Lard may not be the ingredient you add to every meal you make, but it does have its uses. And Cesar Torres had a hard time finding some. So once he did, at Paulina Meat Market he created this little video where he asks the butcher (who sold me some great veal sweetbreads a few months ago) where it comes from.
— Cinnamon Cooper / Comments (0)
Chicago ex-pat Naz suggested I check out Foodzie. He described it as "Etsy for food" so I dove right in. And it seems young, but it holds promise. So whether you like jam, snacks, dried or cured meat, coffee, or even produce you're in luck. And, thankfully, you can even search by locality. There are just a few Chicago area vendors currently, but the Creme de la Crimini Sauce by Coupla Guys sounds like something I'd buy on name alone. And these Damn Good Cookies made by Chocolate Gourmet look, well, damned good.
— Cinnamon Cooper / Comments (0)
A sea of white tents garnished with small purple flags were offset by the curved beams and metal sheets of Frank Gehry's structure at the Pritzker Pavilion, infusing the atmosphere of the event with the essence of Medieval Times meets "Star Trek: Next Generation." From my station under the Green City Market tent, my fellow volunteers and I dispensed sample-sized servings of gazpacho made from locally grown ingredients and encouraged patrons to bid on silent auction items whose proceeds will benefit the market, a 10-year-old institution that promotes local and sustainable farmers and producers.
— J.H. Palmer / Comments (0)
When I first heard about Taste of Chicago many years ago, I envisioned it as big block party where you could just meander from fancy restaurant to restaurant and sample their best dishes. Probably on tiny forks. And that it would all be free. Obviously, neither the real Taste or its younger, more upscale cousin Chicago Gourmet quite achieve that dream. But in its second year, Chicago Gourmet seems to better evoke the feeling of that festival in my head than the Taste has ever managed. With an improved lay-out and better selection of food (even though drink was still more heavily represented), the Pritzker Pavilion was transformed into an open pasture for gourmet grazing, from the tone set by the complimentary wine glass at the door to the security check for pilfered booze on the way out.
More thoughts on this year's event after the jump.
— Andie Thomalla / Comments (2)
I literally skipped with glee between my bus stop and Patel Brothers, 2610 W. Devon Ave., this evening after work because I heard that there would be cases filled glorious, individually protected and delicious Alphonse Mangoes. Yep, even though it was only 40 degrees and it was raining, as far as I'm concerned it is officially spring because my personal heaven-with-a-pit has landed stateside.
This isn't the first time that I've written about Indian mangoes and what an amazing joy they are to eat. I was worried that I may not get to experience the fresh mango this year due to a possible low yield. But thankfully there are at least some making it to the States, and they're $25 for a case of a dozen mangoes. Two years ago it was $36 a case and last year I paid $30.66 a case. And yes, a box of mangoes from Mexico will set you you back $6, but trust me when I say these mangoes are at least four times as tasty as the Mexican and Filipino varieties that can be found year-round.
— Cinnamon Cooper / Comments (3)
Michael Nagrant, Chicago food writer and the editor of Hungry Mag, has an article in today's Sun-Times about how fantastic cast-iron skillets are. I also have much love for cast-iron skillets and Michael called me to get verification of something I'd written in that post.
Michael's love letter, written shortly before Valentine's Day even, to cast iron skillets is a great read. But the gist of the story is that cast-iron skillets are awesome and a great value for your money and indestructible. Literally, indestructible. Those fancy-pants pans? Not so much. If you purchase new, you're likely to buy a piece of Lodge cookware and you're just as likely to find it at the hardware store as you are at a cookware store on Michigan Avenue.
And apparently cast-iron isn't just for making food, you can make music with it, too. Dance music. He kindly sent on this tidbit of information that didn't fit in the Sun-Times article:
"Not everyone uses their cast iron for cooking, at least not exclusively. Local professional chef and percussionist [and Drive-Thru contributor] Alan Lake makes music with his. In 1986 while working as a sous chef at the East Bank Club, lake got a call from Pat Leonard, a boyhood friend who'd scored a gig as a music producer. Leonard told Lake to pack up his equipment and move out to LA to be part of his recording band. Part of Lake's "equipment" was a set of cast iron pans. Lake says, "Back then you couldn't just buy samples, so we had to make our own. I hung my skillets from s-hooks, rolled rubber bands around chopsticks to make drumsticks and played them like steel drums. Though they're not tuned, they (the pans) have different pitches by virtue of their size." These weren't just any samples though. Lake says, "You can hear those samples all over (Madonna's) La Isla Bonita and Papa Don't Preach and (Ferry's) Bette Noir album."
