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July is national hot dog month, which means today — the first day of the month devoted to the weiner — basically should be a civic holiday in Chicago, where we don't just pretend to be into the sausages for the sake of keeping up touristy appearances. We suggest celebrating by going to your favorite hot dog purveyor and ordering one in the style of your choosing. Stumped for what to pick? Check out our gallery of some of the most inspiring Chicago dogs in town — some from quite surprising places:

Continue reading "In Honor of National Hot Dog Month, A Gallery of Superstars" »

If you missed Emeril Lagasse's headlining demo on the opening day of the Taste of Chicago, check out this interview YouTuber Kyle Aevermann caught up with the king of Bam — Lagasse talks about the origin of his famous catchphrases, points out that he's been green longer than we've been alive, and plugs Sammy Hagar's new band. Our favorite part? That'd be when Kyle asks Emeril what his favorite Chicago restaurants are, and gets "After 20 years, if I didn't say my dear friend Charlie Trotter, he probably wouldn't be my dear friend anymore." Rick Bayless, Blackbird, and Heaven on Seven land shoutouts as well — but check out the whole thing yourself, post jump.

Continue reading "Emeril at the Taste: Good Food, Good People" »

Whatever beautiful, wonderful person it is that mans the Manny's Deli twitter feed is really doing us a solid, keeping up-to-the-minute tabs on the state of the restaurant's turkey legs at their Taste of Chicago booth (signage: "Manny's has great legs"), complete with plenty of visual aids. The restaurant, new to the Taste this year, is at booth #1 at the corner of Monroe and Columbus. After the jump, a hypnotic four-second video of the turkey legs being flipped. [MannysDeli/Twitter]

Continue reading "Live from the Taste: Manny's Deli and their Amazing Turkey Legs" »

Do you chronicle your every bite with your trusty pocket cam? Is your talent for gluttony matched only by your facility with an F-stop? Does your cell phone see more photo action around meal time than any other time? Do us a favor and join our brand-new Flickr pool. We're compiling a repository of Chicago's most awesome food photography, and we'd love to see your contribution. Photos of food, drinks, restaurants, bars, food in restaurants or bars, food outside of restaurants or bars, the people who work in restaurants and bars, people enjoying food and drinks in or out of restaurants and bars — all are welcome, and all are appreciated. Go for the glory.

[Pool photos, from left: helenlikesyou, helenlikesyou, chris6sigma]

When Paul Kahan took his Publican team to Michigan to design a beer with New Holland Brewery, Chicagoist's Chuck Sudo tagged along to chronicle the endeavor in prose and photograph. But there was also a video crew there, so you can watch Kahan and crew — including the occasional shot of Mr. Sudo — check out the brewery, drink copious toasts, and discuss what really goes into the making of a Publican beer dinner.

Continue reading "Paul Kahan at New Holland Brewery: The Video" »

Forget Graham Elliot Bowles's junk. The winning film at this year's Gold Coast Film Festival was written and directed by none other than BOKA Restaurant Group's Kevin Boehm (Perennial, Landmark, Boka). Boehm also stars — alongside such who'dathunk actors as Ryan Poli and Nathan Crone — in this quite frankly brilliant sendup of the restaurant industry and the vagaries of anonymous criticism. The film follows three restaurateurs as they compete for the fictional "Golden Spoon Awards," We started chuckling at the opening salvos (Boehm berates his team of sous chefs for coming up with recipes that are "80s bullshit, very disappointing," or stolen from the Alinea cookbook: "Page 366, go fuck yourself ... you're the Milli Vanilli of chefs, congratulations"), and we haven't quite stopped yet.

Parts 1 and 2, after the jump.

Continue reading "The Golden Spoon: Kevin Boehm, Ryan Poli, and a Lot of Sex and Swearing" »

Kevin Pang at the Trib uncovered an epically strange (yet oddly compelling) video of graham elliot chefs Graham Elliot Bowles and Merlin Verrier explaining the origins of the restaurant name "graham elliot." Among other things, the video — particularly its David Lynchian closing scenes — is certainly not going to help quell Chubarama's epic love for GEB. As Bowles himself explans to The Pang: "Regarding the scenes at the end, we figured what better way to end the film than to have the two main characters walk off pantless. As for my a** and manhood being shown closeup at the end, I agree ... there is simply no excuse or reasoning behind it." Go ahead and watch the video over at The Stew, but if you're impatient you can check after the jump for one of the (moderately NSFW) money shots that close the short film.

Continue reading "More of Graham Elliot Bowles Than You Ever Wanted to See" »

These signs are up all over Hyde Park, our tipster reports, despite the fact that Dixie Kitchen & Bait Shop officially shut its doors over the weekend, a victim of the University of Chicago's closure of Harper Court. Aww, guys, just go over to Calypso Cafe — they absorbed Dixie's menu!

[Photo: Carolina Bolado]

"He's a little bit reclusive," deadpans NBC's Marcus Riley of Schwa chef Michael Carlson. But in a coup for the news team, Carlson lets a video camera — and Riley — into the kitchen of his restaurant for the first time ever. "Do you get too tense with it sometimes?" Riley asks, obliquely baiting Carlson to open up about his infamous personal breakdown and restaurant closure. Carlson deflects admirably: "Yeah, but everyone does." We've got to admit, if we had this kind of access to Schwa's kitchen, we probably would have asked different questions — the logistics of so many people in such a tiny kitchen; where Carlson gets both his flavor and technological inspiration — but hey, it's not our interview. Keep an eye out for 312 Dining Diva's Audarshia Townsend, who almost lands more airtime than Carlson himself.

Previously: Chef Michael Carlson Reveals The Real Story Behind Why Schwa Closed

The art of beer-pouring isn't hard to master — it just takes a steady hand and some concentration. In a series of videos for Restaurants & Institutions , Mike McAvena, beer director at The Publican, takes us through the perfect pour for a Bavarian Weiss, a British bitter, an American-style double IPA, and a Saison. The keys appear to be: a patient pour, getting the correct beer-to-head ratio, and using the proper glassware (McAvena reveals that sometimes brewers will create a glass even before they make the beer). Fun fact: using a pre-chilled glass might look all nice and frosty, but McAvena says hells no, since all that condensation winds up diluting your brew. [RIMag]

In his latest food-related adventure, Mike Gebert finds high-quality prosciutto...in Iowa. After living in Italy — Parma, to be exact — and eating lots of prosciutto, Kathy and Herb Eckhouse came back home to the States and set about trying to replicate the delicious ham using American pork. And it worked — their La Quercia prosciutto has won raves nationwide. Jean Joho of Brasserie Jo and Everest calls it "closest to perfection," and the folks interviewed from Vie and Naha can't get enough of it either.

Sky Full of Bacon 10: Prosciutto di Iowa from Michael Gebert on Vimeo.

Who doesn't love a good old fashioned electronic chopping device chop-off? The kind folks over at Slate have saved us the hassle of comparing the Slap Chop to its rival, the Vidalia Chop Wizard, in this infomercial cutting device smackdown. All to a jaunty ragtime soundtrack!

The most recent addition to the Culinary Institute of America's podcast series is a sit-down chat with CIA alumnus and Alinea chef-owner of Grant Achatz. Moderator Stephen Hengst sat down with the chef to discuss the philosophy behind the restaurant, the idea of dining as "participatory theater," the terrifying prospect of being forced to make an emulsified sauce without proper preparation, and the importance of having good mentors.

