Pat Bruno creamed himself over kitschy Italian restaurant Natalino's, naming their chicken cacciatore the best in Chicago. Also: "masterful blend of flavors," "incredibly delicious," "as good as I have had anywhere (including in Italy)," "Don't miss it," "I was enamored," "beauties," "outstanding," "simple yet sensational." But what did he really think? There is exactly one "However," you know, for balance.

Critics are supposed to be ruthless and make you think the world is irredeemable, not say they like things! Oh well.

Meanwhile, Mike Sula has a good pick of foodie books at the Reader. Hey, is that why it's called the reader? Surely. His list captures what's hot right now: local/heritage, Italo-Japanese small plates, anything porcine, and China. Also, one of the books is about a crazy wine caper, but why buy it when you can read the New Yorker article on it for free!

Also, a PSA. The Drawing Room at Le Passage sent this offer that we're just going to reprint in its entirety for you:

Friday, June 15th | 6:00 - 9:00pm

Fresh from her stint on Bravo's Top Chef, Chef Stephanie Izard brings her culinary creativity to The Drawing Room. For one night only, Chef Izard goes plate to plate with The Drawing Room's own Chef Nick Lacasse.

Chef Izard, a local favorite on the show is well known to Chicagoans and fans of Top Chef. Her innovative dishes consistently impress and her previous venture into restaurant ownership of Scylla has foodies salivating for more. Chef Nick Lacasse, a protégé of Shawn McClain, is a rising star in his own right and looks for a home court advantage in his kitchen.

Diners will draw their own conclusions on the cuisine and will rate each dish following the course prepared. Chefs Izard and Lacasse will present the courses between tastings for a truly 'in the kitchen' experience. Each course will feature a cocktail and/or wine pairing overseen by Master Bartender and Chief Mixologist Charles Joly.

This exceptional evening is open to a limited number of guests and reservations are required.

Sunday, June 15
6 pm - 9 pm
$65 per person
Reservations Essential
(773) 276-7582

Natalino's [MenuPages]
Natalino's [Official Site]

[Photo: Natty's interior]

• Nothing says "thirst-quenching" like Italian soda! [MP: Boston]

• Top Chef scandal! Were frozen scallops planted by producers? [MP: Chicago]

• This secret firehouse bar story is amazing. [MP: Philadelphia]

• San Francisco needs more healthy delivery! [MP: San Francisco]

• A French oasis in a Cuban oasis in an American state. [MP: South Florida]

It's Friday and some of us are on the road again, heading to a graduation near Santa Barbara, CA. Jealous? It's cattle country down in the Santa Ynez Valley and we'll be going to Mattie's Tavern, one of the better steakhouses out there. The meal's going to be great, but it's hard for us to visit a steakhouse, even a high-end one, without thinking of the Patton Oswalt skit about Black Angus. Most likely, we won't be subjected to a gravy pipe at Mattie's, but hey, you never know. Happy Friday!

Brothers' Restaurant at Mattie's Tavern [Offical Site]

Okay, between the Gawker comment that first problematized the issue and the corroborating letter from Rick that Mike Nagrant published on Hungry, we're satisfied that the frozen scallops on Wednesday night's episode of Top Chef were a plant by the show's producers, and that the part of the show explaining this was edited out.

But then why would Rick "take the shot" during the judgment round about having frozen scallops in his walk-in when they weren't really his? It doesn't seem like a cover-up; instead, Rick probably just got really flustered by the audacity of Spike's claim, and responded by acceding to something that he knew to be not his fault (since the scallops, after all, were not his). Had Rick been thinking clearly, he obviously would have defended his honor and his business, but all that goes out the window in a fast-paced verbal tit-for-tat.

Let's hope a lawsuit comes out of this.

• High energy prices have stoked the theft of restaurant grease [NYT]
• High organic fertilizer prices are rocking Peru's guano industry [NYT]
• It is somehow possible to predict high food prices through 2017 [TheStar]
• S. Korea holding a "tasting" of N. Korean food to raise awareness [hani]
• Also, the S. Korean minister who OK'd US beef imports to be fired [hani]

Welcome to the giant food media roundup, where we see what's hot — and what's to trot — in Chicago right now.

• Lisa Shames reports that smart chefs are now using "food glue" in everyday dishes; it's not just for molecular gastronomists anymore [TOC]

• Bill Daley's let's-ask-top-Chicago-chefs-for-gourmet-off-beat-hot-dog-recipes idea was a pretty good one. But we have to say, Charlie Trotter's Asian seared tuna dog is not going to happen outside of a whimsical high-low restaurant [Tribune]

• Chuck Sudo dumbs himself down to Sun-Times readership level for a roundup of barbecue places that have opened in the past year. Can you imagine not knowing about these places (Smoque, Honky Tonk) the second they open, at the latest? Ah, ignorance is bliss [Sun-Times]

• Michael Tsonton of copperblue reminds you that fresh spices are just as important as fresh produce and meat and what have you [Sun-Times]

• Monica Eng knows that now is the time for frozen custards. She investigates the treat's tentative foray into the city limits [Tribune]

• Graham Elliot's eponymous new restaurant is opening imminently. Get excited! [TOC]

• Last week, we missed Mike Sula's profile on Willi Lehner, possibly Wisconsin's most famous cheesemaker at the moment. New to us: spraying dirt on cheese makes it delicious [Reader]

And the reviews:

• Both Phil Vettel and Heather Shouse go to Shochu, the Asian tapas lounge. These two reviews are a little more sober than previous ones, highlighting the restaurant's reasonable value while faulting some of the dishes for being boring. Still, it's good for the neighborhood [TOC, Trib]

