Video Tue Nov 17 2009

Nostalgia: Urbis Orbis and the "Third Place."

Remember Urbis Orbis? The seminal Wicker Park coffeeshop and "third place" closed a little over a decade ago, but you can revisit it and its colorful staff and clientele through this short documentary just posted on YouTube.

(Thanks, Anna!)

— Andrew Huff / Comments (3)

Video Mon Oct 19 2009

Chicago Eats TV Debuts

Chicago Eats TV made its debut yesterday, promising to "deliver hot and fresh videos about some of the most unique places around." That's a tall order that's not really borne out by the first three episodes, which feature fREDHOTS in Glenview, Cans and Canteen in Bucktown, and three spots for hot wings -- Yak-Zies on Diversey, McGees Tavern and Jake Melnick's Corner Tap. Not exactly unique and undiscovered territory.

Hopefully they'll branch out into some truly interesting stuff, but in the meantime, I recommend visiting Sky Full of Bacon, which makes up for its infrequency with excellent depth. The recent two-part series on whitefish fishing on Lake Michigan

— Andrew Huff / Comments (0)

Video Wed Aug 26 2009

Set your TiVo for "Fresh Food or Factory Fodder?" on Can TV

Today at 4pm, CAN TV airs Ken Davis' interview with Terra Brockman, founder The Land Connection, a non-profit organization devoted to community-based food systems which incorporate sustainable, organic farming practices. Also featured are Chicago locals like Tom Melvin, longtime supporter of Angelic Organics CSA and Lyle Allen, Director of Green City Market.

— Christine Blumer / Comments (1)

Video Wed Aug 19 2009

Homaro Cantu Enjoys Being Disruptive

Keep your eye on this page, as well as the Moto chef's Twitter account, for clues as to what happens on, by my calculations, November 14. From the looks of things, we can expect a video aspect:

Might want to make a reservation for that night, just in case.

UPDATE: Cantu tells the Reader's Food Chain:

"A) that's just the tip of the iceberg
B) the iceberg is bigger than the tip"

— Andrew Huff / Comments (1)

Video Mon Apr 27 2009

Bayless on Global Warming

Chef Rick Bayless gets a little cheesy in this PSA about how you can help fight global warming. What is in that blender?

— Andrew Huff / Comments (2)

Video Fri Apr 17 2009

Burger Project on Cheeseburger Show

The Cheeseburger Show made its debut yesterday on CLTV, starring Tribune writer Kevin Pang and a cavalcade of Chicago food and cultural celebrities, from Q101 DJ Electra to chefs Homaro Cantu and Doug Sohn to "Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me" host Peter Sagal, all talking about one of America's favorite foods: the cheeseburger. Episode 1 is now available online.

The show immediately brought to mind the Chicago Burger Project, a long-running blog whose mission has been to try every burger (as well as fries and shakes) on Time Out Chicago's 2007 list of the city's best burgers. They've been plowing through as time and bellies allow, veering off-mission occasionally to try more recent additions to the burger scene. So I got in touch with one of the CBP co-founders, Nathaniel Grotte, for his thoughts on the Cheeseburger Show.

A couple of things I have to call out:

- Pang praised the "sharp tang" of American cheese at Top-Notch. The cheese is either sharp or American, but not both.

- Doug Sohn likes the burger at Jury's?! Whoa. OK. I know that place has fans, but I've been there more than a couple of times and am always disappointed by a . Maybe Doug is too exhausted by the high quality and brilliant execution he deals with at work that he prefers to relax with a slab of mediocrity.

- I assume that the (albeit unspoken) conceit of this show is that Kevin Pang's on a quest to find great burgers, which is what people always assume that the Chicago Burger Project is about, when, in fact, it's actually about making fun of Time Out Chicago. It's my belief that really good burgers make for kind of boring analyses, but bad ones can be very entertaining (see the "rollercoaster of flavor" at Riverview Tavern). It's my hope that Pang runs across some real duds and gives people hell about it, because that's good television.

Overall, though, Grotte enjoyed the first episode and said he'd tune in again. I agree -- it's fun and funny, and bound to stay interesting, especially if Pang's net is wide enough to cover some of the more colorful places in the suburbs as well as the city. Keep an eye on his progress by following the "burger yeti" on Twitter.

