Review Revue: Manly Trib, Boozy TOC
We promised we'd fill you in on the rest of today's food section happenings, and we will not fail you on this front. Of especial note is the Tribune's theme, "The man issue." Phil Vettel and Kevin Pang must have sat down together
to brainstorm how to focus their coverage for this issue and said "meat" at the same time.
Did Mr. Pang come up with the title of his article, "6 degrees of Kevin's bacon", on his own? (It's such a weird innuendo!). Regardless, good eaters of either gender can appreciate this run-down of six top Chicagoland bacon spots, ranging from bite-size bacon buns at Healthy Food Lithuanian (a misnomer; three for $1.75) to the lobster club with applewood-smoked bacon at RL ($20, and we don't bat an eye). In a similar vein, Mr. Vettel gives the nod to three of his favorite burgers in town: the new (Hop Haus), the old-school (Rosebud Steakhouse) and the classic bar burger (Poag Mahone's).
The last article in this feature is bizarrely subversive, which may explain why there's no byline: it's about "5 safe spots for a man-date," and it sells itself as a guide of where two men can eat dinner together without appearing to be "together." But since this is a family paper in a big city, we knew there had to be something going on aside from blatant homophobia. And sure enough, the conceit of the list is that it's constructed to make fun of its own supposed mission. On Hooters: "If your dinner is misinterpreted, you can set the record straight with some waitress ogling. Or you can simply announce: 'Boy, do I like Hooters.'" On Gibson's: "Gargantuan portions of steak -- albeit enjoyed by men who like big cigars." And most preposterously, on Hamburger Mary's: "Fellow diners have best gaydar in the city." Yes, we get it; it's funny. Subtle, but funny.
Rounding out the section (we mean, aside from the reviews that we discussed earlier), is Steve Dahl on pre-tipping for better service, and a little blurb from Vettel on Alhambra Palace about their recent chef changes, which we will detail tomorrow (new menu alert!)
Okay, time for TOC. As we were saying, there's a lot of alcohol in this week's edition. Heather Shouse has some advice for a homesick Irishwoman (unless "Kelly M." is a man, which is possible), who misses her Bulmers cider on draft. Evidently, it's called Magners, stateside, and it's available all over town at places like Grace O'Malley's and the Hidden Shamrock.
Hard cider not for you? Maybe a wine that's reminiscent of grapefruit juice? Or perhaps Naomi Watts? (Yes, you read that correctly.) If we had our druthers, we'd be drinking a pear-cucumber martini right now - helps the blogging go down. Actually, that's exactly what we're going to do. See ya!
[Photo: A Chicago man, with bacon - WhipTheDo/flickr]
Did Mr. Pang come up with the title of his article, "6 degrees of Kevin's bacon", on his own? (It's such a weird innuendo!). Regardless, good eaters of either gender can appreciate this run-down of six top Chicagoland bacon spots, ranging from bite-size bacon buns at Healthy Food Lithuanian (a misnomer; three for $1.75) to the lobster club with applewood-smoked bacon at RL ($20, and we don't bat an eye). In a similar vein, Mr. Vettel gives the nod to three of his favorite burgers in town: the new (Hop Haus), the old-school (Rosebud Steakhouse) and the classic bar burger (Poag Mahone's).The last article in this feature is bizarrely subversive, which may explain why there's no byline: it's about "5 safe spots for a man-date," and it sells itself as a guide of where two men can eat dinner together without appearing to be "together." But since this is a family paper in a big city, we knew there had to be something going on aside from blatant homophobia. And sure enough, the conceit of the list is that it's constructed to make fun of its own supposed mission. On Hooters: "If your dinner is misinterpreted, you can set the record straight with some waitress ogling. Or you can simply announce: 'Boy, do I like Hooters.'" On Gibson's: "Gargantuan portions of steak -- albeit enjoyed by men who like big cigars." And most preposterously, on Hamburger Mary's: "Fellow diners have best gaydar in the city." Yes, we get it; it's funny. Subtle, but funny.
Rounding out the section (we mean, aside from the reviews that we discussed earlier), is Steve Dahl on pre-tipping for better service, and a little blurb from Vettel on Alhambra Palace about their recent chef changes, which we will detail tomorrow (new menu alert!)
Okay, time for TOC. As we were saying, there's a lot of alcohol in this week's edition. Heather Shouse has some advice for a homesick Irishwoman (unless "Kelly M." is a man, which is possible), who misses her Bulmers cider on draft. Evidently, it's called Magners, stateside, and it's available all over town at places like Grace O'Malley's and the Hidden Shamrock.
Hard cider not for you? Maybe a wine that's reminiscent of grapefruit juice? Or perhaps Naomi Watts? (Yes, you read that correctly.) If we had our druthers, we'd be drinking a pear-cucumber martini right now - helps the blogging go down. Actually, that's exactly what we're going to do. See ya!
