If you want to see Chicago’s most talented chefs in action, behind their stoves and working their dining rooms, don’t bother visiting them Thursday night. That’s because pretty much everyone will be in Lincoln Park, cooking and serving at the 15th annual Green City Market Chef’s BBQ. More than 100 chefs, bartenders and food artisans … Continued
(photo: Anjali Pinto) Get out the wet naps. For the third year in a row, in what has become a new tradition for low-and-slow aficionados in the Midwest, the Windy City Smokeout is blowing into town July 10, 11 and 12. Located on Grand Avenue near the Chicago River, the BBQ and country music festival … Continued
Chicago is a city of neighborhoods, and much of what makes the city so special, is the ability of immigrant populations to coalesce and form enclaves. One of the delicious results of that herd mentality is the profusion of mom-and-pop restaurants. One of the greatest parts of my job is highlighting these independent businesses, often … Continued
Paul Fehribach knows plenty about frying. The chef and owner of Big Jones, in Andersonville, has just written The Big Jones Cookbook and spends his days researching and recreating dishes from the American South’s delicious culinary past. I asked him for some pro tips this weekend, as many of us are going to be attempting … Continued
Since most Americans will be firing up their grills this weekend, I thought it would be interesting to discover how some other cultures around the world do their grilling. From Japan to Argentina to the Middle East, it seems every country has their own, unique style of cooking over hot coals.
Pretty much every ramen shop that opens in Chicago features the decidedly murky, creamy-white, tongue-coating broth known as tonkotsu, made from boiling pork bones for hours. But Ramen Takeya – from the same family who owns Wasabi in Logan Square – is going with a more unique, slightly lighter version, called paiten, which features chicken.
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