Food

For many of us the holiday season is marked by a weight gain that makes the freshman fifteen seem like a case of simple water retention, spurred on by the flood of baked goods that appear in homes and offices everywhere. But with the huge range of fresh vegetables, herbs, and great cuts of meat available year round in Chicago, the wind chill shouldn't keep you from enjoying some healthy foods. While grilling out may not be an option for some, you can make a delicious steak at home and top it with a flavorful Chimichurri sauce. Chimichurri is a garlicky Argentinian marinade and sauce typically served on beef or chicken. We've found it also tastes fantastic on shrimp and fresh vegetables (as seen in the picture of fresh corn on the cob and grape tomatoes mixed in with some Chimichurri). more ›

As the old saying goes, "Leave 'em wanting more." So we shall by wrapping up this "BotW" for 2006 on a high note, with the beer that we consider the best we've tasted this year. more ›

We've got a huge crush on My Blank Page after being alerted (via) that she had created a gingerbread version of Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater. Behold! more ›

Today, in honor of our favorite Christmas movie, A Christmas Story we've compiled a list of restaurants offering Christmas Eve dinner. You know, in case the Bumpases dogs ruin your family feast and you have to scramble the troops over some duck at a Chinese restaurant. more ›

Combine kitschy decor, deliciously moist cupcakes and a heart-warming tale, and what do you get? The most adorable bakery to hit Chicago in recent memory. more ›

• Chez Pim's Menu For Hope fundraiser is still going strong (it lasts through Dec 21). So far, more than $50,000 has been raised to benefit the UN World Food Programme's school lunch program in Lesotho, Africa. Kalyn's Kitchen is the regional host for the Midwest, and there are lots of great regional prizes. Our friends over at Drive-Thru put together a yummy looking package, but what we'd really like is to win Movable Feast's offering of getting to hang out with Moto's Homaru Cantu and Ben Roche.
• We're sad to see Mas close it's doors. Chef/owner John Manion told Dish, “It’s a totally different neighborhood than what we opened to nine years ago. I’m ready to do something else. It’s my baby and I don’t have much of a security blanket but I’m looking forward to doing something new. I want to cook food again—not that I don’t at Mas—but I have different ideas [now].”
• Our love for TasteSpotting knows no bounds. A few days ago, we came across this photo, and our mouths started watering. What could be better on a cold winter night than homemade gnocchi with toasted hazelnut, brown butter and sage? Even better? Our Kitchen Sink is local. If you are reading, Chicagoist loves dinner invitations.

With the Bears' season over before it started, what better way to celebrate the end of the regular football season than remembering the good years (roughly 1985 to 1988) over a glass of vino? more ›

During last week’s sleet storm we ducked into the South Loop Wine Cellar on the walk home from the Museum Campus. Half-frozen, soaked and more concerned with warming up than with finding a new shopping destination, we were pleasantly surprised by what we found inside. Warm, welcoming and filled with wine bins, exposed bricks and a beautiful Christmas tree, the store was the perfect place for us to stop. With all of the hype surrounding the opening of the South Loop location of Sam’s Wine and Spirits, some may have missed this much smaller, but much cozier, destination. more ›

We get letters: more ›

The jibarito is a cross-cultural gem with a very American story. It was invented in Chicago (circa 1993) at Humboldt Park’s Borinquen Restaurant, a tricked-out plantain sandwich inspired by Puerto Rican culture and named after its peasant class, then embraced across strata at local Cuban, Mexican, and South American joints. more ›

Moving forward in our quest to give you readers some options for going out on New Year's Eve so you aren't procrastinating. more ›

Bin 36 hosted their annual Bubbles Bash last night where 450 revelers ate and drank, then drank ome more, to their heart’s delight. Champagne, cava, prosecco, sekt, and sparklers from a full range of countries flowed for hours making a dark and drizzly Wednesday night into a scintillating celebration of friends, flavors, and holiday festivities. more ›

There are precious few days left for your last-minute holiday shopping. If you're out to get a jump on the crowds, consider catching an early breakfast and shopping through the lunch rush by hitting one of these Near West Side joints. more ›

In February we reviewed KS Seafood, a restaurant in the Chinatown plaza that set itself apart from its competition by focusing on Taiwanese cuisine. In the review, manager Tom Wu explained that Taiwanese cuisine separates itself from its Mandarin, Cantonese and Szechuan brethren by being drier and lacking the rich sauces and gravies of those other styles. We made a couple return visits in the following months and enjoyed our meals every time, especially the tofu, pork blood and tripe soup, which isn't as disgusting as it sounds. more ›

