Chicago Foodies

Decoding Your Egg Carton

Organic, free-range, cage-free, brown – there are an endless number of options for eggs at your local grocery store. How do you know which one is healthiest or safest to buy? For all other foods, it’s pretty cut and dry what it means to be organic vs. conventional. Eggs are not so simple. Until I did some extensive research, I personally had no idea what the difference was.

Like wheat bread, brown seemed like it had to be better for me in some way. All in all, there is no 100% for sure answer. If there were, they wouldn’t be selling 10 types of eggs at the supermarket. I’ve done some research on what studies have shown, how to decode the egg carton and what organic food guru Michael Pollan believes, and this is what I’ve gathered.

A Mile in their Clogs: Chefs' Favorite Footwear (Part One)

You may think you have it bad when you come home from a day at the office and sink into your recliner, rubbing your tired feet. Chefs, who can spend 12-14 hours a day standing in a hot, cramped kitchen, understand foot fatigue better than anyone, and therefore swear unshakable loyalty to their preferred brand of footwear. These shoes have unique challenges: They must be supportive, comfortable, easily cleaned, and able to stand up to months of tough, hot, constant use. We checked in with a few of the hardest working chefs around the city to find out their favorite shoes, as well as tips for soothing tired tootsies. Ahead, our first three chefs weigh in.

Having Trouble Keeping Up with Food Trucks?

We're not! We've been following the food truck scene for quite some time. Here's your reminder to follow our Chicago Foodies Twitter feed. We actually have a Food Truck Editor - the obsessive Jonathan Taylor who, for nearly the past year, has been doing a masterful job wrangling our friendly neighborhood food trucks as well as keep up with new ones! You can usually expect a full course of location tweets and re-tweets before noon. If you're driving a truck and we're missing you, send us an email and JT will rope you into the corral.

In addition to food truck news, we also tweet giveaways, special events and of course new posts.

Chickpea and Spinach Stew Recipe

One of my favorite things about cooking is that certain ingredients can transcend seasons, cuisines and price barriers. They don't follow a strict recipe, yet they always taste delicious.

This chickpea and spinach "stew" is exactly one of those flexible recipes. I've actually never made it before, but I imagine that you could add in any number of ingredients and it would still taste great. 

I did an Italian take on this dish by adding basil and garlic. Just by altering the spices and seasonings, you can change it up to have a more Mediterranean or Indian flair. Serve it with herbed chicken skewers and a side of hummus in the summer, or add some coriander or cumin and pair with basmati rice. Here's my version. 

Harvard Science & Cooking Lectures #1: Historical Context Food & Science

Harold McGee and Dave Arnold join David Weitz in this first of a series of Harvard lectures from their School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. It's a monster series which Harvard has archived online and which we will be sharing in full right here. It's really a prerequisite for high-adventure in the kitchen.

 

Alpana Singh Announces Restaurant Venture, The Boarding House

And so begins Chapter Three of the Alpana Singh story: After leaving Lettuce Entertain You in December (where she had served as director of wine since 2005), then announcing that a wine bar was in the works, Check Please! host Singh has now put forth a few more details about the upcoming project, which will be called The Boarding House.

The restaurant will, predictably, be "sommelier-driven," and will take its inspiration from the historic building in which it is located. The space at 720 North Wells previously housed a nightclub, a cheese company, a tobacconist, and yes, a boarding house. Singh says the late nineteenth century will be the inspiration for the decor and menu. Beyond that, she's not releasing many details, telling Chicago Magazine that she hasn't yet hired a chef and so can't speak to the menu just yet. Stay tuned for Chapter Four once a chef is appointed.

Must Have Kitchen Appliances for 2012

Every morning, after I shuffle my kids out the door to school, I zip back in the kitchen and whip up my daily secret weapon in my Vitmix blender. Greens, fruit and water combine to give me a sweet and nutritious treat that motors me through the morning and on to lunchtime. We all have our kitchen heroes—the appliances we just can’t live without, so today, I dedicate this post to all my personal favorites, the modern day wonders that make my food-loving life so much easier.

