Posted by Michael Nagrant, September 20, 2007 at 12:00 PM
Ed Levine made ethnic and cheap eats safe for America, or at least New Yorkers, anyway. In some ways, his seminal work, New York Eats, put pastrami and pizza on the same table as foie and truffles. It's precisely why I've been excited to contribute to this site, as my personal philosophy is that haute cuisine and the antiquated starred review system panders to people who are more likely to equate the cost of a meal with the quality of a meal, the same people who shove food in their mouth but never taste it, the folks rocking mediocre Cristal because that's what Jay Z clued them in to. I believe that the Italian beef sandwich should be as vaunted as a Waygu beef, and that's why I'm here. So in the vein of Mr. Levine, I've put together a short primer below on some of Chicago's truly best and relatively cheap ethnic joints that are as relevant as our four-star palaces like Alinea and Charlie Trotter's.
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Posted by Lia Bulaong, April 3, 2007 at 12:27 PM
If you like Thai food, you've probably had Tom Yum before, the nourishing hot and sour soup with lemongrass that's one of the staples of Thai cuisine. Tigerfish has a simple but great recipe for Tom Yum Fried Rice, a one-dish meal that can serve four or make for delicious leftovers.
Posted by Lia Bulaong, February 21, 2007 at 8:26 AM
The Philadelphia Inquirer's Marilyn Marter, on a favorite comfort food: "The first choice to satisfy - and to comfort and cure cold weather ills - is a steaming bowl of chicken soup. And that is not just in America, but in most of the world." If you're feeling adventurous, she includes two recipes for bases as well as four different chicken soup recipes: Guatemalan Ginger Chicken Soup, Thai Chicken, Galangal and Coriander Soup, Pennsylvania Dutch Style Chicken Corn Soup and Italian Wedding Soup.
Posted by Lia Bulaong, February 15, 2007 at 5:29 PM
If you enjoyed Austin Bush's post on how to eat Thai food that I linked to a few days ago, you'll probably also like his new post on how to read and pronounce a Thai menu: "Thai is a picky language, and a misdirected tone, a shortened vowel or improperly articulated consonant can mean the difference between a hot meal and yet another bag of "Thai Basil" chips at 7-11. And not only are Thai words hard to pronounce, but,there is no commonly accepted method of transliteration from Thai to English, so a dish you saw spelled one way on a menu last week, could very well be spelled differently in the next place. To help you understand and make yourself understood, I've put together a basic guide to Thai pronunciation and transliteration."
Posted by Lia Bulaong, February 13, 2007 at 10:05 AM
"Eating Thai food with non-Thais always reminds me how different our eating habits are. Although you're probably not going to offend anybody by holding your spoon the wrong way or taking to much yam wun sen, understanding how Thai people eat will undoubtedly smooth your way and maybe even provide a greater understanding of the food and people. And chicks love it. So here are a few tips on how to eat like the Thais do." Austin Bush lives in Bangkok, so he should know. Tips one through three transfer exactly to most other Asian cuisines that I can think of, so it's well worth a read even if Thai food isn't your favorite.
Posted by Lia Bulaong, January 29, 2007 at 1:15 PM
Chez Pim's Pad Thai for Beginners: "I could easily write a very short description and make everything looks and sounds easy -but that means I'd be leaving you to figure out the details on your own. Or I could explain every step of the way so that you understand what goes into a Pad Thai and what distinguishes a great one from the usual blah. The piece might look a little intimidating, but I think it will in fact be easier than any easy-looking recipe. And, I promise you, if you read through the entire thing, you'll never have to look at another Pad Thai recipe."