How Alinea is broken down: "We look at things we're trying to do in terms of blocks of time - not number of courses, not ingredients, not technique. Literally it's that we have you in that chair for anywhere from two and a half to five hours, and how do we make that time to the best of our ability, to make it participatory theater, to make it enjoyable for the guest?"

How Alinea is more than just food: "First and foremost the food has to be delicious, no matter what you're doing. But there are elements of ambiance that often go unnoticed bythe subconscious, that aren't really to the forefront. There are some techniques we utilize in the kitchen — certain aroma-based techniques, for example, where we're going to invite the guest, the diner in the dining room, we'll surround their table [with the scent], evoking certain emotional responses."

Continue reading "Grant Achatz on the CIA Alumnus Podcast" »

Above: Mindy Segal's back tattoos. After the jump: all of our new best friends!

Continue reading "The James Beard Awards: Gallery Of Culinary Superstars" »

In which Top Chefeuse Stephanie Izard visits Spacca Napoli and makes some seriously serious pizza:

[The Tasty Life]

If you've ever wanted to see Kevin Pang get totally reamed by one of the oh-so-polite counterwomen at Weiner's Circle, you can! In the second episode of The Cheeseburger Show. "Is it Niman Ranch?" Pang asks, tongue-in cheek. The reply: "It's cow, motherf**ker."

No, seriously, Pang and his team also visit Des Plaines's Paradise Pup, and chat with Dan Coudreaut — executive chef of McDonald's USA. They also swing by David Burke's Primehouse.

If you like watching videos, it's available on the Cheeseburger Show website. If you hate watching videos, it's also in word form in the Trib.

BBC reporter Matthew Price has been traveling across the U.S. for the British news channel, chronicling the effects of the American Recession. In the most recent segment, he visits "Barack Obama's hometown of Chicago" to check in with Mike Misiti, who delivers food for the Greater Chicago Food Depository.

While Misiti sees the growing demand for food assistance, he also seems optimistic about the community's ability to band together and provide food for the hungry. It's a little bit of a head trip for us to realize that the plight of the hungry right here is of the same kind of detached interest to news-watching Londoners that other international issues are to us, right here. Like they always say, the real news is in your own backyard.

Video after the jump.

Continue reading "Mike Misiti: Truck-Drivin' Superhero" »

Emilie at Dirty Dish has dug up this intriguing video of Spanish uber-chef Ferran Adria demonstrating how to make sorbet using liquid nitrogen. More specifically, he points out that the intensely cold temperature allows even highly alcoholic liquids — como mucho alcohol — to be frozen.

Naturally this reminds us of our very own iCream Cafe, where the ice creams are custom made using a similar method. Hello, iCream, why are you not advertising your equipment's vodka-freezing properties?!? We would gladly BYO.

And for a quick compare/contrast course, the video we took back at iCream's original opening back in August:

Continue reading "Ferran Adria's Liquid Nitrogen Sorbet with Mucho Alcohol" »

We don't imagine that she had the paying of taxes in mind when Stephanie Izard put together episode 5 of her vidcast The Tasty Life, but our abstraction-friendly brain is playing fast and loose with notions of pain, blood, and slaughter on this, the day of our IRS reckoning. Of course, the metaphor isn't exactly perfect: Izard participates in the slaughter and breakdown of a number of heirloom pigs, and (unlike taxpaying) the upside of the pig side of the equation is that at the end of the day you've got delicious, delicious pork products.

If you can't bring yourself to watch the video this early in the morning, you might have better luck with her writeup, of which our favorite part is: "It was cool to be eating part of an animal that was alive just a few hours before."

Young gun Jyo visited Alinea and made a video review which got Grant Achatz's attention. It's a little rambly, a little jaded ("I had to wear a jacket!"), and by the end of the nearly-ten-minute video Jyo's wondering whether it was entirely worth the nearly $700 he and his girlfriend spent for their meal — "it took me twelve years to afford this dinner."

Mike Gebert, who lets no media go un-commented-upon, made a parody response that at first we found to be perhaps ungenerously unforgiving of the post-Alinea food coma in which Jyo presumably filmed his review. But the more we watched it, the more it became a brilliantly surreal expression of the crazypants Alinea experience. In Gebert's version, Achatz is six-foot-nine and completely covered in Polynesian women's prison tattoos, and as for the food — "it didn't have flavor, none of it did. I hear this is like Achatz's thing, he thinks flavor is for pussies. In fact it's painted on the wall at Alinea, like Hot Doug's thing about encased meats: 'Flavor is for pussies, and if you ask for it, I will crush you.'"

Alinea [Average Jyo]
My Visit to Alinea [SFoB]
[Photo: xmatt/Flickr]

Is Justin the next Stephanie/Dale/Radhika? Justin Hall, chef/owner of Fig Catering has thrown his hat into the Top Chef ring with an audition video that, quite frankly, knocks our socks off. We are so ready to root for this guy:

In her latest vidcast, Stephanie Izard busts out the domo-kun notebook to chronicle her time spent with some of the kids participating in a produce-and-cheese tasting with some of the kids from Common Threads, who in turn flip it around and bring her to a class about Thai food. SO CUTE.

Common Threads: The Tasty Life #4 [Stephanie Izard]

Up on Alinea at Home, blogger Carol Blymire shares some big news: After a few months of her faithful recreations of the dishes in the Alinea cookbook, Grant Achatz himself has invited her to come be a cook in the restaurant's kitchen. Blymire's packing up her D.C. home and coming to Chicago to work the line!

Or, um, is she? When last we checked the calendar, this was the kind of day when you shouldn't believe stuff (especially when Achatz tells Carol that the Alinea toolkit includes duct tape and a label maker). But when we last checked Ruhlman, he totally bought it. So who's the rube here?

EXTRA BIG NEWS!!! [Alinea at Home]
A First?!!! [Ruhlman]
Previously: MPQ&A: Carol Blymire of Alinea At Home

For his latest Sky Full of Bacon vidcast, Mike Gebert treks up to Wisconsin to attend the annual raccoon dinner held at the American Legion post in Delafield. No, that's not a metaphor: the main course is, actually, racoon.

Besides being a look at a vanishing tradition (the organizers and cooks are almost all World War II veterans), there's also a super-special cameo from perhaps the last chef you'd expect to see in a piece about a small-town Wisconsin charity supper. Write down your guess on a piece of paper before you watch it, and let us know if you were right.

In the latest installment of Stephanie Izard's podcast, she puts on a white coat and hairnet and revisits Allen Brothers to learn how to be a butcher. She breaks down 40-pound racks of beef into component steaks, and then dons inexplicable neon sunglasses to run a blind tasting of wet-aged, dry-aged, and wagyu steaks. The winner? The wagyu, duh.

Watchers of last night's Oscars telecast couldn't help but notice Top Chef judge Tom Colicchio's commercial for Diet Coke. Astute watchers of the telecast probably noticed the not-so-subtle dig at hometown boy Grant Achatz that was the premise on which the entire commercial was predicated.

Perilously stacked towers of food, scatterplot presentations on square plates, dehydrated vegetables held aloft by what appear to be photo clips — we think the intention was to evoke an Alinea/Crucial Detail feel, butit struck our retinas as more like a mid-90s nouvelle cuisine throwback than anything that actually comes out of Achatz's kitchen.

