1. CHEFS BEHAVING BADLY

I had a chance to meet Rene Redzepi once—in 2013 he appeared with his book at the Bristol; but my wife was off with son #2 somewhere, and so I was responsible for son #1, and there was talk that there might be tornadoes that day in Chicago. And it seemed bad form to leave one child home while twisters wrecked the house, so I stayed home with him. Can’t say I feel so bad about missing Redzepi given the stories that have since come out about his Copenhagen restaurant Noma, which cover everything from the usual (not getting paid for internships) to the abusive and cultish. (The main story was here in the New York Times.) And now word comes that Redzepi has resigned from his restaurant, just as a sold-out $1500-a-seat pop up in Los Angeles was set to start.

To be honest, though I was willing to be in the great man’s presence, the fact is that I never found Noma very appetizing. I saw one of the documentaries about it (though I think it was the one that Jonathan Gold said was not as good as the other) and the dishes with ants and lichen and such were well into the fine dining parody realm, at least to me. (Here’s an amusing Substack post about dining there that pretty much confirms all my fears—an eyeball garnished with caviar? Ewwwww!) So while I might have made the effort (racing to book a year ahead and all that) for El Bulli (which I also saw a documentary about around the same time), I was never at all tempted to beg for a dining room slot at Noma. So let Redzepi go down as a bad guy, it doesn’t really affect me.

Speaking of chefs in trouble at hot restaurants, Block Club—which has absolutely owned the Warlord story since it finally broke—says that co-chef Trevor Fleming is being sued by his two partners because business at the once insanely hot restaurant has dropped way off:

Former Warlord chef and co-owner Trevor Fleming’s abusive behavior has led to an estimated $1.4 million loss in revenue at the once-celebrated restaurant, according to a lawsuit filed last month by Fleming’s business partners.

Emily Kraszyk and John Lupton filed the case in Cook County Circuit Court on Feb. 19, the same day Block Club Chicago published an investigation detailing allegations Fleming abused women with whom he worked and had relationships.

…Kraszyk and Lupton want an injunction to bar Fleming from accessing company accounts and from entering the restaurant. They also seek to remove Fleming from the business, according to the complaint.

The filing alleges Fleming and his behavior have brought the restaurant at 3198 N. Milwaukee Ave. “to the brink of ruin.” Kraszyk and Lupton said the restaurant is at risk of insolvency, “jeopardizing the livelihoods of those who depend on Warlord.”

A Substack called I’ll Be Honest, by Kit Graham, goes into more detail on both the Noma and Warlord stories, and others (including David Chang, who was on the cover of Time with Redzepi, and William Bradley of San Diego’s only three-Michelin star restaurant, Addison):

I loved the article “Maybe we don’t need restaurants like Noma” by Lauren Saria in The San Francisco Standard, which questioned the ethics and sustainability of fine-dining restaurants. In a fierce battle for Michelin stars, some restaurants are churning out menus with 15+ courses, each with complex elements that require painstaking labor from a huge team. Her point: if a menu item can’t be sustainably created by properly compensated employees, it probably doesn’t need to exist. Just because it can be done, it doesn’t mean it should be done.

Even if people are willing to work for free, is it ethical? Is it a true internship if the interns are relegated to basic and repetitive tasks like cleaning pine cones, hollowing out hen’s eggs, or picking herbs? Do diners want to shell out $1,500 for a meal if they know it was prepared by a team that was yelled at and punched while they made it?

Well, having just written a book that devotes its longest chapter to one Charlie Trotter, I have to say that the answer has traditionally been, yes. Will it change? I don’t know, but I thought Dana Cree said something interesting about unpaid internships in my all-women roundtable several years ago, and sure enough, she not only talked about that, but look where she talked about:

I’m afraid for the next generation of cooks, because we’re watching these opportunities dry up. Because they’re going to pay for the labor they need, and cut off these openings where they’d bring somebody in, and sure they’re picking herbs or washing dishes, but they’re not really necessary. And yes, it can turn bad and restaurants can exploit this stage network, but I did it at Noma, I did it at WD-50, I did it at Fat Duck, I did it at Modernist Cuisine, and now not a single one of those places will accept an unpaid intern that’s not connected to a school. So now these opportunities are only available to people who are paying tuition, and most of us couldn’t afford those tuitions anyway, so we’ve lost this creative training ground.

