At a Venezuelan restaurant in Chicago, they are serving that country’s most famous export – the arepa. BienMeSabe in the Ravenswood neighborhood is one of the city’s only Venezuelan outposts, where they make dozens of fresh arepas all day long.
On part two of our North American Food Market Crawl, we talk to the experts in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, sampling the best fare from their favorite markets and food halls. Lesley Chesterman, Restaurant Critic at the Montreal Gazette strolls through the massive Jean-Talon Market; Suresh Doss, Editor of Foodism Magazine in Toronto takes us … Continued
Chicago is home to many great sandwiches, but I say there’s more than just Italian beef here. A Vietnamese standard – the banh mi – is now sprouting up all over the city, including a relatively new option in Edgewater, where they bake the bread every day.
We tried to stick to places where pho plays a big part of the menu, or at least the restaurant attempts to offer it as a meal in and of itself. Again, a few extra points if they include culantro (saw tooth leaf) on the condiment plate and bonus points for aromatic broth (served hot) … Continued
The past few days, we’ve laid out our methodology and procedure for finding the best bowls in Chicago and the contenders at play. Now the moment you’ve all been waiting for. After tasting 31 bowls of pho and countless weeks of crunching numbers and pouring over notes with my Pho Consigliere – Paul Nguyen – … Continued
One of the most important things to do when traveling is to try to find out where the locals eat, and often times, that’s in a food hall or market. On today’s show: we talk to the experts, and sample the best fare from the best food markets and halls in 10 U.S. cities.
We continue our big reveal this week from the city’s most thorough #ChicagoPhoCrawl. Researched, analyzed and put together between my friend Paul Nguyen and myself, we’ve visited all of the primary pho operations in the city, and have come up with our ranking for each one using a consistent and statistical based methodology. On Tuesday, … Continued
In yesterday’s post, my Pho Conspirator and I laid out our methodology and procedure for finding the best bowls in Chicago. Today we start sharing the results. If you haven’t already, read yesterday’s story for background; it will explain a lot. We tried to stick to places where pho plays a big part of the … Continued
In the middle of winter, several bowls vie for your attention. In Chicago – home to the largest Polish enclave outside of Warsaw – borscht and bigos (hunter’s stew) are a given. But our melting pot culture, and patchwork of 77 distinctive neighborhoods, also means you can indulge your memories of that backpacking trip to … Continued
While news of Fidel Castro’s death stretched around the world last week, I couldn’t help think of one of his beloved country’s most famous exports: sugarcane. Used for decades as a crop that was bartered with the Soviet Union for oil and financial support, it became as significant to the country’s survival as that other … Continued
Most restaurants are happy to make it to five years. Ten years is a major accomplishment. In Chicago’s West Loop, Blackbird restaurant has always been considered a pioneer, celebrating its 19th anniversary this month. And even more impressive is that it still feels new.