Food Republic names Intelligentsia's Doug Zell #1 in Coffee Power Rankings. more ›

Every year, the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen brings some of the country's best chefs, sommeliers, wine producers and hardcore culinarians (read: foodies) together for a weekend of both work and (mostly) play. With cooking seminars, wine tasting workshops, jam-packed tasting pavilions, lavish dinners and notorious after-parties, it's hard not to have a great and gluttonous time. To celebrate our city's raging culinary scene, this slideshow highlights some of Chicago's finest as they eat and drink their way through this year's Classic. more ›

If the kitchens of Frontera Grill, Topolobampo and Xoco seem strangely devoid of Rick Bayless in the coming weeks, you can blame President Obama. Bayless has been tapped by Obama to head the kitchen for the upcoming state dinner with El Presidente of Mexico, Felipe Calderón. The New York Times reports that the celebrity chef will be helming the kitchen on May 19th, the second celebrity chef to run a state dinner menu. Marcus Samuellson, currently receiving the arrogant-jerk-edit on this season's Top Chef Masters, cooked for the Indian Prime Minister back in November. more ›

One of the things we like best about Marcus Samuelsson's New American Table is the variety of types of food - not necessarily flavors, though that's also present, but the different portion sizes and occasions provided for by Samuelsson's recipes. Like most cookbooks, there are sections for each meal, but New American Table also has snacks, small plates, breads, "everyday," "weekend," and "holiday." more ›

Over the next couple of weeks, we're going to be featuring a few dishes from Marcus Samuelsson's latest cookbook, New American Table. This offering, an entree salad with caramelized scallops and a slaw laced with herbs and spicy vegetables, is a great quick meal for a weekday evening when you're looking for something light. It has more ingredients then our typical "Simple Cooking" offering, but it's not nearly as much work as you might think. Simply toss up the salad, sear the scallops and off you go! more ›

President Obama's first White House state dinner would have made headlines last week even before a couple of socialites deep in debt and desperate for the spotlight crashed it. The antics of Tareq and Michaele Salahi overshadowed the menu created by noted superchef Marcus Samuelsson (pictured above at Chicago Gourmet 2009), (the link will take you to the menu, in PDF format) in honor of Indian Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh. For the dinner Samuelsson incorporated fresh herbs and vegetables from First Lady Michelle Obama's White House garden. more ›

Whenever we order a dessert from a talented pastry chef, we marvel at the complexity and beauty of the final product. Ingredient after ingredient, brushed and balanced and sauced just exactly right, over and over again. How do they do it?? more ›

Lovers of Lula, rejoice! Yet another alum has taken her place among Chicago’s great executive chefs. Nicole Pederson, former sous chef at Lula (who has also cooked at Gramercy Tavern in New York) has taken over the helm at C-House. Owned by Marcus Sammuelson, the chef-owner of Aquavit, C-House primarily focuses on seafood, with a well-stocked raw bar and a selection of eight different oysters. more ›

The merger of Anheuser-Busch and InBev last year made Boston Beer Company the largest American-owned brewery (if you already knew that, give yourself a Mighty Marvel No-Prize). Not the biggest fan of Sam Adams brews here, for a variety of reasons unrelated to this post. Now that this review has been qualified, let's get on to this week's selection. more ›

Sometimes you just need to check your pride at the door and do what must be done. Which is why we found ourselves Saturday afternoon at Macy Field's, Christmas shopping and looking for a nosh. The Walnut Room is still the Walnut Room, and the seventh floor food court is still dominated by fast food concepts from celebrity chefs. The newest, from Marcus Samuelsson (C-House), is probably the best of a lot that includes Rick Bayless Frontera Fresco and Takashi Yagihashi's Noodles by Takashi. Incidentally, all three chefs are members of Macy's Culinary Council, dating back to the store's days as Marshall Field's. more ›

With more out-of-town, internationally acclaimed chefs now able to find Chicago on a map, we could be reaching a point where "Rock Star Chef City" hits critical mass. And that's without Gordon Ramsay's recent threats to test the local waters. In short, when a chef earns the name recognition and acclaim affording him to branch out to different cities, he starts to balance that fine line between chef and restaurateur that draws the watchful eyes of the critics. more ›

If, as everyone keeps saying, celebrity chefs are the new rock stars, then food groupies should keep an eye out for Marcus Samuelsson in the upcoming days. Tipster "youattal" wrote that the Swedish superstar, Aquavit owner and Macy's (née Marshall Field's) Culinary Council member is in town today training staff for tomorrow's opening of Marc Burger. more ›

We know that Chicago is a restaurant hot spot. While out-of-town writers particularly tend to maintain the clichés (earned, mind you) of Chicago being a steak and potatoes, deep dish pizza town, out-of-town chefs know the real score. more ›

Joining Current Conditions in its "new regular feature" designation is Quick Bites, a weekly wrap-up of some of the interesting topics debated and discussed in Chicago's food media. The Time Out Chicago blog scooped Dish on Marcus Samuelsson news; the Ethiopian-born chef will be opening a new restaurant, C-House, in the Affinia Chicago Hotel in early 2008. Samuelsson is known for his work at New York's Riingo and Aquavit. If you've been feeling a little... more ›