Every year, Saveur.com dishes out its blogger awards for everything from best baking blog, to best food photography, to best single recipe. It seems like sort of a toss up because every blog nominated is so utterly incredible that each can singlehandedly distract me for hours. There are always some of your typical big names (Smitten Kitchen, Joy the Baker) whom I follow regularly. But this year a local name popped up on the list, and I didn’t even realize it until they won.

Lottie + Doof picked up a much-deserved award for best cooking blog. It’s written by a man (gasp!) who takes beautiful food photography and provides an incredibly sophisticated range of recipes. You’ll find dressed up classics like mac and cheese, brunch classics and some mouth-watering seasonal sweets.

If you are a foodie and a Chicagoan, which you most likely are, you should definitely check out this blog. I did my own take on a classic garlic soup awhile back and got the idea from a recipe posted on Lottie + Doof. You’re going to want to read this blog now – just not while you’re hungry.

Check out the full list of Saveur’s 2012 Food Blog Award winners here.