Rosemont, that steadfast northwest ’burb with little draw other than conventions and concerts, is scoring some major interest with The Rosemont Walk, a $500 million development of shopping and dining, anchored by (yes, even more) hotels and Illinois' first Muvico, a "premium movie theater" and entertainment complex.

Looks to us like conventioneers stuck near the airport won’t have to bother making the trip into the city with a mini-Chicago right in town. The dining options slated here, aiming for early 2008 openings, read like a greatest hits of Chicago big names: Osteria di Tramanto (from the folks behind Tru), McCormick & Schmick’s, John Barleycorn, and a yet-to-be-named venture from Phil Stefani (Riva, Tuscany, Tavern on Rush).

Muvico sets itself apart from local names like AMC and Loews with upgraded features that are no-brainers as far as audience appeal: Bigger seats, better food and entertainment that moves beyond movies. You can stash the kids in on-site childcare, upgrade your $9.50 general admission ticket to a $15 one and score free valet, free popcorn, reserved VIP seating and access to the 21-and-over Premier Bar & Grill Bogart's, run by Levy Restaurants. (We just received a word of this last-minute name change, which we think is a vast improvement.)

Wall-to-wall high-def screens will not only air movies, but Nascar tourneys, sporting events and even live broadcasts of Broadway shows. For more details, stay tuned to the Metromix suburban channel tomorrow for the full story.

Remember when the Brazilian churrascaria craze took Chicagoland by storm (perhaps Texas de Brazil, Brazzaz, Fogo de Chao, Sabor do Brazil or Asado Brazilian Grill ring a bell)? Well, Sal y Carvao -- which had the biggest suburban presence of the pack -- has relaunched its Downers Grove and Schaumburg locations as Zed 451, with the Chicago outpost to follow suit this fall. At $24.50 for lunch and $42.50 for dinner, the fixed prices are equally steep, and the concept remains essentially the same, with a salad bar (whoops, we mean “Harvest Station”) and roaming servers, sans gaucho get-ups -- but with a much wider range of cuisine.

The press release we received says the all-you-can-eat concept “allows guests to be entirely in control of their dining experience,” but with these sort of things, we usually end up eschewing all reasonable notions of portion size and just stuffing our faces. (Case in point: When my boyfriend took a blood test the morning after a trip to now-shuttered Rio de Churrascaria in Glenview, his doctor noted that his nitrogen levels were "slightly elevated.")

Anyhow, whole concept gets us a bit nostalgic about our childhood trips to Sizzler or Ponderosa (the latter, by the way, still has two Illinois locations, one in Aurora and the other in Waukegan), but with offerings such as parmesan-crusted pork medallions and braised short-ribs with coconut milk and lemongrass, the bent at Zed 451 clearly much more gourmet. 

Walking the streets of New York City, you’ll find pizza joints every other block offering oversized slices thin-crust pies. (Now, don’t get defensive; we put Chicago deep-dish in a completely different league.) You fork over a couple bucks -- as little as $1.50 in out-of-the-way nabes and as much as $3.75 in more touristy spots -- and take away a floppy, foldable slice on a doubled-up paper plate.

Thanks to New York Slices, which opened in Highland Parkearlier this year, the NorthShore has gained a Big Apple-style by-the-slice spot that’s more than a step above Sbarro. Specialties include the Grandma (covered with plum tomatoes, roasted garlic and blobs of smoked buffalo mozzarella) and the White Cheese (topped with ricotta and a three-cheese blend). They even have the oddest slice we remember during our time in NYC: Penne Pizza topped with ziti.

Slices start at $2.90. Garlic knots -- tiny balls of dough doused in garlic butter -- cost a quarter, while cool treats such as soft-serve gelato ($3) and Italian ice ($1) in flavors such as mango, coconut and classic lemon are an equally good steal. Bonus: Unlike the no-frills, no-substitutions pizzerias in NYC, you can order your pie in a whole-wheat version here.

If you haven’t heard about Moretti’s Pizza Boat, let us do the honor of filling you in -- just in time for Memorial Day weekend. We like to think of it as the ice cream truck for grown-ups -- except that a) it’s a boat b) it’s stocked with pizza, not popsicles and c) it’s roaming territory is the Chain O’Lakes, a sweet day-trip spot in the far northwest ’burbs. When you and your boating pals get hungry, put a call in to this Fox Lake pizzeria and they’ll deliver your meal, boat-side. Or, if you catch the Pizza Boat floating by, you can flag it down and snatch up a ready-made pie.

What? You don’t have a nautical uncle or trust fund-blessed buddy with a boat? Don’t sweat it -- Famous Freddie’s, a sprawling bar and barbecue house in Fox Lake, will let you use theirs. If you team up with 20 or more friends, it’s $25 per person for a 2-hour cruise with open bar, music and, thankfully, a U.S. Coast Guard-licensed captain.

And speaking of lake-side pizza, Gino’s East is setting up camp in Lake Geneva. Their lakeside outpost (100 yards from the Riveria Docks, they tell us) is slated to open June 11, just in time for the vacation season -- how predictably appropriate.

Find more suburban shenanigans in our 'burbs channel.

We didn’t quite know what to say when a press release popped into our inbox for a Men’s Shopping Night at Iridesse, a high-end pearl jewelry shop at Oakbrook Mall. For one, this too-close-for-comfort bum shot took us by surprise.

The invite reads: “Stop by to discover the natural beauty of cultured pearl jewelry while sampling scotch and cigars at Iridesse Pearl Bar and even pick out something special for Mother’s Day.”

Mother's Day?

Clearly, the goal is to lure guys in the door at this girly-as-ever boutique with ultra-manly cigars and scotch. Is turning up the testosterone in order to appeal to cash-dropping (and in this case, gift-shopping) guys a smart concept? Absolutely -- that’s why men’s clothing shops like TK Men and Revolver have stocked their sales floors with pool tables, video games and free beer. But we can’t help pointing out that the last thing we want to associate with this pearl-laden, scantily-clad bikini is our moms. Can we get a collective “ew”?

Without a doubt, foodies of the world collectively hold their breath for Food & Wine magazine’s announcement of its Best New Chefs list each spring. We were surprised to hear today that the only Chicago-area chef to make this year’s cut was -- wait for it -- from the suburbs. We weren’t the least bit astonished, though, to find it was Paul Virant, the down-to-earth virtuoso behind Vie in Western Springs.

The buzz about Vie after its 2004 opening had city-dwellers hauling out on the Metra to get a taste of Virant’s seasonally driven contemporary American cuisine with Euro touches; his focus on local produce has opened eyes to the innovation going on close to home.

And, hey, any chef that managed to convince the teetotalers of Western Springs to give out its first liquor license in an eon is OK by us. If you haven't yet made the trek out to try it, we say you better make reservations ASAP--if history holds, seats here will be a tough get for the foreseeable future.

Virant’s in NYC at the magazine’s formal soiree tonight, but we’ll catch him when he’s back in town for his comments on this recent victory for the suburbs. Stay tuned to our suburban channel for the scoop!