The entire city has been abuzz with the news that famed food writer Michael Ruhlman is coming to town this week to promote his new book, Ruhlman's 20. Several events have already sold out (including one that sold out the day it was announced) but there are a few great ways you can still meet up with him. more ›

If you're a Grant Achatz groupie, or a fan of chef memoirs, mosey on over to your favorite book-ordering location and order "Life, on the Line: A Chef's Story of Greatness, Facing Death, and Redefining the Way we Eat." Only short excerpts are available, but go read them anyway - stories of the moment Ruth Reichl told Achatz that Alinea was #1, of the day he realized he had cancer and his tryout for Thomas Keller at the French Laundry. It's unlikely that this will be as lurid as Kitchen Confidential, but we think it might be one of the most touching and informative culinary stories ever told. more ›

Rick Tramonto has a new cookbook coming out next week. Steak With Friends compiles 150 recipes for entertaining friends in the backyard or in the kitchen. As a charcuterie enthusiast, one recipe that caught our eye was a for salmon pastrami with cucumber dill salad. Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn have a few salmon curing recipe in Charcuterie, including one for salmon pastrami, and a quick search on epicurious for gravlax turns up some interesting recipes. But we never tried it. So we took the Tramonto recipe, then smoked it later. more ›

We've profiled need-to-have food and drink-related smartphone applications in recent months, from Stolpman's review of the Poynt app, to Lizz's recount of beta-testing the Foodie app. Now they're starting to come fast and furious, with MenuPages' application only one of many to be released. Of course, we should also take the time to pimp the Ist-a-verse app. more ›

When you walk into the Spice House in Old Town with 10 pounds of pork belly strapped to your back, you're telegraphing to the employees what you need. What we were looking for was four ounces of sodium nitrate, aka "pink salt." more ›

Here are some links to check out in between Madden '10 sessions: more ›

Our love of bacon has come to its logical endgame: we're making our own. more ›

What have the intrepid local food writers and bloggers of Our Town and elsewhere been up to this week? more ›

Truth be told, I agree somewhat with what Michael Morowitz wrote about the Green City Market Localvore Challenge. Morowitz wrote: more ›

• Counting down the days until we receive our copy of the Alinea cookbook in the mail. While we've been spending lots of time at the Alinea Mosaic (a perk of advance purchase), Michael Ruhlman - one of four food writers commissioned to write an essay for the book, offers a sneak preview of the books contents. It cannot come to us soon enough.
• The Local Beet has quickly become one of our favorite new local food blogs. this week they have a guide to fall and winter CSAs and local produce box drops.
• Chicago Gluttons has the most hilarious review of San Soo Gap San ever.

Author Michael Ruhlman more ›

We always thought the making of a chef started in a kitchen, and progressed from there. Anyway, as part of their "Traffic Jam" series, Steppenwolf Theatre is hosting a discussion this Sunday between Alinea owner/chef Grant Achatz and author Michael Ruhlman. The discussion, called "The Making of a Chef," will cover the "hypermodern" culinary movement of which Achatz is largely considered the herald, the place of the "celebrity" chef in America, and what defines excellence in an industry as increasingly PR-driven as the five-star dining concept. It should be an interesting conversation between two intelligent and passionate men; although Ruhlman's a skeptic of the science food movement, he sings the praises of Achatz. It seems to be a running theme among critics who regard molecular gastronomy as smoke and mirrors, but allow that Achatz is the exception to the rule. more ›