In high school one of the constants of our Friday nights was a family-sized pizza delivered to the house from La Villa Restaurant and Banquets in Old Irving. We'd fight for a corner slice among our allotment, chase them down with a glass of pop, and head out the house for our other constant: vainly working on our game with every Catholic school girl we could meet. more ›

Chicagoist has been known to wax philosophic when it comes to websites that make dining out and ordering in easier. We've written about two of our favorites, MenuPages and GrubHub, here and here, respectively. There's a new kid in town, and her name is FoodieBytes. We can already feel MenuPages and GrubHub shaking in their internet boots. more ›

Where protein is concerned, chicken is easily the biggest mainstay in our diet. It's affordable, lean, and easy to prepare; it provides us with the flexibility for a wide array of recipes; and we're never bored with eating it. On the other side of the spectrum is mayonnaise. We don't mean satiny emulsions like aioli fragrant with garlic or dill, mind you. We're talking about the white man's poison, Hellman's ca-ca. more ›

The numbers to the left tell the story. Hyde Park Co-Op shareholders voted by a wide margin in favor of a buyout by the University of Chicago and close the store by the end of January. more ›

Sen. Dick Durbin sent out an email appeal today urging people to celebrate "A Plumpynut Holiday." Our senior sentator wants his constituents to spend $20 this holiday season on Plumpynuts, a "sweetened mixture of peanuts, essential vitamins, minerals and milk served in foil pouches [that] has become a high-nutrient, high-energy weapon in fighting malnutrition." more ›

Certain holiday cookies evoke memories of childhood. Chocolate Crinkles are one particular cookie that does that for Chicagoist. They're kind of like a cookie brownie, if you can imagine. [Ed note: Oh, can I.] Join us, won't you, as we whip up a batch. What You Need 1 cup cocoa 1/2 cup vegetable oil 2 cups granulated sugar 4 eggs 2 cups flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 2 teaspoons vanilla 1/2 teaspoon salt Combine ingredients,... more ›

The Chicago City Council held off on voting on a controversial ban on urban chickens yesterday. Since urban chickens are all the rage, it seems like a perfect time to ban them, right? Southwest Side Alderman Lona Lane (18th), who proposed the ban, said she didn't know why the vote on the ban was held up. Maybe it is, as the Sun-TImes suggests, because Mayor Daley has a thing for urban poultry: "Let's be realistic,"... more ›

good winter beers. It could be said that it was one of these posts that was the genesis of the "BotW" series. But we can't remember if we ever covered these beers individually for "BotW" consideration. Today, we rectify that, with one of our personal favorites. more ›

We sometimes feel that turkey is the ugly stepchild of sandwich meats. Why get dry, boring turkey when crispy bacon, juicy roast beef or succulent ham are calling? When paired with the right ingredients, turkey doesn't become a liability—it becomes an asset. more ›

Today we continue our series of letting you know about the New Year's Eve packages being offered by local restaurants so that you have enough information to make a decision and not wait until the last minute to grab a table. In case you missed yesterday's installment, we've linked to it here for your review. Vegetarians rejoice! Green Zebra will offer an all vegetarian, 5 course tasting menu priced at $75 per person, with an... more ›

If green is the new black and localvore is the word of the year, then what does it mean when eating locally is not only not necessarily better for the environment, but could actually be worse? An article in the NYT challenges the notion that "fresh" and "local" add up to "green." The article presents data from UC Davis's Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program. Tom Tomich, director of the program, told the NYT that... more ›

Maybe we've been watching too much Dexter, but this shot from Sue Harper startled us. Turns out he's just making candy canes, which is both tastier and more festive.... more ›

There's a new absinthe on the market called Lucid that's catching on at places like the Violet Hour, Lumen, and Delilah's, namely because Lucid is the first Grande wormwood-based absinthe available in the States since before Prohibition. Now, we've tried the "green fairy" and it was an experience we'll never forget, so we researched Lucid for details on how much thujone (the active ingredient from wormwood) it carries. Turns out, not much at all: under... more ›

If you plan on braving the idiocy that is New Year's Eve on the town, you have made your dinner reservations already, haven't you? After all, if you plan on going out on New Year's Eve and aren't heading to a friend's or a family party, you're already committed to spending money. Why not go all out, dress to the nines, and try out some place you normally wouldn't think of dining? Leave it to... more ›

