Spring Wine and Beer Picks from The Bottle Shop

Wilmette's downtown wine and beer shop showed Patch some of their favorite picks to sip while enjoying the beautiful spring weather.

After an unpredictable spring, this week's weather forecast looks almost too good to be true, with high temperatures reaching into the 70s. And what better way to enjoy the sunshine than with a cold craft beer or a glass of wine on the deck? Patch reached out to Wilmette's own Bottle Shop's manager Nick Reed for his best picks to soak up the spring with. Click through the above slideshow to see photos of his choices, plus a brief description and the price. What's your favorite beer or wine to drink outside? Share your recommendations in the comments below!

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Wilmette Couple Marry Sweet, Salty in Ice-Cream Bar

The Crave Bar is an ice-cream bar on a chocolate covered pretzel stick.

  Wilmette couple Kim and Scott Holstein are marrying salty and sweet in the Crave Bar, an ice-cream bar on a chocolate covered pretzel stick that is then dipped in dark chocolate and pretzel pieces, Wilmette Life reported.  Apart from the original Kim & Scott’s Crave Bar, the couple are working on new flavors such as toasted almond, bacon, English toffee, salted caramel and malted milk chocolate; the bars are currently sold at the Noodle Café, Wilmette Theatre and Foodstuffs, Wilmette Life reported.  The Holsteins were in Austin, Texas, during the South by Southwest festival in March to promote their salty ice-cream bar, according to the Crave Bar’s Facebook page.  Tell us: Have you tried the Crave Bar?

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New Trier Alums Turn Summer Painting Job into 40 Years of Business

Wilmette’s Mellow Brothers Painting Company has painted places like Evanston High School, Lake Forest High School and New Trier High School.

  Back in 1970, when brothers Rick and Dave Sweitzer and their best friend Randy Sorenson were painting Randy’s father’s house, people would stop and ask for quotes, so they decided it was time to start a business; now more than 40 years later, Wilmette’s Mellow Brothers Painting Company is still going strong, Wilmette Life reported.  The company has done paint jobs for places like Evanston High School, Lake Forest High School, New Trier High School, Wilmette and Evanston police stations, and New Trier Township, where Supervisor Pat Cantor praises the company as clean and cooperative, Wilmette Life reported.  Rick also owns The Northwest Passage and Polar Explorers.  Related Coverage

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Wilmette Business Opens Cafes at 2 CTA Stations

Butterfield Kitchen will open its first retail locations at the Roosevelt and Jefferson Park CTA stations.

  Wilmette-based Butterfield Kitchen will be opening its first retail locations at the Roosevelt and Jefferson Park CTA stations to serve made-to-order meals to commuters, according to a press release. The company will cook the food—such as homemade sausage, scones, Panini and wraps—onsite and has developed a local organic blend of Intelligentsia coffee that will be sold at both locations. Nathan Proffer, culinary director for Butterfield Kitchen, says both locations were chosen because they serve as commuter hubs and well help grow the catering company’s business.

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North Shore Cleaner Ready to Remove Odors from Anything

Wilmette Tailors & Cleaners are hoping to find a niche market in sanitizing odors, especially those from sports equipments.

  A North Shore cleaning business says it’s ready to remove odors from anything and hopes to build a niche market sanitizing sports equipment, Winnetka Talk reported.  Kurt and Rita Raggi, owners of Wilmette Tailors & Cleaners, say there’s a need on the North Shore with all the sports program for a powerful odor-sanitizing machine so they recently invested in a machine guaranteed to remove all odors from Sani Sport, a Canadian company that counts the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and professional and college sports team as clients, Winnetka Talk reported.  Wilmette Tailors & Cleaners has served the community since 1931. The Raggis have brought their cleaners into the digital age and a new environmentalism era, as well as supported …

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Wilmette’s Wah Mei Chop Suey Closes

The Chinese restaurant on Linden Ave. officially closed on Feb. 28.

  After serving Wilmette for 29 years, Wah Mei Chop Suey closed its door on Feb. 28, according to its Facebook post.  The restaurant on 326 Linden Ave., served crab Rangoon, Mongolian beef, pork friend rice, orange chicken and sesame chicken to name a few of its offerings.  “Tonight was one for the books!! Thank you everyone for all of your support. Wah Mei has finally closed its doors. 29 years seem to have gone by so fast,” the business wrote on its Facebook page. “Wah Mei has been like a second home to us. We pretty much grew up here. So many memories.... From all of us here at Wah Mei we again would like to thank each and everyone of you for all the years of support.”

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Link's Sweet Bean is Moving to Evanston

The downtown Wilmette coffee shop closed its doors on Feb. 23.

Link's Sweet Bean, located at 1141 Greenleaf Ave. in downtown Wilmette, closed its doors this week, after eight years in that location. Link's will be moving down the road to Evanston, according to a recent article by the Sun-Times.  Owner Lourdes Links will continue her Link's North Shore wholesale coffee business, where she roasts beans every morning and delivers them to local businesses including Whole Foods, the article states. The roasting business will also move to Evanston.  What will you miss most about Link's Sweet Bean? Is it the creative drinks, the fresh-baked cookies or the atmosphere in general? Let us know in the comments!  For more news about Wilmette, 'like' Patch on Facebook and sign up for our free daily newsletter here. 

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Convito Café & Market: Taste Italy Without Leaving Wilmette

The upscale bistro opened in Plaza del Lago in 2007.

For Nancy Brussat Barocci, owner of Convito Café & Market, her favorite part of the job is the food and developing the menus, Wilmette Life reported. The romantic upscale bistro combines gourmet food and wine market and has been around under various names since 1980. The Plaza del Lago location opened in 2007, offering customers gourmet pastas, imported cheeses, meats as well as dishes such as Asparagus Milanese to Croque Madame.   Barocci told Wilmette Life that the bistro’s biggest strengths is its prepared foods and she makes an effort to change the menu frequently so regular customers can taste a variety of foods.  The restaurant received an average of four out of five stars on TripAdvisor.com, one reviewer says they go every week and …

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Top 10 Most Read Stories of 2012 in Wilmette, Kenilworth

The 10 topics that most interested readers during the past year were stories about local eateries, noteworthy crimes, unfortunate accidents and exceptional residents.

Now that the year is nearing its end, it offers an opportunity to look back on which stories most interested Wilmette-Kenilworth Patch readers. What story did you follow most closely? 1. C.J. Arthur’s closed in September, but the space could soon be home to a new gastropub. Residents must have felt down after we reported that C.J. Arthur’s, one of Wilmette’s few live music spots, would be closing its doors at the end September after serving the North Shore for 23 years. Yet, less than three months later, we broke a story that a group of eight Wilmette families had leased the former C.J. Arthur’s storefront with an aim to turn the space into a new gastropub by late next spring. News of a potential family-friendly tavern and eatery serving “…

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Editor's Pick: Gastropub Planned for Former C.J. Arthur's Storefront

A group of eight Wilmette families has leased the space.