• David Tamarkin is quite smitten with Mado, the new chef-driven seasonal American in Bucktown. They have an ever-changing menu that is fabulous when everything is cooked right, which is most of the time, but should something go wrong, the super-simple fare has little pomp and circumstance to fall back on [TOC]

• Denise O'Neal takes a much less critical route than Heather Shouse did when she reviewed Park 52 a few weeks back. O'Neal finds the food — mostly standard Kleiner upscale comfort — "worth the trip," while Shouse pointedly does not [Sun-Times]

[Photo: mmm...enzymes, via wurmouroboros/flickr]

Celebrity chefs Daniel Boulud and Thomas Keller are on a mission. The pair are teaming up to find a chef to represent the United States at the Bocuse d'Or, a Lyonnais cooking contest widely regarded to be the world's most exclusive. Over the past few weeks, the following email has found its way into the inboxes of hundreds of American chefs:

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Twenty one years ago, Chef Paul Bocuse created the Bocuse d’Or in Lyon, France. As the most rigorous international culinary competition, the Bocuse d’Or provides a platform for talented young chefs to represent their countries on the world stage. Together with Thomas Keller, Jerome Bocuse and many of America’s best chefs, we have established a not-for-profit organization to recruit and train a USA team to compete at the Bocuse d’Or. Our goal is to promote a team on par with the culinary status this country has earned. With the generosity of our sponsors, including All-Clad/Krups, Diageo, Moet & Chandon, American Express, SYSCO, Acqua Panna/San Pellegrino, Avero, Chefwear, Crystal Cruises, and OpenTable, we hope to create a legacy of support that will extend beyond this year’s competition for many years to come.

Today we are launching our website, www.bocusedorusa.org, and our appeal for candidates. In our efforts to attract competitors from across America we are sending applications to top restaurateurs, chefs, culinary educators and members of the media so that they will encourage the best young chefs in the country to apply.

I hope that you will help to spread the word about the competition. Applications are due by June 30. Potential candidates will need to begin working on their applications immediately.

The USA Committee for the Bocuse d’Or looks forward to seeing America win the international culinary recognition that it so rightly deserves. We are in search of the best USA team ever, and we know that our country’s talented young chefs are up to the challenge.

Best Regards,
Chef Daniel Boulud
Chairman of the Board
Bocuse d’Or USA

In case you're wondering, the application [PDF] is quite rigorous. Qualifying candidates will be called to compete in the USA Bocuse d'Or Competition in Walt Disney World this September before going on to the contest in Lyon, France in January.

Bocuse d'Or [Official Site]

Good news for sweet toothed vegans everywhere: Hydrox, the cookies our dairy-eschewing college friends used to call "Orthodox," are coming back after their January disappearance from store shelves.

The Wall Street Journal broke the news yesterday that the main competitor to Nabisco's Oreos will return to store shelves, to the delight, we're sure, of adolescent vegans everywhere. But the reinstatement seems to have more fuel behind it than just that specific counter-cultural subset. According to the Journal:

Bowing to more than 1,300 phone inquiries, an online petition with more than 1,000 signatures and Internet chat sites lamenting the demise of the snack, Kellogg Co. has decided to temporarily relaunch Hydrox, the left-for-dead cookie.

"These loyalists can be proud to know they've been heard," says Brad Davidson, head of Kellogg's snack division.

But will that affinity come from the same places? The constituency with which we're most familiar--the college vegans--may be out of luck. Apparently Kellog is changing the recipe somewhat from the original Hydrox:

[Davidson] doesn't guarantee the relaunched version will have the same recipe. One difference: no trans fat. "We maintained all the good we could and took out a little bad," he says, noting this year marks Hydrox's 100th anniversary.

Breaking News: Hydrox Cookies are coming back! [Slashfood]
Hydrox Redux: Cookie Duals Oreo, Again [Wall Street Journal]
The Hydrox Cookie Page [Official Site]

[Photo: via The Hydrox Cookie Page

And so, the final episode of Top Chef in Chicago starts out where Chicago itself starts out: no, not in a muddy onion field, but at the Allen Brothers steak warehouse. But first, Stephanie has to deliver the requisite line about there never being "this many girls" at this stage of the competition. Okay, Bravo, we get it! Lady power!

Back to the steak. The first part of the Quickfire involves Frenching a long-bone dry-aged rib rack, an activity to which Spike is unexpectedly well suited. Both of his grandfathers were butchers, and he adds, "there seems to be a little strain of butchery in me." You, and Pol Pot!

Spike did, in fact, do a great job cutting up and cleaning the ribs, while the girls suffer mightily against the ribs' tough outer layer of agedness. So much for lady power.

The cheftestants took their meat back to the Top Chef kitchen, where Rick Tramonto of TRU and Tramonto's Seafood & Steakhouse asks for the steaks to be cooked medium rare, please. (Tramonto must be pretty please about ultimately getting his way in the foie gras wars. Did you know he's the national spokesperson for the U.S. Duck Council? The ducks can not be happy about this.)

So the Quickfire is all — and only — about appearance: who butchered their meat the best, and then who cooks their steak to LOOK medium rare the best. No one's judging the taste of the steaks, or apparently even eating them at all. Hopefully they gave them to the homeless or something!

Each chef approaches cooking the steak in a different way; some grill, some pan-fry, some pop it in the oven, some do a combination of the three. But all must converge on the correct layering of red, pink, grey and black in order to please Tramonto. Richard and Stephanie fail to do so (they are not "tomahawky" or "lollipoppy" enough), and while Lisa and Antonia's impress, Spike edged out the competition with his superior butchering abilities.