That is the issue with internships in many fields: it may be free labor, but that’s because it’s often labor that’s not worth very much yet. And Cree sees a real issue with that, if the only way you can get that kind of experience is not only by being free, but by already paying a boatload to a school for the chance to work for free (which somehow justifies it, in a crazy way). It also points to another thing—I’ve read a few posts here and there defending Noma’s need to be a hardass place, for the sake of advancing cuisine globally, and I’m not linking them because I don’t entirely buy that, but I also don’t entirely reject it, either. The great places are going to be demanding, that’s how they get to and stay at great. Doesn’t mean they need to do that culty crap about standing in a circle shaming the guy who F’d up, to me the creepiest thing about Noma in the NYT story, but they also can’t let things slide just to be nice. To be liked.

There are many tales of the evolution of the restaurant scene in my book, and one of them is chefs talking about how they learned and how they don’t, or can’t, teach like that any more. Michael Lachowicz of Aboyer, who worked under Jean Banchet at Le Francais, sums that evolution up vividly:

You were expected to work sixty-five hours a week, and say nothing about it. We didn’t feel like we were being abused. It just felt like we were being trained. And we were, and that was cool. And that worked to a detriment for me for some time, because I thought that okay, well, this is the way I learned, this is the way they learned, this is the way I’m going to teach. But times change, and you can’t run around with a side towel hanging out of your mouth, growling at people, and expect them to respond to you in a positive fashion.

Though as Redzepi and others demonstrate, with enough celebrity—enough of a cult—you still can.

 

2. HOUJI WOOGIE

Two writers write this week about disappointing experiences at well-regarded restaurants. First, John Kessler brought back memories of the gold-leafed “Houji chicken” at Hogsalt’s Radio Anago:

The restaurant is inexplicably proud of it, serving it with gold scissors and talking it up nonstop. But what arrived was three overbattered, burnt boneless thighs. They resembled something between a trio of burgers left overnight on a grill and decomposing limbs in a serial killer’s basement. A smattering of matcha didn’t even register. The sprinkling of gold flakes lent a top note of bullshit. And that was the good part.

That was Jeff Ruby in Chicago mag in 2018. Kessler took a server’s advice to have the fried chicken at Hogsalt’s Bavette’s Bar and Boeuf, and it sounds like he had the exact same lackluster thing, minus the gilding:

I had assumed we’d get, you know, fried chicken: legs, thighs, breasts, wings. What arrived was a platter of three desiccated planks of meat sheathed in cold brown armor. What cut were they? I couldn’t tell or see in the dark dining room. When the server came by to check on us I asked. “They are boneless thighs,” he answered. “How are you enjoying them?”

Anyway, the point of the story is that a server—the same one who got them in this mess—saves the day by taking it off the bill:

This is the act of hospitality, something that can turn a guest into a patron. Yeah, I hated the fried chicken. But I felt cared for at the meal, and when I go back to Bavette’s, I hope I get the same server.

Maybe I would too—but if I ever go back to Bavette’s, I’m not ordering chicken. Meanwhile, across town, Michael Nagrant went to Duck Inn:

As much as I love duck-fat fried French fries, I loved fried cheese curds even more, and so we ordered one of each, but two fries arrived instead. They were great, golden, crisp, their richness foiled by the sweet acidic beautiful punch of housemade “bloody mary” ketchup.

As we piled them in our mouths, we watched the kitchen pass for our curds and our brown-butter-crumble-topped brussels sprouts. As the minutes passed and the fries disappeared it was clear the curds would never arrive, so we hailed down the lady with the neck ink.

It’s a bit of a comedy of errors, but he comes out pro-Duck Inn anyway:

I’m empathetic toward Duck Inn. The food is as good as it’s ever been. I wouldn’t hesitate to send any of you to eat there… You’re also not likely to get a new server like I did and by now she’s probably a pro. As a professional, I love this experience, because it reminds me why I try to stay under the radar and why it’s important. I guarantee not Louisa Chu of the Trib, nor any single one of the non-anonymous folks at The Infatuation would find themselves in a similar situation because they would be made immediately at the door and showered with everything whether secretly or overtly.

