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Roger Kamholz

Roger Kamholz

Contributor

Growing up in New York, Roger was exposed to awesome eats from an early age. He moved to Chicago for school but stayed for the food.

Roger got his start writing about Chicago bars and restaurants for Chicagoist. Now you can follow Roger as he rips a path through his city's food- and drinkscape with his Serious Eats: Chicago columns Knockout Noodles and The Vegetarian Option, and through his coverage of the local cocktail scene for Serious Drinks.


  • Website
  • Location: Chicago, Illinois
  • Favorite foods: Got a minute? Ramen, oysters, apple pie, turkey clubs, mezcal, pretty much all cheeses, pretzels (soft and hard), club soda, Twix and Rolos (tied), masala dosa, coffee, pizza (N.Y.-style), bourbon, Brussels sprouts, and salt & vinegar chips. Better stop there before this gets weirdly long.
  • Last bite on earth: A filet from Palm Too in New York....which is probably what will do him in.

Knockout Noodles: Cha Soba at Ai Japanese Restaurant & Lounge

This bowl of delicate noodles and gossamer broth compels you to tune in, to listen closely to the hushed harmony. Ai's cha soba noodles betray subtle hints of that unmistakable profile of green tea—maltiness and minerality; steamed green beans and crushed nuts—against a finely textured wheat backbone. And unlike what you might want out of a bowl of, say, tonkotsu ramen, the kombu broth accompanying Ai's cha soba was light and restrained—perfectly content to play backup to the tender noodles and crisp veg. More

The Vegetarian Option: Farmhouse

I figured I had uncovered another one of Chicago's unlikeliest veggie-friendly destinations. Farmhouse touts itself as a "farm to tavern" restaurant, celebrating the bounty of the Midwest through a long list of local farmers and purveyors. But what arrived on the plate didn't feel like it measured up to the billing. More

Knockout Noodles: Telegraph

Lit by gourd-sized Edison bulbs and outfitted in dark, distressed woods, Telegraph certainly feels of a piece with the owners' other Chicago dining and drinking destinations, Webster's Wine Bar and The Bluebird. I dig the vibe this trio is putting out: airy, relaxed, youthful, and unvarnished, but all the while serious about their beverages. And judging by the pastas I tried, Telegraph's culinary bona fides are deliciously on par with its liquid cred. More

The Vegetarian Option: Taxim

At one point during my meal at Taxim, there were four fetas on the table. An impromptu taste test suggested that among the portions of salty, crumbly cheese within arm's reach (crowning four different vegetarian Taxim dishes), at least two distinct varieties were represented—and both were delicious in their own way. Any place that traffics in Greek cheeses this good, and takes the extra step of parsing between different styles of fetas to complement specific dishes, is my kind of place. More

Knockout Noodles: Laotian Curry Noodles at Anna's Asian Bistro

Anna's kitchen is operated by mother-daughter team who ventured off on their own after leaving Thalia Spice. The West Loop space has its more elegant touches, like velvety banquettes with soft pillows, but also more casual leanings, such as butcher paper lining the tabletops. From the extensive selection of of options, I went with the Laotian curry noodle ($9.95), off the list of "signature" dishes. More

The Vegetarian Option: Native Foods Café

Can one restaurant successfully serve up Greek, Asian, and Italian flavors, just to name a few of Native Foods's points of culinary reference? And, maybe even more importantly, can it deliver authentic, honest, and ultimately delicious flavors via its proprietary line of fake meats? More

Knockout Noodles: Japchae at Tozi

I only met japchae a few days back, but it was love at first sight. We crossed paths at the five-month-old Korean BBQ restaurant Tozi. Crossed paths? Who am I kidding! I had been trying to orchestrate a meeting for a while now and recently learned that japchae was a regular there. More

8 Octopus Dishes We Love in Chicago

A splendid plate of octopus takes some doing. Cook it too long, and it dries out; don't cook it long enough, and octopus can be as forgiving as the sole of a dress shoe. But restaurants are taking an array of thoughtful approaches right now to serving up the cephalopod. Some opt to cook it sous vide, then finish it on the grill to order, leaving the texture pleasantly pliant and the flavor slightly flamed-kissed; others grill it and chill it, allowing octopus's natural chewiness to come through on the plate. Check out the slideshow of eight octopus dishes we love in Chicago. More

