Food And Drink Links: 10 Secret Weapons Behind Chicago’s Top Restaurants And More

By Melissa McEwen in Food on Mar 17, 2015 2:45PM

What have we been reading lately? Here are just a few of our favorite Food & Drink reads for the week.

• The Reader's Annual Bar Issue is out and is facinating as usual with pieces on local icons like Maria Marszewski of Maria's Packaged Goods and What six Chicago bartenders would drink if they were stranded on a desert island.
• It's mainly those who work at the front of the house positions who get all the media attention in food writing, but at Zagat Sarah Freeman has highlighted some people working crucial positions that you might not know about. The list includes people like Jorge Ruiz, who is responsible for producing the beloved chorizo-stuffed dates at Avec.
• Have you noticed ads for Panera's new "Broth Bowls" and wondered what the hell they are? Minneapolis' Jerard Fagerberg tried them and concluded "Listen, Panera's broth bowls are soup. They're just fucking soup."
• Kate Bernot, formerly of RedEye Chicago, takes some of Goose Island's large format Belgian ales out of the cellar to see how they fare with age. It can be so tempting to drink these right away, but Bernot makes us almost want to resist temptation and save them for years to experience how some of their flavors morph beautifully.
• Do you hate it when restaurants won't seat you because your friends are late? An article in The Washingtonian tries to give a rational explanation as to why restaurants won't seat incomplete parties:

  
  

  What many people don’t understand is that running a restaurant is like conducting an orchestra, and there are a lot of moving parts. Do we want to give the kitchen 15 tables to work at once, or six? The food will likely be more even with six. We want the server to be attentive. How can they do that if their timing is disjointed? It’s more lucrative not to take reservations and make sure everyone is there, because you maximize your seating. You have exactly the number of people who would fit at that table—a four top at a four top, not a deuce at a four top because two people didn’t show up. Not many restaurants will ask you to get up and move. Instead we’ll have to turn away a party of four we could have seated otherwise.