Though when Nagrant says he’s the only critic paying his own way, I say, define critic. Most of the ones I chronicle here are not writing for a old school publication, but like him, expressing their own judgements with their own cash on Substack or similar platforms, and rarely if ever getting comped. (For my part, I have not written a review of an invited or comped meal since Midosuji in November, though I’ve been comped a few individual dishes elsewhere.)

3. FLAMM COOKIN’

A couple of pieces on Joe Flamm and his latest place, Bar Totto. First, Liz Grossman at Chicago mag:

In the front of Bar Tutto (1110 W. Carroll Ave.) — Flamm’s fourth West Loop spot as a part of Day Off Group — pistachio crème lattes and egg sandwiches fuel the laptop crowd, while the bar and dining room offer the opportunity for a quick lunch, date-night dinner (with larger entrées), or weekend brunch.

And then Michael Nagrant again:

Fusilli is embalmed in parmesan and basil-flavored pesto so green you could almost chop it into to a tiny dice and throw it on a Chicago dog as a trompe-l’œil of relish. No one would be the wiser until they housed the frankfurter. I love this style, as no inch of the tender bite of pasta is left unsauced, a technique I also admired when it was used on gnochetti at Carciofo.

4. BEST OF, SORT OF

The Reader, debuting its new monthly tabloid format, kicks off with its Best of Chicago issue. Here’s a link to the food section.

5. ELSKIES

Understanding Hospitality evaluates two related restaurants. First, longtime fave Elske:

Yes, Elske possesses that all-too-rare capacity to grow and continually challenge its guests from year to year. Nonetheless, it wraps this penchant for creativity (actualized via a legible, unmistakable approach to cookery) in so much guaranteed pleasure that, even when experimentation runs rampant, it’s almost impossible to have a bad meal. At its peak, the restaurant blends old and new—cherished and mind-expanding—in a manner that strikes all of dining’s emotional chords like few other places can.

And then its spinoff Creepies:

I want Creepies to be creative and singular but also totally convincing in its satisfaction—a mirror of what its mothership, next door, offers. Lunch service proved that the restaurant, when forced to streamline its offerings and play to a particular audience, is every bit capable of impressing across the board.

Yet the dinner menu, by comparison, must remain the venue for the fullest fulfilment of the team’s voice. It’s the place to showcase ideas that could, maybe, transcend the limits of Chicagoan taste and secure some degree of national relevance. Rather than wanting dinner to be more like lunch, I found that my daytime experience actually prompted greater patience and understanding in how I view the chefs’ pursuit of their ultimate goal: a neo-bistro like exists nowhere else.

6. IRISH BEEF

Louisa Chu loves the corned beef beat every year when St, Patrick’s rolls around. This year she offers bios of several corned beef impresarios, including Dan Raskin of Manny’s and Bette Dworkin of Kaufman’s in Skokie:

But it was Gino who taught Dan how to make sandwiches. Legendary mustachioed counterman Gino Gambarota started working at Manny’s almost 43 years ago. Gambarota, the longest-tenured employee, has become beloved for his old-school banter.

Their classic corned beef, loading nine towering and tender ounces of meat onto rye, remains their bestselling sandwich.

“If people don’t ask, we just make it a mix of lean and fatty,” Raskin said. “It’s the point and flat of the brisket.”

I don’t think I’ve ever asked. In Gino we trust.

7. EVANSTON BAKED

If someone says “bakery” in relation to Evanston, you probably think Bennison’s, or maybe Hewn. But Kevin Pang talks about a bunch of new ones:

Evanston is not lacking for shops selling fresh baked goods. By my count, there’s at least 18 bakeries in this town of 77,000 people.

The past 12 months have been especially active in new bake shops opening. At least six have opened in Evanston—and what’s nice is that no two are alike. They each have their own niche and specialty, cheerfully operating in their own part of town.