Plus, it's well documented that Grant likes his Diet Coke.

Full video after the jump!

Continue reading "Tom Colicchio's Diet Coke Commercial Digs into Alinea" »

NBC Chicago's charming Marcus Riley corralled restaurateur Jerry Kleiner (the guy behind Opera, Carnivale, and Gioco, among many others) into giving us a tour of his favorite South Side restaurants. They visit Old Fashioned Donuts, Loncar's for "crispy, goldeny" fried chicken, and MP favorite Schoop's for some of the best burgers on earth. Check out the riot:

East Side Food Tour: What Would Jerry Eat? [NBC Chicago]

The savvy bloggers from L2O offer us a rare glimpse into the process of dish development, with photos of first and second drafts of chef Laurent Gras's beet salad with watercress and frozen carrot. See if you can spot the differences:

SALAD, DRAFT 1:

SALAD, DRAFT 2:

I spy with my little eye that Draft 2 has four rounds of beet, not three, and also has a scattering of cress leaves. What do you see?

Beet Salad, Watercress, Frozen Carrot, First Draft [L2O Blog]
Beet Salad, Watercress, Frozen Carrot, Second Draft [L2O Blog]
L2O [MenuPages]
L2O [Official Site]

Perhaps inspired by the restaurant's starring role on last night's episode of No Reservations, Chicagoist has declared that this week is L2O week, and they're devoting one feature each day to some meditation on Laurent Gras's temple of haute fish.

Today, the 'ist's resident food photography genius, L. Stolpman, offers up a gallery of behind-the-scenes photos from this past Friday's kitchen. Precise dabs of meyer lemon, whooshing clouds of liquid nitrogen, more than one picture highlighting the use of tweezers as a plating tool — there's a reason dinner at this restaurant runs into save-up-for-a-month territory. But speaking from experience, every freaking bite is worth it.

Food Pron: L2O Behind the Scenes [Chicagoist]
L2O [MenuPages]
L2O [Official Site]

[Photo of prepped lobster tail by L. Stolpman for Chicagoist]

Time portal to mid-August! Remember iCream, the pornographically-named high-concept DIY ice cream storefront in Wicker Park? It opened just long enough for us to get a firsthand repot on the ice cream techs who "pour your order into a SCIENCE BEAKER, which they then pour into a Kitchen Aid which churns the concotion as liquid nitrogen is poured in, immediately evaporating into smoke right in front of you whilst freezing the ice cream. This looks INCREDIBLY COOL."

And it was incredibly cool! Until the machinery sort of blew up and everyone was sad because the owners decided to close the doors for a while until they could get everything together. Which they have now, pretty much, done — iCream is slated for a mid-February reopen.

To whet your appetite for SCIENCE BEAKERS and INCREDIBLE COOLNESS, a revisit of the original iCream video, filmed (and featuring the girlish scream of) no less an illustrious figure than my brother:

previously
iCream, uCream
iCream iNsanity: Opening Day Report
iCream iNsanity: Now With Video!

Creepy! Delicious! So cool!

Watermelon carved to look like a human mouth, via BoingBoing.

Tonight at 9, the entire city will grind to a halt (or at least set their TiVos) for the long-awaited Chicago episode of Anthony Bourdain's show "No Reservations," in which the tall gangly gastronome throws his hat in with some dozen local eateries. (For the full list, handily mapped out, check here.)

If you can't wait until tonight to sate yourself with all things Bourdain, the man himself lays out his Chicago plan on his blog. There are some predictable angles (he falls for the hot dogs!) and some potential heresies ("And speaking of slices? Sorry, but generally speaking, your pizza blows.") but on the whole he brings the love.

Speaking of love:

On NO RESERVATIONS, we try and NOT do a lot of high end, expensive restaurants. Exceptions--generally speaking--are when they're just too damn good or unique to ignore ... L2O's Laurent Gras is a chef of terrifying talent ... Let's put it this way: When Eric Ripert heard we were going to shoot at Laurent's new restaurant in Chicago, he immediately volunteered himself as third wheel at dinner. Flew out and stayed over on his own dime. So when you see the scene at L20 and ask yourself the quite reasonable question, "What the hell is Eric Ripert doing on a Chicago show?" the answer is "eating really, really well." And it's not just another fancy meal. It's something really special.

Tube City [Anthony Bourdain's Travel Channel Blog]
Looking For Exotic Sandwiches In All The Right Places [previously]
L2O [MenuPages]
L2O [Official Site]

I know this extremely catchy children's TV song has been around for ages and ages, but I was only recently introduced to its remixed version — the perky pink-haired girl and her puppet friends are spliced in with some (seriously NSFW) music and footage from polar-opposite musical act Li'l Jon. If you would like to watch/listen to/be horrified by/giggle uncontrollably at that, you can find it here.

In the meantime, below, the unadulterated and fully innocent version of Lazy Town's "Cooking By The Book":

Pretty much all we can think about here at MP HQ is this morning's inauguration. Regardless of political affiliation, we were all glued to our new President waxing stentorian about tomorrow and strength and change, and this blogger found herself blinking back totally emo tears on more than one occasion. (Heck of a rendition of 'Simple Gifts,' amirite?)

Still riding that high, we're giving over today's National post to a roundup of ways we can, well, eat Barack Obama. It's quite possible that no other president in history has had so many foodstuffs created in his likeness. In all our intrepid searching, though, we still haven't found a decent Obama pancake or a truly inspired Obama burger.

For that matter, where are all the Michelle homages? Come on, folks, it's not too late to make your own edible, indelible contribution to history!

Right: order an Americano (get it?) at any UK Krispy Kreme, and it'll come decorated with the cocoa-powdery visage of President #44.

Below, via Jezebel: "Shop assistant Chika Shimada holds 'Obama senbei' (rice crackers) in support of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama at the souvenir shop Wakasaya on January 20, 2009 in Obama, Fukui, Japan":

Continue reading "National: Edible Obama" »

Regular readers of Chicago food media are familiar with Pat Bruno, the Sun-Times's head restaurant critic. We've spent a lot of time on this blog tearing into the guy, for better or for worse, but if there's one thing with which we can credit him, it's this: He knows his old-Chicago Italian food . If you wake up one day and think to yourself, "Self, there is nothing I want more in this world than meatballs buried in redsauce and a nice deep-dish pie," Bruno is your man. Heck, the dude has been contributing to Pizza Today magazine since 1975.

A recent comment on the PizzaMaking.com message board wonders whether it's not Pat Bruno himself who started the (incorrect) trend of the inclusion of cornmeal in deep-dish pizza recipes. The poster also acknowledges, though, that it could have been another guy — one Pasquale Bruno , who appeared as a judge on the December 21 episode of "Throwdown! With Bobby Flay," when the show visits Lou Malnati's Pizzeria. When Pasquale Bruno is introducing himself, he says "I write a monthly column for Pizza Today , and I've traveled halfway around the world showing people how to make pizza."

Pat Bruno ... Pasquale Bruno... there's something here, but I'm not quite putting my finger on it. Could it be that the head restaurant reviewer for a major metropolitan newspaper decided to blow his anonymity out of the water by appearing on a highly-rated nationally-aired television show featuring the signature dish of his hometown, with his cover being only the inversion of his highly recognizable name? [Update: Holy crap, y'all, I'm not sure why I heard this as an inverted name, but he just flat-out uses his real one! Pasquale Bruno, a.k.a. Pat. Not even trying!]

