Food: July 2009 Archives

A near-religious experience with Aventinus Wheat Doppelbock got us to thinking of other darker wheat beers that would be enjoyable for summer sipping. With that in mind, we set out for some good local options and looked no farther than Two Brothers. Local beer geeks know and love the Warrenville brewery's Ebel's Weiss, but it's available year-round. A run to your local liquor store is in order to pick up a bomber of Bonfire, Two Brothers' Dunkel weiss.

As if Kuma's Corner couldn't get any more packed on the weekend, now the venerable burger/beer/metal/biker kitsch bar is throwing a block party to celebrate its fourth anniversary, which should just send fans of Kuma's monster burgers into DEFCON 1 mode.

Summertime: living is easy, the fish are jumping, and it's time to sit back with a long cool one and get pleasantly hammered. We have just the thing.

The smell of fresh bread baking in the morning always often brings back memories of growing up across the street from the Mary Ann Bakery in the Hermosa/Kelvyn Park neighborhood. The bakery also made S. Rosen branded baked goods and we would head to school with near-certain knowledge that if we ate a hot dog or burger at lunch, it would be served on either a Mary Ann or S. Rosen bun.

    

As the number of fancy cupcake bakeries in the city grows ever larger, it gets harder and harder for new places to distinguish themselves. Innovative flavors, eye-catching designs and unique (or controversial, if you prefer) ingredients go a long way towards setting More Cupcakes apart from the crowd, and some of their offerings are a smashing success. Unfortunately, an often mediocre quality, unpleasant staff and high prices give us pause.

We hope you had the opportunity to read our interview with MK's Tony Galzin yesterday.

Over the years we've developed a theory that brewmasters are underrated as philosophers, seeing as brewing and drinking beer are often lock-step with social intercourse. We're big fans here of Lost Abbey beers (see our "BotW" review of their "Gift of the Magi" ale). After reading brewmaster Tomme Arthur's blog posts and his sound bites of wisdom, you'll become a fan, as well.

We snuck a tiny blurb into last week's "BotW" post about City Provisions's Saturday farm dinner (we're including the entire schedule here, in PDF format).

       

We were fortunate enough to spend some time in MK's kitchen with Pastry Chef, Tony Galzin. In addition to letting us peek over his shoulder as he plated desserts, he answered questions on how he became a pastry chef, trends in the industry, seasonal ingredients and how to best incorporate and enjoy dessert. Also, tomorrow, we will feature video of Chef Galzin working in the kitchen.

        

Summer's bounty is finally upon us! This was the first week where we could do ALL of our grocery shopping at the Farmer's Market, rather than using it to enhance our regular meals. The first root vegetables of the year have come in, and the market was stuffed with carrots, onions and the first small potatoes. Lettuces, Chard and other greens continue to come on strong, but the real stars of the show were berries. Cherries, Raspberries, Blackberries - even currants were for sale at this Saturday's Green City Market.

Fancy cupcakes are a trend that won't die - and we're totally fine with that. But what if you want to do more than just buy cupcakes? If you fancy yourself the equal of Susan's, More or Sensational Bites, throw your hat in the ring and join the Iron Cupcake Challenge. Competitors bring their best cupcakes in for judgment and the winner takes home cupcake glory and prestige. This month's theme is Tropical cupcakes, so bring your best coconut/banana/passionfruit/rum icing and your favorite pastry bag! Does your cupcake reign supreme?

As if Stephanie Izard doesn't have enough irons in the fire between traveling to trade shows and events, media appearances, working on her video podcasts, making wine, writing a cookbook with Time Out Chicago's Heather Shouse in addition to opening the Drunken Goat in January (and she's already making charcuterie for that, bless her heart), now comes word that she's leading up tot he Drunken Goat's opening with a series of underground dinners.

At the time of our visit to Half Acre's new Lincoln Square brewery in April we said of the limited edition Baume' Rye Stout:

        

Taxim, the new Greek restaurant from rookie restaurateur David Schneider, takes the concept of Greek cuisine as Chicagoans know it and turns it on its head. Gone are yard stick-sized kabobs, syrupy souvlaki and middle-aged waitresses with penciled eyebrows and hoarse throats from shouting "Opa!" while setting fire to some saganaki amidst stock posters of Greek landscapes. Instead, Schneider embraces the melting pot of other Mediterranean influences, particularly Turkish, that informed pre-20th Century Greek cuisine, and does it with the deft hand of a seasoned restaurant owner.