Much of the food media’s gaze tends to focus on what’s new or hot. But I wanted to show some appreciation for the classics. So all month long, I’m going to be visiting some local legends, who’ve been quietly keeping the city’s culinary flame alive; in some cases, paving the way for other entrepreneurs.
There are quite a few new restaurants opening in the city as of late, but I’m particularly fond of a new one in West Town. It’s run by a couple of industry veterans who’ve created the kind of restaurant they’ve always wanted to visit themselves.
With Fat Tuesday and Ash Wednesday behind us, the season of Lent is underway. Catholics traditionally abstain from meat on Fridays until Easter, and that means more demand for seafood. I visited a seafood specialist in Portage Park this week, approaching 80 years in business.
The owners of Georgio’s Chicago Pizzeria & Pub in Crystal Lake and S. Barrington say they owe their success to Alice Mae Redmond. Redmond, who worked at Uno’s, Due’s and Gino’s East, helped Brian Coli’s father create Old World Pizza in Elmwood Park in 1990. She shared her expertise and her recipe with the Coli … Continued
I’ve been working for months testing and playing with the DP1100 from Proluxe, which allows you to not only press your dough into a 14″ or 18″ round, but also par bakes it gently, setting it in place, killing the yeast and stopping it from having a third rise in the oven. This is Chicago … Continued
Black History Month begins today, and I wanted to dig into a restaurant with Deep Southern roots, located in a South Side neighborhood with its own storied past. The menu traces its recipes to both Mississippi and Louisiana… partly a result of the Great Migration, and a granddaughter’s commitment to carrying on her family’s traditions. … Continued
The last two years have seen a bumper crop of new pizzerias in Chicago with styles ranging from deep-dish and tavern style to Detroit and Sicilian. At a new spot on the Northwest Side, the staff started off with one style, then added a second after popular demand. The Chef behind Giant – one of … Continued
Part 2 of my Turkish food exploration this week. Today I’m talking about döner vs. cağ kebab. The former is known around the world (aka gyros) as a vertical spit of lamb & beef. But few realize cağ was first – from Erzurum in Northeastern Turkey – as a horizontal stack of lamb only. Both … Continued
Shortly after the devastating earthquakes in Turkey that killed some 50,000 people, I took a previously planned trip back to Istanbul I had been organizing for a few months. The area where the quakes were is about a two-hour flight from Istanbul, so I felt completely safe, but obviously there was a kind of PTSD … Continued
The ovens have barely cooled from our L.A. event, and we’re proud to announce the 2nd annual Pizza City Fest: Chicago, presented by Greco & Sons, will be taking place later this summer at The Salt Shed. We learned so much from our first year, implementing many of the changes at our L.A. event, which … Continued
After almost a year of work (and dozens of slices), I’m excited to announce our second pizza festival, coming up in four months. Pizza City Fest: Los Angeles will bring together 40 of Southern California’s best pizzerias for a full weekend of pizza appreciation, education and giving back. Local pizza guru Noel Brohner and my … Continued