1. LET IT LIST, LET IT LIST, LET IT LIST

I did my top ten for 2025, go see it here.

In a move that brings back the heyday of Time Out Chicago, Chicago mag published the 25 best things to eat right now, a list running from pressed duck at The Alston to the cheese-stuffed gougeres at Creepies. Meanwhile, Chicago mag dining editor Amy Cavanaugh posted her own list on Instagram here.

2. SAGI BOTTOM BOYS

Michael Nagrant devotes The Hunger this week to publishing another writer, one Earnest Graham, who basically punked a bunch of influencers with a pitch from a supposed new restaurant, Sagi. The idea was to see what would they pitch back in terms of a working relationship—would it be on the level, talking about covering this nonexistent new restaurant with the supposed classical ideals of journalistic integrity, or would he find out how much they can be bought for?

Well, the answer is good news, bad news—good news, about half of the 48 contacted never responded at all, let alone explained how to bribe them. That leaves the other half, who did—Graham includes a couple of the rate sheets, including glam/cheesecake photos, plainly spelling out how much attention from Megan Schibelka, say, would cost ya. ($2650 for a TikTok and Instagram combo.)

Well, it’s good to know how the world really works, but I have mixed feelings about this sting. One, part of it is mocking these people for not recognizing that Sagi and its chef, “Joe Blanc,” are fakes. As a frequent recipient of press releases and opening announcements, believe me, I’ve gotten more than a few that made me wonder, can this possibly be for real? (I’ll never believe that Machine is a real bar and restaurant.) But honestly, there’s very little that’s too absurd to be a genuine pitch. For that matter, how do we know that Earnest Graham really exists? (That first name is pretty on the nose.) There’s no biographical detail from either him or Nagrant to make it clear he’s a real person and not dreamed up by Nagrant.

Okay, I’m kidding about that. (I think.) But when I read something like this:

Not all influencers are bad actors, and this isn’t a call for a witch hunt… However, many influencers are at best confirming that they are not serving any of their followers an ounce of objectivity and at worst are committing fraud. Consumers deserve to know which posts reflect genuine reviews and which are paid ads.

Good luck with that in 2025! (Or as Clint Eastwood said, “Deserve’s got nothin’ to do with it.”) I follow a number of influencers who seem to represent some level of informativeness and value, but it’s usually just meant that I go try some place for tacos or an Italian beef. Even if it was bought and paid for—the writer, not the food—I don’t regard myself as harmed in the process. I tried a place, I did or didn’t like it, same as if I spotted it myself driving past their new awning.

What’s behind all of this, though, is that the market for food content is simultaneously hot, has no barriers to entry, and… doesn’t pay squat. Once such content was created within large organizations who insisted on certain standards because if the food department was dicey, that reflected badly on the political desk. Obviously a freelancer exists in an entirely different world, and is struggling to make some money at it. They may not come out of any kind of journalistic background or tradition, and regard themselves primarily as promoters.

In any case, the most intriguing thing to me is… how few of the guilty in Graham’s piece were names I even recognized. By far the greater number of names/brands I knew turned out to be on the “didn’t respond” list. So the world is apparently full of those influencers, far more than any of us can keep track of, and it’s basically on us to decide who we think knows something and stands for something, and who’s just a promoter not really worth the follow. In other words, to develop and utilize your own bullshit detector. Anyway, it’s worth a read in itself, but I don’t know that its conclusions are the ones I come to.

3. HISTORY REPEATS, THE FIRST TIME AS RIB TIPS AND HOT LINKS

One of the things you’ll read in my book is the story of the early days of LTHForum, and the creation of a community over dinners at Chicago restaurants. Or you can read it all happening all over again on the Reddit group r/Chicagofood—Maggie Hennessy has a piece about Reddit get-togethers in 2025, that sounds an awful lot like my 2005:

New members undergo a six-week trial period on Discord, where they must use their real first name as their username and are kicked off if they don’t attend at least one event.

