Food Chain
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
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?
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
One Bite Food Chain Food & Drink Don't overlook the humble caldo de res at Tio Luis
Posted by Mike Sula on 01.09.13 at 01:26 PM
- Mike Sula
- Caldo de res, Tio Luis
Unless you methodically worked your way across the menu how would you know what other treasures it held? Friend of the Food Chain Rob Lopata applied Standard Ordering Procedure to suss one out. On a recent visit he noticed the majority of customers were huddled over steaming bowls of beef soup. Caldo de res doesn't get much mention in the broader literature either (in English anyway). Diana Kennedy doesn't bring it up in any of her books, and neither does Bayless. There are plenty of digital recipes but little information on its provenance in the universe of regional Mexican cooking. Maybe that's because it's so elementary—stock, beef, and an assortment of vegetables. What culture (excepting Hindus and Chinese Buddhists) doesn't have a beef soup in its history? What else are you going to do with the tough, bony cuts of beef that won't grill well?
