1. BOOK NEWS

Had a great The Chicago Way event Thursday night at the Old Town Triangle Association, with a Q&A led by fellow food writer Chris LaMorte. About 60 folks came out, including three people who are interviewed in the book, and a host of other people with memories of places mentioned in the book.

My next event will be in Milwaukee at Boswell Book Company, on Friday May 15 at 6:30 pm. I’ll be in conversation with Kyle Johnson Cherek, who does Classic Eats, a food podcast distributed by NPR. (We recorded an episode a while back, which will debut when the second season starts later this spring.) Go here for more details.

And I got another review! The newsletter for Kitchen Arts & Letters, which I said on social media is a New York City food bookstore (to which my friend Frank Patterson said, no, it’s THE food bookstore in New York City), had a nice review of it. Nice to get praise from outside of Chicago! Here’s an excerpt:

The contributors are the reason to read it. Rick and Deann Bayless, Grant Achatz, Carrie Nahabedian, Rick Tramonto, Gale Gand, Kevin Boehm, Mindy Segal, Curtis Duffy, Paul Kahan, Stephanie Izard, Joe Flamm. Alongside them, the busboys and line cooks and neighbors whose names rarely appear in this kind of account. The density of voices is itself the argument for Chicago’s significance.

Can’t find a link for the full thing, but I keep track of media appearances on my Sky Full of Bacon site, and you can see the full review there.

2. DEAD PIGLET ON BEETHOVEN STREET

Last week Kevin Pang was all over Cerdito Muerto in Pilsen, this week it’s Louisa Chu:

Chef Becky Carson, previously at the reimagined Ramova Grill and Apolonia, learned two taco recipes from Mamá Coco herself. But Carson now begins with pork tenderloin from Catalpa Grove Farm in Dwight, Illinois.

“It’s different from my mother, who used to buy pork butt, which is tougher, so she had to cook it longer,” said [owner Emidio] Oceguera. “What we changed with the recipe is just the quality of the meat.”

But they’ve changed more than that, including the tortillas, still fresh from El Popocatepetl Tortillería nearby, but now they choose blue corn tortillas.

3. EARS TO THE PUBLICAN

Michael Nagrant eats at The Publican under its new chef, Rob Levitt, and takes the opportunity to consider the “oysters, pork and beer” restaurant as it approaches its twenty year mark (two years from now):

I don’t know if anyone does cured meat better in Chicago, but that and a true dedication to local and high-quality seasonal ingredients is what Levitt and his team bring to the Publican experience so many of you already know.

If you miss Mado, Levitt’s short-lived but game-changing influential restaurant, there are many whispers of that past at Publican for you to check out.

Levitt’s mortadella is the anti-baloney, a juicy emulsion that melts on the tongue, and has become so popular it’s popping up at other restaurants around town like Nettare.

4. NEBRASKA FISH

David Utterback is an acclaimed sushi chef in Omaha (as someone from an equally landlocked state directly south of Omaha, I realize that sounds like a joke, but he’s the real deal). He’s turned up at Kyoten as a pop-up chef before, and now he’s guesting at Esme, which is what Grimod writes about this week:

Utterback strikes an easy, conversational tone with his assembled patrons: recounting his life story, describing the ingredients and philosophy that shape his sushi, jokingly providing instruction on how to best eat the nigiri, flexing his encyclopedic knowledge of famous Japanese chefs, and leaving plenty of room for the kind of fun, frivolous banter (on a wider array of topics) that totally subverts any caricature of the solemn, stoic craftsperson. As a consequence, a connection between each of the three parties also takes shape.

5. CARRY ON CLEO

A couple of years ago John Kessler and I did a little bit of a south side expoloration to try places in that part of town. One of them was supposed to be veteran soul food spot Cleo’s—but when we got there they were closed, to prep for a wedding they were catering the next day. So they missed their shot to be in Chicago mag then, but with a Cleo’s having opened on Lincoln just north of Diversey, they finally make it into the magazine, courtesy of Amy Cavanaugh:

Her menu centers on fried chicken and catfish, both of which I recommend. But the catfish, with its cornmeal crust and Creole spice, is special. It’s available a variety of ways: topped with crab and rémoulade, drizzled with hot honey, or, my favorite, served over grits with comeback sauce, a tangy Mississippi condiment ($27). It comes with what might be Chicago’s best cornbread, which is gilded with a caramelly honey butter. Portions are huge — two can split a main and sides of baked mac and cheese and green beans ($7 each).

