Grub StreetChicago

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One of the good things about Chicago, that draws people, keeps us on the map, and brings in lots of tax revenue, is our food scene. One of the bad things is that we shoot each other a lot. So to distract us from the latter, which he hasn't exactly turned around just yet, Mayor Emanuel seems to think it would be a good idea to attack the former. That at least is the lesson we take from his appearance last week on WGN with the author of The Engine 2 Diet, a vegan diet plan which apparently involves eating a lot of sweet potatoes, in which he calls the diet part of a "whole wellness plan for the city in lowering our health care costs and extending our life expectancy."

An army travels on its stomach, said Napoleon, and movements have to eat, too. So restaurants were bound to play a part in the civil rights struggle. But for poorer communities like the African-American community in Chicago in the 1960s, restaurants are up there with churches as one of the sources of social cohesion, a place where people can meet in numbers and organize effectively together. When Martin Luther King Jr. came to Chicago in 1966, the restaurant that was most important to his efforts was a then brand-new spot called Edna's near west Madison, run by Edna Stewart and famous for her fluffy biscuits and fried chicken. Edna Stewart passed away in 2010, but the restaurant (in its second location on West Madison) still exists as Ruby's, owned by former employees and using her recipes. The Southern Foodways Alliance interviewed Stewart at length in 2008; hear a segment of the interview, and read the entire transcript, here.

Previously: Chicago's Forgotten Role in the Lunch Counter Sit-In Movement

When Michael Garcia overhead a regular insult a 5-year-old customer with Down syndrome at Laurenzo’s Prime Rib in Houston, he didn't stay quiet. "My personal feelings just took over,” he told KTRK. “And I told this man, 'I'm sorry, I can't serve you.'" As the boy chatted with his family and the restaurant staff about his recent birthday, a group of customers at a nearby table got up and moved to the back of the restaurant. After Garcia overheard one patron say, "Special needs children need to be special somewhere else," he flat-out refused to serve the table, and the customers promptly left the restaurant. Someone give this man a raise. [NYDN]

On Friday we mentioned Jeff Ruby's review of Elizabeth, which spoke of his communal tablemates in this delicate fashion:

In this communal crapshoot, sometimes you end up with crap. My cohorts include a smug concert pianist, two socially stunted computer geeks, a name-dropping phony, two large Canadians—one making love to his Canon EOS, the other napping between courses—and my wife. One guy says he spends $10,000 a month at restaurants; another keeps mentioning the 20 pounds of deer tenderloin in his freezer. Neither can pronounce “foie gras.”

We also mentioned that one of the tablemates had recognized himself in this account and responded, refuting some of Ruby's points. But what had happened by Friday afternoon was merely the beginning, it would turn out.

You were going to go hit Great Lake for their amazing artisanal pizza one last time before they closed, weren't you? But we warned you that they would probably close up at least a few days before their January 31 last day on their lease. And if you were thinking of going this week... too late. Their last day of regular service was Friday; they threw a party for friends and very best customers Saturday, and they are outta here. The word on future plans remains where it was— they seem intent on reopening someday, but they're not telling where yet (which probably means it's not 100% set yet), and we would anticipate at least a few months if not more before they reopen. [h/t Hopped Up via LTHForum]