So without further ado I present, my kitchen heroes: each one doing its part to make cooking a whine-free experience in this Real Mom’s home:

Easy Appetizer Bites Two Ways – Mushrooms & Spanakopita Recipes

I've always thought that homemade anything tastes better, and I can usually feel better about eating something when I know exactly what's in it. Appetizers are easy enough to grab from the freezer aisle. Resist the urge. For your next Superbowl party, holiday gathering or dinner party, try your hand at this simple concept. Buy some frozen puff pastry dough, arm yourself with a few mini muffin tins, and you're ready to go. 

I made a mushroom and caramelized onion version as well as spanikopita. Spanikopita can be a pain to perfectly fold in phyllo dough, so this method was much easier. These don't need to follow an exact recipe and can really follow your personal taste. With these proportions, I used all of my puff pastry and nearly all of my filling. 

Australian Wine Tasting at the MCA Warehouse – This Thursday Night

Bottlenotes is known for hosting their "Around the World in 80 Sips" wine tasting. This time though it's "Around Australia in 80 Sips". Take a look at the site.

Over 80 wines from over 20 regions of Oz! I didn't know there were 20 regions in Australia but I'm looking forward to learning something. The event is this Thursday with the VIP hour starting at 7pm and general admission at 8pm. The MCA Warehouse is at 1747 W. Hubbard, not to be mistaken with the Museum of Contemporary Art off of Michigan Avenue where their previous tastings have been held.

Chicago Foodies readers can get $25 off of admission by entering the code FOODIES25. G'Day!

Treat Crew Resurrects Popular Brunch with Township Pop-Up

Humboldt Park residents were dealt a double whammy when Treat closed last year: They no longer had a source for Indian-inspired brunch dishes like savory pancakes and saag paneer, plus the space was taken over by an as-yet-unopened sushi joint. HP-UKVers can still console themselves with weekend breakfast from Bake or Rootstock, but until this now, Chicagoans have been resigned to life without Indian spiced French toast. Thankfully, Treat's former owners heard our mournful dirges and have resurrected some of Treat's most popular brunch items for a pop-up this weekend to launch their new Logan Square restaurant, Township.

Goose Island, Revolution, Flossmoor Win Big at Brewpub Shootout

Whether you're more interested in food or beer, chances are you have a pretty hearty appetite for the other as well. This explains much of the anticipation each year for the annual Chicago Beer Society Brewpub Shootout, a members-only event that pits teams of brewers and chefs against each other in a battle to pair the best beer and bites. This past Saturday, the competition moved to new digs at the Zhou B. Art Center on 35th Street, a large enough space to accomodate the 15 competing brewpubs. From grapefruit Sofie to cherry vanilla ice cream pops, brewers and chefs all brought their A-games.

2009 Quail's Gate Gewurtztraminer

Scoring Canadian wine in the United States is much harder than finding drugs, ice wine excepted.   Wine in Canada is relegated to domestic consumption, and most wine produced is in two regions:   Niagara Valley in Ontario and the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, both of which have been praised for quality and whose wines have won several well-deserved awards

Canada, surprisingly, has a wide variety of wines, from expected cool-climate Rieslings, Gewurtztraminers, Pinot Blancs and Pinot Noirs to Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, as well as hybrids such as Marechal Foch.   I've noticed that Canadian wines tend to be more nuanced, with less sweetness, less extraction, and less fruit, definitely a function of climate, but perhaps also influenced by the market. 

Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread Recipe

Banana bread is one of those things you can have a dozen recipes for and never be satisfied. There is the classic chocolate chip banana bread, the hearty, whole-wheat oatmeal banana bread and the more decadent banana bread cupcakes.

But this recipe for cinnamon swirl banana bread is one I always go back too. It doesn't feel too unhealthy (or too healthy, for that matter), and it is very simple to make. The classic recipe makes a loaf, but I enjoy making banana muffins for easy sharing as a light dessert. 

Paula Deen Cuts Back on Sweet Tea – Admits to Type II Diabetes

CBS News published on Paula Deen's admission of having type 2 diabetes. We ironically printed a piece on her Doughnut Burger just last week. Go figure? Leave it to Bourdain to sum it up.