…“It’s interesting, because it’s an in-person medium, but it’s also online,” [member Justin] Martin, 41, said. “Reddit’s completely anonymous, then you get to Discord and everyone’s just an avatar until you go out to dinner with them.”

The minimum group size is three for safety reasons, though most events comprise four to six people. Usually one person pays and the rest will reimburse them through Venmo. The membership mix is pretty diverse and the average age is 35, Gropman said.

“Everybody kind of knows something about somewhere, or they just are super enthusiastic,” Martin said of the group. “We have members who, like, lived in Singapore who will say, ‘This is the best Malaysian-Singaporean place.’ Then other people tell them they’re wrong, and we’ll all argue about it.”

Ah, nostalgia. Pass the chili oil, please.

4. NOT JUST INDIAN BUFFETS ANY MORE

Daniel Hautzinger at WTTW talks about the next thing in Chicago—South Asian cheffy food:

South Asian food is booming in Chicago. Look no further than a recent meal hosted at Superkhana International for a glimpse of the creativity and variety lighting up the city right now like so many Diwali lamps. Playfully titled “Chi Desi Super Friends,” the special event brought together seven of the chefs pushing South Asian influence forward and broadening the narrow American conception of what Indian food can be.

5. PIZZA ANGST

A while back WBEZ’s Courtney Kueppers wrote about Spacca Napoli owner Jonathan Goldsmith and his battle with cancer. She checks in almost a year later. Among other things, he and wife Ginny Sykes have had to deal with ICE targeting workers like theirs:

“We’re just trying to keep this beautiful business running and serve the community, and it’s really frustrating to have to address this on top of it,” Sykes said. “We’re doing our best to try to stay level-headed and make the adjustments that we need to, but to come back from his cancer treatment, and then have a whole new slew of issues that demand extra thought and time and analysis, it’s heavy. It’s really heavy.”

6. SLOP BOWL DEPARTMENT

What’s different about what Nick Kindelsperger’s eating in the Loop, and what those of us outside it do? Slop bowls!

This genuinely revolting name has recently popped up everywhere over the past year — GQ, Slate, and the New York Times — to describe what comes across the counter at so many modern lunch chains.

But he found a superior example in SeoulSpice:

This quick-service chain, which originated in Washington, D.C. back in 2015, manages to avoid that fate because it primarily trades in that endlessly flexible Korean dish that’s already served in a bowl — bibimbap.

7. ONE SMALL STEP

I’ve been to Moonwalker Cafe for breakfast—had a cherry popover and coffee, as I recall. Anyway, Dennis Lee calls it his favorite nighborhood cafe:

There’s nothing on the lunch menu that we haven’t liked, if not loved. That’s because [co-ower Arlene] Luna prepares most of the ingredients on the menu from scratch, which includes the meat that goes inside the sandwiches. The roast beef on the roast beef sandwich ($15.50) is tender and flavorful, and there’s an unbelievable amount stacked into that brioche bun. It’s dressed with a handful of peppery arugula and sharp horseradish aioli, and even though it sounds like a fairly basic build, it tastes like the picture-perfect version of one.

8. O THE ISRAELITES

Me not being a sports fan, Israel Idonije never made it onto my radar at the Bears, but he has since become a familiar figure in the restaurant world, opening spots with notable chefs in the South Loop, where he lives. Liz Grossman fills in his backstory: 

“It’s the city’s best neighborhood,” he says. “It feels like a little suburb where you can go to Indiana Avenue and you’re in this cove of trees and brownstones or jump on Lake Shore Drive and get to a Cubs game in 15 minutes. And every Sunday, 70,000 people descend, and this whole area gets activated.”

9. DELICES DE BOURGEOISIE

Before, there was Etta, that served a lot of steak. Now there’s Deliz in the same Bucktown location. Anthony Todd tries to explain what makes it different from the other gazillion steakhouses in Chicago:

Deliz brings in Australian wagyu from Mayura Station, one of the oldest ranches in Australia, operating since 1847. “I didn’t want to do Japanese beef; everyone can get their hands on it,” Peterson says. Only 16 restaurants in America serve meat from Mayura Station, and you might notice a unique feature of the beef on the menu — for the last six months prior to slaughter, the cows are fed chocolate, giving the meat a unique flavor. Peterson has already had to contact the company to increase his allocation, the steaks have been selling so well.

