Food & Drink
Friday, January 18, 2013
Food Chain Food & Drink Eat better with lotus petals and other food news bites
Posted by Mike Sula on 01.18.13 at 03:32 PM
• A developer with a sadistic definition of "interesting" wants to attract more chains to Lakeview, reports DNAinfo.
• Neil Steinberg pens the obit for his perennial column subject Harry Heftman of Harry's Hot Dogs.
• Chicagoist talks with the owners of Honey Butter Fried Chicken on their quest to find a space.
• The indomitable Mark Smrecek smokes kimchi at From Belly To Bacon.
• Lottie + Doof makes strange-flavor eggplant.
• The Local Beet has the goods on how to apply for a Wisconsin cheesemaking scholarship.
One Sip Food Chain Food & Drink Kishr: Make it a double
Posted by Mike Sula on 01.18.13 at 01:12 PM
- Mike Sula
- Kishr
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Food Chain Food & Drink The mojo's still working at Cafecito
Posted by Kate Schmidt on 01.17.13 at 05:32 PM
- Lloyd DeGrane
- On the Cubano, proportion is everything.
When Mike Sula profiled Philip Ghantous back in 2008, his South Loop Cuban cafe, Cafecito, had made the Reader's list of the year's most notable restaurants, and Sula was still marveling at the first-time owner's achievement. A Lebanese-American actor from Peoria, Ghantous wasn't the likeliest proprietor of a place that nails the correct proportion of mustard, pickle, and Swiss to ham and mojo-marinated pork for a top-flight Cuban sandwich. But his meticulousness helped make his version singular.
"The most important thing to me is you want it be warm on the inside," he told Sula."When it is, that's when all the flavors come together. That's why you want that mojo in there. You don't want to just go off the mustard and the cheese and the juice from the pickle—you want the mojo."
Now Ghantous is bringing his naranja agria mojo (sour orange with lime and lemon juice, cumin, garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper) and the rest of his offerings to a more central Loop location, at 7 N. Wells, right by the Brown Line stop at Washington. Originally shooting for a November opening, he's hoping for "the beginning of February at the very latest," he says. "It's been a big headache for me, even though it's smaller."
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Booze Food Chain Food & Drink Totally good: Vander Mill Totally Roasted Cider
Posted by Julia Thiel on 01.16.13 at 12:37 PM
- Julia Thiel
- Champagne glasses work for cider too.
And while it's a little expensive, it's also completely worth it. My friend was wrapped up in conversation when she took a sip, but interrupted herself to look at the bottle, exclaiming, "Whoa, this is really good!" (I had the same reaction, except I didn't say it out loud.)
Monday, January 14, 2013
Cooking One Bite Food Chain Food & Drink Collared: Hamachi kama from Mitsuwa
Posted by Mike Sula on 01.14.13 at 05:23 PM
- Mike Sula
- Yellowtail collar
Beer and Metal Music Food & Drink On tap: Solemn Oath's Ravaged by Vikings
Posted by Philip Montoro on 01.14.13 at 02:00 PM
Luckily I found a douple IPA called Ravaged by Vikings, from a newish Naperville brewery called Solemn Oath that distributes its beer exclusively on tap. It's the big brother of Kidnapped by Vikings, one of the first Solemn Oath releases upon its opening in May 2012. Ravaged by Vikings has been around since late fall, assuming that the dates of its online reviews at Beer Advocate can be trusted.
Friday, January 11, 2013
Food Chain Food & Drink 5 Rabbits fight and other food news bites
Posted by Mike Sula on 01.11.13 at 02:32 PM
• Friend of the Food Chain Rob Lopata files a report on the thick porridge haleem, a Ramadan staple, for the Trib.
• A researcher satellite-mapped 4,648 vegetable gardens in the city, according to NPR's The Salt.
• The Hot Doug's book is due for release on July 16, says Eater.
• The King returns from hiatus with a review of the new Harold's Chicken sports bar on the Clybourn Avenue.
Food Chain Food & Drink Flour and . . . something, now known as Bistro Dre
Posted by Julia Thiel on 01.11.13 at 01:02 PM
- Julia Thiel
- Bistro Dre
Food Chain Food & Drink Look out, Subway—here comes the banh mi
Posted by Kate Schmidt on 01.11.13 at 10:34 AM
- Andrea Bauer
- The goods at Nhu Lan
I guess there was nothing to worry about. In recent months a number of banh mi shops have popped up in still more neighborhoods around town, and more are on the way.
Ba Le itself may have started the trend, moving across the street into expanded and brightened new quarters in 2010. Since then it's opened a Chinatown location and, most recently, a downtown spot catering to the Loop lunch crowd (and accordingly more pricey).
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Food Chain Food & Drink Painted pork chops at middling Mezcalina
Posted by Sam Worley on 01.10.13 at 08:21 AM
- Sam Worley
- Don't judge a pork chop by its cover.
This process is fun because it's so weird—like wandering through a developer's scale-model mock-up of a planned community. I remained hopeful; I'd recently visited a lovely French restaurant located somewhere else inside the gray block. Would two make a trend? Could this artificial, blandly wealthy cityscape foster an unusually good restaurant scene?
