood burning oven and serve it with lemon butter. If you are a fan of the Macadamia Nut Crusted Halibut, you're sure to love this as a tasty, albeit temporary, substitute!

Finally, our first Wildfire, which opened in the River North area of Chicago around this time of the year in 1995, has launched a new small plate menu and daily drink special menu in the Martini Lounge from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. 7 small plates will be featured with items like Pulled Chicken Quesadillas, Mini Hickory Burgers, Chipotle Chicken Sausage Sandwiches, and Crispy Fish Tacos. $7 daily drink specials will highlight each weekday with selections like Margarita Mondays, Jazz it up Wednesdays and Friday Night Flights. An early evening in Wildfire's Martini Lounge is a great way to wind down from a long day and get revved up for a fun evening.

Well, that's the odds and ends of what's going on at Wildfire. Hope to see you at Wildfire during one of your holiday parties!

From the wood burning oven,