1. A WHOLE NEW WORLD

So after four and a half years. 200-some interviews, and one pandemic, I have completed my book. (What book? An oral history of Chicago restaurants from the 1960s to the present, for Evanston-based Agate Publishing. If you really don’t know, read this.) As you may have seen on Instagram, I also went to Hawaii. So my plan had been to finish it in time to be able to go to my film festival in Pordenone, Italy in October; for that reason I had already decided not to accompany my wife (who had a legal conference in Kauai), our son and his girlfriend to Hawaii. I had work to do! But through some unholy combination of increased motivation and the fact that it was getting steadily easier as I got closer to the present and thus was telling stories I already knew well, I finished it a week or so before the Hawaii trip, and so I went—carting a manuscript along for my wife to read and proofread in the many hours of flight time. And so, she finished up, a few changes were made, and from a hotel on Waikiki beach, I sent it to the publisher.

There’s still work to be done, of course, between ms. and printed book, but my biggest part is done, and now another phase of my life begins—of being an author with a book, not a writer working on one. Part of that is this newsletter, which has not switched to Substack like all the cool kids are doing, for one simple reason—because I have a book coming, and I want as much of my own audience as possible to be able to talk about it to. Switching to a paid newsletter would cut my audience down, and nobody wants that. Will I go back to doing full feature stories for Fooditor? Probably a little, but part of what excited me about the book when it fell in my lap was that I was starting to feel like I was writing the same stories over and over again, and the book gave me something new to research and write—especially at a time (COVID) where there wasn’t much that was new. So it’s a time for new things, new approaches—but first among them, this newsletter will keep in touch about the book as it moves toward publication.

Now on to catching up on what happened in the two weeks this newsletter was off.

2. CARIÑING

If any place at the moment calls for a full, Vettel-style Tribune review, it’s Norman Fenton’s Mexican tasting menu restaurant Cariño, and here at last is Louisa Chu with one. It starts by talking about the dish everyone remembers—a huitlacoche raviolo, a play on Schwa’s beloved black truffle raviolo, down to the use of huitlacoche, aka “Mexican truffle.” But that’s not the only thing Chef Fenton wants to talk about:

The secret soul of the restaurant seems to have started somewhere else, though, perhaps with the only classic taco found on the creative late-night omakase menu, which I had on another visit. The suadero taco is made with the thin cut of beef near the belly.

“I’ve eaten a lot of suadero in Mexico,” the chef said. “I’ve eaten a lot of suadero in Chicago. For me it’s the closest you can get to a Mexico City suadero taco.”

The Cariño suadero taco is an extraordinary elemental experience. Soft chunks of beef, cooked in its own fat, top a radiant supple tortilla, house-made with yellow tuxpeño corn from Chiapas. You dress your taco yourself with crisp white onion, fragrant chopped cilantro, tart salsa verde and a teeny wedge of lime on the side.

3. UNDERFELDING

I wondered, given his tendency to visit restaurants a Ray Harris number of times before reviewing (if you don’t get that reference, wait for my book), if Grimod would review the controversial tasting menu restaurant Feld, of three pieces of cheese on a plate fame. Of course he does:

Feld promises a paradigm shift in how Chicagoans dine, borrowing the best elements of other concepts (farm-to-table cuisine, counter/omakase interaction, social media mastery), packaging them in a way that feels fresh, and aspiring to a level of depth that makes hulking openings like Tre Dita seem like a bunch of hot air.

But does it live up to its own TikTok-based hype? As everyone knows, Michael Nagrant thought not, but I’m starting to hear responses of the “Actually, I liked it a lot!” variety, a little surprised-sounding but promising from those who have actually gone (a group that does not yet include me). Grimod starts by recounting chef Jake Potashnick’s social media history before opening, then goes through the wine list and dozens of courses from six visits, before dealing (pretty thoughtfully) with the social media pushback on Reddit’s r/chicagofood, which went from guzzling the hype to turning on Potashnick like a pack of rabid weasels. Finally we come to something that your humble correspondent can excerpt as a summing-up graf:

…it is worth mentioning that, on the occasion of your [i.e., Grimod’s] sixth meal, only two dishes were disappointing (an admirable figure considering the 29 courses). More than half of the items Potashnick served on that night were clearly successful—the kind you’d like to eat again—and the remaining 38% were fine (maybe even more than fine in the context of an experimental, ever-changing, somewhat educational concept).

