While the ramen wave continues to sweep across Chicago, there is a sub-category of the beloved Japanese noodle soup, but it’s barely seen here. It’s called “tsukemen” (SKEH-men) and there are a just a couple of places offering it now, one of them yearround.
South American chefs love to cook meat over live fire, but few restaurants have the capability to cook just about everything over flames. El Che Bar, a new restaurant in Chicago’s West Loop, is so committed to live fire cooking, it’s literally the hottest new kitchen in town.
On this week’s show, a journey into the heart of Colombia. I recently had a chance to spend a few days in the traffic-choked capital of Bogotá, eating a lot of corn and drinking some of the best coffee of my life. But there’s also a strong movement to promote the local ingredients and the … Continued
Columbus Day is coming up on Monday, a time when Italian pride swells. While there are dozens of great Italian restaurants in the region, only a few cook the truly local dishes, which often include parts of the animal you may not be familiar with.
You’ve seen plenty of food courts downtown, but you’ve never seen anything quite like the Revival Food Hall. It’s a “greatest hits” from some of the city’s neighborhoods, having been curated by a restaurant group with deep roots in the city.
“Hamilton” fever has officially come to Chicago. The Tony award-winning play begins its first run outside of New York, right here in the Loop, beginning next Tuesday. So in honor of the show, I decided to go out and see what I could find for less than a Hamilton, that is, a ten dollar bill.
Pretty much everyone agrees that fried chicken is delicious. It doesn’t matter where you’re from; the combination of crispy skin and juicy meat, sometimes doused in hot sauce and served with pickles is a true Southern delicacy that is hard to resist. But what are the origins of this dish, and more importantly, why have … Continued
You might think River North restaurants fit into one or two categories: steakhouses or something by Lettuce Entertain You. Lately, that’s a pretty good guess. Lettuce’s latest effort – a Mediterranean-by-way-of-California restaurant, offers some unique flavors for the neighborhood.
On this week’s show, the driving force behind one of Chicago’s premier cocktail lounges stops by, to talk about a category of spirits changing cocktail menus and digestivo lists across the country. Eden Laurin, one of The Violet Hour‘s first female bartenders, walks us through this complex subset of bitter liqueurs with history, insider tips for … Continued
A lot of people think Michigan’s Harbor Country shuts down after Labor Day, but a lot of people continue to make the drive around the bottom of the lake, where they’ll find plenty of delicious things to eat year-round. The first two towns you encounter upon driving into Michigan are New Buffalo and Union Pier. Sure, … Continued
If you liked the food at Lula Cafe or the late, lamented Nightwood, chances are you might like Giant. That’s because one of the former chefs from those beloved restaurants has struck out on his own, along with his two partners, hoping to create the same kind of seasonally-driven menu, only this time, via smaller … Continued