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Around Town
Around Town
In case you haven't heard (and as we mentioned in our inaugural podcast earlier today), the long-awaited Chicago episode of "No Reservations" airs 9 p.m. tonight on Travel Channel. This means that, in addition to seeing the already obnoxious lines at Hot Doug's grow even longer by lunchtime tomorrow, the BOURDAIN Midas touch could also convince some folk to get off their duffs and actually head out south for a mother-in-law at Fat Johnnie's, smoked chub at Calumet Fisheries, or the best chili in the city at Ramova Grill (the full rundown of what made the cut during filming is here).
As BOURDAIN himself notes in his blog entry on the Chicago episode, this is going to open up a can of worms as to what he should and should not have visited when the episode was filmed last fall. But his words about the culinary delights this city has to offer — and Chicago itself — never rang more true:
"I'm ambivelent (sic) about a lot of places, but I am unrestrained in my love for Chicago. Only Chicago could convince me that the New York hot dog was not, in fact, anywhere near the apex of the hot dog arts. (The Chicago Red Hot deserves that honor) . Two respectably old school baseball teams, great, great bars, a tradition of unapproachably good and important music, its own, truly imposing style of architecture, an attitude both big city wise-ass and heartland lack of bullshit, a city open to the best and most excessive/creative of new, experimental cooking styles, loaded with great chefs (many of whom are pals), it's simply another place I'll use any excuse to visit. Tonight's episode was just such an excuse."
The way he waxes about the city makes us love it even more. And we were born and raised here. Anyway, the list of places BOURDAIN visited while in town for the episode is a good cross reference of north and south sides, Loop and suburbs, and should by no means be considered Gospel. Except for Fat Johnnie's mother-in-law, which is so damn good that it made BOURDAIN declare "Screw Pizzeria Uno."
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my only hope is that Eric "Mancow" Muller is not
too much of the tool that he was on the radio
(have not listened in years)
Better yet, that he got edited out all together....
so what the hell is a mother-in-law at Fat Johnnie's? not all of us are privileged, Chuck.
http://tinyurl.com/ddw93u
A world of information at your finger-tips.
Erm...what channel is this on for Comcast customers? Not seeing it in my lineup anywhere.
it's 61 on my cable, right after Food Network...
I read the blog this morning, and was greatly pleased to discover that Bourdain and I share an opinion regarding "deep dish pizza": "Deep dish is pizza like Olive Garden is Italian." I knew I liked this guy for a reason.
Wish I coulda been there when he filmed at Hot Doug's. Mmmm...duck fat fries....
The olive garden comparison seems very harsh to me. It implies that Chicago deep dish isn't authentic and it's coming from a new yorker. Above all else pizza is the most important food to them. I have no doubt Bourdain loves Chicago and I'm a huge fan of his, and I love ny pizza. But to say that about deep dish...c'mon. Plus UNO's! The UNOs pizza chain is awful. But has he tried pequods or burts?
After reading the whole blog... He did go to burts and loved it. And I'd say that's deep dish. Sadly not too well known but still deep dish. And UNOs does suck compared to some other places.
If you think Uno's (based in Boston, BTW) sucks, go out to Schaumburg and try the Uno's Chicago Pizza branch by the mall. It's like a war crime in your mouth.
I guess I'm more referring to the chain Uno's...probably because that's what Bourdain might know more about since they probably have "restaurants" on the east coast. I put that in quotes because you're right, that food is awful. The fact that there's one of those so close to the firs Uno's is just weird. But then again we do have a lot of pizza huts and domino's in this town. After watching the episode it was a bit different than what he wrote in his blog. He never threw the Olive Garden comparison out there, he just didn't get it. The great thing about Bourdain is he's more than willing to have his mind changed and he never talks down to anyone unless they're talking down to him.
I liveblogged the episode over on GB's Drive-Thru. Tony was correct in predicting that everyone would complain about what he didn't cover -- that's exactly what the commenters started doing as soon as the episode ended.
Another item left on the cutting room floor is the sh*t storm that ensued when L20 stuck them with a huge huge huge bill. Louisa knows her sake and when they asked for a good pairing, the staff brought out THE most expensive of everything. Not necessarily the best, but the most expensive. Not a good scene... way to go LEYE.
Amen on defending deep dish pizza. What's the point in that? It's like going to Philly and dissing a cheese steak. It is what it is: a piece of culinary history linked to a particular area. You think everyone is going to drool over a big messy Primanti Bros sandwich where they put fries and coleslaw on top of every sandwich? Probably not but it's a Pittsburgh thing and I respect them for it.
But I do think Bourdain is pretty cool and I wonder how many of the livebloggers complained that he didn't visit Kuma's (he didn't vist there did he?)
Who is this guy and why should anybody care what he thinks? I had never seen the show before yesterday and will never watch it again. Mancow? Really? I'd rather eat dirt than have a meal with those two. That show sucked.
Anthony Bourdain is a pretty accomplished chef and author...I'm sure there are many accomplished chefs you've never heard of or I've never heard of. Even watching the show last night there were people in Chicago I'd never heard of so...Bourdain hosts No Reservations, he also did a show on Food Network called A Cook's Tour.