Food & Drink, Chicago Reader

Tony Diaz of Maude's Liquor Bar works with cactus, the Slimer of succulents

Julia Thiel — Thu, 23 May 2013 04:00:00 -0500

Challenged with cactus, Tony Diaz of Maude's Liquor Bar develops a taste for the succulent, slime and all. by Julia Thiel The Chef: Tony Diaz (Maude's Liquor Bar)The Challenger: John Asbaty (Panozzo's Italian Market)The Ingredient: Cactus Prickly pear cactus grows so quickly and is so difficult to get rid of that it's often considered a pest plant.…

Locavorism Inc.

Mike Sula — Thu, 23 May 2013 04:00:00 -0500

Can a new business increase the amount of local food we eat? by Mike Sula One early Thursday morning in April, Dave Rand and Andrew Lutsey sat in their rented second-floor office in the old Testa Produce warehouse on the northern fringe of Pilsen waiting for a side and a half of beef and a whole hog from a farm in central Indiana. The delivery was late due to ceaseless overnight rains that rendered rush hour on the expressways a continuous logjam from the top of the city to the bottom.…

Rainbow Cuisine earns its stripes

Mike Sula — Mon, 20 May 2013 04:00:00 -0500

Lincoln Square's Rainbow Cuisine recalls the glory days of authentic Thai food. by Mike Sula Just a little over a decade ago on the Chicago board of the food chat site Chowhound, a poster by the name of "foodfirst" (aka food and travel writer Robyn Eckhardt) posted a translation of a Thai language menu from the Lincoln Square restaurant Spoon. It had been passed along to her by slavering local foodlums anxious to get a taste of real Thai food beyond pad thai and crab Rangoon.…

Summer Guide: Farmers' markets

Thu, 16 May 2013 04:00:00 -0500

A cornucopia of farmers' markets for buying fresh, local produce

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Summer Guide: Alfresco dining

Thu, 16 May 2013 04:00:00 -0500

Bees be damned! Our guide to alfresco summer dining After a fitful spring, hundreds of the city's restaurants are offering outdoor dining while they can. Here we've selected some notable spots among them; for more patio lazing, search our restaurant database or bar guide.…

Chicago Craft Beer Week's cup runneth over

Philip Montoro — Thu, 16 May 2013 04:00:00 -0500

Chicago Craft Beer Week expands, celebrating both the city's staple breweries and its rising number of new players. by Philip Montoro and Julia Thiel Chicago Craft Beer Week, organized by the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild and now in its fourth year, exists first and foremost to expose new people to the great beer made in Chicago—and even the hardest of hard-core beer nerds could probably use a refresher course. It's not just Goose Island, Two Brothers, Metropolitan, Half Acre, Revolution, Haymarket, and Rock Bottom anymore—just in the past year or so, a burgeoning crowd of new players has crashed the party, among them Pipeworks, Solemn Oath, 18th Street, Off Color, Virtue Cider, Spiteful, Begyle, Flesk, Atlas, DryHop, 4 Paws, Lake Effect, Tighthead, the Ale Syndicate, Temperance, and Tolchez.…

Cocktail Challenge: Tartar sauce

Kate Schmidt — Mon, 13 May 2013 04:00:00 -0500

Challenged with tartar sauce, Annemarie Sagoi creates a potable tribute to fish-and-chips. by Kate Schmidt Challenged with Tartar sauce by Scofflaw's Uby Khawaja, "I was going to go the fish route," says Annemarie Sagoi, a bartender at Big Star and the Charleston. Instead she went for "a tangy, herby flavor profile" akin to tartar sauce itself, using the savory spirit aquavit as a base and "a lot of lemon" to recall fish-and-chips; sea salt and a vinegar-based celery shrub round out her tribute.…

At Vu Sua, Macku Chan channels the 90s

Mike Sula — Mon, 13 May 2013 04:00:00 -0500

At Vu Sua, Macku Chan channels the 90s. by Mike Sula I once tried to sit down at a sidewalk restaurant in Hanoi that specialized in dog meat. As I haltingly asked for a seat in my horrible mockery of the Vietnamese language, the young woman in charge of the spot stared right through me, probably more than familiar with clumsy, thrill-seeking adventurers—or worse, foreigners eager to pass judgment on something alien to their experience.…

At American Junkie, Kendal Duque makes hay from cliches

Sam Worley — Mon, 06 May 2013 04:00:00 -0500

At River North's new American Junkie, Kendal Duque makes hay from cliches. by Sam Worley We got to pondering the origins of the pork belly slider. My dinner companion was thinking about the many different culinary styles represented on the menu at American Junkie, all, at this late hour, enlisted in the service of the upscale gastropub.…

John Asbaty of Panozzo's takes honeycomb tripe from "funky" to "fresh"

Julia Thiel — Thu, 02 May 2013 16:00:00 -0500

Challenged with honeycomb tripe, Panozzo's John Asbaty finds that when all else fails, there's sausage. by Julia Thiel The Chef: John Asbaty (Panozzo's Italian Market) The Challenger: Jonathan Zaragoza (Masa Azul) The Ingredient: Honeycomb tripe Tripe seems to be one of those foods that people either love or hate—or sometimes love to hate.…

Cocktail Challenge: Kombucha

Kate Schmidt — Thu, 02 May 2013 04:00:00 -0500

Scofflaw's Uby Khawaja juices up the fermented tea with Old Tom gin. by Kate Schmidt Challenged with kombucha by Sable's Alex Renshaw, Uby Khawaja of Scofflaw turned to fashion designer and Big Star bartender Frog Greishaw, who brews her own from a "mother" (aka a SCOBY, for symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast). "I'm always using different flavors," she says—in this case, ginger, which Khawaja employed as an effervescent topper for his cocktail, the Tomfoolery.…