6. BODEGATA

Can’t say I’ve ever thought about dining in Bogota, Colombia, but Titus Ruscitti went there at the end of his Peruvian trip:

Empanaditas De Pipián was high on my list of places to try and I lucked out in that there was an outlet a short walk from our hotel. This local chain specializes in Empanaditas De Pipián which are a classic Colombian street snack popular in Bogotá though their roots actually come from the southwest of the country in the region around Popayán. At their core, empanaditas de pipián are small, deep-fried corn pastries filled with a distinct mixture called pipián. The dough is made from corn (maize) and filled with a mix of mashed papa criolla (a small yellow Colombian potato), roasted peanuts, onion, tomato, and spices like achiote. They’re a popular snack as they’re small and affordable and fried to order. We got a handful and noted how similar the taste was to hash brown but with a much deeper potato flavor.

7. FAT OF THE LAND

I had a reason to be downtown and so I tried Fatback Butcher—too soon, alas, for Nick Kindelsperger to tell me not to order the thing I had already ordered there, a sandwich thick with sliced jambon but its natural flavor tamped down by a cream cheesy filling. (I did like a side of curried carrots quite a bit.) Anyway, read Nick’s review and take his advice, as I could not:

The turkey sandwich at Fatback isn’t so much a lunch as a dare. This hefty dish is so hilariously messy, you’ll need an equally-sized stack of napkins. It’s also $18, making it one of the most expensive turkey sandwiches I’ve ever tried.

But when you unwrap the sandwich, you’ll know why. You’re not getting slimy precut cold cuts, but thick slices from a freshly roasted turkey. It’s loaded with crispy bacon, juicy tomato slices, creamy avocado, and a very generous swipe of Duke’s mayo. The sandwich’s only real competition in the turkey sandwich game is the equally excellent B. Franklin from Tempesta. That’s high praise.

8. EVETTE’S BAR AND HALLOUMI

Dennis Lee went to Evette’s for Mexican-Lebanese, and had my favorite thing there:

I particularly loved the grilled halloumi on the flaky malawach ($15), which is a lot like a paratha.

The malawach was a completely new experience for me, but I liked how dense it was, sort of like an oily handmade tortilla. The squeaky grilled halloumi cheese was the perfect main filling, and the acidic pop from the toppings kept everything fresh on that bed of fresh vegetables. That pink sauce you see on everything is Evette’s mayo, which I think (don’t quote me on this) has sumac in it, an ingredient that typically lends another tart flavor. This is one of those items I’d happily return for if I was hanging out in the neighborhood.

9. ZSA ZSA KORDA

The Infatuation, firmly stuck in giving everyone a rating of at least 8, gives 8.4 to Txa Txa Club, an all-day cafe in Logan Square:

Txa Txa Club embraces the eclectic and unconventional with a big bear hug—and it’s been that way long before they opened a Logan Square cafe. It started as a supper club and catering business, serving a line-up of dishes that reads like The Bear’s “chaos menu” at art galleries and a library full of buzzsaws. Really, the most conventional thing they could do is open a restaurant. And we’re better off for it. Txa Txa Club now has a fun, funky home for its delicious food.

I dunno, between that write up and knowing that they have a “Congee of the Day,” it sounds too preciously hip for me.

10. GILDA AGE

The upcoming restaurant Gilda, from Jeremy Leven (mfk.) and Rafa Esparza (Finom Coffee, FAFO), tried something new to help build up cash for its opening: pre-selling to future customers. And it’s working, says Maggie Hennessy at WBEZ:

Leven estimated opening Gilda will cost between $120,000 (“pinching every penny”) and $180,000 (“comfortable”), but the card is a key example of how the team is trying to close a funding gap. So far, the effort appears to be paying off: Having raised more than 82% of its $20,000 goal, the restaurant’s owners hope the Compañero (“buddy” in Spanish) card builds early regulars and encourages consumer appreciation for small, independent spots.