The Challenge is revealed to be a takeover of Tramonto's Seafood & Steakhouse for an evening. Spike's reward for winning this Quickfire, much like when he won the healthy lunch Quickfire, was to have his first choice of proteins for his appetizer and entree. And much like the last time, he completely squandered it! He heard all the chefs talking about scallops, so when he spied some scallops in the kitchen, he nabbed them. But when they turned out to be frozen, instead of dropping them like a sack of frigid bivalves, he stubbornly decided to cut off his nose to spite his face and use them anyway. Right at that second, he was off the show.

Instead, we had to watch him unravel for 35 more minutes anyway. Each of the other chefs picked their proteins, which mostly involved seafood and organs for appetizers (sweetbreads, which both Richard and Stephanie used for their appetizers, are so hot right now we can hardly stand it), and various cuts of steak as the main. It's been a while since the elimination challenge was a solo event; when it's impossible to slough off the blame, you really have to bring it.

To make matters worse, Padma trotted out three VIP guest judges in the form of the winners from seasons past: Harold, Ilan and Hung. Everyone knows Ilan is a hipster douchebag, which is fine, but why did he wear an ill-fitting t-shirt to this relatively fancy restaurant? A fashion faux pas much worse, in our estimation, than Rachael Ray's keffiyeh kerfuffle. But we digress.

Onto the tasting and judgment. Richard's hamachi and sweetbread appetizer overwhelmed the judges with pleasure, to the point of it being their favorite appetizer. Similarly, Antonia's perfectly cooked, very "steakhouse" steak was their favorite entree, and they love how "from the heart" she is. Stephanie was determined (by the judges) to be the most "well-rounded" chef of the evening, and Tom Colicchio is amazed by her unflappable demeanor. All three are off to Puerto Rico (just in time for the primaries!), and Stephanie took the prize this week, which is a Tramonto cookbook (obviously) and a suite of kitchen appliances (kind of awesome, if a little Price is Right).

The bottom is always more interesting than the top. It came down, as everyone expected, to Lisa and Spike: Lisa's shrimp dish was served cold and her steak was cooked unevenly, while Spike's frozen scallop dish was a complete disaster. Lisa's face, while the judges were faulting her for various things, was a thousand different shades of hideous. But the best part of the episode was Spike's exchange with Rick over the scallops, which took around three seconds to devolve into a frat house shouting match.

Tom started it off by rightly criticizing Spike for using frozen scallops, which are mad declassé (and not very tasty). Spike suddenly blurts out, to Rick, something along the lines of "why do you have frozen scallops in your pantry?" And Rick reddens and says "yo, I'll take the shot, bro, that I had frozen scallops, but you gotta take the shot that you used them." (By the way, scallops are not currently on the menu at Tramonto's.)

After the interrogation round, Spike cracked up backstage because he knew that interchange was the death of him, and he was right. So the final four are Richard, Antonia, Stephanie and Lisa, and three out of four ain't bad. Lisa's going to get a hilarious sunburn in Puerto Rico next week, and then go home. Unless she kneecaps Antonia and no one finds out until it's too late, or something.

[Photo: "you're next," via Bravo]

• UN: global food prices may dip but will stay high [AFP]
• German dairy farmers dumping milk to boost prices [NYT]
• Spam sales soar as food prices rise while wages don't [AP]
• No more free peanuts on USAir as fuel prices rise [Trib]
• OMG Rachael Ray is some kind of donut fashion terrorist!!!1! [ABC]

It's taken us a while to get to the latest copy of Gourmet, but we finally did last night, and we were struck by a brief note on Community Supported Fisheries. Community Supported Agriculture has been here for a while and has really taken off in the past few years, but only recently has the same idea been applied to fish in an effort to save the dying fishing industry, just like CSAs have helped save many a small farm.

There are still a few issues: there's a lot of confusion about what exactly are sustainable fishing practices, and while it's one thing to deal with a head of lettuce that's full of dirt, it's quite another for the average home cook to gut and scale a whole fish.

Still, it seems like the idea is catching on. The CSF mentioned in the Gourmet piece, Catch a Piece of Maine, offers the entire catch from one lobster trap for $2,995. That's at least 40 1.5-lb lobsters, although each trap usually catches 50. They've currently got 150 subscribers.

The Island Institute, also in Maine, offers 12-week shares of 8-12 lbs per week of haddock, cod, flounder, hake, dabs, grey sole, monkfish, pollock or redfish for $360. For those who can't quite see themselves going through that much fish, half shares are $180. North Carolina also boasts some CSFs, though they seem less organized; we get the sense you just call up a fisherman and negotiate how much to pay up front for a portion of the season's catch.

Small Fishermen Borrow a Page from Small Farmers [Christian Science Monitor]
Catch a Piece of Maine [Official Site]
The Island Institute [Official Site]
Community Supported Fisheries [Project Green Leaf]

Photo: herons/flickr

A couple of major brewery merger stories came across the RSS over the last couple days, leaving us wondering what the future will look like in the beer cooler at your corner store.

First, we read on Realbeer about a possible takeover of Anheuser Busch by Belgian brewing giant InBev. Then, a story went up on Epicurious about the future of Miller after that mega-brewer merged with Coors (hint: it might leave Milwaukee).

This has us wondering whether to be sad or glad. It's not like Budweiser, Miller and Coors exactly set the standard for good brewing. In a blind taste test could you tell them apart? Perhaps it makes sense to have the beer cooler eventually consist of one watery American brand and scores of micro-brews.

