Random Thu Mar 29 2007

Will the old Time Out Chicago please stand up?

I have a love/hate relationship with Time Out Chicago; I used to love it, now I hate it. This week's issue features the First Annual Eat Out Awards, a completely frustrating, if not perplexing, 13-page section on the "best" eateries in Chicago as determined by TOC's food critics and its readers. The majority of the critics' choices are restaurants you can afford if you have a decent paycheck for your PR job in the Loop. How many times are we going to have to read about how innovative Alinea is? True, I might be bitter that I've never been, and likely will never have saved enough money to blow on dinner there, but I think I'm just longing for the days (i.e. TOC's first year of publication) when they wrote about 19 cent falafel more than they fawned over $19 personal pizzas at Spacca Napoli.

I even blame TOC for the ghastly outcome of the Readers' Choice awards, because the "choices" for which readers were to vote were rather out of touch. Smoke Daddy as an option for "Best Barbecue"? Give me a break! Smoke Daddy is merely okay in a pinch for barbecue, and it certainly doesn't hold a candle to the nominees with which it was listed. It won (?!), but I think that's due to a large Wicker Park readership who hasn't bothered to make the trek to any of the other nominees (Fat Willy's, Honey 1, Lem's, Smoque and Uncle John's).

Last week's feature was titled "Vs", and it claimed take Chicago "classics," make them go "head-to-head," and determine the outcome "in the ultimate citywide smackdown." What it really did, however, was pit apples against oranges, and then they closed their eyes and pointed to one, making for a read that left this reader saying "huh?" so many times, you'd have thought I was doing trigonometry. Spacca Napoli competed with Pizzeria Uno (for "Best place to eat a pie for dinner") and Goose Island Brew Pub (for "Most delicious homebrew"). I think it would have made more sense if Pizzeria Uno was against another Chicago-style pizzeria (some pizza experts don't even call that pizza!) or Spacca Napoli went head-to-head with Pizza D.O.C. (and you know how I feel about that). Likewise, Goose Island isn't really a "homebrew" because it distributes its beer. Comparing it with another local brewery (Two Brothers, perhaps?) would have made more sense.

I'm not about to cancel my subscription, because even with the annoying food coverage, I look forward to each new issue's arrival on Wednesdays. I do think that the "Eat Out" staff needs to take a week off, go to one of those spas the magazine raves about and do a little bit of reflection on the direction of their section––for at least as much time as I put into that last sentence.

— Meghan Murphy Gill / Comments (7)