Results tagged “wholefoods”

   

I’ve defended Whole Foods for years against cries of “Whole Paycheck” on the basis of quality, variety and their commitment to the environment. I still believe that they do good work, but the number of “buy local” banners popping up all over their stores led me to wonder: how much local produce does Whole Foods actually carry? Not enough, by our standards.

       

The new Whole Foods in Lincoln Park opened yesterday and it's huge. Really huge. Third largest in the world, in fact, behind a London store and the flagship Austin, Texas branch. 75,000 square feet of organic goodness. Even Mayor Daley was on hand to check out the new store and, we assume, buy some granola bars. We didn't get a chance to swing by and check it out but rest assured, we will soon. Luckily, readers Steve Koo and JoeM500 stopped by and took some pics.

• There are now nine suspected cases of Swine Flu in the Chicagoland area: 5 in Chicago, 2 in Kane County, and 1 in DuPage and Lake Counties.
• Former Alderman Tyrone Kenner, who was once found guilty of accepting bribes, passed away on Monday from complications due to diabetes; Kenner was 76.
• ComEd named Anne Pramaggiore its first ever female president and COO today.

Yesterday we told you about Earth Hour, the global initiative created by the World Wildlife Fund that encourages individuals and businesses to turn off their lights for one hour to make a statement about conservation and climate change. The event takes place this Saturday from 8:30 p.m. til 9:30 p.m. and the WWF hopes to reach 1 billion participants worldwide. Today we'd like to tell you about some places in Chicago that are holding events to mark the occasion. You can also look at an interactive map on the Earth Hour website to find the closest event to you.

When we filed our report from the National Restaurant Association's annual trade show in May, we were very curious about Wine Cellar Sorbets. The New York-based company and "sorbet sommelier" Dave Zablocki do not skimp on the amount of wine (or sake) used in making their sorbets, which was one of the reasons we gravitated toward the booth.

It would be so easy for us to poke fun at yesterday's Sun-Times article where web editor Kirsten Miller volunteered herself for a blind taste test between prepared meals from Whole Foods and selections from a gourmet dog food service in Lake County and preferred the dog food two out of three times. It's just enough to say that Miller took one for the team, although she did volunteer Neil Steinberg first. (What? Paige Wiser wasn't available?)

The Whole Foods on North Ave passed its no-mouse inspection over the weekend and is officially back open.

An e-mail from Tim Hadac at the City Department of Public Health announced that the North Avenue Whole Foods failed its reinspection. Now we can look forward to another inane Mary Schmich column on the closing.

It's mid-July which means that many tastings and fixed price dinner events have a Bastille Day theme. Here are a few of note

The City Health Department shut down the Whole Foods at 1000 W. North Ave. today after finding evidence of a rodent infestation throughout the store, including a glue trap and over 100 droppings in a walk-in cooler. The store will remain closed until it passes reinspection; make sure to shop at one of the 400 other Whole Foods in the city.

Joe "M500" Marinaro just e-mailed us with an update on life without a car to get him around. He took a quick photo of his first trip to the grocery store (Whole Foods South Loop) on the bike he received when he traded in his Jeep.

Kids are always stirring up trouble in the kitchen, but this weekend they can make a mess of the pots and pans at someone else’s place. Whole Foods, which will be hosting cooking classes for kids and adults all summer at the Farm House in Lincoln Park Zoo, is holding a special children’s program on Saturday that features berries as the main ingredient. The instructor is Chef Melissa Graham of Purple Asparagus, a local non-profit organization that aims to unite families through the joy that is good eating.

Fresh Dill, for garnish (optional)

"Whether or not this new kid will go on to become the prom king or get his head stuck in a toilet is unclear," we wrote when Sunflower market first opened, "but we certainly will come back for more." But we, and others, didn't come back for enough. Minneapolis-based Supervalu will close all five Sunflower locations (there are three in Ohio, one in Indianapolis and the Chicago location.) Supervalu had at one point hoped to open 50 Sunflower stores. The five current stores employed a total of 140 people. A company spokeswoman said only that the stores did not meet the company's goals.

As every committed localvore knows, the best way to get fresh local produce (aside from a farmer’s market) is to join a CSA. A CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is a farm that has decided to sell directly to the public. By investing several hundred dollars in the spring, you can receive deliveries of fresh produce throughout the summer and fall. However, some of us aren’t ready to commit several hundred dollars up front to the cause of fresh produce, or we might not be around in the summers. But we still want to help out local farms, and we cringe a little every time we pick up shallots shipped all the way from Uruguay at Whole Foods.