[Photo: A Chicago man, with bacon - WhipTheDo/flickr]
Frankly, we find it a bit intimidating, and you might too. Well, 
The staff is well-trained, a bit rushed (probably due to the impatient nature of all the transplants from the north side), wi-fi is free, and the place is dog-friendly (I bring my boxer/terrier mix Emmy by every Saturday when I purchase my mocha or caramel macchiato). They've also developed friendly relationships with Lumpen head Ed Marzewski (whose mother owns the pakage store and bar across the street) and the fresh-out-of-school artist types trickling down to Bridgeport, Pilsen, and Back of the Yards. They usually have movie screenings with music and Sunday jazz.
• The brisket is "the bomb" at 
TOC echoes the emerging general sentiment on 
Meanwhile, the 
It was a half hour of straight dope on the NRA show, dining in Chicago, and occasionally, the personal lives of the hosts. We've never live-blogged before (we don't even know if it takes a dash), so we did stupid things like...not take notes on the exact time things were said. As if that matters in the slightest - this is not a presidential debate, nor America's Next Top Model. And anyway, we have a clear record on the order in which things were said, and we will present our finding thusly. Except for the first few seconds/minutes, which we missed because we couldn't find the damn link to the video; why did the Tribune bury it in tiny text way down in the middle of the homepage? No matter - onto the material:
Back in the day, farmers had cheap feed, and slaughterhouses had cheap oil. Now, with the ethanol market booming, everybody has expensive corn. Corn prices have increased so much that cows are now being slaughtered younger - before their beef becomes really tasty - to save the trouble of feeding them and transporting them at a higher weight. Next time you're at a steakhouse and your prime rib is scrawny and $70, you'll know why. (Actually, for the time being, steakhouses are mostly eating the costs and cutting back on reservations rather than quality, but that compromise is ultimately untenable).
Lunch carts are an integral part of the urban fabric - quick service, owner-operated, low barrier to entry, and able to move to the latest construction site or other large massing of hungry people. New York's lunch cart offerings so revered that an annual event - the 
Hold the phone, do we mean 
• What goes well with 
And boy, are there sexy things happening at the shows this weekend. For starters, the R,H-M show got a personality no less famous and relevant than freakin' 
A holiday tradition for many, the WR weathered that transition nobody like to talk about, and it continues to churn out arguably the best mall food in the Midwest (we will not opine). Did you know that you can get lobster ravioli with leeks, corn, garlic, edamame and basil in a smoked tomato broth ($12.95)? Or seared sea scallops, marinated with garlic, ginger and green onion and served over mixed greens, napa cabbage, peppers and carrots with a caramelized pineapple vinaigrette and crispy shoestring potatoes for $10.95?
Rob Christopher had a fine time at 
In a blow to performative dining in Chicago, the only local branch of 
Yeah, we know that 
From 11am to 5pm, you can get a free appetizer with purchase of sandwich or entree, which is a normal enough offer, but also, expect a double punch on your lunch card. We had to sit and figure out what this meant for a sec, until we read what was in the parentheses next to it (buy four lunches and get the fifth one free). So basically, they'll stamp you twice for buying one lunch. Your loyalty is worth twice as much today!
All those words, and only $20) and good hummus. But even if you don't love the food (or, according to the reviews on MenuPages, the service), O'Neal insists that we head over to check out the grandeur, which will "leave you feeling as though you have been transported to another world." Of tackiness.
We're not even sure. But we're positive that we've had truffle oil, which appears on dishes at restaurants where you can get out for under $50 a person. And you know what? We haven't loved it; the taste is so intense that it tends to overwhelm everything else on the plate. We felt bad about this because truffles are sophisticated and if we didn't like truffle oil, did that mean that we were unsophisticated? Quel horreur! 
So we acquired the menu and started typing it up, getting hungrier and hungrier as we read descriptions like "grilled Moroccan spiced chicken breast panino with caramelized onion, spinach, and raw milk gouda" ($7.50) and "sausage frittata panino with caramelized onions, adjvar mayo & butterkase, served with smashers" ($6.75). Who ever heard of such fancy ingredients on a humble panino? Well, owners Sara Voden and Melissa Yen have been whipping up (toasting down?) these sandwiches for years now at the Green City Market, from which their stocks were sourced. Their twice weekly operating schedule was woefully insufficient for hungry Chicagoans, so their new cafe is open weekdays from 7am to 3pm, and weekends from 9am-3pm (a period which they call "blunch." A little odd, since you'd think that blunch would imply more lunch items than brunch does, but the blunch menu is mostly comprised of breakfasty things like eggs and pancakes). It's great to see another casual breakfasting spot in Bucktown, because lines aren't getting any shorter and we're not getting any younger. By the way, if you were wondering what the deal is with the "smashers" that come with the frittatas, they're smashed red potatoes that are mixed with olive oil, salt, pepper and paprika, and then baked. And now you know.
