Charles the not-so-excellent?

I’m on vacation but by the time a friend texted me this morning to see if I’d seen the news, I was already all over the latest devolution of the Charlie Trotter Story. You know the one I mean. The one in which he reportedly ordered some high school photography students to clean the toilets, … Continued

90 Miles Cuban Cafe

“Dude. You never update your blog anymore. WTF?” bitched one of my eagle-eyed friends the other day. I tried to defend myself by pointing here and here, but all he shot back with was, “Yeah. You sent people to somebody else’s blog.” What can I say. I’ve been busy. This soup thing has really taken … Continued

Food on the Dole

Earlier today Hugh Amano — until recently executive sous chef at Uncommon Ground — shot me a link to his new blog, the engaging, self-explanatory, and very of-the-moment, Food on the Dole. Needless to say I signed him up to make soup.

Revolution Brewing

A few weeks ago I spent two hours wandering around an empty, unheated building with Handlebar owner Josh Deth. Luckily, he brought beer to stave off the chill. My article about his new venture, Revolution Brewing Company is in this week’s Reader.

Goat gets my. . . goat

TOC’s David Tamarkin  picks goat meat as the go-to protein of 2009. I would just like to gently point out that I totally called this a MONTH ago. Jeez . . . <grumble mumble> . .  no respect.

The problem with restaurant reviews

Earlier this fall, thanks to a conflict of interest on Mike’s part, I snared the plum assignment of writing up Paul Kahan’s latest, the Publican, for the Reader. The review came out last week, and given the ridiculous amount of buzz the place has generated I was grateful to be given more than a month to … Continued

Alinea, the aftermath

Everybody’s going nuts lately trying to recreate Alinea‘s dry caramel shots and dehydrated flying bacon with nothing but a whisk and a well-worn silpat. So I took Julia and Emily’s advice and just went to the restaurant instead.  Oh my. This was my first return visit since the place opened in 2005, and despite the … Continued

Point them toward the Publican

Out today in the Reader‘s food issue, I bravely interview local chefs and find out that . . . they all really, REALLY love Paul Kahan. Stop the presses. A more gripping read, IMHO, is Mike Sula’s fascinating and eloquent account of following his mulefoot pigs to slaughter. And then eating them. Vegetarians across Chicago … Continued

Five days

till: TROUT ROE coconut, hyssop, passionfruit  TOMATO basil, mozzarella, olive oil CAULIFLOWER five coatings, three gels, apple LOBSTER popcorn, butter, curry WAGYU BEEF maitake, smoked date, Blis Elixir RABBIT prune, shallot, burning leaves  SHORT RIB  Guinness, peanut, fried broccoli LAMB carrot, poppy seed, pistachio  CONCORD GRAPE yogurt, mint, long pepper  CRABAPPLE foie gras, brown sugar, sorrel  … Continued