Quick Bites

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Feb 21, 2008 3:30PM

Michael Ruhlman and Anthony Bourdain announced the nominees for their inaugural "Golden Clog" awards on Eater Tuesday. Among the nominees are Paul Kahan for the "Chef's Chef" award ("for the chef who continues to make the kind of food other chefs like, while flying largely under the national radar") and Hungry Mag's Michael Nagrant - that photo is of his son staring down a 23-ounce bone-in ribeye at Harry Caray's, btw - for the "Steingarten" ("For the writer or blogger who actually GETS it"). The winners will be announced at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival Friday. Bourdain handicaps the nominees on Eater, as well.

More from Nagrant: on Hungry Mag Tuesday he takes Metromix dining producer Chris LaMorte to task for "pil(ing) on the Schwa bandwagon." Notably, LaMorte discloses in his review that he visited Schwa with a Metromix freelancer who, while working on her piece about Schwa, asked Carlson if he could squeeze herself and two friends in for dinner. That would be a clear violation of ethics, as reviewers are supposed to be neither seen, heard, nor ask for special dispensations. Moreover, the multiple Schwa reviews by Tribune properties suggests a lack of editorial communication between the parent paper and Metromix. Nagrant suggests that, since "RedEye already syndicates Metromix content... why not syndicate Tribune Stew content in reverse, and spend those dollars reviewing a new spot?"

We've been meaning to include this for a while. Gothamist staffer Rachel Kramer Bussel, on her blog "Cupcakes Take the Cake," interviews the owners of Swirlz in Lincoln Park. It's a wonderful read and gives readers some insight as to the opening of the store.

We've all lied on our resume a little bit in order to make it stand out among the others, but reach a certain level of success and it can come back to bite you in the ass. Just ask "Dinner: Impossible" host Robert Irvine. The St. Petersburg Times ran a story Sunday detailing Irvine's many resume embellishments in the wake of his failed attempts to open two sister restaurants in the Tampa area. You can read his resume here (Many thanks to Alpana for the tip).

Finally, Sun-Times food editor Janet Rausa Fuller noted, in a sidebar to our profile of BJ's Market & Bakery owner John Meyer in yesterday's food section, that Meyer was just named the first African-American chairman of the Illinois Restaurant Association. "I'm the first, but for sure, I'm not going to be the last," Meyer said.