8. THE CLOVE IN THE GLEN

Titus Ruscitti visits an Indian-Chinese restaurant in Glenview called The Clove:

The menu is split into two – there’s an Indian-Nepali and an Indo-Chinese menu. This is fairly common but what’s not is having two separate kitchens (and cooks) for each menu. The Clove is located in a large strip mall so there’s a nice amount of space inside including a full bar which along with the food is 25% off on Mondays. The Indo Chinese food at [the owner’s earlier restaurant] The Red Hot Chili Pepper was the best I’d had in Chicagoland so I had The Clove pretty high on my list but it took some time to find myself out that way. Well that recently happened not once but twice in the span of a week so I got to try a pretty nice portion of the menu and as I suspected it would be – the Indo-Chinese food here is excellent.

He also writes a roundup of Pakistani sandwiches, which is apparently a thing, mostly in the burbs (though I’ve noticed the Halal burger joint on Western):

Middle Eastern and South Asian tea and coffee houses have really taken off in the Chicagoland area where we have large populations with connections to both regions. So I read this is part of a broader shift in U.S. beverage and social culture. This trend combines immigrant cultural influence with changing American tastes, community-oriented spaces, and evolving preferences around tea drinking. Tea has shifted from another drink to an experience, this as alcohol sales continue to slide. I’ve noticed quite a few of these places in the western suburbs where there’s already a good number of South Asian restaurants. I also noticed a good chunk of them were Pakistani and also offered sandwiches and such which is much more up my alley than tea so I set out to check some of these spots out and in doing so got a little more familiar with Pakistan’s interesting sandwich culture.

9. NICK THE BARTENDER

Nick Kindelsperger says his new piece is “not a comprehensive collection of Loop happy hours. Instead, here are three battle-tested happy hour deals where you can both drink well and comfortably.” Example, at Copper Canyon:

My favorite offering by far is the $8 Old Fashioned, which is actually on tap. Each sip is bold and sharp, with just a tickle of sweetness instead of a sloppy smooch. If you’re looking for something beyond the deal, the bar has an extensive selection of whiskies.

10. RETROBAMA

The old Hero’s sub shop near Lane Tech had a painted sign saying “Retro” for months. It’s finally open, a pizza delivery place, and Dennis Lee has been.

He also ate rib tips and links,  but with some new twists, at a west side place called Jay’s Backyard BBQ, and came away raving about the Obama jerk Philly sandwich:

You’re going to have to leave your inhibitions at the door while eating it, because it’s definitely going to leave a mess, but damn. The jerk sauce has a complex flavor and a fiery kick to it, and the chicken and asada-like steak combination makes for a good texture pairing. Plus there’s a ton of meat stuffed into this thing, which will inevitably start falling out as the hinge of the bread collapses. Take what you think about balanced flavors and toss it all out the window — this sandwich brings everything on at once, and this is one exceptional bite after another.

11. YOU DESERVE A BREAK TODAY

Eddie Lakin, of Edzo’s, has a really good examination of something you’ve probably noticed—fast food prices have gone up to the point that pretty much everybody is charging the same for a burger or a chicken sandwich:

10 years ago or so, the very best burger you could find around here cost about eighteen times more than the cheapest possible burger. Now, the top tier is only about 6 times more expensive than the lowest. The middle tiers have similarly compressed and are all bumping up against each other as well.

Many people online report that getting a meal consisting of a burger, fries, and a drink at McDonalds, Burger King, or Wendy’s these days costs about ten bucks.

But if you look at the casual dining chains like Chili’s, Red Robin, or Buffalo Wild Wings, they’re all offering burger meal deals for around ten bucks too. And that’s for a sit-down dining experience. They’ll often throw in extra incentives as well, like free chips and salsa, bottomless fries, or unlimited pop refills.

It’s a smart, and obviously well-informed, account of where everyday pricing has gone.

12. PI DAY MINUS TWO

Pi Day (3.14) was Saturday, but it’s still worth reading Daniel Hautzinger’s roundup of where to get pie in Chicago—there are more places than you know.

13. LISTEN UP

The Dining Table talks to Claire Parlette about the comedy night she runs at Le Bouchon.

Joiners talks to Damarr Brown of Virtue, and Danny Espinoza of Santa Masa Tamaleria.

Dish from Chicago mag talks about Atsumeru and a very good Turkish doner place on Argyle.

The Chef’s Cut starts a three-part series on the ins and outs of hospitality.