You actually enjoyed a seventh meal at Feld in late August: one that was purely for pleasure (no notes, no photos) and that, after so much time spent analyzing the restaurant, offered a chance at pure emotional engagement. Only a handful of dishes on that occasion were new, but only one and maybe even none were disappointing. On that night, fully observant of the action with no need to document the minutiae, it was clear that Potashnick had evolved his philosophy toward careful (rather than wholesale) change. The chef prized pleasure, never faulted in fundamental seasoning, served generous portions of attractively textured food, told stories, schmoozed, listened, and led his team.

So Feld started out as an internet sensation, and quickly found that live by online buzz, die by online buzz.  In that sense TikTok sensation Potashnick has only himself to blame, though it’s fair to ask, in 2024, without a pedigree from Blackbird or Alinea, what choice did he have but to make himself an online sensation? But with practice—and listening to diner feedback—he seems to be getting closer to his intentions.

*  *  *

With chefs joining in on the Feld debate, Otto Phan of Kyoten posted some thoughts on Instagram (no longer available, it appears, but I feel it’s fair game to comment on them since Otto messaged me to make sure I saw it):

I do have a problem with a ‘food critic’ who repeatedly pounds the table on how ‘ethical’ they are, when their prerogative is to go review restaurants right when they open so they can be the first review out to go more clicks, likes, and subscribers. I don’t believe this is ethical, especially if one can only afford to review a meal based on one experience… let’s just call it for what it is: great entertainment on the back of real businesses that do real work.

Phan is of course referring to Michael Nagrant, source of the infamous quote that Feld was the worst meal he’d had in 30 years of reviewing. But while there are things I disagree with Nagrant about (his hijacking of Amy Cavanaugh’s AMA on r/chicagofood to flog his usual dead horses was graceless), in this case, I think Phan is barking up a wrong tree. (Let’s see how many more animal metaphors I can work into this…) I often don’t do the must-try-it-the-instant-it-opens thing, especially if a place is getting mixed reviews; I might as well wait and see in a year if it’s stronger—or gone. But it’s just a fact of 2024 life that people will be commenting on it the instant it opens, and honestly, that’s not the biggest problem I have with how reviewing works today. And as Nagrant and many others have said, if you’re charging full price, surely you’re fair game. In any case, Phan implies that writers are basically parasitic (#3), and with no underlying seriousness—versus the fun of (#4) pulling the wings off restaurant flies.

That’s simply not the case; with the conventional rewards of food writing (like money) nearly extinct, the people who do it do it out of sheer obsession, the desire to call attention to what’s good, with the flip side of occasionally scaring people away from the bad or hackish. In this case, as Grimod I think rightly points out, Potashnick has whined about the online reaction—but he’s also apparently acted upon the specific criticisms, which is what you would hope.

4. BAYAN SELL

Hey, let’s talk tasting menus! Maggie Hennessy had the very modest five-course one at Bayan Ko and liked its approachability:

This might explain my giddiness across all five courses at Ravenswood’s reimagined Bayan Ko, which transformed its a la carte menu of punchy Filipino and Cuban cooking into a prix-fixe-only format (and got a liquor license!) in May. At $95 per person plus $50 for wine pairings, it’s a comparative bargain edging into the attainable realm of dinner out on a regular Saturday night—albeit the kind special enough to routinely interrupt good conversation. Chef and owner Lawrence Letrero describes it best, as “a neighborhood-friendly tasting menu.”

5, VALHILLA PERALLA

A friend who is quite a Valhalla-phile recently heard that there was a menu revamp of the new (not in Time Out Market) Valhalla in progress, which may mean that Michael Nagrant’s review is about to become out of date. Still, here it is:

Arroz caldo, a nod to Gillanders’ Filipino roots, is served peekaboo-style behind a crab carapace which is removed counter-side like a sea-faring cloche. The dish is comforting like a warm porridge, but also fairly beige in flavor like the ambient electronica whirling around my ears from the house soundtrack. It’s a little muted like the general color palate of Valhalla’s “all eyes on the food” interior.