Takito Kitchen steers the taqueria into new territory

Mike Sula — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 04:00:00 -0500

Takito Kitchen steers the taqueria into new territory. by Mike Sula The first question that pops into anyone's head when confronted with Takito Kitchen should be "Does Wicker Park need more gringo tacos?" Sure, Big Star's patio overflows anytime the mercury rises above 60, but isn't that what Antique Taco is supposed to take care of?…

Howells & Hood fails the locavore test

Mike Sula — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 17:00:00 -0500

Howells & Hood fails the locavore test by Mike Sula When things like tomatoes, corn, blackberries, and asparagus appear on menus around this time of year, it's like spotting the Easter Bunny in August. By now most new restaurants within certain price ranges must at least pay lip service to the idea that they serve some in-season local food, perhaps produced with a measure of respect for the environment and/or animal welfare.…

Key Ingredient: Jonathan Zaragoza gets into muddy-tasting amphibians, skin and all

Julia Thiel — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 16:00:00 -0500

Challenged with frog, Masa Azul chef Jonathan Zaragoza is inspired by "the original fish-and-chips." by Julia Thiel The Chef: Jonathan Zaragoza (Masa Azul) The Challenger: Abraham Conlon (Fat Rice) The Ingredient: Frog Jonathan Zaragoza had a little trouble getting live frogs.…

Breakfast with Cliff Kelley is serious business

Mick Dumke — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 17:30:00 -0500

Food Issue: Breakfast with radio talk show host Cliff Kelley is serious business. by Mick Dumke For a moment, Cliff Kelley wasn't sure how to order his food. Kelley, the popular talk show host on WVON radio, usually sits at the end of the counter when he visits his favorite breakfast spot, Ms Biscuit, a bustling south-side diner.…

The Food Issue: Where Chicago Eats

Reader staff — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 04:00:00 -0500

The Food Issue: Where Chicago Eats by Reader staff Of the 50-plus Chicagoans whose eating habits, dining preferences, and culinary rituals we examine in this issue, there is a single outlier who holds the strange opinion that a person eats to live, and not vice versa. We'll forgive him that heresy for his willingness to sit down with us for a perfectly delicious breakfast.…

Two comedians out late, eating poorly

Drew Hunt — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 04:00:00 -0500

Food Issue: Two comedians out late, eating poorly by Drew Hunt On any night of the week, local comics can be found in the back of dingy bars in neighborhoods all over the city, telling jokes to crowds largely comprised of other comics. By the time the shows let out—usually sometime between midnight and 2 AM—a comedian has one (or both) of two things in mind: food or booze.…

Where to fulfill your most intense food obsessions

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 04:00:00 -0500

Where to fulfill your most intense food obsessions Pie Pie is about obsession.…

I could always sniff out my mother's tea cakes

Rose Doyle (aka Puddin) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 04:00:00 -0500

Food Issue: In search of my mother's tea cakes by Rose Doyle (aka Puddin) I remember competing with my siblings for my mother's tea cakes. She made them from an old family recipe for a stove-top sweet biscuit.…

The rediscovery of Dave's Red Hots

Mike Sula — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 04:00:00 -0500

Food Issue: A retiree returns to the hot dog shop of his youth. by Mike Sula About three years ago Howard Lopata was driving around Lawndale with his son, Rob, and Peter Engler, the noted investigator of south-side culinary oddities such as the double cheeseburger known as the Big Baby and the tamale-chili combo dubbed the mother-in-law. The trio was exploring what old neighborhood guys like the elder Lopata call the "GVS," or (with a Yiddish inflection) "The Great Vest Side," looking specifically for old synagogues that had survived the riots and were reborn as Christian churches.…

Dances with pierogi

Annette Radziszewski — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 04:00:00 -0500

Food Issue: A pierogi implosion reveals deeper truths. by Annette Radziszewski Pallid disks of pizza sweated under heat lamps, a log of brisket desiccated on a wooden plank, and limp chunks of zucchini drowned in canola oil. As I surveyed my dining hall's lackluster dinner options, a craving for the soft, salty dough pouches of my youth rolled over me.…

A marriage forged on pasta and cream sauce

Miranda Swanson — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 04:00:00 -0500

Food Issue: A marriage forged on pasta and cream sauce by Miranda Swanson Having lived in Chicago for 12 years, I've been to lots of good restaurants, but my favorite food is made at home with my husband, who's a chef. We've spent hours of our lives hanging out in the kitchen cooking, usually for ourselves, sometimes for friends.…

Dough (and some batters, too): A listicle

Sam Worley — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 04:00:00 -0500

Food Issue: Dough, a listicle by Sam Worley 1. Cracker The first cracker dough I learned was lean and simple: flour, salt, fennel, and water, rolled thin and baked hot.…

Raising the potluck bar

Julia Thiel — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 04:00:00 -0500

Food Issue: A supper club of ambitious amateur chefs takes themed dinners to the next level. by Julia Thiel "Do you want me to help you plate?" Shannon Hruza asks her friend Jason Budd.…

Putting on the Ritz—at Al's Italian Beef

Aimee Levitt — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 04:00:00 -0500

Food Issue: Putting on the Ritz—at Al's Italian Beef by Aimee Levitt For a few years in the late 80s, my family had a tradition of going downtown to look at the Christmas lights on the night after Thanksgiving. My mother loves Christmas as only a Jewish woman raised on Miracle on 34th Street can.…