The last time we checked in on the Burrito Bracket, we were waiting to see who would win the Tecalitlan/Irazu blood match to join La Pasadita, El Taco Veloz, and De Pasada in the final four. It's on our mind today because this is when the Burrito Bowl championship was slated to be held. A post by Nate on November 15 read that he was taking a one-week break because he'd "fallen way behind... more ›

'Tis the season for free champagne tastings. Get started tonight at the Artisan Cellar (located on the first floor of the Merchandise Mart) with a sample of some rare bubblies from 4-6 p.m. Learn all about the history of smothered foods from author Wilbert Jones, the author of Smothered Southern Foods. Jones' lecture, "Smothered - Southern Style" is being held Saturday at the Chicago History Museum, sponsored by the Culinary Historians of Chicago. The lecture... more ›

We really, really, wish we'd come up with the phrase "amuse-douche." Nicely done, Menupages. Chef Frank Brunacci is going to be at the helm of the restaurant in the yet-to-be-completed Trump tower. Michael Nagrant interviewed him and says he's "more of a haute comfort food purveyor than a food scientist," even though he likes to sling "shark bacon and olive oil ice cream." Check out the podcast here. File this under things we are pumped... more ›

Because it's never too early in the day for a little bit of food porn. Chicagoist heard from a little birdie that Tim Graham, chef de cuisine at Tru, is serving a fourteen-day aged Kobe ribeye soaked in a marinade of dark sake and soy sauce before grilling. That steak is then served with mashed and corked potatoes. Now we love us some Kobe beef. Next to Piedmontese it's one of our favorites. Right now... more ›

We were downstairs at our neighbors' a couple weeks back, drinking bloody marys before the Bears-Broncos game while we were making chicken stock for soup. Normally, we make a killer bloody mary. But on this occasion we were missing something. Turned out that our neighbor had the cure-all: a good beer chaser. She had been to Sam's earlier in the week and picked up some selections from Ridgeway Brewing, and the first bottle she opened... more ›

Chicagoist's brother-in-law is a man of many excesses, most of which revolve around pork products. And while we aren't quite the connoisseur that he is, it's no big secret that Chicagoist loves bacon. So what's so great about Milk & Honey's BLT? How about this — everything. The bread is perfectly toasted Italian bread that gives a satisfying crunch while maintaining its inner softness. The bacon is neither a greasy slab of fat nor... more ›

Today is the first day/second night of Hanukkah, the festival of lights (or as we like to call it, Jewish Christmas). In addition to lighting the menorah/hanukkiah, playing dreidel and getting presents, Hanukkah is about oil. And while there are all types of oil, our preference is for the hot bubbly kind in the pan. We cooked up two kinds of latkes last night. The first kind we made was from Fine Cooking magazine,... more ›

Dan Smith and Steve McDonagh, best known as local culinary mavens the Hearty Boys, have done it again. Not content with everything else they have going on (the catering and restaurant business and the burgeoning media career, for instance), McDonagh and Smith have created a fruitcake recipe that they say will change our perception on how we view this holiday monstrosity. Additionally, McDonagh reveals some of his family's fruitcake traditions in an accompanying article in... more ›

On Tuesday a federal judge approved a $24.8 million deal which allows Pennsylvania-based Snyder's of Hanover to buy Jays Potato chips. The deal brings closure to the local potato chip icon's second Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in four years and speculation that a deal with Snyder's would even be allowed because of the bankruptcy filing. As part of the fallout of the deal, Jays' longtime production facility on the far south side closed yesterday, leaving... more ›

So yesterday in our "One Bottle of Wine" post we alluded to some gnocchi we had Saturday night. We felt the need for something to really stick to our ribs with the sleet and frozen rain falling all night, but we didn't want to go through the process of actually making these popular Italian dumplings from scratch. Lucky for us, the produce store by our house (Egg Store, 3008 S. Halsted, 773-284-8704) often carries pre-made... more ›

Saturday night was a good night to stay in, preferably close to the fireplace (that is, if you're lucky enough to have one). So we popped some W.C. Fields in the dvd player, made some gnocchi with spicy pasta sauce (more on that tomorrow) and opened up a bottle of wine. The bottle we picked was something that held up to both the weight of the gnocchi, the spice of the sauce, and the warmth... more ›

Although the cover story to yesterday's Sun-Times said that diners shouldn't be alarmed, it's hard to not be after reading the sensationalized cover story which listed 21 restaurants whose ice had more bacteria than a toilet in the Sun-Times men's room. A note for downtown workers looking for lunch this afternoon: you may want to buy a bottled drink. The testing of ice cubes from 49 area restaurants found that the unlucky 21 tested for... more ›