Except that it turns out these mega-corporations own a lot of the ubiquitous "boutique" brands that go for a few dollars more a six-pack than your standard domestic cans. What will a future of consolidation mean for Stella Artois (an InBev brand), for example? Will Budweiser become more Stella-like, or will Stella become more Budweiser-like, or will both stay the same?

We're not sure what to think about this trend yet, but as long as local brands like Anchor Steam and Brooklyn keep going strong and independent, we're not going to shed too many tears. Of course, it will probably be hard to get Milwaukeeans to share in that opinion.

InBev, A-B Rumors Hot [Realbeer]
Wisconsin: Plenty Of Brats But No Miller [Epicurious]

[Photo: via Vulcan Beverage]

• How can we turn high food prices into poverty relief? [APO]
• How can we turn high food prices into massive profits? [Philly]
• Canada's adoption of food origin labeling going alright [Gazette]
• U.S. defunding research on approaching deadly wheat fungus [AP]
• Child obesity levels off as...standards for obesity drop? [NYT]

In this annoying Slate piece that came out yesterday — on a day we were supposed to be remembering our fallen soldiers, no less — Christopher Hitchens assaults us with his huge pet peeve about waiters pouring wine for him, unbidden. What audacity must one's server have to top your glass off in a Machiavellian scheme to get you to buy more wine? And boy, does he go on about it, for nearly a thousand words, coming up with non-reason after non-reason concerning "snobbery and insecurity" and other imaginary foes.

There's an extent to which this piece is tongue-in-cheek, and Hitchens ultimately determines that you can simply ask your waiter or waitress not to pour your wine for you (this is, of course, if the bottle is even stored at your table; in really fancy places, or where they're pretending to be really fancy, your 750ml is chilling/staying warm with its half-drunk buddies in Pernod purgatory or something).

Interestingly enough (or not really because it's so obvious), Michael Bauer of the San Francisco Chronicle and Helena Echlin of Chow's "Table Manners" both came to the same conclusion late last year, when this issue was on everybody's mind for some reason. Perhaps holiday-induced-but-lifelong control issues surfacing in the most effete, bourgeois manner possible?

At any rate, all three disregard the obvious, if lopsided, advantage to this practice: the fast-drinking lush gets a disproportionately large share of the vino without having to betray any boorishness by constantly refilling his or her own glass! Woe to the light — or worse, slow — drinker in this scenario, but so goes evolution: the meek shall not inherit the wine. Consider this the...glass half full perspective.

Wine Drinkers of the World, Unite [Slate]
Stop pouring my wine! [Between Meals]
Stop Refilling My Wineglass! [CHOW]

[Photo: "I want two glasses half full" via spiky_simon/flickr]

You'll want to lick your plate but don't
Hotties make you come for more
I want it to be this good every time!

Wait, what? These are the review titles for writeups on Shanghai Terrace, Take Me Out and Sunrise Cafe, respectively. Lines one and three make sense on their own, but the middle one needs a bit of explanation.

Take Me Out is the Sino-Korean wings spot that opened recently in Pilsen. It's a familial spin-off of cult favorite Great Sea in Albany Park, and has been garnering rave reviews, including the one referenced in the poem:

I would definitely go back for their chicken hotties. Too bad they don't deliver or I guess better for me or I'd eat these wings at least once a week. Their Kung Pao taste good but they're light on the chicken.

By the way, the chicken crack we were referring to is the three chili chicken at Lao Sze Chuan and its brethren in Chinatown. But there's room enough for two preparations of addictive Asian chicken in the Chinatown/Pilsen area, if not four or five.

Shanghai Terrace [MenuPages]
Shanghai Terrace [Official Site]
Take Me Out [MenuPages]
Sunrise Cafe [MenuPages]

[Photo: a blurry likeness of the progenitor to the hotties, Great Sea's chicken wings; via design_drafter]

A disturbing article in the Seattle Post Intelligencer last week reported that nutrition information on many chain restaurant menus is just plain wrong.

Now we know you, discriminating MenuPages reader, don't make a habit of eating at Chili's, but just in case you do get by there, or Macaroni Grill, or Taco Bell, or the Cheesecake Factory, or Applebee's, or any of the other restaurants mentioned in the article, wouldn't you like to think that the nutrition info. you're getting is even close to right? Well, according to the Scripps News Service study, the actual calorie and fat counts can be several times the posted numbers.

While some items contained only as many calories and fat as the restaurants claimed, many dishes were found to have several times as many calories and fat as the companies stated

Unlike packaged food, restaurants are not required by the Food and Drug Administration to provide nutrition information, Wootan said. But if a restaurant decides to publish such information, it cannot be misleading.

The FDA did not return multiple calls for comment.

To test the food, Scripps ordered dishes from restaurants in Phoenix, Kansas City, Mo., Tampa, Fla., Detroit, West Palm Beach, Fla., Cleveland, Baltimore and Tulsa, Okla.

Items were packed in coolers and sent to Analytical Labs in Boise, Idaho. Technicians performed nutritional tests, determining the items' caloric and fat contents. They did so by breaking the food down in a simulated digestion process.

The lab separated fat and other molecules, then measured them. After determining the amount of fat, protein and carbohydrates in each meal, the lab was able to calculate the overall number of calories.

The Macaroni Grill sample showed the widest variance from the menu's claims. Its "Pollo Margo Skinny Chicken," which was supposed to have 500 calories, actually had 1,022, according to the testing. The chicken dinner was supposed to have 6 grams of fat. It had 49.

