Posts for September 21, 2012

Meet the Woman Who Tracks Down Your Old Favorite Recipes, Saturday at Kendall

Canasta cake.

Everybody has one— a recipe that you grew up eating, either at home or at one of the first restaurants that really made an impact on you. But the years pass and you wonder, what was the secret behind Canasta Cake or Jimmy Wong's Walnut Chicken? Chicago-based writer Monica Kass Rogers tackled a few of these recipes with a column called Lost Recipes Found a few years ago in the Tribune— and it blossomed into a site of the same name with over 1000 requests, many of which have been solved on the site with the help of old cookbooks or fellow readers, in such categories as Gone But Not Forgotten (for long-shuttered restaurants) and State Fair Fun. On Saturday, Rogers will talk about people's old favorites and the process of tracking them down at Chicago Foodways Roundtable at Kendall College at 900 N. Branch Street; the talk is at 10 am, admission is $3, and to reserve your spot, email chicago.foodways.roundtable@gmail.com.

Vettel Tickled By Pickle Tots at Trenchermen; Nagrant Takes Road to Morocco at Shokran

Pickle tots at The Trenchermen.Photo: Galdones Photography

The Trenchermen is so cutting-edge it tickles Phil Vettel into one of his most animated recent reviews. To wit: "Chicago's Greektown supplied the inspiration for the scallops dish, though the Sheerins turn the influence inside out. The supporting avgolemono sauce is thickened by oysters, and the bottarga sprinkled on top consists of dehydrated cured egg. Thus there is seafood, but no eggs, in the egg-lemon sauce, and eggs, but no seafood, in the fish-roe accent." He pretty much loves the Jules Verne look and the playful cuisine: "Among the more inspired creations are pan-roasted duck breast (aged for a week in-house) with umeboshi (pickled Japanese plums) and arancini, the rice balls stuffed with mortadella (made in-house from duck legs) and kimchi; and cold-smoked sturgeon (an upscale nod to deli sturgeon) with ground cherries. I loved the bresaola-style chicken slices, piled high over cubes of pickle tots (the brothers' terrific take on tater tots) and a beet-tinged, ranch-dressing-meets-borscht yogurt sauce. And the smoked sweetbreads, served with lime-infused carrot slivers and a house-made XO sauce, has become my favorite sweetbread dish in town." [Tribune]

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Watch a Competitive Eater Eat His Way Through Badhappy Poutine Shop Tonight

Jamie McDonald is an aspiring competitive eater. Badhappy Poutine aspires to bring some Canadian excess to Chicago's soak-up-your-drunk dining scene. It's a match made in heaven— or maybe Indigestion Hell— but either way, you can see how it turns out tonight at 6 p.m. when McDonald will attempt to devour Badhappy's entire menu. Which amounts to five poutines, two burgers, a side of both poutine and frites and two milkshakes. It's less than eating the whole menu at Lao Sze Chuan, maybe, but at somewhere between 7 and 10 pounds of food, it's still enough to reduce ordinary eaters to quivering failures. On the other hand, McDonald ate that much when he devoured Real Urban Barbecue's 7-pound Home Wrecker in 25 minutes, so we're counting on him to make us proud. [RedEye]

Previously: Video Feed: How Chicago Got Its First Poutine Restaurant, Badhappy

Is The Turnaround On Reviews Getting Too Fast? We Asked Insiders What They Think

Those were the days.

One month. That was the standard time reviewers tended to wait before reviewing new restaurants, to give them time to settle in, and when the mainstream reviewers were the only ones out there, it worked. Needless to say, it's a different world with people racing to be the first ones to tweet a picture of a hot new place. People want info now, so they can hit the hot places as soon as possible, and they're willing to dispense with the niceties of the traditional reviewing process to get it. And it's not just those internet ragamuffins bending the rules; even Phil Vettel recognized that Next's unique nature forced exceptions not only to the timing, but to the anonymity and the at-least-two-visits rule of the traditional review. To see where this new world is taking us, we spoke with an eclectic group of folks involved in some way with the reviewing world, from reviewers (Michael Nagrant of the Sun-Times and CS, Julia Kramer of Time Out Chicago, and now-retired Sherman Kaplan, who reviewed for WBBM and North Shore magazine from the 70s through the 2000s), to editors (Anthony Todd of Chicagoist, Lisa Arnett of RedEye), both of whom also review on occasion, to observers of the scene (Steve Dolinsky, Ari Bendersky of Eater Chicago, former publicist turned social media entrepreneur Ellen Malloy). Here's the first part of what they think; the conversation will continue on Monday.

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A.I. Selections Wine Pop-Up at NoMI Kitchen Monday; C-House Supports Children's With Pie and More

Pie to support Children's Memorial at C-House.

David Weitzenhoffer was the wine director of Lidia Bastianich's Felidia in New York. Now he's a wine importer, but one who aims to assemble a list of imports the way he'd assemble a list for a restaurant. How's that working out? You can find out when NoMI Kitchen holds a pop-up event featuring his A.I. Selections on Monday. It's in the art gallery, limited to 30 people, and will feature a lavish five-course meal by chef Ryan LaRoche (oysters, Wagyu carpaccio, black truffle risotto, that sort of thing) paired with different wines from the portfolio. It starts at 6 p.m.; call 312-239-4030 for reservations.

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Gilt Taste Hit With Editorial ‘Cutbacks’

Gilt Groupe announced yesterday that in preparation for an IPO next year, the company will be cutting back some of its businesses, including the food site Gilt Taste. All Things D says the "Taste" branding will continue to exist, but shopping offerings will be pared way down and "the editorial component will be cut back." No specifics on what that means, but All Things D notes that Ruth Reichl is still on as a consultant. We'll let you know if we hear anything further. [All Things D via Eater, Earlier]

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