"When your signature dish is a hamburger in between a doughnut, and you've been cheerfully selling this stuff knowing all along that you've got Type 2 Diabetes ... It's in bad taste if nothing else" Anthony Bourdain

"I have made simple changes in my life, like cutting back on one of my favorite things, sweet tea - and for a Southern girl, that's a big deal."  --Paula Deen

I wonder the % of chefs who suffer for their food (medically)?

Chicago Restaurant Week Announces Participating Restaurants, But Is It Always a Deal?

Restaurant Week 2K12! Are you ready? Have you been training for months to prepare yourself for a whole week of discounted lunches and dinners? The city normally gets fairly excited about the event, which takes place this year between February 17 and 26 (a little more than a week). 200 participating restaurants offer prix-fixe lunch ($22) and dinner menus ($33 or $44), which draw in business from budget-conscious eaters or just regular folks who need the extra push to make a reservation. But are the packed dining rooms and limited menus really worth enduring for the discount? It's worth taking a closer look on a case-by-case basis.

The Myth of "Natural" Labeling

In the midst of a stream of Tweets about that overturned fumble during the Giants game and the merits of various Golden Globe fashions, a more substantial conversation was taking place on the Internt. (Yes, Virginia, it can happen.) Marion Nestle, Food Politics author and NYU professor, Tweeted a link to an August fact sheet from the non-profit Center for Food Safety, an advocacy group that lobbies and litigates for sustainable food production. The fact sheet, titled "What's In a Label? Natural: Another Name for Conventionally-Grown Food," is a simple argument against the use of the word "natural" in food labeling, alleging that the unregulated term unjustifiably raises the price of products and confuses consumers into thinking the package contains organic ingredients. The CFS is on a campaign to eliminate the word from packaging, and they're taking certain specific companies to task.        

Any Season Jam Muffins Recipe

Muffins are the perfect snack or breakfast item - but if you don't choose your fruit carefully, you'll be out of luck (and out of season). My favorite thing about these jam muffins is that you can alter the recipe slightly depending on the time of year. And if you don't know what's in season, just use whatever is in your freezer! It's the perfect way to use up any bit of frozen fruit you have on hand. 

I had some delicious, giant blueberries frozen from summer and some fresh pears lying around. I also was able to scrounge up just the right amount of leftover raspberry jam. No matter the combination, it always seems to work. These muffins are colorful and a bit lower in sugar than your normal muffin since the fruit sweetens them so much. If you don't like my combination, try out your own. 

Lincoln Square Beer Festival At Dank Haus

Winter hasn't been that tough on us yet but don't take that to mean there isn't trouble ahead.  You could be experiencing the winter blahs before you know it if you aren't already.  And if you're already in the doldrums over winter, well, you clearly live  in the wrong city.  But there is hope.  There's a sure-fire means of coping out there and it's called beer.  In fact, the denizens of Lincoln Square want to remind you of the healing power of beer through their winter beer fest starting at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 28, 2011, at the Dank Haus on Western Avenue in the Lincoln Square neighborhood. 

Your Sommelier: The Next Batman?

For the wine and restaurant-obsessed, 'sommelier' probably ranks near the top of the list of cool dream jobs. Sampling, analyzing, learning about wine (and getting paid to do it) doesn't sound like a bad gig when you ignore the long hours and extensive training sessions. But the general population still has a hard time pronouncing, let alone understanding, the job of a sommelier. That's changing quickly, especially in Asia, in large part due to a manga called "The Drops of God," a humorous, artistic comic strip about sommeliers. Now available in the U.S., a book of the collected strips is an enjoyable read for oenophiles and newbies alike.

Alpana Singh to Return with Wine Bar

It's been just a bit over a month since sommelier and Check Please! host Alpana Singh announced that she would leave her post as wine director for Lettuce Entertain You restaurant group, and Singh already has a new venture in the works. Singh tells Crains that she plans to open a wine bar with Matt Fisher and John Ward, the co-owners of Gold Coast French restaurant Bistronomic.

The wine bar will be located in Chicago, though a specific space has not yet been announced. Sources tell Crains that the group has been eyeing property at Superior and Wells, but that the 1872 building at that corner would take a lot of work to renovate. Without a location set, the project is likely at least six months out, so check back for updates on what the high-profile sommelier has in the works.