• After immigration crackdown, farmers decamp to Mexico for legal cheap labor [NYT]
• Are private food safety labs cheating for unscrupulous food importers? [Trib]
• McD about to be priced off the Champs-Elysees, Paris' priciest strip [IHT]
• Food banks around the country crunched by increased demand and prices [AP]
• Restaurateur thinks he's being moral by serving shark and not shark fin [Reuters]

It is your patriotic duty to eat barbecue at some point this weekend. Perhaps you'll do so at a party with friends and family, but failing that, we've compiled a slideshow of worthy barbecue from around the city, and nearby parks where you can picnic. The park photos are from Microsoft's new Live Maps "Bird's eye" feature; hopefully they won't sue us for using them!

Rib tips from Honey 1 BBQ, via andrewc:

Humboldt Park is a short drive away:

Three more pairings, after the jump...

Brisket from Smoque BBQ, via NancyEsq:

Independence Park is just on the other side of the Expressway:

Junior Ranch Hand from Ribs 'n' Bibs, via Nat Hansen:

Burnham Park, a.k.a. The Point, is just down the street:

St. Louis ribs from Honky Tonk Barbeque, via Andrew Huff:

Addams Park offers a great vantage for railfans:

Okay, have a great Memorial Day weekend! Make sure you remember whatever it is you're supposed to be remembering.

The Sun-Times restaurant section is weird. This is not a new story, but it's told a different way each week. First, Bruno reviews the newest location of the Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar chain on Ohio Street, and finds it utterly uninteresting. Although not in so many words! While his steak seems overpriced and mediocre, Bruno still writes from the perspective of, okay, if you go, at least this and that will be alright. Where is the line between service journalism and reviewing for Bruno, exactly?

Another piece of his this week makes the distinction even less clear. His write-up of Carlos' in Highland Park begins: "The quote below is lifted word for word from the Carlos' Web site (there is no way I could say it any better)." And indeed, more than half the words on the page are from the restaurant website (excuse us, "Web site"). That's kind of crazy, when you think about it!

Finally, Bruno's microreview of The Gage is pegless (why now?) and bizarrely brief considering how much he seems to like the hopping gastropub ("But the food here is so good, it has a way of drowning out the noise.") So why does he devote so many more words to Flemings? Because it's new, yes, but you get the point.

Back in normal land (i.e. on the Reader), there are a bunch of reviews pertinent to your life. Because it's barbecue weekend! Mike Sula and Gary Wiviott highlight four of their favorites (Uncle John's BBQ, Lem's, Cole’s Choice Barbecue, and Honey 1 BBQ), and then tack on a whole mess of other BBQ reviews for reference. By the way, does anyone go to Fat Willy's anymore? We hear they've gone way downhill.

[Photo: Gary Wiviott knows what he's talking about; these are his ribs, via MMChicago]

• Vegan ice cream comes to the Hub, complete with Big Lebowski jokes. [MP: Boston]

• The Chicago farmers' market is full of appealing veggies. [MP: Chicago]

• An urban farm is rocking it in the City of Brotherly Love. [MP: Philadelphia]

• This video is intense. And awesome. [MP: San Francisco]

• Who doesn't love a gourmet salad, especially in diet-conscious South Beach? [MP: South Florida]

This weekend being the semi-official kickoff of summery activities (if not actual summer), it seemed appropriate to join the blogging hoards and do a barbecue post. But what's there to be said about barbecue that hasn't already been said, or that could be at all construed as original?

Nothing from us, that's for sure. We've been using the same recipes for 10 years. But the Cupcake Project has you covered, in the originality department, with its weird recipe for smoke-infused chocolate barbecue cupcakes (with cream cheese-corn frosting!). Yeah, we think it's kind of gross, too, but there's a chance it could be really good. And at least it will be a conversation piece. All the feedback in the actual blog post indicates these are tasty, so we think you've got even chances of receiving oohs versus eews.

All American BBQ Cupcakes: Smoky Chocolate Cupcakes with Sweet Corn Cream Cheese Frosting [Cupcake Project]
Here, Have A Smoky Cupcake [Slashfood]

[Photo: BBQ Cupcakes via Cupcake Project]

• Congress passes farm bill again, or at least part of it [WaPo]
• Evil Burmese junta finally allows in any and all foreign aid [CBC]
• Japanese rice aid row leaves U.S. looking like the bad guy [NYTimes]
• S Korea: probably no massive famine in N Korea this year [AP]
• McD keeps a stiff upper lip on (mediocre) premium coffee sales [Trib]

Lists! It's mostly lists today on the Tribune and TOC food sections. Let's list them:

• New and opening-soon restaurants that have piqued Phil Vettel's interest [Tribune]

• New and opening-soon restaurants on an awkward Google Map for some reason [Tribune]

And it's a different set of restaurants! The concept, if there is one, escapes us.

• Restaurants that have rushed to return foie gras to their menus [Tribune]

• Ice cream around Millennium Park, oriented for tourists [Tribune]

• Chefs tell you how to grill a variety of things (like fruit!) [TOC]

And also, there were reviews, mostly from the end of the alphabet:

• David Tamarkin has determined that ZED451 has more in common with its predecessor, Sal y Carvao, than it's comfortable to admit. Also, that the nostrum about the servers cooking the food is probably a lie. But also, that the meat is pretty good, despite some weird and flaky preparations.

• Meanwhile, Heather Shouse went to Veerasway, which she finds to be a perfectly reasonable addition to Chicago's growing upscale Indian collection. We can't help but think of the immortal MTV VJ intro line, "This is Sway," when we read the name. We also have homophonic association with Exposure Tapas, but let's not go there.