No. That can't be possible. It can't be the case that there is someone that completely and utterly dismissive of his role as a nominal arbiter of restaurant quality, and the trust of his readership. That cannot possibly be the case.

At the end of the show, Bobby Flay turns to the judges — this Mr. Pasquale and charismatic former Chicago Bear Glen Kozlowski — and says "you guys are the best judges we've ever had... you guys should do this for a living."

Video (the only video you'll find, as far as I can tell) after the jump.

Continue reading "The Sun-Times's Pat Bruno Could Care Less About Anonymity, Appears on 'Throwdown With Bobby Flay'" »

This came across my radar via the inimitable Consumatron, and it is appropriate for a Chicago food blog since it is (a) by a Chicago dude and (b) involves bagels, which are a food. No further comment. Bon weekend!

In case you want to see it in live! video! action!, here is the NBC clip of the Blago Burger at Kuma's Corner.

That'd be, if you don't know already, a 10oz patty and thick-sliced bologna embraced by not one but two grilled cheese sandwiches, and crowned with a shimmering mustard dollar sign.

[via Chicago Dining Examiner]

Kuma's Corner [MenuPages]
Kuma's Corner [Official Site]

The photo that we used to illustrate this morning's post on the smoking ban really struck us — quiet, evocative, atmospheric, interesting. It's part of the Southern Foodways Alliance's Chicago Eats collection on Flickr, and it is a wealth of spectacular photographs of under-the-radar Chicago dining.

The photographs were all taken by Amy Evans as part of SFA's oral history of Chicago dining. Evans also conducted the interviews with the owners of these restaurants. (The Food Chain's mentioned it before, but we think it bears revisiting.)

Continue reading "Extremely Beautiful Photographs: 'Chicago Eats' From Southern Foodways Alliance" »

Y'all. Check, Please! has put up a teaser of their Obama episode!

Zomg.

Flickrer Saro found this amazing bit of sidewalk art in a Chicago alley:

[via]

We personally will be spending tomorrow evening frantically preparing (emotionally and domestically) for Thanksgiving, but for those of you without DVRs, check out Grant Achatz as he guest-judges Top Chef.

Some things to keep an eye out for:Chicago chef Radhika Desai's stricken face when she sees that a hometown hero is going to be directly assessing her work:

Hosea is totally wearing the same Bacon Is A Vegetable t-shirt from DieselSweeties that the Sun-Times sneakily featured a few weeks ago!

Oh, just watch the darn preview yourself. We herewith and henceforth present our final Alinea-related video of the day!

In part two of An Alinea Thanksgiving, Grant and Nick make stuffing while the dismembered turkey sous vides in the background.

Highlights:
- Grant doesn't know what a crockpot is. (1:11)
- We totally own that OXO measuring cup! (1:28)
- Is it our imagination, or does Grant have one more undone button on his shirt in this episode than he did in the first one?
- Nick and Grant both like their stuffing "floaty."
- Hey we totally also have those Ziploc freezer bags, but we are sort of less excited about that.
- "One pot cooking!" - Grant (3:55)
- The breakfast wine from Part One is completely untouched. Foul!
- Grant doesn't use tongs! We are not sure if we want to be like Grant, and also not use tongs, or if we want to keep our fingerprints from searing off.
- Grant suggests sauteeing sliced stuffing, which makes us think of scrapple.
- Stars: They're Just Like Us! Grant also always confuses baking powder and baking soda.
- The secret ingredient in Grant's pumpkin pie: Bourbon. Deep-fried alcohol!
- There is some flashing digital thingaroo on Nick's stove's hood, and it is freaking us out. (continuous)

The recipes for the sous vide turkey, the stuffing-in-a-bag, and the flaming pumpkin pie lollipops are available on Alinea Mosaic, but we can barely figure out how to use the website so we have no idea how to find the recipes.

Achatz ThanksGiving Part 2 [YouTube]

So right up front, we are going to admit that today is Videos Filmed In Nick Kokonas's Kitchen Day here at MenuPages. Earlier we had his kids kicking butt at a recipe from the Alinea cookbook, and now we have Nick and Grant Achatz rocking out with some witty banter. Seriously, these two should start a tv show. Or at the very least, they should make videos like these more often.

The setup is flawless, really: Grant plays the so-genius-we-can-barely-fathom-it mind behind the provocative dishes at Alinea. Nick — who off-camera is the Robert Duffy to Grant's Marc Jacobs — here switches hats and instead plays the Watson to Grant's Holmes, in this endlessly entertaining video of the two men sous vide-ing (what's the gerund for that, anyway?) a turkey.

Highlights:
- Grant suggesting that you cook all the parts of the turkey separately, and reattach them for serving using meat glue.
- Nick has duck fat and bacon fat and butter in his home at the time of filming.
- Nick to Grant: "Speaking of which, you should be drinking right now." (3:15) And then Nick busts out a bottle of "breakfast wine" — some sort of Austrian rose?
- Whoa, we think we might have the exact same backsplash in our kitchen that Nick does.
- The kitchen slang for a person who shakes a pan? "Pan-shaker." (6:04)
- The breakfast wine gets used in the turkey-bone caramelization process! (7:00)

Coming up soon — Part 2!

Grant Achatz Thanksgiving -- Part 1 [YouTube]
Alinea [MenuPages]
Alinea [Official Site]

Okay, this just completely solidifies our deep desire to be Nick Kokonas when we grow up.*

When The Reader's Julia Thiel and The Decider's Emiliy Withrow attempted to make a recipe from the Alinea cookbook, it took a full day and produced... less-than-superb (but highly hilarious!) results.

So Nick, partner in Alinea and Master Of The Internet, dropped Julia and Emily a line and was like "dudes, seriously, you did it all wrong." And then he made a video response wherein his kids made the same recipe. Successfully. And all it took was an 8:22 youtube video, which might be the cutest thing we have ever seen in our entire life.

Seriously, the Kokonas Kids (alliterative!) kick the ass of those Spatulatta girls any day.

My kid could cook that: Alinea responds to our cookery, schools us [The Decider]
Alinea's cookbook is impossible [The Decider]
Alinea [MenuPages]
Alinea [Official Site]

previously
The Alinea Cookbook, Reviewed

*We also majored in philosophy! We also have a simultaneous interest in food and in business! We ... know some people who work for hedge funds! We are on our way!

The second half of Mike Gebert's There Will Be Pork went up a few days ago. In case you missed it on The Stew, VI, its journalistic home on the Reader, or — of course — on Mike's own site, you can watch it here!

This half of the two-part opus spends a lot of time in the slaughterhouse, so maybe it's not early-morning viewing for everyone. We found ourself tabbing out every so often just for breakfast conservation.

Highlights:
- a deeply terrifying sort of hollow knife on the wall behind Paul Kahan (02:50)
- Hooks: terrifying.
- The American Association of Meat Processors has a Hall of Fame. And Merlyn J. Eickman was a 1993 inductee. (06:56)
- Eickman's has high school kids come through on school-led tour groups. So cool. Also terrifying.
- OMG EICKMAN'S SELLS BEAR MEAT AND LION MEAT OMG. ("What purpose does the lion serve?" "Edible product.") (08:30)
- The camera cuts out for the actual slaughter, and when we come back we're in black and white. Deep.
- Jason Hammel of Lula Cafe on slaughter: "Life didn't just end at any one spot. It was ending."
- Probably the most disturbing part: the pigs, post-scalder. (10:50)
- Also upsetting: A strung-up pig with Mike Sula's name on it, literally. (12:17)

Serious Eats has been running this pre-Thanksgiving series wherein they get various celebrity chefs to chat with them about how Thanksgiving goes down in their homes. Today they feature Bobby Flay, who is not only our secret nemesis (for reasons we will not go into here), but also really gets us agitated when it comes to the matter of turkey.