10. LEGAL DEPARTMENT

Smyth is suing a New York Tavern called Smyth. Ironically, there’s another place called The Smith much closer to Smyth that they aren’t suing, though that restaurant—part of a chain that’s in DC and New York—did, as I recall chase, the former Telegraph away from its first choice of a name (something to do with Smith, I can’t find it online). Life is complicated.

Also complicated: fried chicken! Someone opened a fried chicken place called Uncle Remy’s—awfully close to longtime local chain Uncle Remus. Uncle Remus threatened legal action and Chicagomediatakeout posted a pic (originally from @nfl_hunch) of the Remy’s sign being covered up.

11. LISTEN UP

Supper With Sylvia talks to Jose Andres.

At The Dining Table, David Manilow talks to Zubair Mohajir and Rishi Kumar of Indian-Mexican fusion spot Mirra.

The Chef’s Cut talks to Jamila Robinson, editor in chief of Bon Appetit and Epicurious.

The Dish from Chicago Magazine talks about their 25 best things to eat article.

Joiners talks to Paul Abu-Taleb of bars like Pilsen Yards, The Beaumont and The Bull Moose.

WHAT MIKE ATE

You might think I was eating my way through Chicago mag’s 25 best things to eat list last week. I wasn’t, but in two cases i consciously looked at John Kessler’s writeups to guide what I ordered.

The first was at Creepies, the new place from Anna and David Posey of Elske. I knew we’d be ordering the roast chicken, which Kessler said was currently the best in town; as my son said, how come every chicken isn’t this good? (Kessler says they described the multi-step process to him, and the reason every chicken isn’t this good is because it’s a very complicated way of prepping a chicken.) I ordered the cheese-filled gougeres, seen on Chicago mag’s list, and while I liked them, I’d say they’re kind of heavy as a starter. Kessler wasn’t so fond of the tarte flambee, but it was an obvious choice for my wife, who spent a few summers in Strasbourg, and though it seems to be suggesting some sort of tarte flambee-tavern style pizza crossover, I liked the crisp, flat dough for itself, and the stuff on it—apparently  mushroom-based, but with a porky-bacony taste to it—was first-class. We had some pretty good roast carrots and some kind of cabbage dish that, resting under a glob of white sauce streaked with black sesame seeds, was instantly reconizable as a Posey dish after going to Elske many times. Finally, besides the chicken, we had a piece of trout that was very nicely prepared, and ended with a butterscotch budino, a typical dessert from Anna Posey. As I said in my top ten list, one of my favorite new restaurants is Cafe Yaya, for its high class comfort food, and Creepies appealed to me in much the same way.

My other Kessler-led meal was at Nine Garden, the Shanghainese restaurant that’s nominated for a Banchet award as Heritage restaurant. In that case, I knew I wanted two things Kessler had described at Chicago magazine: the hunks of  red-braised Dongpo pork belly, gorgeously tender tender sweet meat and fat, and the crab’s head lion hot pot, which is not in fact hot pot, nor does it contain lion; it’s a flavorful clear soup with a big meatball of crab and pork. I’d have liked to have had some chili oil on the side to kick it up a notch™, but it was pleasing all the same on a cold day. The only thing I ordered away from Kessler’s recs was a vegetable dish, what I know as “fish fragrant eggplant” from Ed’s Potsticker House, and it had the same kind of robust tomatoey flavor. I liked the food here a lot, which made up for the fact that the space, in a rather blank white box of a space in a newly built mall-like building on the southwest end of Archer in Chinatown, doesn’t have much character. But I’ll come back for the food, if not the atmosphere.

Buzz List will be off next week, for presumably obvious reasons, but we’ll be back in the new year.