ZED451 [MenuPages]
ZED451 [Official Site]
Veerasway [MenuPages]

[Photo: this doesn't have anything to do with anything, BUT, Pierre Hermé (who has interested us before was in town teaching a course at French Pastry School, and these are some of the results from class, via yummyinthetummyblog/flickr]

The annual Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Contest is one of the highlights of the national barbecue contest circuit (and yes, there is one.

But this year's Memphis in May was notable for its high percentage of foreign contestants. Over at the Washington Post, reporter Joe Yonan wrote an interesting piece on the trials & travails of international contestants at a barbecue contest.

The culture shock, after some initial clashes, wore off.

A Belgian team from French-speaking Walloonia got into trouble by using a staggering cord and a half of wood for their rapid-fire pig barbecue — a no-no in an American culture that values slow cooking:

The Belgian team, called Deominox, made no apologies for its unconventional approach. "We're going to explain the best we can and hope the judges like it," Stephane Deom, 39, the sole English speaker on the team, said Thursday as the event started. "We're not trying to change the way we do it." His cousin Christophe Deom, a butcher and caterer in Libramont, a town near Bastogne, is the team's head cook.

Because of the unique miniature-airplane-hangar look of its 1,500-pound cooker, Deominox drew far more than its share of crowds at its tent, right across from a daiquiri stand topped with a giant blow-up bottle of Southern Comfort. The most common questions from the stream of onlookers: Where'd you get that setup? What temperature are you cooking at? And when can I have a taste?

Meanwhile, American expat Craig Whitson led a Norweigan team in barbecuing rack of lamb and Norweigan salmon. There was even an Estonian team, the Firemen from Tuni serving pork accompanied by vodka. In the end, everyone was happy... as Estonian barbecuer Roland Ounapuu put it, "barbecue is sex, hogs and rock and roll."

Taking it Slow [Washington Post]
Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Contest [Official Site]

French-infused food is nothing new to Chicago. Takashi slips French into Japanese fare, Avec makes a (very) happy family of French, Mediterranean and Italian flavors and Le Passage fancies their bar food as French, but who’s doing French-Mexican? No one, until Mexique.

Husband and wife duo (it’s the chic way to open if you haven’t noticed) Carlos Gaytan and Iliamar Isaac chose Tuesday to open their doors on a stretch of Chicago Avenue known for its cowboy boots and taquerias. You can even buy live chickens at Hermitage, but probably not for long. The stroller-pushing hipsters and single-scouting diners that have settled into the hood need a place where they can be seen, preferably eating upscale food. A spot like Mexique feels appropriate.

If your first thought is burritos and French fries, you’re wrong. Chef Carolos Gaytan, whose resume includes seven plus years at the Union League Club, three years at Bistrot Margot and a short stint at Adobo Grill, combines his Mexican heritage with French training for a sophisticated result. Carlos tells us (talk to him when you go, his voice coos) he loves to cook and knows that to be a chef you must also be a "creator."

So what’s he creating? Pretty good stuff. On the appetizer list, a trio of sopes are filled with escargot and chimichurri butter, shrimp and avocado mousse, and plantains slathered with a spicy chocolate mole. Tuesday’s tuna ceviche (chef’s choice daily) was surrounded with tiny translucent gelatin cubes that tasted like a tortilla chip. The vetabel sounds just as peculiar as its spelled, but the combination of port wine poached beets with horseradish vinaigrette and a fried goat cheese cake promises an entourage of flavor.

On the main menu, Gaytan purees Malanga root from the Yucatan with white truffles as a topper for the NY steak. Dorado (Spanish for mahi mahi) is served with green beans, tiger shrimp, muscles and clams in a morita-saffron bouillon. A duck breast sports a chipotle-temple tamarind glaze and comes with a cranberry tamal.

After-dinner drinks are not on the menu, which is limited to a well-priced selection of wine. Iliamar (who is behind the design of the space and now has her career as an architect on hold to run the restaurant) tells us the list is only preliminary and will include beer in the future, but that cocktails have intentionally been left off. For fear a patron might order a midori-infused margarita to drink alongside their poblano pork tenderloin, maybe? We’re not sure, but if it’s tequila and citrus you want, you can find some resemblance of it on the dessert menu: the "Margarita" is a tequila pomegranate gelee with pink grapefruit sorbet and sea salt, for example. France and Mexico take turns down the list with classic options like crème brulee and apple tart or chocolate ganache and ancho chile enchiladas.

Call now for a table. It’s our guess once word gets out they’ll be hard to come by. Lunch starts in two weeks and weekend brunch is in the works.

Mexique [MenuPages]
Mexique [Official Site]

[Photo: Carne at Mexique]

While cruising around on Bon Appetit this morning we found this rather unexciting little How-To on filling deviled eggs using a pastry bag. The instructions are the basic steps that anyone in possession of this kitchen tool would already know.

We're here to provide you with a far more useful technique. By way of establishing credibility, believe us when we say we've made more deviled eggs than maybe any other dish. We've made up recipes for Japanese ones, Mexican ones and curry ones, and are known in some circles as "that guy who always brings those great deviled eggs to parties."

Unless you're entertaining at home or are on a very weird diet, you won't be eating deviled eggs in your own house. Here's how to bring them to a party as intact as possible. This technique can also be used in the home if you don't want to worry about dealing with a pastry bag:

1) You make your eggs and the filling, and put the whites on a plate, egg carton or whatever else you're carrying them in.

2) Fill a Zip-Loc bag with the filling (a rubber spatula works well for this) and zip it shut. Put the whites, the bag of filling and a container of whatever garnish (like paprika) you intend to sprinkle on the done eggs, in your car or backpack and go to your party.

