Often the food we eat as adults is informed by what we ate at home growing up. Coming from a family with deep Southern roots, this is a great time to be a Chicagoan who loves to dine out. Southern cooking and cocktails are everywhere. After many false heralds, this is the new bacon meme, really. more ›

Since Goose Island renewed the lease on their Clybourn brewpub at the last minute in 2008, they've been actively moving forward to improve both the quality of both its beers and its food. John Manion's short stint at the brewpub laid the foundation to the new menu advancements of current chef Andrew Horza. Hroza is a certified cicerone and well-qualified to know the intricacies between pairing beer with food. more ›

Normally, the last thing Chicagoist wants to do on a hot Saturday afternoon is put on “business-casual attire” (that basically goes for any Saturday afternoon, really). But when it’s for a champagne reception at Charlie Trotter’s, it’s not a problem. And when said reception includes the opportunity to see some of the most influential chefs from around the world, well, we’re there. In case you haven’t heard — with all the media hype going on,... more ›

To some people – more specifically the U.S. food safety police – sous vide are two very bad words. But the people at Cuisine Solutions, an international food manufacturing company with its U.S. headquarters in Alexandria, Va., that utilizes this style of cooking for the food it prepares for the first-class cabins of Air France and American Airlines, as well as large hotel chains, are working hard to change that perception, and at their recent... more ›

As we've seen in the past, Chicagoist has an affinity for certain types of produce. You know about our love/hate relationship with the glory of homegrown heirloom tomatoes and our unbridled lust and fervor for fresh picked apples, but we have a secret zeal that we’re only now willing, and dare we say, strong enough to reveal: sunchokes rock. If you’ve never heard of a sunchoke, also known as a Jerusalem artichoke, don’t be alarmed.... more ›

Looks like Charlie Trotter is staying put here in Chicago. Two years ago, when it was announced that the food court at the Time Warner Center in New York City would feature the crème de la crème of the culinary world, Trotter's simply named "Charlie Trotter's Seafood Restaurant" was to be the final jewel in a crown of restaurants that includes Thomas Keller's Per Se and Masa Takayama's MASA. Alas, the dream is over. Citing... more ›

Chicagoist can, at times, be considered a bit of a foodie or more realistically a food snob. This was fairly cemented in our own realization when, at a recent dinner party at our house a guest casually asked for some salt, prompting the reply ‘What kind?’ With their look of utter befuddlement and curiosity only equaled by Nipper, we explained that we had more than the blue canister variety when it came to salt and... more ›