Blog Profile / The Food Chain
| URL : | http://blogs.chicagoreader.com/food/ | |
|---|---|---|
| Filed Under: | United States / Chicago | |
| Posts on Regator: | 1185 | |
| Posts / Week: | 5.8 | |
| Archived Since: | June 16, 2009 | |
Blog Post Archive
My favorite cake
I've requested the same simple birthday cake every year since I was teenager. It's a recipe from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for a buttermilk lemon cake that my mom clipped and slightly modified.… [ Read more ] [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]
Paul Kahan brings home a Beard and other food news bites
• Paul Kahan (tied with David Chang for Outstanding Chef), Stephanie Izard (Best Chef: Great Lakes), and the Aviary (Outstanding Bar Program) all won James Beard Awards on Monday. • Myron Freedman, owner of the venerable Lincolnwood steak house Myron & Phil's, died Thursday night, reports the Skokie Review.… [ Read more ] [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]
Saucy sandwiches at Sauce and Bread Kitchen
When I last checked in with Mike Bancroft, he was pushing a line of three excellent hot sauces in order to fund Co-op Image, the youth arts-education center he founded on the west side. Since then the sauce business has been very good to him—and to the arts center.… [ Read more ] [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]
Now open: Pilsen's Dia de los Tamales
Last Thursday and Friday were so cold I sympathize with Cesar Ruelase, the local who, disgusted with Tom Skilling's penchant for predicting weather less foul than the reality, has launched a campaign to demote him from meteorologistShow More Summary
The "Bad-Ass B.L.T." at Mr. Spanky's tans hide
"I would say 75 percent of my customers come back within 72 hours," says John Schultz of his tiny Bridgeport sandwich emporium, Mr. Spanky's. I have no reason to doubt him.… [ Read more ] [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]
Red-flannel hash redux, from Leo's Lunchroom
On Saturday, Friend of the Food Chain Eric May threw a pop-up tribute to Leo's Lunchroom at the Piranha Club. Through the late 80s and early 90s, the Wicker Park diner was pretty much the only place you could eat in its immediate surroundings on Division.… [ Read more ] [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]
Ben Schiller leaving Boka Restaurant Group
On Saturday, barman Ben Schiller put in notice with the Boka Restaurant Group, for whom he's overseen the cocktails at the flagship, GT Fish & Oyster, and Girl & the Goat since 2009, after making his name at In Fine Spirits. He's signed...Show More Summary
Mas alla del Sol stakes a claim on Edgewater's Ethiopian strip
"What used to be here, do you know?" we asked a courtly waiter at Edgewater's new Mexican restaurant, Mas Alla del Sol. "I don't, but it was"—and here he shuddered, "filled with trash, a dump." And so it goes: one man's heap of junk really is another man's treasure.… [ Read more ] [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]
Rare Manoel de Oliveira screens at Facets this Saturday
This Saturday at midnight, Facets Multimedia will present The Cannibals, a rarely screened 1988 feature by Portugal's greatest filmmaker, Manoel de Oliveira. Local filmmaker and professor Michael G. Smith, who will introduce the screening,...Show More Summary
"Malort Face" and other Key Ingredient Cook-Off bites to come
When Julia Thiel and Michael Gebert head out to do the shoots for our chef-to-chef challenge, Key Ingredient, they never know what to expect. Michael Carlson started his demo with a stiff shot of Malort.…
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Swing from the trees with the handmade noodles at Lazzat
Did you know that apart from Lincoln Square's great Jibek Jolu, that there are (at least) two other central Asian restaurants in Chicago? Don't feel bad if you didn't.… [ Read more ] [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]
Black cumin: It's not black magic
There's something about taking an ordinary food and attaching the word "black" to it that is irresistible to me, because I'm helplessly attracted to the seductive powers of the Dark Arts. Whether it's black garlic, black salt, black pudding, or black noodles, if I see it, I'll eat it.… [ Read more ] [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]
The Ohio House Coffee Shop is closing and other food news bites
After more than half a century the Ohio House Coffee Shop is being replaced by a chain, reports Crain's. A suburban fishmonger admitted to mislabeling perch as red snapper and other crimes against the sea, reports the Tribune.… [ Read more ] [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]
Now open: Pilsen coffee shop La Catrina Cafe
The exterior is so unassuming you could easily walk right past the new Pilsen coffee shop La Catrina Cafe—but inside it's a different story. Owners Salvador and Diana Galicia have turned their double storefront on 18th Street into aShow More Summary
There's a sucker born every minute at Foo Noodle Bar
The mighty Horseshoe Hammond goes to great lengths to pull in Asian gamblers, running free (almost) hourly shuttles between Chinatown and the northwest Indiana casino in addition to less frequent stops at Broadway and Argyle, among others. Show More Summary
This way for durian: Announcing the Key Ingredient Cook-Off
"I love the Reader. But that column where people cook with yak phlegm?… [ Read more ] [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]
Hashing it out at Danny's Egghead Diner
When the folks behind Broadway Cellars installed Danny's Egghead Diner in the erstwhile Alps East they did little to brighten the drab North Center diner's floral vinyl granny aesthetic other than hanging some Mexican folkloric art on the walls. Show More Summary
No more peristalsis with deep-dish pizza soup
As far as local cultural icons go, deep-dish pizza is the culinary equivalent of Al Capone. People all over the world who don't know Chicago continue to identify it with Chicago, and when they mention it, you're embarrassed first for yourself and then for them.… [ Read more ] [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]
Return to the Chicago French Market—and to Fumaré
The first time I went to Fumaré Meats & Deli, at the Chicago French Market, I was too late to get my hands on the lunch stand's specialty: pastrami, aka Montreal-style smoked meat, which I learned to my regret typically sells out by 1 or 2 PM. On Friday I tried again, and just in time too.… [ Read more ] [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]
Jason Vincent is a Food & Wine best new chef and other food news bites
• The Butcher & Larder's Rob Levitt guest posts about what to do with a ham, at Ruhlman.com.
• Crain's chats with Alec Mikhaylov of the great Alef Sausage Co., makers of 45 different kinds of Russian sausage.…
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