The sheer variety of freshly-made pasta at Eataly can be daunting, and when faced with a dozen or so options, one might simply fall back on a known entity, like linguini or angel hair. But this Friday, Eataly is giving you a good reason to experiment. Their Fresh Pasta Friday means everything at their fresh … Continued
A lot of gyros joints in Chicago claim they make everything from scratch. That’s doubtful, since most just by a frozen cone from Grecian Delight or Kronos, thaw it, and plop it on the vertical spit. If you want a place making everything – and by that I mean the fries and the tzatziki and … Continued
I’ve always wondered why the Thai Consulate waits until mid-June to hold their annual festival in The Loop. The natural choice would be in early April, during the Songkran (New Year) festivities. But when you consider how crap the weather in Chicago is that time of year, I’m not surprised they hold off until June. … Continued
Chicago was the third city Tom Sietsema tackled in his Washington Post series on America’s great food cities this year. Not only did he completely capture the zeitgeist of what’s going on right now, he also had one of the Post’s videographers shoot and edit this great video (of which I’m honored to be a … Continued
LONDON – The battle between three of the world’s gastronomic heavyweights continues. Like a three-way race during a TV timeout on a Jumbotron between animatronic sausages/bags of candy, the top restaurants in Copenhagen, Spain and Italy once again jostled for the top spot on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. El Celler de Can Roca, … Continued
I spent the better part of a week driving from New Brunswick, Canada, down to Portland, Maine, going in search of the best lobster rolls. Tough work, I know. My story appeared in The Chicago Tribune’s Sunday Travel section. Click here to read it.
Click on the article below to read my review of the very first Virgin Hotel (in Chicago) for The Globe and Mail, Canada’s national newspaper.
With Chicago Craft Beer Week going on until May 24th, the folks at Lakeshore Beverage decided to crunch some numbers. They analyzed a year’s worth of sales data from thousands of bars, restaurants, liquor stores, grocery stores, and anywhere else that sells beer. First, they determined the averages for consumption of each style of beer throughout … Continued
Quebéc has its maple sugar pie. In British Columbia, the Nanaimo Bar rules. But in Ontario, there’s no denying the importance of the humble butter tart. You can debate the merits of raisins or no raisins (with or without pecans), but the simpler, the better, as I found out on a recent trip to Toronto, … Continued
The looks on their faces were undeniable. Whether it was a sponsor, an official from the Illinois Restaurant Association or an extremely tanned Mayor Emanuel, there was no hiding the obvious civic pride from hosting the first James Beard Awards outside of New York City. The city can rightly pat itself on its collective back … Continued
BY ERIKA SALISBURY Even though I understood the basic premise of The Plant before I got there – a sustainable vertical farm in a re-purposed industrial building – I’ll admit I was a little skeptical as I walked past a few box stores toward the hulking, industrial site on the South Side. Having grown up … Continued