Why? Because of he turkey episode of Flay's 'Throwdown' tv show, in which he springs up unexpectedly on poor unexpecting non-celebrity-chefs and challenges them to cook their specialty. And for the turkey-themed throwdown, he showed up to challenge hometown girl Renee Ferguson at Kendall College Culinary School, as she prepared a classic Thanksgiving feast (turkey, gravy, white-bread stuffing) and he was all "ooh, look at me, I'm using chipotle and pomegranate molasses." And he won, which is bullshit. Also we might be taking this too personally.

We couldn't find a clip of Renee's Thanksgiving prep, but here's video of Flay's side of the equation.

Celebrity Chef Holidays: Bobby Flay [Serious Eats]

Mike Gebert over at Sky Full of Bacon has finally finished part one of his documentary on the Reader's Whole Hog Project, in which they track a mulefoot pig from piglethood to plate.

It's quite a show. Highlights:
- Paul Kahan once killed 50 ducks in one day.
- Apparently folks call Paul Virant, chef at Vie, "V," and suddenly a lot of things make sense to us.
- The piglets drink raw goat milk, and are "cuter'n shit."
- Mike Sula's voice! Someone get this man a This American Life contract.
- Farmer Linda Derrickson's illuminating explanation of why you have to kill these endangered breeds to save them (10:35). Bonus: her overalls are spectacular!
- The pig-shaped charcuterie boards at The Publican (14:54) are far more adorable than actual pigs.
- The pantry at Vie (17:30): We are going to hire Paul Virant to stock our fallout shelter for the zombie apocalypse.

TO BE CONTINUED! Dun dun dunnnnnnnnnnnn...

previously
Trailer For SFoB 5: The Whole Hog Project
Recap Recap: The Reader's Whole Hog Dinner
Sky Full Of Bacon, Featuring Special Guests

What did we tell you? Rick Bayless confirms that he's not interested in being the White House Chef, but that "maybe every once in a while we can be guest chefs at the White House."

[via]

White House Chef: Not Such A Glam Job, Folks [previously]
Frontera Grill
Topolobampo

Mike Gebert of Sky Full of Bacon releases his teaser trailer for the full documentary of the Reader's Whole Hog Project. The jaunty soundtrack makes us think this is going to be a kooky British whodunit. (Hint: the butcher did it.)

Preview of the next video podcast [Sky Full of Bacon]
The Whole Hog Project [The Reader]

previously
Recap Recap: The Reader's Whole Hog Dinner
Sky Full Of Bacon, Featuring Special Guests

Everyone's all abuzz today over the launch of MTVMusic.com — a massive repository of basically every music video ever made. We are particularly psyched because there are many many awesome food-related music videos (and songs!) that really get our juices going. Please rock out on these for the remainder of the day.

Bjork's "Venus as a Boy" — quite possibly the best use of a fried egg since "this is your brain on drugs."

Three more classics (including a fearsome man-burger hybrid, a life-size chicken, and millions of peaches) after the jump!

Continue reading "National: A Glutton's Feast Of Music Videos" »

Did you know that there is a Vienna Beef store? And that they sell amazing posters? Because if you didn't know, you do now.

Continue reading "Vienna Beef Posters Make Us Happy" »

Things to keep in mind while you watch this clip of Chicago 24/7 visiting Carrie Nahabedian in the kitchen at her restaurant, Naha, to make some gnocchi:

• The host, Katie Keogh, is wearing a purple satin cocktail dress and dangly gold earrings in a restaurant kitchen. Omg.

• When Katie asks Carrie whether her food has any Armenian influences, Carrie's hesitation is magical. It's a pure, crystalline moment of "have you seriously done no pre-interview research whatsoever?"

• While the preparation looks delish, the real talent of gnocchi lies in making the pasta itself, not in adorning it with sauce. Does Carrie make her yukon gold gnocchi from scratch? Probably. So why don't we get to see it?

• When Katie and Carrie are out of the kitchen, they're in front of a poster for Chicago Gourmet. Any recon on whether this poster is actually in the dining room at Naha, or whether Katie actually did this interview at CG, rather than in the restaurant?

• No, wait, is the cocktail dress actually a shirt? And is it actually crushed velvet? And is that better or worse?

Naha Restaurant's Chef Shares Her Secret [NBC5]
Naha [MenuPages]
Naha [Official Site]

If you're craving more on the Columbian Exchange, the Tribune's Bill Daley takes us on a tour of what appears to be the produce department of the North Ave Whole Foods for WGN.

We can't for the life of us figure out how to embed the video, so just click here.

The Columbian Exchange [WGN9]

If you do nothing else in the next week or two, be sure to allot nineteen minutes to check out the latest edition of Sky Full of Bacon, Mike Gebert's HD vidcast of all things food-related. This episode centers around Vital Information blogger Rob Gardner's quest to buy a pig head, turn it into charcuterie, and eat it.

There are two notable faces to look out for in this particular episode.The first, around 8:40, is the first clear shot of the head of the pig, sitting on a cutting board at Mado, staring placidly up at chef Rob Levitt.

The second, billed as Special Guest Headcheese Taster, is me.

Me! First-person me! Not the vague MenuPages voice, but actual physical Helen, Your Intrepid Editor. I show up around 16:45, eat some headcheese, and make various revealing remarks about the culinary/psychological impact of childhood summers spent at Jewish sleepaway camps in northern Wisconsin.

Check out the full post for Mike's recap, plus Mado's recipe for testa, the Italian headcheese that we consumed on-camera.

And, for the record, "Special Guest Headcheese Taster" is totally going on my resume.

Sky Full of Bacon #4: A Head’s Tale [Sky Full of Bacon]
Mado [MenuPages]
Mado [Official Site]

If we are in need of some reliable workplace giggle-inducers, we point our browser to CakeWrecks, which chronicles the hilarious, the misguided, and the hilariously misguided decorated cakes that exist in this world. We chortle like a maniac every time we visit the site, and we visit it nearly every day.

So we literally gasped — really, an actual gasp — when in our inbox just a few minutes ago landed an announcement from Chaos Theory Cakes, announcing their wedding cakes. These cakes? Are no freaking wrecks. Oh holy goodness gracious:

It's kind of a sweet deal — an $800 cake that feeds a hundred partygoers clocks in at a measly eight bucks a slice. And that one on the far right is almost enough to get us to pop the Q to Our Boyfriend, for cake purposes only. Heck, we'd pop the Q to anyone for a guarantee that this would be our rewarded dessert. Any takers? Anyone?

[All photos via the official Bleeding Heart/Chaos Theory Flickr]

Happy Tuesday!

Hey look, MP Special Correspondent Joe also made a video of the iCream experience:

We are not gonna lie, this made us giggle like a schoolgirl.

iCream iNsanity: Opening Day Report [MenuPages Chicago]

Now that there's a new Batman movie out and all, how about we go retro with a look back at McDonalds' Batman Happy Meals from 1992?