— Cinnamon Cooper / Comments (1)
Despite the cloudy sky, Sunday at the Millennium Park was a lively scene. (Possibly even more so than Saturday, which was blessed with a beautiful blue sky--but this may be because of the different times of the day I was there on these two days.) Here, I'm showcasing some of the mouthwatering nibbles offered at the Chicago Gourmet's "Chef's Tasting" tables on Sunday.
The big tent of the Chicago Cooking and Hospitality Institute's Cordon Bleu program seemed to be always bustling with people looking for the culinary students' reliably tasty French nibbles, even when other tents were a bit on the empty side. Here, a silver tray full of ratatouille-stuffed new potatoes are offered to visitors who braved the early morning hours. (11 AM on a Sunday is early morning, right?)
— Yu Kizawa / Comments (0)
Oh, Alpana, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways... Riesling, cabernet sauvignon, pinot gris, viognier... That's at least four, right? Throw in that musical laugh and adorable stories about hanging with Argentinian wine magnate Ernesto Catena in his maze-shaped vineyard with sommeliers-cum-belly dancers. (Whoa.) Even if you're not an avowed Alpana Singh fan, you have to admit the woman knows her wines, and was sharing her knowledge for the benefit of the city's BYOB diners at Chicago Gourmet this past weekend. Focusing more on the bounty of available ethnic cuisine the city offers rather than individual restaurants, the pairing of six wines with six neighborhood styles was a great introduction to thougtful BYOB shopping. Rather than picking up some two-buck Chuck or "whatever Trader Joe's has with a cute animal label," Alpana suggested springing occasionally for a $20 bottle of wine at the supermarket, especially since the restaurant mark-up of the same wine would put it closer to $70. All the advice and a few more delightful anecdotes below the fold.
— Andie Thomalla / Comments (1)
In the same way that one shouldn't order fish on a Monday, showing up for the last couple of hours of Chicago Gourmet meant that I missed out on the bustle and excitement that the other GB writers experienced during their trips to the weekend event--no rubbing elbows with Bayless, no moments with sake masters--and I kind of wanted it that way. Could a high-end culinary event fill out three days' worth of festivities?
— Robyn Nisi / Comments (0)
How many of you have hosted a wine and cheese party? How about a beer and cheese party? If it were up to Greg Hall, the latter would be a lot more common. As the brewmaster for the Goose Island Brewing Company, there is little doubt that Hall knows his beer, but he has also been involved with the American Cheese Society. The Chicago Gourmet seminar Hall hosted offered four Goose Island beers paired with three cheeses and one chocolate:
— Gemma Petrie / Comments (2)
No festival is complete anymore without some kid-friendly programming, and that includes Chicago Gourmet, which had a grassy stretch with two performance areas, a smattering of convenience (albeit organic convenience) foods and some really friendly vendors--all hiding out behind the Pritzker Pavilion. I visited the Whole Foods Market Family Village with my 11-year-old son, Henry, who loves to try new foods and has strong convictions about what he'll eat (the most expensive thing on the menu) and what he won't eat (anything that ever breathed).
— Lori Barrett / Comments (1)
I think I'm a little more easily star-struck than I'd like to admit, but there's something exciting about seeing some of the culinary world's brightest local stars in the flesh, in natural lighting...handing you a big plate of spicy steak stew. Thanks, Rick! The celebrity status many chefs have attained in recent years seems at odds with a profession where most of the action is behind the scenes (or at least, behind some sort of warming-plate barrier) and has garnered its fair share of skepticism -- not dissimilar from the criticism that plagues any sense of celebrity today, really. Although, in lionizing the artists and craftsmen who not only create beautiful, thoughtful and culturally rich works which we cannot only see or hear or feel, but also touch and taste and smell, perhaps our adoration is not is as misplaced as critics would have us believe.