He also went to Perilla Steak:

Perilla Steak has a universal level of hospitality that makes not only a jaded pro like me satisfied, but also equally delivers for the two groups that sat near me, an older Korean couple who knows where all the kimchi is buried, and a four-top family from Columbus who stumbled in without a reservation desperate and hungry only to have their faces light up with joy in the middle of the table-side grilling theatre.

6. OMIGOS

I’ve been talking up Brian Jupiter’s Migos Fine Foods since learning about it, I’m pretty sure, from Titus Ruscitti, and now Mike Sula has a piece on it:

Jupiter also helms Wicker Park’s Ina Mae Tavern and his New Orleans roots are well-established by now; Algerian-born Morsi—who started parking cars at Frontier during culinary school and worked his way up—is less recognized. But Migos (kitchen shorthand for “amigos”) is deeply imprinted by the experience of both chefs, as well as the particular needs of its neighborhood.

…“It’s very hard to find restaurants that are halal, that are just doing a really good combination of food,” says Morsi, who, along with his mother, began preparing North African–inspired Ramadan meal kits for the community during the pandemic.

7. ARTY CHOKES

Joe Flamm (Rose Mary) is opening a Roman restaurant, Il Carciofo (The Artichoke). Ari Bendersky has the story:

Flamm gained inspiration for il carciofo while visiting Rome during that trip last April. He sent two of his chefs, including Trevor Brossart who will serve as chef de cucina at il carciofo, there for a week before Flamm and his wife, Hillary, met up with the pair. The group visited various restaurants like Flavio al Velavevodetto and Baccano; markets including Mercato di Testaccio and Campo de Fiori; and bakeries, such as Pasticceria Boccione in the Jewish Ghetto. Flamm added he also stayed at an apartment in the ghetto when he staged (trained at a restaurant) in Rome in 2017 at Armando al Pantheon and Glass Hostaria while working at Spiaggia.

Many of these places encourage you to linger, which is something wonderful about European restaurants and cafes. That’s something Flamm wants to incorporate into il carciofo, where the open kitchen (“I love open kitchens!” he said) with a chef’s counter and a big Wood Stone pizza oven will flow into the restaurant, which will flow out onto the large patio on Fulton Street through retractable windows. The patio will be reminiscent of Rome’s piazzas with string lighting and flowy overhead canopies.

“ I love those city restaurants that face outward,” Flamm said. “Part of being there is to watch the city go by.”

8. VIETICLE

Titus Ruscitti does the kind of listicle I like to see, but can’t remember seeing before: a look at five Vietnamese restaurants in town, focusing on what the standout dish is at each place—for instance, bun cha Hanoi at Pho 777:

Bun Cha is a Hanoi specialty of charcoal grilled pork patties and noodles served with a ton of herbs and a nuoc chom dipping sauce (fish sauce, sugar, vinegar, water). This regional dish gained worldwide notoriety when then President Barack Obama joined Anthony Bourdain for a bowl on his ‘Parts Unknown’ show when both of them were in Hanoi at the same time.

Also, road trip time is almost over for the year, but file away this piece on western Wisconsin dining.

9. MEAT AND BREAD

Steve Dolinsky went to Top Butcher Market, a deli on the west side, and to International Meat Market, the west side butcher it grew out of. He also visited Umaga Bakery, a new Filipino bakeshop:

If names like Putong Puti and Ube Halaya don’t easily roll off your tongue, don’t worry. The friendly staff at Umaga Bakehouse, in North Mayfair, right off the Edens Expressway, are more than happy to help guide you to something delicious. The bakery combines classic Filipino flavors – like ube, the ever-present purple yam – into some contemporary presentations, like milk bars. The idea for the bakery comes from the owners’ upbringing – both sets of parents were bakers.