McDonalds' Batman Happy Meals [YouTube]

A little cheap receipt humor for your Friday afternoon? Sure, why not! Most of these are pretty base, but oh well. Enjoy!

• Sticky Rice w/ Mango, via Aysha Photography:

It gets much worse after the jump...

Continue reading "Receipt Follies: Abbreviated Entertainment" »

This cheeseburger dress is the coolest thing that's ever been knitted. The artist, Joy Kampia O'Shell, has created several of these one-of-a-kind pieces, and they are the real thing (i.e., wearable). Could you imagine actually sashaying into a burger joint with this on? Let's take a stab at it:

Places Where This Dress Would Help

• Hamburger Mary's would probably let you eat and drink free for the night, or possibly even join the stage show. You'd be signing autographs left and right! Extra points here for creative stowage of your pickle

• Kuma's Corner has a notoriously long line during peak times...unless you were wearing this dress. Because you know what? Dressing as your dinner is pretty f'n metal. The waitresses would clear a berth for you at the bar, and maybe someone would even whistle appreciatively! Probably better to be a lady for this one, though — metal has its limits

Places Where This Dress Wouldn't Help

• Boston Blackies' touristic clientele might think you were a charming fixture of Chicago cosmopolitanism, and the sports fans glued to the big TV in the back might not even notice your presence. But the suburban children milling about the place will call as much attention to you as their whiny little voices and flailing limbs allow them. You may not get the best seat in the house

• Billy Goat Tavern Original at least gives you a chance at making the papers, but not in a good way

On the whole, we say, worth it.

[Photo: Joy Kampia]

In the summer, ice cream trucks and carts are an indelible part of the urban landscape, dispensing joy and annoying music everywhere they see fit to berth. Chicago has a wide variety of these vessels, as the following photos illustrate:

• Summer dreams, via Hello ChateauHo:

More licks after the jump...

Continue reading "Photo Essay: Chicago's Ice Cream Carts And Trucks" »

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...

Continue reading "Viewing Pleasure: Barbecue And The Parks In Which To Eat It" »

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]

Recently, the Chicago Diner celebrated its 25th anniversary, doing justice to their slogan "Meat Free Since '83." Let's celebrate with a spread of tasty vegan dishes available right now around Chicago!

• "Sausage" and "Egg" Biscuits ($7.95) at Chicago Diner, via peace.love.vegan:

• "Meatball" sub ($6.29) and chili cheese fries ($3.99) at Veggie Bite, via jessi-girl:

• Stuffed Mushrooms ($8.00) at Karyn's Raw Vegan Gourmet, via cbrowncolors:

• Vegetables Combo at The Elephant, via minvervah:

• Slash cupcake ($3.50; probably gone but if enough of you ask, maybe they'll make it again!) at Bleeding Heart via The Bleeding Heart Bakery:

No one ever said vegan needed to be healthy. Or attractive. Or involve vegetables. But it's usually at least one of those things!

Anyway, maybe try skipping meat for one meal this weekend? It's better for the environment and all that.

That Army & Lou's sign was lovely, wasn't it? Here are a few more charmers:

• Stella's Diner, by swanksalot:

• Won Kow, by Uh ... Bob:

• Weber Grill by bigdadjoel:

• Glenn's Diner by amandaurzin:

The amazing part is, all these were posted to flickr within the past 5 days.

Okay, have a good weekend. Maybe take a picture!

Things you know about Myanmar/Burma:

1) On May 3-4, the country's Irrawaddy delta region was hit by a powerful cyclone, killing 22,500 and leaving over 40,000 missing as of publication time (nationwide population: 55 million)

2) Last fall, the ruling military junta cracked down on widespread, monk-lead demonstrations, leading to the political imprisonment of hundreds and quashing hopes of a democratic revolution

3) Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel prize-winning democracy activist, has been under house arrest there for much of the past two decades

Things you may or may not know about Myanmar/Burma:

1) "Myanmar" is a pre-colonial name that the junta encourages you to use, and "Burma" is the somewhat racist colonial appellation that Aung San Suu Kyi prefers, because one really sticks it to the junta that way

2) Until a few days ago, Burma — let's just go with that...stupid junta — was a net exporter of rice, but the country's rice bowl (this is an official term) was storm-surged into oblivion. Maybe China will give them rice?

3) Burma is shunned by most of the world for its human rights violations and narcotics-based export economy. The junta is reasonably good friends with China

Things you don't know about Burma:

1) The junta is being pretty cagey about taking aid from the international community, but you can donate through the Anglican Relief & Development Fund

2) Burma has a unique and wonderful cuisine that's hard to find in the United States but always a joy to come across. It's a natural fusion of Indian, Chinese and South-East Asian traditions, meaning you can get chicken biryiani, durian ice cream and night market rice noodles in a single sitting if you so desire. They even have their own form of tofu, made from chana dal (split, skinless chickpeas) or yellow split pea flour, depending on the ethnic group. Better than soy-based tofu? In many ways. You like dumplings? The Burmese have half-a-dozen indigenous varieties to try. And so forth.

For us, though, the single biggest achievement of the Burmese kitchen is its myriad and exotic salads. Thai salads are more famous, but the Burmese do a job at least as sophisticated throwing raw and pickled vegetables and miscellany together into something greater than the sum of their parts. Observe:

• Pork Ear & Tongue Salad from the recently closed Burmese Cafe in Queens, NY (Jane! Jane! Jane!):

• "Burmese Feast" Tofu Salad from Golden Triangle in Whittier, CA (Tales of an LA Addict):

More salads than you could properly digest, after the jump...

Continue reading "The Salads Of Myanmar/Burma: A Timely Appreciation" »

So we called NoMI and got in touch with the pastry chef and was like, "WTF is this?"

And he was French and very nice but also like a lockbox. He confirmed that those gorgeous half-sun wedges are grapefruit (for a moment we thought they were tuna sashimi), and that they're sitting on top of a rectangular prism of basil crème brûlée, but the crumble in between is the greatest mystery since..."Why French Women Don't Get Fat." We know it's some kind of biscuit, i.e. cookie, but exactly what variety is unclear. We're thinking maybe lemon, because that would totally go. Meanwhile, the flutter of whimsy on top is coconut tuile. The dessert is a not-unreasonable $10, and a light and bright way to end a lovely meal.

Mostly, though, we're just suckers for high-quality photography involving fruit.

NoMI [MenuPages]
NoMI [Official Site]

[Photo: Pecan Sandies/flickr]

An intrepid reader, doubtful of our matzo shortage claims, took this damning photo at the Dominick's on Roosevelt and Canal. The barren shelves! What a powerful visual metaphor.

But there's a secondary scandal: the particular box of matzo you see pictured is Streit's Onion-Poppy Moonstrips, which, according to Serious Eats, aren't even Kosher for Passover! A shande, truly.

We mostly like the framing of this, but also — sweater aside — it's hot out! Margarita time! Woo!!!

This particular specimen comes from Tecalitlan in Ukie Village for $6.20. A regular with lime is $5.50, but the very nice young woman who answered the phone when we called recommends the raspberry, her favorite. For our part, we always get plain because the fruit flavors are just sugar, and then we get a headache. When it comes to margaritas, though, you can do whatever your heart desires.

Have an uproariously enjoyable weekend!