Tom Seefurth, an amateur brewer in St Charles, was inspired by how naturally beer seems to pair with pizza. Certainly, the dry, subtle sweetness and carbonation of beer help cut through the greasy spice and carbonized crust of a good slice. Sensing an opportunity (actually, he had a surplus of tomatoes and garlic lying around), Seefurth flavored a barley-based beer with oregano, garlic, basil and tomato, and, believe it or not, 
Let us take this out of the hypothetical - tonight, at the 
At the end of April, we 
What struck us about this article was not the factual information it provided - the factoid about protein notwithstanding - is its language, tone, and unclear raison d'être. The author, PS Prakasa Rao, appears to be some sort of agricultural scientist. Of course, the Central Chronicle covers a state with over 60 million people (Madhya Pradesh), and it's certainly possible that there's more than one PS Prakasa Rao capable of writing this piece. But unless it was written by some sort of local beer magnate, what can justify glowing praise like "beer is only an agri-food. In fact, Beer is better than Milk. A glass of beer contains more protein than does the same quantity of milk. What's more, beer has fewer calories than apple juice, milk or cola and contains neither fat nor cholesterol." It takes a lot of chutzpah to imply that beer is healthier than milk or apple juice, without much qualification. Eventually, Rao reveals some stunning insights like, "people with alcoholism or drug addictions should not drink beer," and "people with liver, pancreatic diseases, or really, any type of chronic disease should speak with their doctor."
• The tapas keeps rolling in at 
• At 
It's not as dire a situation as it might seem, since just about every restaurant does a Mother's Day brunch; just call up your faves and see what's available. We could do it for you, but your mother will know that you cheated. Frankly, we think that if you're geographically (and emotionally) close enough with your mother to take her out to brunch, then you're close enough to cook her brunch yourself. It does not have to be homemade crab cake eggs Benedict to show her you care; the champagne cocktails will be sufficient to that end.
It is not surprising that none of the mega-chains cracked the top five overall; one loses quite a bit of quality to maintain that level of quantity. The category favorites, however, show a consumer preference for individual mega-chain products. The best three burgers are Wendy's, BK and McD, and the best three fries went to McD's, BK and Wendy's, respectively. McD's was named most child-friendly (playland!), but KFC lost best chicken to Chick-fil-A "by a beak," as the press release smirks.
Heather Shouse, on behalf of Chicagoans who spend time downtown, is 
3) This is too funny: on May 18, if you see a Dunkin' Donuts store with a police officer standing on the roof, and donate money to the Special Olympics Torch Run fund, then DD will give you a free donut. The promotion is called Cop on Top (itself problematic), and strikes us as an extremely bizarre and Byzantine of raising money for what sounds like a good cause. We get that cops eat donuts, but nothing else about this scheme makes sense. Are the cops on duty? Why on the roof? That's scary, like there's some kind of stakeout. Let's just hope no one gets shot unnecessarily. Why #3? Your life would be a tad blander if you did not know this piece of information
It is unequivocally spring time in Chicago, with a forecasted high today in the lower 70s. Now, how should we celebrate the renewal and rebirth of verdant vegetation immanent to the season? By eating a ton of it, in buffet form! This evening, 
The Food Marketing Institute Show, which wraps up today at the McCormick Center, is the biggest food event to hit Chicago since the 
2) 
On May 4th, "Anonymous" had the following to say about 
• The food at 
But we digress. Another ice spot worth investigating, this one authentically Italian, is Mario's Italian Lemonade, located in a shack in University Village (1068 W Taylor St, no phone [any place that is too cool to have a phone number is also too cool to be on MenuPages]). Erik M. of 
In fact, in today's NYTimes 
Okay, this is urgent: the final deadline for purchasing your ticket to Wine Enthusiast's 
Obviously not. For something much more practical, did you know that 
Remember how Chicago restaurateurs, food writers and other culinary luminaries got a 
Ah, the spring: time of hot, sunny days, and cold, cloudy days. Except sometimes, it's warm and cloudy, and sometimes it's cool with blue skies. Straddling this middle ground can be difficult. It is entirely unclear where to go, what to wear, how to feel. You know what else is exactly the same way? Wine. On the spectrum between dry, crisp, light white wines and big, fruity and heavy red wines is a vortex of uncertainty (rosé?) that happens to encompass many of one's everyday pairing and sipping needs. What inhabits this swirling ocean? Why are we burdening you with all these intriguing analogies? Because now your pump is fully primed for the wine tasting at 
