Host Catherine De Orio welcomes guest reviewers Mario Scott, Hillary May, and Scott McAlister who weigh in on Chicago area eateries Batter & Berries (Lincoln Park), Trattoria No. 10 (Loop), and Fresh Starts (Flossmoor).

Many people don’t realize the episodes do not air in the same sequence in which they are shot. So although this season is almost halfway over, this is the first episode I shot as the new host of Check, Please! It was a nice coincidence that Trattoria No. 10 was included in this bunch since the executive chef Laura Piper was an instructor when I was a culinary student at Kendall College. Although she was not my teacher, she taught in the kitchen next door to Chef Pierre Pollin’s (my instructor – and favorite at that) and would pop in to give additional tips and feedback on our work.

Nothing combats the winter chill quite like a rib-sticking all-you-can-eat pig roast or fish fry. Allium does winter comfort food right, doling out not one but two food sprees on a weekly basis from mid-January through the end of February.