Tecalitlan [MenuPages]

[Photo: allwood/flickr]

We're not positive we'd actually like this cupcake, but we're sure glad we've seen it, and we bet it appeals to at least some of you. Texture combinations aside, this looks like something out of Wonka or the Nutcracker, or maybe Marie Antoinette. The aesthetic is whimsy, but the reality is much starker: there are only three of these left at Bleeding Heart Bakery, where Michelle Garcia dreams up all manner of limited-time cupcakes that rotate in and out of the line-up. All cupcakes at Bleeding Heart are $3.50, but for your money you get something 1) unique 2) attractive and 3) organic.

Anyway, if popcorn's your thing, you know what you have to do.

Bleeding Heart Bakery [MenuPages]
Bleeding Heart Bakery [Official Site]

[Photo: Bleeding Heart Bakery/flickr. They put their cupcakes photos online. Why doesn't every restaurant do this?!]

There's some weird stuff going on in restaurant kitchens these days. In the video (which should be edited down to, say, three minutes, but is still interesting — just ignore the annoying blond woman), chef Stuart Sage of Tang in Dubai demonstrates how he uses liquid nitrogen like a deep fryer to cook food — in this case, a tomato espuma — at ridiculously cold temperatures.

What freaked us out was how he scooped the espuma out of the bowl full of liquid nitrogen and immediately presented it to the woman. We'd be terrified to eat it, for fear that our tongue would immediately freeze and break into 100 pieces, and then how would we taste food. (Shudder.) Of course, the nitrogen had likely evaporated at that point, and besides, we breathe it in and out every day, right? Still. Just a teensy bit scary.

Restaurants - Cooking with Liquid Nitrogen in the Real World [YouTube]

Potatoes are a terribly versatile starch; you can mash them, smash them, fry them, scallop, dice, puree, bake, roast, gratinate, chowederize and latkefy them...they take well to almost any preparation. Now that the UN Food and Agriculture Organization has decided that they are the food of the future by dint of their caloric yield per acre (a critical metric in an era of unmitigated cereal price spikes), there will be opportunity for even more permutations of potato dishes, like some of these exotic specimens:

"Tornado Potato" — as purchasable on the streets of Seoul (superlocal):

After the jump, spuds galore!

Continue reading "Potatoes: Feeding The World In Their Many Guises" »

Last we checked in with Szalas, it was because an Omnivorous feature was designed specifically to accommodate the restaurant. To whit:

The restaurant round-up that follows Omnivorous this week is "Twenty-four restaurants south of 52nd Street," so themed because Gary is...south. But why 52nd street in particular, we wondered? A quick check of the addresses reveals the northernmost restaurant to be Szalas, a Goralean restaurant in Brighton Park. Come again? They're Polish highlanders, they eat veal goulash, and on the weekends, they dance. If the column was named to accommodate this particular restaurant, you know it must be good.

Right or wrong, Polish food is simply not a cuisine we expect to pay a lot of money for; Chinese and Mexican are also in this category. Thai and, say, Greek, are not anymore, because the gentrification of Thai and Greek food have inured us to $15 and up entrees. Which is not to say there aren't plenty of places to get delicious and cheap Thai and Greek food! But we're fine paying a little or a lot for either. Of course, Chinese and Mexican have been making inroads, too — witness Shanghai Terrace and Topolobampo.

As for Polish food, though, there's really only one "expensive" Polish restaurant in the area (Lutnia). This doesn't need to be the case! Any cuisine can be elevated to gourmet heights; all it takes is one enterprising and aesthetically gifted chef. But that hasn't happened yet in Chicago, which is why a $15.50 entree at Szalas is jarring. But hey, if they can get away with it — and again, this looks pretty tasty — more power to them.

Okay, have a good weekend then!

Szalas [MenuPages]
Szalas [Official Site]

[Photo: cohodas208c/flickr]

Lito's Empanadas, operating out of a little storefront in Lincoln Park, has built a nice reputation for itself since it opened late last year. We're happy to see a family-run place that decides to offer only one thing, and does a really good job at it.

Look how positive MenuPages reviewers have been!

Make it a point to get to Lito's. Lito's is a very small, sparkling clean place which has a few window seats for dining in. Much of their business seems to be take out. The empanadas which are fabulous, travel well and stay warm. Try my favorites: beef,olives,rainsins, rice or the beef and rice. My ultimate favorite is the choco-banana. The empanadas are inexpensive -a wonderful deal for the money. The owner and his wife are very friendly. These would be great to take to a party. If you are in the neighborhood, stop by. If you are not in the neighborhood, make it a point to get there. I am convinced you will not be disappointed.

Lito's empanadas range from $2.09 to $2.29 (regular unleaded, premium unleaded circa 2005?), with the beef and rice smack in the middle at $2.19. Which is a bargain, compared to how empanadas are priced elsewhere around town. Que Rico! does two cheese and spinach empanadas for $6.80 (but we didn't want two!); Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba's are $5.25 a pop for your choice of chicken or beef; and it doesn't get much better from there. No, Lito's is pretty unique in what it's doing — if you've never had an empanada before, this is a good place to start.

Lito's Empanadas [MenuPages]

[Photo: R.A.M.O.N.E./flickr]

We are so happy that baseball is back. We managed to get tickets to Opening Day at Dolphin Stadium; the Marlins lost to the Mets (boo!), but it was still a great time.

To celebrate, we thought we'd present a photo essay of ballpark food from each of our cities. We've actually visited and eaten in each of the parks listed, except for the two in the Bay Area. We'll start with our favorite: Philadelphia.

Citizens Bank Park

We hate the Phillies. But we think their ballpark is great, and we love the fact that we can get a Tony Luke's roast pork Italian sandwich for about the same price as at the restaurant. Whenever we go to a game there, we arrive early to get our sandwich before the game starts, because by the third inning, the place is mobbed.

Continue reading "Ballpark Eats: A Photo Essay" »

Today is the only day besides Halloween when we purposefully make our food appear to be something that it's not. Ironically, unlike on Halloween, April Foods deceptions are actually intended to "trick" the targets rather than simply gross them out. Since the attempts usually aren't that convincing, we settle for mild amusement. To whit:

• "Grilled cheese sandwiches" by seachelle323:

• "Dessert sushi" by Dot D:

Many more appetizing simulacra await you after the jump...

Continue reading "April Foods' Day!" »

Next time you find yourself at West Side soul institution Edna's, pass on the peach cobbler (which is amazing, by the way), and try a slice of coconut cake instead. A monster hunk is $3, and the cakes are, of course, homemade. If you were wondering where Chicago's highest concentration of trans fats was located, look no further. But totally worth it!

Edna's [MenuPages]

[Photo: Made in Mississippi]

With respect to the previous post, the only one that we found actually funny was Honey Bunches Of Goats. The bees were also amused:

Apparently, this was not premeditated (on the part of the beekeeper). Ain't that some sh*t?

[Photo: hydraxis/flickr]

p.s. and then we ended up on LOL bees, which only kinda works

Guess the thing:

We'll tell you tomorrow, but please to write in with your ideas. Correct identifications will be noted. Hilarious identifications will be lauded!

This Croque Madame from Sixteen (which, by the way, was incorrectly spelled "Croque Madam" on the menu they emailed us) is as billed - a grilled ham and cheese sandwich with a fried egg on top.

Want to know how much they charge for it?