The Vegetarian Option: The Publican

I won't go so far as to say that the Publican provides enough meatless dishes to make a big meal for the vegetarian diner. It's just not that kind of place. But I'd argue that it's worth a visit, say for a beer and a few plates, when you're hunting more for flavor than fulfillment. More

Knockout Noodles: Davanti Enoteca

A precious few pasta dishes grace the menu at Davanti Enoteca, restaurateur Scott Harris's rustically appointed wine bar and shared-plates Italian restaurant. I couldn't help but take this relative dearth of noodle options as a sign of the kitchen's confidence; if pasta is the measure of a good Italian food, then these chefs have chosen to hang their toques on a pretty narrow hook. More

First Look: All the Gin Drinks at Scofflaw in Chicago

An impressive collection of gins, easily surpassing 40 bottles, decorates Scofflaw's richly painted antique bar. Practically every variety of gin is represented, from London drys, Old Toms, and Dutch genevers, to the loosely defined but growing category of American gins. "Our bar program's inspiration comes from our love of gin," Shapiro says, "and the resurgence is a telling sign that the time is right." More

The Vegetarian Option: New Tokyo

Vegetarian sushi doesn't begin and end with the cucumber roll. Take the menu at New Tokyo, where there are no less than nine varieties of meatless, seafood-free sushi rolls. Not only is New Tokyo more accommodating toward vegetarian diners than most sushi joints I've been to in Chicago, the humble little Lakeview BYOB eschews the overblown theatrics common to more upscale Japanese restaurants. More

Knockout Noodles: Urbanbelly

Spaghetti with meat sauce, you are now under chef Bill Kim's control. Urbanbelly serves a rare but recurring special noodle bowl that, according to the counter staff on the day of my visit, surfaces about three times a year for a roughly month-long engagement: udon noodles, Asian bolognese, Tasso ham, mushrooms, and bok choy ($13). More

Behind the Scenes at the F.E.W. Spirits Distillery in Evanston, IL

Nearly 80 years after Prohibition's end, American-made spirits are in the midst of a comeback. And among this new crop of upstart, independent distilleries, F.E.W. Spirits, located down an alleyway in Evanston, Illinois, surely takes the prize as the storybook example of the movement. The irony of its existence, much like F.E.W.'s lovingly handmade hooch, is quite delicious. More

Knockout Noodles: Cafe Bionda

Nestled along the borderlands between the South Loop and Chinatown, Cafe Bionda serves a menu of comforting and familiar Italian fare. Butcher paper covers the tabletops in the cozy dining room, which lies adjacent to the dark-wood bar that greets you on your way in. More

Knockout Noodles: Whole Wheat Pasta from Scratch with Nellcôte's Jared Van Camp

Chef Jared Van Camp and his kitchen staff at Nellcôte make pasta noodles with personality. The noodles are made fresh, entirely in-house, and from scratch, starting from whole grain wheat obtained locally from a farm in Ottawa, Illinois. I met with Van Camp recently to see what's involved in the pasta program at the cavernous West Loop restaurant. More

Knockout Noodles: Sun Wah BBQ

It was with a conflicted heart that I made my (wildly overdue) inaugural visit to Sun Wah BBQ recently with the express intent to eat noodles. Would it be laughably misguided of me to finally hit up such a well-known haven of grilled meats and subsist solely on its slurpables? Turns out, it's not the crippling dilemma I thought it'd be. More

Knockout Noodles: Spoon Thai

Spoon Thai's slogan—"Fabulous Noodle Dishes!"—may as well have been a tractor beam. But you'll have to look on the restaurant's "secret menu," which an intrepid non-Thai diner went to the trouble of translating a few years back. Among these items the restaurant once assumed to be too intense, pungent, and spicy for the American palate are a handful of noodle dishes. More

The Vegetarian Option: Udupi Palace

Udupi Palace serves a completely meatless menu, so the vegetarian diner has free rein to explore. That said, avoid over-ordering appetizers—not that the vegetable samosa, pakora, and vada at Udupi aren't tasty, you just run the risk of filling up on these fried, carb-laden items before making it to the main event, which for me is the delicious selection of curries. More

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