10. MA SWEET LORT

The Trib’s former beer and spirits writer Josh Noel wrote a book about Malört, and the Trib’s Christopher Borrelli talked to him about it. They taste it together:

Malört, Noel reminded me, “is a legit cultural experience, intertwined with the fabric of this city.” Meaning, I assumed: How could I claim to live in Chicago without trying Malört just this once?

“Smell first,” he said.

I edged my nose forward, braced, and it was … fine.

“I’m getting herbal,” Noel said. “All right, now take it all down at once. Do not sip this.” He spoke quickly, like if we’re going to rob this bank then we’re going to rob it now. “OK — onetwothree.”

11. TACKOS

A couple of decades ago my sister and her husband were living in Slovakia, and at one point we sent them salsa and Mexican seasoning so they could make much-missed Mexican food for fellow American expats. Two decadees on, it sounds like Mexican food is catching on at least in a few places—David Hammond talks to Lily Ramirez-Foran, who co-owns Picado Mexican, which sells Mexican ingredients and teaches cooking classes in Dublin:

Strolling through Dublin last spring, I noticed many more Mexican restaurants than I’d seen just a few years ago. In what ways is Ireland ready for Mexican cuisine?

People returning to Ireland after a J1 Visa, a student work-abroad visa many young Irish people get to go to the U.S. for a summer, came back raving about Mexican food, but although some had great ideas, the lack of ingredients and knowledge was quite obvious in the end product.

A few things have happened in Ireland that have fueled the interest in Mexican food: first the Celtic Tiger years [mid 1990s-early 2000, a period of rapid economic growth in Ireland] allowed a lot of people to travel and experience new cuisines. When those travelers came back, they wanted to experience those delicious dishes again and that sparked a push to source and eat authentic food from other cultures.

12. CLUBBABLE

My wife belongs to a needlepoint club—that is, a chance to socialize while needlepointing, otherwise a solitary activity (certainly I’m not needed during it). In a world dominated by mass media, I admire any way that humans get together to be crafty, or talk about things, or read books, or cook—and all of that happens in the world of cookbook clubs. At the Reader, Charlie Kolodziej talks to librarians:

“We joke at our cookbook club that if the books are a little smudgy or there’s a little something inside when you unfold it, that those might be the best recipes,” says Sarah Tansley, branch manager at CPL’s Lincoln Park location and organizer of the branch’s Cookbook Cafe Book Club. Tansley started CPL’s first cookbook club while working at the Humboldt Park branch in 2010. Since then, CPL has opened five additional clubs spread throughout the city.

13. LE SANDWICHES

Sandwich Tribunal marks its tenth anniversary with a road trip to Canada with a buddy, to eat—you’ll never guess, a sandwich at Schwartz’s Deli in Montreal:

It was a warm day and the AC was not working and we’d just walked a mile and a half. Within moments I was drenched in sweat. But sitting inside does appear to have its benefits. Below, I have photos of our carryout sandwich from the previous visit alongside photos of the sandwich I had this time. When we ordered our sandwiches inside, we were asked an additional question that we did not get at the carryout window–how did we want the sandwich? Fatty, lean, medium? I opted for medium fatty and it made all the difference between the dry sandwich I’d had previously and the tender, falling-apart perfect mess I received this time.

14. LISTEN UP

I’m tempted to check out the Charlie Trotter menu at Next—but then, I spent something like half a year assembling the Trotter history to end all Trotter histories (well, to try to do it better than any previous account of Citizen Charlie, anyway). So I have built-in curiosity about a restaurant that I did actually go to, unlike, say, Le Francais or Gordon. Same for Michael Nagrant, who reverted to his Hungry magazine days to record an interview with Grant Achatz about his experience at Trotter’s and capturing his legacy on plates.

At The Dining Table, David Manilow talks to Peter Vestinos about his new bar, Bisous, and what goes into making a good first date bar (he says Bisous is a third date bar); and to Geno Bahena, Rick Bayless’ first sous chef, who went on to open restaurants like Ixcapuzalco, Chikpancingo, and most recently Manchamanteles.

IN MEMORIAM

Ice cream/paletas vendor Wilfredo Cintron has died at 83; Block Club tells more.