FIFTEEN DOLLARS. We are not offended by much, price-wise, but come on. $15? You can sprinkle it with as much thyme and paprika or whatever as you want, but it's still a pretty anemic-looking platter for what would also buy all-you-can-eat Indian buffet for two at Sher-A-Punjab, for all intents and purposes. The photographer, dane brian, captioned his photo with, "pretty pretty good.. the fried egg was a little much, but it was still great." We say, a single egg is a pittance for the money; and doesn't the whole thing come off as looking a little dry and sad? Compare to what is, admittedly, the most appetizing Croque Madame we've ever seen, just under $13 from Green Grocer in Melbourne, Australia:

Now are you offended? Good. Obviously you're paying for the sixteenth floor view and the Trump power trip, and there are lighting issues with the photography, but still, we are not impressed.

Sixteen [MenuPages]
Sixteen [Official Site]
Green Grocer [Official Site]

[Photos: Croques Madames at Sixteen (dane brian/flickr) and Green Grocer (Wodetzki/flickr)]

The world is generally a horrible place, but we can at least take some solace in the fact that the first few digits of pi, 3.14 specifically, correspond to today's date of 3/14. Basically, though, any excuse for a pie slideshow will do. These pies were all photographed in Chicago, many of them orderable at local restaurants. There seems to be a wintery theme to the pie fillings, except for one in the middle that reminds us summer is sort of around the corner! Enjoy.

• Pie Day! Vlad Lazerian:

• Coconut cream pie at the Golden Nugget Pancake House, Kim Scarborough:

• Key lime pie at Mity Nice Grill, jellybeanjill13:

• Turtle pie at Gibson's Steakhouse, Stitcher:

• Pumpkin pie on a fork in Chicago, Euro Joe:

• Blueberry pie at Zingarella, Glenview, jellybeanjill13:

• Red wine and poached pear pie at First Slice, tympan:

• Peanut butter crunch pie at a Border's in Chicago, lorilea:

• Chocolate chip pecan pie at Dine, Zesmerelda:

• Found Chocolate pie on the streets of Chicago, CPW!:

Right. Have a "filling" weekend.

Hilarious. You know, there can be a lot of fun in translation. Just ask the folks at Engrish. But rarely do you get a gem of this caliber. Ass-hot chicken? You know it! A plate of ass steak? Nothin' butt! (sorry-that was cheeky) Too bad there's no Ass hot dog up there. Ah, the golden age of film...

Anyway, here's why this exists: It's a menu for a burger stand in Quebec, where they speak Franglais. "Ass" stands for "assiette," which basically means "assortment plate," according to Neatorama. But dude, by this time they have to know how funny it is. You got to hand it to them for the sheer commitment. "Ass 2 pain?" We bet.

And what's with the soft-porn lamp hanging down there on the right? That thing deserves a menu board all its own.

Ass Burger! [Neatorama]
Title Credit: Adam P

This? Is awesome. Thank god somebody over at Required Eating keeps up with Improv Everywhere, because we don't, or at least we haven't been (Welcome to day one), and there's a chance we would have missed this fantastic video. The so-called spontaneous musical takes place in a Los Angeles shopping mall, which is in on the joke and rigged with hidden cameras. The music, according to IE, is piped in through the mall's sound system. Watch and marvel, then click over to IE to get the inside scoop on how they did it.

Food Court Musical [Improv Everywhere]
'Spontaneous' Musical Performed in Mall Food Court [Required Eating]

The drink tastes a bit like barbecue sauce.... The short rib hash was delicious, but greasy. The basket of donuts, and especially the short bread cakes with jam, were strong. Observed 1 friend adore her market inspired (sweet crab) eggs Benedict. While, another complained of a bland root vegetable omelet.

No wait, nice service, a bit like slipping into an old smoking jacket.

This is from Javier's own kitchen across the street from where I live in Irving Park. Javier's family have or had their own bakery in Bogota for many years. Javier followed the love of his life here to Chicago a few years ago. A bad shoulder injury left him unable to continue working at Swedish Bakery in Andersonville where he was the head pastry chef. He has just decided to start baking things at home and hopefully can generate some interest. He and his wife Diana are the loveliest of people.

Plenty of delicious stollen samples will be available as well as stollen trivia. Plus, you can enter to win the title of Honorary Selmarie Stollen Ambassador! A position not to be taken lightly, the Selmarie Stollen Ambassador will be supplied with Selmarie T-Shirts and plenty of stollen to share with co-workers, classmates and friends during the weeks leading up to Christmas.

Wiener's Circle is a popular restaurant in Chicago, Illinois. It is located at 2622 N. Clark St. It is best known for its interesting staff members (the most famous being 'Poochie') and the 'Chocolate Milkshake' (where if you go late at night, pay $10 and ask for a chocolate milkshake you get flashed by one of the almost all African American staff). It has been seen in popular culture on Comedy Central's Insomniac with Dave Attell and NPR's This American Life.

The other day, a friend asked what my favorite weekend brunch spot was, and I realized: I hate brunch. The whole tradition that we follow like robots: rising early on Sunday, packing into a crowded entryway, vestibule, or sidewalk, to wait for a table where an overextended server will bring me an omelet I could’ve made myself? This isn’t dining. It’s compulsory eating, and I want my time and calories back. What is the allure here? Is it the ritual? The camaraderie? The hangover? Nothing against restaurants that provide brunch...but I’ll sleep in. And I’ll make my own French toast, thanks.

Any Chicago Marathon finishers who come in with their medal will get a FREE SOUPBOX SOUP (breadbowl of any soup) to help nourish them back to recovery!
Just bring your medal to either one of these Soupbox locations:
2943 N. Broadway (on the marathon course between Oakdale & Wellington)
50 E. Chicago (between Michigan & Wabash)
Feel free to forward this email to anyone you know running the Chicago Marathon.
Good luck marathoners!

After seeing this new rest on Oprah's show, all I wanted to do was buy a gift certificate and got so much flack I don't want it anymore. The girl on the phone had an attitude and was adamant about everything. If you are not prepared after being seen on Oprah that is your BIG PROBLEM. How could you not have gift certificates available yet? How could you not have a fax machine? Someone did not think this through and since when is a money order not good money? I always think that people like Art who is wonderful and recommened by Oprah has to live up to OPRAH"S standards and this was not of that nature. I am upset because all I did was want to buy my nephew a gift cert for his 40th birthday, you know somwthing special, well that girl took that nice idea out of my head. THIS WAS HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE

"It's embarrassing," McDonagh says. "We're TV chefs and I know people are silently judging me for all the cans of Chef Boyardee in my grocery cart...I love the kid, but food-wise, he's a real pain in the a-- right now."

The dough is placed into the oven under a ceiling of steam or, alternatively, the oven is injected with steam as soon as the loaf is loaded. This adds moisture to the body, the crumb, of the bread and establishes the crust quickly, resulting in a light and airy crumb. When the steam is gone (sometimes today, withdrawn), the dry heat of the oven bakes the crust, producing its characteristically slightly crisp and flaky texture. Vienna bread is typically formed as an oblong loaf, but can be baked in other shapes. As a longer loaf, it may well have been the origin of French bread as bakers there attempted to adopt the steam method to produce their baguettes.

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"We suffer on days and nights with Cubs games. The groups of Cubs fans actually interfere with our business. We expected a different response," Mootoo says. "We have observe