Celebrity chef Ted Allen, formerly of Chicago Magazine, teaches how to make "the most obnoxious, contrived meals for your dickhead foodie friends." more ›

Last Saturday, when the wind was howling and blasting rain against our windows, we could think of nothing better than staying in and cooking a big pot of chili in our cast iron dutch oven. Until we met Ted Allen, current Food Network mega-star and former Chicago Magazine editor, and read his cookbook “The Food You Want to Eat”, we had thought of chili as a ground meat-driven recipe. Since then, we've always gone back to his Killer Chili recipe, longing for the way the chunks of beef chuck roast fall apart at first bite. And, when we have it on hand, we’ll add a few heavy dashes of local Co-op Sauce for another layer of flavor. We like to serve this chili on top of white rice and top it with both sharp cheddar cheese and creamy, melty colby jack. Feel free to serve as you wish - we assume if you are a Cincinnati-native it would be a natural to top noodles with this chili recipe. more ›

Chicago "chef/consultant" Dale Levitski (formerly of Trio Atelier, La Tache and Orange — Levitski has also spent some time at Stone Lotus) will be Chicago's only representative on season three of Bravo's "Top Chef," a vast improvement from season two, which didn't feature anyone from the Windy City. The self-taught chef uses something called "'flavor math,' where the right number of spices can bring the perfect flavor and taste." He calls it flavor math, we... more ›

Surfing between the Police reunion on the Grammys last night and an all-new evening of animation on Fox (and if Family Guy's "My Drunken Irish Dad" song isn't being sung en masse this St. Patrick's Day, we'll be sorely disappointed), Avenues' chef Graham Elliot Bowles took on Bobby Flay on "Iron Chef America." Knowing that the Tribune had Bowles' appearance featured in yesterday's Sunday magazine, we didn't buy the Sunday paper yesterday and stayed away... more ›