Entries tagged with 'Illinois'
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[Photograph: Michael Nagrant] Call me the Fergus Henderson of food writers or the Chris Cosentino of culinary scribes—I'm mad about offal. But it wasn't always so. As the first generation son of a close-knit Polish family, I regularly turned my nose up at the ubiquitous Czernina (duck blood soup), head cheese, and various tripe at our holiday celebrations. Having the stuff around so much eventually took the fear factor out of such foods, and I started to experiment to the point where I'm now only a few tarantula nugget bites away from transforming into Bizarre Foods host Andrew Zimmern. As such, I'm always on the lookout for a good deal on organ meats, and with the opening of Folklore in...
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"I don't need much in my life, just a 100% all-beef natural casing Vienna Beef hot dog with freshly fried French fries." [Photographs: Nick Kindelsperger] 35th Street Red Hots 500 W 35th Street, Chicago IL 60609 (map) The Short Order: Bare bones hot dog stand serving minimalist dogs with handfuls of handmade fries. Want Fries with That? The nearly perfect fries come lovingly heaped onto every dog. Want Ketchup? Come on. Not on these fries. Some things you just have to learn for yourself. During the swing of baseball season, I originally attempted to write about the best dining options of Chicago's two great baseball parks, Wrigley Field and U.S. Cellular. But as fellow Serious Eater Michael Nagrant pointed out...
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"If any attendees walked out of Baconfest disappointed, 100% of the blame falls on their defective palates." Inside-out pig in a blanket from David Burke's Primehouse. [Photographs: Daniel Zemans] You never know when inspiration is going to hit. For Michael Griggs and Andre Pluess, it came early this year after seeing the Neo-Futurists perform Beer, a puppet-filled musical about the visions of a ten-year-old boy who gets drunk after sneaking into a brewery. The play left Michael and Andre wondering what they loved as much as the playwright loved beer. Before long, they had their muse: Bacon. Once that realization hit, the wheels started turning and they decided to plan a huge tribute to bacon. Late that night, they called...
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"You know it's October when the pumpkins outnumber the tomatoes." [Photographs: Nick Kindelsperger] I arrived at the Green City Market in Lincoln Park on a truly miserable morning. The infamous winds of Chicago were howling off the lake and biting me through my terribly thin hoodie. With my arms folded over, I made my way through the market, wishing I had worn a coat. The first person I talked to about vegetables just broke into laughter. She would have felt sorry for me, she explained, if I wasn't so irresponsible. How did it end so quickly? Though Green City Market runs all year-round, after October it retreats in to an indoor location. I don't blame them. Though they can still...
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"If I've got one gripe with Chicago, it's that there aren't enough food carts." [Photographs: Nick Kindelsperger] Iyanzé Truck North Park Drive between East Illinois Street and East North Water Street, Chicago IL 60611 (map); 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday The Short Order: West African truck serving insanely spicy stews. Want Fries with That? No fries, but make sure to get the intense jollof rice. Want Ketchup? Your tongue will be too stunned. If I've got one gripe with Chicago, it's that there aren't enough food carts. We are way behind New York and Los Angeles—and we're not into that tweeting food cart madness either. The ones we do have tend to be hard to find and...
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[Photograph: Michael Nagrant] Though we are surrounded by the azure majesty of Lake Michigan, Chicago is generally not a seafood kind of town. Fed-Ex and dry ice have done wonders for the scene, but it's still pretty rare to find great oysters here. Even all the upscale spots around town that have raw bars are wildly inconsistent. Still, anticipating a recent road trip to New Orleans, I couldn't get the idea of raw oysters out of my head and I wanted to do a little pre-trip eating. But, where to go? I settled on the Coq D'Or in the Drake Hotel on the Magnificent Mile. It's the sister lounge to Drake's famous Cape Cod Room where Jack Benny, Marilyn Monroe,...
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[Artwork: Hawk Krall] This week we take a look at one of the country's most beloved regional hot dogs, the classic Chicago Dog. A few weeks ago we delved into Chicago's lesser-known minimalist style, the Depression Dog. But today it's all about the classic dragged-through-the-garden jumbo beef frank on a poppy seed bun, topped with pickles, sport peppers, tomatoes, neon green relish, bright yellow mustard and celery salt. It's really almost more of a weiner hoagie than a hot dog. For the Chicago dog novice, the sheer amount of stuff on this hot dog stands out first. It's visually awesome but depending on the size of the veggies, it can be quite a challenge to eat. It's really almost...
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[Photographs: Nick Kindelsperger] Roma's Italian Beef & Sausage 4237 N. Cicero Avenue, Chicago IL 60641 (map); 773-725-5715 The Short Order: Perfectly executed Italian beef and Italian sausage combo. Want Fries with That? Fries are standard. Want Ketchup? Maybe for the bland fries. Roma's Italian Beef & Sausage is, shall we say, a tad unassuming. Without the pomp of Susie's Drive Thru or the sass of Al's Italian Beef, it's easy to quietly drive by this stand along Cicero Avenue on the northwest side of Chicago and not think too much about it. Italian beef and hot dogs stands are a dime a dozen in this city and initially Roma's doesn't seem like its doing much to try and differentiate...
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"I guess Doug believes about hot dogs what Robert Frost wrote about fences. Good hot dogs make good neighbors." [Photographs: Robyn Lee] Since Robyn had never been to Chicago before our recent visit, I decided she had to experience the deservedly much heralded Hot Doug's, the self-described encased meats emporium and sausage superstore. When we arrived, already at least partly sated and fortified by the serious barbecue we practically inhaled at Honey1 BBQ, the line was already past the church that is two doors down from Hot Doug's. I've always found the outside line at Hot Doug's to be an integral part of the Hot Doug's experience (especially on Fridays and Saturdays when Doug Sohn serves his duck fat fries)....
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[Photographs: Nick Kindelsperger] Hagen's Fish Market 5635 W. Montrose Avenue, Chicago IL 60634 (map); 773-283-1944 The Short Order: Fresh seafood, whether freshly fried or gorgeously smoked. Want Fries with That? Of the fried options, the fries don't really stand out. Want Ketchup? Nope, just their zippy tartar sauce. During my visit at Hagen's Fish Market, a man walked in with a rather large trash bag full of fish. He casually tossed in on the scale, said he'd like it smoked, and then walked away. This may seem a little odd for just an average fish market—but Hagen's isn't a traditional fish market. Sure, they sell fish, but they're really good at cooking it too. That's precisely why I, and...
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