— Andrew Huff / Comments (4)

Video Thu Apr 16 2009

Jones' Goodass Barbecue and Foot Massage

Big Dog Eat Child, the sketch comedy troupe behind the viral video Jones' Big Ass Truck Rental & Storage, has come up with another business plan.

— Andrew Huff / Comments (0)

Drink Sun Mar 08 2009

U.S. Barista Championship

Mike Phillips, a barista at Intelligentsia's Broadway store and last year's Great Lakes Regional Barista Championship winner, is one of the six finalists in the U.S. Barista Championship. Three other finalists are from Intelligentsia's Los Angeles outpost, and another, Scott Lucey, is from Alterra Coffee in Milwaukee.

Wondering what goes on at a barista competition? The finals will be streaming live at the USBC website; they're scheduled to run from 2-4:30 Central time this afternoon, and the winner will be announced shortly thereafter.

UPDATE: Phillips is the winner! His final score was 730 points, besting second place Nick Griffith of Intelligentsia LA (719.5 points) and third place Scott Lucey of Alterra Coffee (697.5 points).

— Leah Williams / Comments (0)

News Thu Feb 26 2009

RIP James Ward

James Ward, former food critic for WLS-TV and the Sun-Times, passed away today after a long illness. From his Channel 7 bio:

Ward was restaurant critic and food columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, from 1978-1984. Prior to this, he was restaurant critic for the Chicago Daily News.

From 1969 to 1974, Ward served as editorial director for R.R. Donnelley & Sons in Chicago where he was responsible for producing travel and food magazines.

He began his career as a restaurant critic as editor and assistant publisher of Restaurants and Institutions, a food service industry trade magazine from 1960-1969.

Ward, a Chicago native, graduated from Loyola University, and holds a Master's degree in political history from the University of Chicago. He and his wife reside on the city's north side.

Ward was memorable for his often flamboyant delivery and purple prose, employed here in this review of Lindy's Chili (from early 2000s, judging from the website at the end) -- and his trademark red-rimmed glasses.

— Andrew Huff / Comments (2)

Video Mon Jan 05 2009

Sneak Peek: Obama on "Check Please!"

As mentioned previously, our future president taped an episode of "Check Please!" in August of 2001, reviewing Hyde Park's Dixie Kitchen. The show has released this teaser clip in advance of the Jan. 16 airing.

[via]

UPDATE: Here's a little more, courtesy of Hypertext:

— Andrew Huff / Comments (0)

Video Thu Jul 17 2008

Cooking with Coolio

If you've tired of the perk, precision and competition in the world of televised cooking, head to MyDamnChannel to watch Cooking with Coolio. The rapper will "teach your a-- to cook," everything from a Caprese salad (in case your girlfriend is "one of them salad eatin' bitches") to sauteed spinach even a kid will love to a whole turkey (dropped like it's hot into a deep fryer). He keeps his spices in dime bags, wears sunglasses while he cooks and yells, "Bring your a-- to the table" when the food is ready. He's just what the bland world of food TV needed.

— Lori Barrett / Comments (3)

Drink Wed Apr 09 2008

Beer Nutz: Chicago Edition

Though the show itself is somewhat annoying, Chicago beer enthusiasts may enjoy this episode of Beer Nutz. The duo visits the Map Room, Goose Island, Piece, the Siebel Institute, Harry Caray's, Sheffield's, and Rock Bottom.

The excellent Randy Mosher becomes their unofficial tour guide and is eventually rated the biggest "beer nut" in Chicago. The Chicago Beer Society also receives some attention.

— Gemma Petrie / Comments (1)

Store Fri Nov 09 2007

Takoyaki at Mitsuwa

LTHForum moderator Cathy2 captured the art and process of making takoyaki, or octopus balls, at Mitsuwa in Arlington Heights this past weekend. The takoyaki were part of Mitsuwa's anniversary sale, which runs through Nov. 19; not sure whether the octopus balls will last that long.

— Andrew Huff / Comments (1)