The jury in alleged mobster Anthony Calabrese's trial may hear an audio tape of him beating the living the shit out of someone, even though he's on trial for armed robbery. The Sun-Times got ahold of a transcript of the tape, and it really reads like a scene right out of The Sopranos. Except the curses are blacked out. [S-T]

• Chez Pim's Menu For Hope fundraiser is still going strong (it lasts through Dec 21). So far, more than $50,000 has been raised to benefit the UN World Food Programme's school lunch program in Lesotho, Africa. Kalyn's Kitchen is the regional host for the Midwest, and there are lots of great regional prizes. Our friends over at Drive-Thru put together a yummy looking package, but what we'd really like is to win Movable Feast's offering of getting to hang out with Moto's Homaru Cantu and Ben Roche.
• We're sad to see Mas close it's doors. Chef/owner John Manion told Dish, “It’s a totally different neighborhood than what we opened to nine years ago. I’m ready to do something else. It’s my baby and I don’t have much of a security blanket but I’m looking forward to doing something new. I want to cook food again—not that I don’t at Mas—but I have different ideas [now].”
• Our love for TasteSpotting knows no bounds. A few days ago, we came across this photo, and our mouths started watering. What could be better on a cold winter night than homemade gnocchi with toasted hazelnut, brown butter and sage? Even better? Our Kitchen Sink is local. If you are reading, Chicagoist loves dinner invitations.

Bin 36 hosted their annual Bubbles Bash last night where 450 revelers ate and drank, then drank ome more, to their heart’s delight. Champagne, cava, prosecco, sekt, and sparklers from a full range of countries flowed for hours making a dark and drizzly Wednesday night into a scintillating celebration of friends, flavors, and holiday festivities.

There's a new absinthe on the market called Lucid that's catching on at places like the Violet Hour, Lumen, and Delilah's, namely because Lucid is the first Grande wormwood-based absinthe available in the States since before Prohibition. Now, we've tried the "green fairy" and it was an experience we'll never forget, so we researched Lucid for details on how much thujone (the active ingredient from wormwood) it carries. Turns out, not much at all: under...

Last year, perhaps a little earlier, we gave you a quick run-down of where you could buy yourself a turkey and at what cost. We felt that it would be nice of us to do that again for you ... not to mention the fact that we haven't had time to get a turkey for ourselves. So, without further ado, a decidedly skewed to the north side turkey roundup. Dominick's located at 6009 N Broadway...

Monica Eng at the Trib must be helping Chicago win its title of "most caffeinated" city; she tried 32 different coffees for a story in today's paper about which coffees taste the best. Coming out on top are cups of coffee from Metropolis, Intelligentsia, Coffee Beanery Ltd., Whole Foods, Cafe Colao, Illy, Peet's Coffee (our personal favorite), and Julius Meinl. She also recommends picking up the banana cream tart at Fox & Obel to...

If your weekend was anything like ours, you donned some crazy garb and drank until you blacked out, all in the name of Halloween. Some of us out there had near misses with costumed cuties, and others just wished for love in a Freddy Krueger costume. This week we scanned Craigslist for the creepiest Halloween-related Missed Connections and found that dressing up makes those posting ads a little more crazypants than usual. Behold: You’re tall,...

Last weekend we were at Bridgeport Coffee House restocking on their "Stockyard" blend when we noticed a blend we hadn't seen before, "Ravenswood Roast." We asked owner Mike Pilkington when he started making blends honoring north side neighborhoods. "I'm not" was his answer. He then explained that the "Ravenswood Roast" was part of a new fundraising arm of his wholesale business. The idea began in spring, when a customer came into the shop inquiring about...

Cyrano's Bistrot is open again, after a week and four inspections to combat a roach infestation caused by condo renovations above the restaurant. Congratulations, Chef Didier. Just don't expect us to visit anytime soon. Gabriel Magliaro of Half Acre Beer Company has been busy. Half Acre and Bloodshot Records have a promotion where Bloodshot is offering a sampler album as a free download to Half Acre fans. Magliaro will also be at Whole Foods...

While on vacation in Tennessee this summer, Chicagoist went to multiple get-togethers that started with wine and cheese. One particular cheese caught our eyes (and more importantly our mouths) and didn't let go. This cheese was a semi-soft goat cheese. It resembled gouda in texture only creamier. It was a bit manchego-like in taste but with a clear goat's milk flavor, enhanced by a rosemary crust. It was cut either extraordinarily thin and eaten...

Here’s a question for you: If politicians can use the “I didn’t inhale” line when asked about past drug use and the military can hide behind its “Don’t ask, don’t tell,” slogan, can localvores get away with eating non-local foods if they don’t swallow? OK, mind out of the gutter, please, and Chicagoist isn’t referring to the chew-and-spit diet featured on a Sex in the City episode. Instead, what we were hoping was to get...

Yesterday was full of firsts: we cooked breakfast and lunch at the same time (brown bagging), went to Whole Foods and didn’t have even one tiny free sample, and managed to pass the entire day eating only local food minus “exceptions” (see below). And we're craving chocolate, which isn’t any big news, except that this is only day one of Green City Market’s Localvore Challenge, and we have six more to go. If you’re haven’t...

We've gone around and about a lot of times about a couple key subjects: How relevant losing Marshall Fields is in the grand scheme of things, Hipster/Yuppie, where does Whole Foods play into the life of a person looking to eat healthy and live on a budget? But another topic that never fails to get someone's ire up is that of biker vs. driver vs. pedestrian vs. driver vs. biker. Most people realize that there...

Hold your tongues and stay away from the keyboard. Yes, we here at Chicagoist have levied more than our share of criticisms at Whole Foods. We're also familiar with the taste of crow, and have to give them credit where credit is due. When it comes to mission statements and core philosophy, Whole Foods walks the walk. We were joined by our markets writer Lisa Shames and primary food news writer Laura Oppenheimer Monday night...