Easter Brunch: Patch Picks

Looking for a place to celebrate Easter Brunch?Think the southwest suburbs.

Every Thursday, Patch will run a weekly feature called Patch Picks, highlighting editor and reader picks of great local businesses, destinations, services, organizations, ways to spend a day off, and more.   You’ll find useful lists to help you, your family, friends, and significant others find the best places for everything from Sunday brunch to New Year’s Eve celebrations, pumpkin patches, date night destinations, florists, girlfriend nights out, kids party places, parks and more. For this week, we've got four great ideas for a delicious Easter meal. Sip a mimosa or chilled champagne, and enjoy fare such as Eggs Benedict, fresh fruit, assorted baked breads, chef-carved ham, roasted leg of lamb and more. The brunch will be held from 10 a.…

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Lemont Trustee, NBC Weatherman Celebrate Pancake Cafe's 10th Anniversary

Paul Chialdikas, current owner of PC's Pancake Cafe, and Andy Avalos, will have cake and half-price meals Saturday to mark the restaurant's milestone.

Lemont Trustee Paul Chialdikas will celebrate the 10-year anniversary of PC's Pancake Cafe this weekend with half-price meals and a visit from a special guest. Though Chialdikas has owned and operated the Pancake Cafe, 1264 State Street, for the past five years, the restaurant was established 10 years ago by NBC 5 meteorologist Andy Avalos. To mark the restaurant's milestone, Avalos will join Paul and Marie Chialdikas on Saturday, Dec. 4, for cake-cutting ceremonies at 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. "I'm excited, he's excited -- it should be a great celebration," Chialdikas said. The menu, which includes everything from gourmet french toast and omelets to salads and sandwiches, will be half-price all day Saturday, Chialdikas said. The …

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Lemont Trustee Loses Bid for Commissioner of Cook County Sanitary District

Republican Paul Chialdikas was defeated Tuesday in the race for Commissioner of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago.

Lemont Village Trustee Paul Chialdikas lost Tuesday in the race for Commissioner of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. As a Republican candidate from suburban Cook County, Chialdikas knew it would be a difficult campaign: The sanitary district, which covers 883-square miles across the city of Chicago and 125 suburbs, has been a Democratic stronghold for more than 30 years and all nine of its current members live in the city of Chicago. With three seats up for grabs Tuesday on the MWRD Board of Commissioners, Democrats Mariyana T. Spyropoulos, Barbara McGowan and Michael A. Alvarez received huge percentages of the vote, particularly in Chicago.  "I'm disappointed," Chialdikas said. "It's not that I lost, it's …

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Local Restaurants Pitch In for High School Fundraiser

The fourth annual Food For Thought event, hosted by the Lemont High School Educational Foundation, will be held Saturday, Oct. 16, at The Narnia Estate.

Several local businesses will cook up their best dishes this weekend at a special fundraiser benefiting the Lemont High School Educational Foundation. The fourth annual Food for Thought event will be held Saturday, Oct. 16, at The Narnia Estate, 16501 W. 135th St. Guests will drink, eat and bid on silent auction items to support educational grants at Lemont High School. "In very few words, it's the biggest thing we do," said Julio Padilla, president of the foundation. Food for Thought has brought in between $25,000 and $30,000 in years past, a fact Padilla credits to the event's originality. "When we first started, we knew we didn't want to put on another golf outing or something that's done a lot," he said. "We wanted this to be our …

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This Corner of the World

Dining Out? Make a Difference With a 'Side of Relief'

Local restaurants are participating in the new "Add a Side of Relief to Your Meal" program to benefit the Lemont Township Family Assistance Fund and the Lemont Food Pantries.

Could you live off $10,830 a year? If you have a family of four, could you make ends meet on $22,050? This is the 2010 federal poverty threshold.   The thresholds were originally developed in the 1960s by the Social Security Administration. Recently, many have questioned if the number is contrived and whether or not families are able to legitimately stay survice by these calculations. Lawmakers are debating ways to achieve a more realistic barometer of poverty that accounts for the cost of living in different areas, local employment numbers and the availability of public transportation to expand possible employment boundaries. With that information under your hat, here is the local ramification: Each community must adapt the poverty level …

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