Quick Bites

By Chuck Sudo in Food on May 15, 2008 2:30PM

The Day After: Don't expect to see foie gras back on menus immediately after the repeal of the ban yesterday. The earliest that's going to happen will be June 11th. What did leave a bad aftertaste was the end-around used to repeal the ban and how Mayor Daley put Alderman Joe Moore's dick in the dirt in the process. If you don't know after that why Daley is often referred to here as "His Elective Majesty," he showed it yesterday. It's also worth noting the timing of the repeal, days before the Chicago Gourmet press conference at Millennium Park. Can't have a "gourmet version of Taste" without foie gras.

Wisconsin supermarket chain Roundy's is making even more waves, even though they haven't opened a store locally. This week they leased even more prime real estate on the site near the Barnes & Noble on Diversey (by Century Plaza). Crain's reported that the plan is to build a 55,000 square foot secret concept store on the site once B&N's lease expires at the end of the year. If they're planning on 55,000 square feet of space, does Roundy's have Whole Foods in its sights?

Again, if you haven't read D.T. Max's profile of Grant Achatz in the New Yorker, do so. What we found most fascinating about the profile wasn't that it elevated Achatz to the realm of Chuck Norris and Jack Bauer as a badass, but the way it humanizes him. From relying on his sous chefs to maintain the high standard of his menu creations while he regains his sense of taste, to his absolute refusal to have the cancer in his tongue excised via surgery, Max manages to capture emotion from the normally stoic Achatz that is usually conveyed in his food.

Half Acre Beer Company moved one step closer to setting up operations locally, purchasing a 15 barrel brewhouse. They have all the equipment; now they a site. Owner and brewer Gabe Magliaro said in an e-mail that they're looking at several sites and hope to have one picked soon to begin construction.

Another brewery set to open soon is Crown Brewing in Crown Point, Indiana. The brewmaster behind this endeavor is Jim Cibak, who earned his brewing stripes at Goose Island and Three Floyds. Most recently Cibak was working wonders at Firestone Walker Brewing in California, where he was experimenting extensively in barrel-aged fermentation and blended ale selections. Crown Brewing is set to open in June.