3) When you get to the party, ask the host if you can have five minutes in the kitchen to assemble your eggs. Take your bag and sort of smoosh the filling into one of the lower corners. Cut that corner off to create a maybe 1/4-inch (or however wide you want) opening. Then use the bag like a pastry bag to fill the whites. Garnish that mess and you're done. Go get your oohs and ahs.

How To Fill A Deviled Egg [Bon Appetit]

[Photo: Deviled eggs under wraps, but you don't have to live like this any more! via htlvhwy/flickr]

We'd like to start this week out with a sighting: a friend of ours just saw last week's eliminee Andrew air-drumming really hard to music on his headphones (or maybe just in his head?) on the subway in New York. Of course he was. You thought that spazziness was just an act?

To the show. It's pretty easy to imagine that Tom Colicchio, in another life, was an experienced thief; who's ever looked more natural breaking and entering in the pre-dawn hours? Anyway, the cheftestants were woken up early to short-order cook at Lou Mitchell's. Owner Helene watched the six remainders fumble through orders of eggs over hard (who orders that? The same horrible people that like their steak well-done) and split sausage and so forth, eventually naming Antonia the winner for being generally competent and not screwing up anything royally. Also, Helene clearly saw a younger version of herself in Antonia &mdash tough, diligent white-ethnic family girl — and it is impossible to discount the role this emotional resonance played in her decision. Not that she didn't deserve to win, but still.

Toni's egg-flipping skills in the Quickfire allowed her to choose her team for the resurrected Restaurant Wars Elimination challenge, and she adroitly tapped Richard and Stephanie. Not only did she get two of the three best chefs left on the show, but she forced Dale and Lisa back onto a team together, a reliably explosive combination. Antonia's one canny lady!

So, Antonia, Richard and Stephanie decide to do a gastropub called "Warehouse Restaurant" (the challenge was to take place at a giant loft space on Goose Island); Stephanie took the front of the house, easy enough for the former proprietress of Scylla. Meanwhile, Dale, Lisa and Spike concocted an Asian restaurant called "Mai Buddha," since they all specialize in Asian cuisines and many of them have worked at Mai House in New York.

An aside: Antonia, for the second time, rails on Dale for only cooking Asian food. Excuse me, Ms. Italiana? Like "Asian" is such a tiny niche while ITALIAN is a universe unto itself and for all time? The first time she said it, it was a passing thought. The second time, racist! She may have been right about Dale getting kicked off, but for the wrong reason (by the way, what was the right reason? To be explored shortly)

Restaurant Wars was not the only relic making an unexpected return this week! Cue the devoutly adored Anthony Bourdain as guest head judge and several eliminees from episodes past — Antonia picks Nikki to cook her team's linguini and clams dish, while Mai House taps Jen because she's a good chef. Not that we hear from either of them at all for the rest of the show...

Then a lot of things happen very fast — as is often the case on the Restaurant Wars episode — but especially for Mai Buddha. Dale browns up the avocado mixture, Lisa continues her losing streak with some Teflon sticky rice, and Spike slicks himself into a suit at the front of the house and completely disowns his teammates.

Team Buddha's utter failure during dinner can be placed neatly in the realm of the spectacularly inevitable. Bourdain prophesied that the team, with their overconfidence and disproportionately upscale decor, had set themselves up to fail, and that's the one front on which they succeeded. Lisa's laksa shrimp was too smoky for the orthodox Bourdain (although Padma and Ted Allen like it), while her mango sticky rice was likened to "baby vomit and wood chips" (this is better than adult vomit, though). Dale, on the other hand, only had one dish disaster, in the form of some butterscotched scallops. He should have simply served Scotch; we understand Johnnie Walker Black is very popular in certain high-flying Asian circles.

Wearhouse Restaurant did so well it's barely even worth discussing. Stephanie won for her superior leadership, and got a food tour in Spain as a prize. Wow, that certainly beats the bottle of wine Dale got last week! The only other thing of note is that Richard used ras al hanout again, making it the "fierce" of this Top Chef 4.

During judging, Mai Buddha's staff got eviscerated, partially by Bourdain but just as much by each other. It was a high-speed bitchfest, and we weren't the only ones that found it entertaining — Spike didn't even bother to stifle his laughter. Bourdain at least called him out on being an aloof, selfish prettyboy who only avoided elimination by doing nothing. (It's worth nothing that unlike in past ResWars, there were no serious service snafus.)

And it came down to Dale and Lisa. They'd been at each other's throats for so long we can't even remember who's at fault (either is plausible), but the difference between them is, Dale has repeatedly shown himself to be a good cook, and Lisa has not. Dale's elimination at this point reeks of injustice, since Lisa and Spike are clearly lesser chefs than he, and it seemed like Lisa did more wrong, culinarily, than Dale did this week. But since Dale was the executive, the captain went down with his ship. One can only assume he'll do fine in his next life, at least. We unhappily await one of Lisa or Spike in the final four; they both have the potential to flame out spectacularly next episode, in which Rick Tramanto of TRU takes everyone down a notch.

[Photo: Painful to look at, via Bravo]

• House overrode Bush's farm bill veto by large margin, on its way to Senate when... [SFGate]
• ...it was discovered that 34 pages were missing from the version Bush signed! [AP]
• (and legal challenges and embarrassment and wrangling and recrimination ensue)
• Tide turning more strongly against ethanol subsidies [AFP]
• Meanwhile, restaurant grease biofuel industry roaring [Trib]
• Chick-fil-A launches entertaining campaign against McD's new Chicken Sandwich [NYT]

To the dismay of local MenuPages fans, Adam’s services are needed in other menuniverses this summer. Though his food rhetoric won’t die off completely, he’s enlisted a group of menu aficionados to fill in. I’m one of them.