I've eaten at Hot Chocolate regularly over the years, and still got geeked out at the idea of meeting Mindy Segal (she wasn't at the Chef Tasting Table, sadly, when I rolled in for some lovely, malty chocolate milk that was rich without leaving me with a sandy-feeling mouth. Ah well). I've had one wonderful meal at Frontera Grill and watched "Mexico One Plate at a Time" many lazy Sunday afternoons, and seeing Rick Bayless in person still made me smile. It's comforting to see these chefs, familiar to many of us only by name or media image, actually dishing out their creations, dealing with the splatter of sauce, and wiping away the sweat of chafing dish warmth and a surprisingly hot sun. And it's encouraging to see the reactions on the faces of real people enjoying food that perhaps we've only experience before in the pages of a cookbook or through a close-up on TV. More local legends and musings after the fold.
— Andie Thomalla / Comments (0)
When I think of Las Vegas, words like repulsive excess and unnecessary waste spring to mind. That's why I was pleasantly surprised by Rick Moonen's Chicago Gourmet seminar on selecting fish the sustainable way.
Moonen, considered one of the nation's top seafood chefs, owns RM Seafood at Sin City's Mandalay Place, a 200-seat restaurant designed to look like "a swank cruise ship," according to the Web site. The chatty, energetic chef knows how to put on the ritz, but it's clear from listening to him that his twin passions are protecting endangered seafood species, while helping home cooks get comfortable with preparing fish.
"Everything we cook has an odor, but do you ever hear someone say, 'Eeew, it smells beef-y in here?' No!" he said, alluding to one of the reasons people often cite for not cooking fish at home.
At his lecture at Chicago Gourmet, the chef focused less on cooking and more on educating. Moonen is a regular visitor to Web sites like Seafoodwatch.org, which "raises consumer awareness about the importance of buying seafood from sustainable sources." The site regularly updates a list of fish that are the worst and best choices for consumers who want to buy "green."
— Mandy Burrell Booth / Comments (0)
"I heard they ran out, so I brought my own plate. I'm f*cking prepared." -- Woman in line at Fox & Obel booth
"That girl was here at 11am sharp and was already kind of tipsy. And now she's falling down."
"Oh, I saw her earlier too. She told me how much she prefers New York to Chicago."
"Do you know her?"
"No." -- Exchange at the Foss Marai prosecco booth
"Well, my husband's kind of doughy, and they're a doughy couple, and that's just a lot of dough." -- Woman near the Bin 36 cheese and wine booth
"Tell me this one. Is this your sake?" -- Man at the SakeOne booth, immediately before dunking his entire glass into the spittoon
"I wish I had a purse." -- Man near entrance
"People are always asking me what wine goes best with Indian foods, and I'm like, why do you have to ask me that? What?" -- Alpana Singh
— Andie Thomalla / Comments (0)
So... what were the numbers at Chicago Gourmet? The official attendance hasn't been announced, so there's only what I saw today. (Update: At 9:42 PM, just seconds after I posted this entry, there came an email titled "Chicago Gourmet Exceeds Expectations with More than 3,000 Visitors the First Day." According to the Illinois Restaurant Association, which sponsors the event, "the number of visitors to Chicago Gourmet exceeded expectations for the Grand Tastings Main Event. Seminars with world-renowned chefs and Master Sommeliers filled many rooms and the Grand Cru wine tasting sold out." Cool.)
It wasn't necessarily a huge crowd, that's for sure. Between the hefty entry fee, the sluggish economy and the fact that it's the inaugural year, the perfect weather on Saturday didn't seem to be enough to bring out a Taste-of-Chicago-sized crowd to its rarefied cousin. It is not to say, though, that Millennium Park was deserted. There was a big enough crowd that the lawn under the latticework of the Pritzker Pavilion felt lively. And it would probably be a mistake to assume that Daley & Co. are looking for an attendance comparable to that of Taste of Chicago. At any rate, these are two solid numbers that I captured today:
A volunteer for the Chicago Gourmet arranged 53 wine glasses for the arriving guests in the entrance area, set up on the east side of the Bean on Saturday.
38 people lined up for chef's tasting at the Chicago Gourmet on Saturday. As to how many minutes they had to wait for their nibbles, there are conflicting reports. (Not really.)
— Yu Kizawa / Comments (0)
When Andrew (chief of Gapers Block clan) managed to secure press passes to the Chiago Gourmet for us, I immediately wanted to cover a seminar on sake. Normally, it would be $60 to attend (on top of the already hefty $150 day pass, I believe), which is a bit out of my budget. I was curious to see how sake is presented and received, given the recent surge of interest in sake in the Untied States. On top of that, as a relative newcomer to the world of sake myself, I was eager to try new varieties and listen to a sake expert describe their aromas and flavors. So I jumped to the opportunity.