Like you, I rely on the MenuPages blog to beef up my morning procrastination routine. Upon arrival at the office I check email, the weather and the MenuPages blog to catch up on all things edible in Chicago before doing any actual work. To ward off any unwarranted guilt I may have over this delay in corporate obligation, my morning routine will now include posting; a productive, “for fun” activity according to Adam. Indeed. A morning at the farmer’s market is way more fun than doing my real job. Take a look at the goods:

Asparagus, $2 a bunch from Stover’s Farm Market, Berrien Springs, MI.

Chicago PD and honey bears guard Stover’s Farm jams and nut butters, $4.95.

Make the jump for cherry-filled strudel, herbs and more.

Cherry strudel, $3.

$2 herbs from Smits Farms in Chicago Heights, IL.

Blooms, $3 a bunch.

Green Garlic, $3 a bunch from Nicholas Farm & Orchard in Marengo, IL.

Tubs of cashew crunch, peanut crunch, chocolate-covered crunch, pecan crunch and nutty crunch from Rise ‘n Roll Bakery, $6.99.

In honor of National Waiters and Waitresses Day, we present "Waiters Who are Nauseated by Food," a skit from the Dana Carvey Show featuring Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell way back in the mid-1990s. On this day in which we honor those who bring us our food in restaurants, let's all thank God that they don't act like this pair.

Waiters who are Nauseated by Food [YouTube]

Did you write this down on your calendars? It's National Waiters and Waitresses day today. Oh noes, you forgot? Well, according to Holiday Insights, you really didn't need to do much preparing:

You already recognize your waiters and waitresses every time you go to a restaurant. That recognition comes in the form of a tip. The tip should be commensurate with the quality of the service.

You can recognize your waiters and waitresses on National Waiters and Waitresses Day by giving them a little something extra. In addition to a generous tip, a card or simple verbal recognition is sufficient.

Wow, even the Waiter at WaiterRant doesn't ask for a card. His only input: "If you go out to eat today you have to tip 30%" that seems fair enough. As a former server, take it from us, unless you're a regular who servers really know and like, a card is going to wind up in the same place as your chicken bones and paper napkins. Drop a couple extra dollars on the table and try not to be a jerk while at the restaurant and we guarantee you it will brighten your server's day.

National Waiters And Waitresses Day [Holiday Insights]
It's National Waiters Day! [WaiterRant]

[Photo: vebate/flickr]

Today's themes are: farmers markets, barbecues, gluten-freeness and food conferences. That's a good thing!

Farmers Markets

• Helpful: what's going to be at the farmers markets, by month [Sun-Times]

• Reasons to go to farmers markets for the uninitiated [Sun-Times]

• A full list of farmers markets, for the third time [Sun-Times]

• This year's Bronzeville farmers market to be a "mini-festival every Sunday" [Sun-Times]

Barbecues

• If you're new to grilling, a list of supplies to pick up (thermometers!) [Tribune]

• Mario Batali gently reminds us that Italians know how to grill, too [Tribune]

• Trapped in an apartment? Devices allow you to grill on the stove top [Tribune]

Gluten-Freeness

• Gluten-free fried chicken dinner at Ina's a hit, will be repeated [Sun-Times]

• Plus, a gluten-free supermarket (a rare thing) has opened in the suburbs [Tribune]

Food Conferences

• At the NRA show, Bayless on the prowl, and Vienna vs. Heinz over ketchup [Sun-Times]

• Live from the All Candy Expo, tequila nuggets and organic chocolate loom large [Sun-Times]

Misc.

• A favorite Chicago food media meme — rediscovering the mother-in-law [Sun-Times]

• There is such a thing as serviceberries, and they might be in your backyard [Tribune]

[Photo: tequila nuggets via Crown Candies]

• Burma finally lets in WFP helicopters, too little too late [AP]
• Agr. Sec'y finally calling for ban on slaughtering downer cows [WaPo]
• S. Korea, once a major US beef importer, avoids our old cattle [Reuters]
• Substantial E. coli-contaminated beef product recall underway [WebMD]
• 2008 Junior Beef Cookoff at Arkansas state fair slightly ominous [Daily Citizen]

Back in February of last year, the whole internet was abuzz with talk of the Miracle fruit, a West African berry whose active ingredient, Miraculin (yes, really) causes the user to interpret sour tastes as sweet. There were underground Miraculin parties where large groups of foodies would chew up a bunch of berries and for the next thirty minutes or so, lemons and grapefruit would be sweet as the morning sun, and chocolate stout beer would taste like Yoo-hoo.

Much later (like, two weeks ago), we were invited to a Miraculin party hosted by our friend Ben. He reasoned, why buy the berry when you can get the extract in powder form from England ? (You can't buy it in America because the FDA is fruity like that, but there's no prohibition against consuming it.) So it showed up in a vial, and after spreading it out on a piece of paper, one guest aptly likened it to "terracotta cocaine" (it's reddish in color). We had all the citrus fruit you'd want and more, plus pickled cucumbers and lemons, sour candy, Greek yogurt, and various beers, wines and liquors.

The correct application of Miraculin involves dumping the powder onto one's tongue, letting it sit around for two or three minutes (much saliva will leak during this period, so have paper towels handy), spitting or swallowing what doesn't get absorbed (Miraculin does