After picking up the press pass and walking past a glassed-in seminar room with maybe eight people listening to a suit-and-tied presenter from an exotic winery, I sat down by the grand staircase on the first floor of the Cultural Center. I was a few minutes early. When I was checking the setting of my camera when I noticed a middle-aged, Eastern Asian guy sit next to me. I didn't think much of that; I just thought he was a tired visitor taking a break for a moment.
The man turned out to be the chef Takashi Yagihashi of Takashi, the seminar's presenter. As he walked up to the front of the seminar room, I kicked myself for not looking at him closely enough--I could have talked to him about the Chicago Gourmet and about sake without anyone milling around for their turn to speak to him. There were probably about 30 people in the room for the seminar. Some wore press passes, while others were paying guests (with occasional flashes of ritzy jewelry). It was interesting to see the sake seminar much better attended than the preceding seminar on wine--although, to be fair, there are more than fifteen wine seminars to choose from, whereas on sake there is only one.
Yagihashi's sake cup collection, along with his Starbucks cup, made an eclectic tableau at the Sake for Everyday seminar.
Yagihashi started with a little biography of himself -- growing up in Mito as a grandson of a sake retailer, moving to the U.S., working his way up in prestigious restaurants, and opening his own in Bucktown -- and moved on to the brewing process of sake. Within a few minutes, everybody was intently listening to his charming and informative talk with occasional self-depricating humor (which reminded me of Japan so much!).
For the tasting part, there was generous pouring of one sake from each of the major sake category. A guy from Yagihashi's distributor joined and gave us a lively commentary on each sake. From the "Junmai" category, which uses rice grains polished at least to the 70% of their original size, we tried "Hitorimusume" from Yamanaka Brewery in the chef's hometown (link in Japanese). To my palate, it tasted a little harsh and alcoholic, although, after listening to Yagihashi describe it as "neutral and good with food," I could see it that way, too.
— Yu Kizawa / Comments (0)
I attended last night's Chicago Gourmet Opening Night Gala, along with many of the city's star chefs, chefs from Chicago's sister cities (who presented signature dishes from each of their countries), VIP guests and a whole lot of media. Mayor Daley was on hand for nearly an hour's worth of photo opps before servers began coming around with small apps and Champagne.
I talked for a bit with Chef Carrie Nahabedian, who marveled at the festival's good luck with the weather and expressed her excitement for the weekend. "With the caliber of restaurants here and the wineries involved, it's a great opportunity ... we're very optimistic."
When asked what she thought of the cost of the event (as Chicagoist's Chuck Sudo pointed out, the $150 per day / $250 for the weekend ticket price is only the beginning), Nahabedian acknowledged that it might keep some people away. "Certainly some people will see the price point and say 'this isn't for me,' but the there are others who will see it as a value." She felt that access to the number of restaurants, chefs and more than 200 wineries weighed favorably compared to the price.
Shortly thereafter, Chef Norm Van Aken -- once head of the kitchen at Lake Forest's Sinclair's and under whom Nahabedian, Charlie Trotter and Suzy Crofton once worked -- came over to say hi. The pair reminisced briefly about that era and talked a little shop before greeting Chef Rich Naglich, president of the ACF Chicago Chefs de Cuisine. The group broke in two as Naglich engaged two reporters and a Host Committe member came up to pull Nahabedian away.
Such was the nature of the evening -- the ebb and flow of an excellent cocktail party where a good portion of the attendees just happen to be expert chefs or reporters. I spotted Billy Dec wander past Bill Kurtis, the night's emcee, while members of the Terlato family talked about wine with attendees near the central bar. If the Illinois Restaurant Association has done its job, that comfortable yet stylish will be the tone for the weekend.
One oddity: Dunkin Donuts had a booth serving hot and cold lattes and giving away free packets of dark roast coffee grounds. Amongst all that luxury, it was unexpected -- although I did appreciate the pick-me-up.
Photos from the Opening Night Gala after the jump.
— Andrew Huff / Comments (0)
Chicago Gourmet, the city's new high-end food and wine festival, kicks off tonight in Millennium Park and runs through Sunday. The Drive-Thru staff will be there, covering the festival from as many angles as we can. Watch for posts featuring that image up there, and follow along with posts in the Chicago Gourmet category!
— Andrew Huff / Comments (0)
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