Their experiment will be closely watched in an era that increasingly favors the corporate-backed and deep-pocketed and in a year where several local independent restaurateurs have closed, citing shaky industry economics.

11. KING CONGO

I’ve sampled African food occasionally, but I’m sure that means mostlyEthiopian, with other places (Senegal, Ghana) making occasional appearances. Here’s a new one to check out: Congolese food. Mona Tong at Mona’s Tongue went to Mama’s African Kitchen in Rogers Park:

Opened in September 2025 in Rogers Park, Mama’s African Kitchen Restaurant Bar CHEZ LISA LOBOKO is Chicago’s first and only restaurant (so far) serving traditional Congolese dishes and street foods. I went with my friend Lukengu, who is Congolese, on a quiet Sunday afternoon in April, and we were the only ones in the restaurant. The food took awhile to come out, but boy the portions were large and piping with fresh, layered, smoky flavors.

12. HERE’S ANUPLY

I don’t think Chicago-based Indian food writer Anuply Singla and I have met, but I know she’s moved in similar circles, like talking at Culinary Historians. Now she has a show about Indian food at WTTW, and Daniel Hautzinger writes about her and offers a recipe for raita here:

The new cooking show Indian As Apple Pie aims to bring Indian food into the home cook’s everyday rotation, Chicago-based host Anupy Singla told us. And if you’re going to eat fiery curries or other spicy Indian dishes at home, raita is a necessity. The spiced yogurt side or condiment provides a cooling complement to the heat of a main, and is easy to whisk up.

13. LOVE THAT DIRTY WATER

At the event the other night someone asked me about food trucks, if they were in my book. Just barely, I said—Phillip Foss talks about having one. But in general I felt like the short-lived enthusiasm for food trucks didn’t really have a compelling storyline—people tried to make them happen, but they got pretty quickly discouraged out of the business and never happened, thanks to regulation—also why we don’t, unlike New York, have hot dog carts on the street. Sandwich Tribunal goes into some of the history, and then explores a thing you can find in other cities that allow hot dog carts:

Where does the phrase “dirty water hot dog” come from, and why would someone want to eat such an unappetizingly named thing? According to most sources, the name comes from the murky look a hot dog cart’s cooking water takes on after hot dogs have been simmering in it all day, its surface prismed by rendered fat, its depths colored by the pink nitrites and flavored by the spices and salt leeched from the sausages over hours of cooking.

He makes his own, starting with NY-style Sabrett’s hot dogs:

To complete the experience though, I’ll need some “dirty water.” I’ve read about people adding cider vinegar to the water to give it a little something extra, or beer, or spices, or even ground up hot dogs. I took a little inspiration from all those, adding cider vinegar, malty beer, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, and a little pink curing salt to my simmering water. And to simulate the sausages spending all day in that dirty water bath, I cooked them unwrapped at 160°F for 6 hours using my sous vide machine.

14. LISTEN UP

Joiners talks to Noah Sandoval of Oriole and All Well fame.

The Dining Table talks to Taryn Huebner, who was Oprah Winfrey’s chef for a decade and now has The Kismet Table in Lincoln Park.

Dish from Chicago magazine talks to Maria Montero, a sommelier with the Gibsons Group.

The Chef’s Cut talks to chef Karen Akunowicz about the food scene in Boston.

WHAT ALEXA ATE

There’s a couple of meals I could comment on this week, but we took my son Myles’s girlfriend Alexa Johanningmeier to Virtue for her birthday, and then on the actual day she had lunch at Monteverde, and she posted her thoughts about them on Instagram. And it was a pleasure to read her informal comments instead of my own thoughts. I asked her about republishing them here but for her Fooditor debut, she wanted to write something a little more formal. So instead of grumpy old me, here’s Alexa’s cheerful thoughts:

I had two special birthday meals this year – dinner at Virtue the Saturday prior to the big day and lunch the day of at Monteverde. They really couldn’t have been more different experiences but both were deeply satisfying, and frankly spiritual for me, lol.

I couldn’t say anything more self-evident and obvious about Virtue than that it was the best meal I’ve ever had and is probably exactly what I would order for my last meal if I were on death row. Picture this: I was sipping on a nectar-of-the-gods-level Nearest Green whiskey (!!!!), ginger, honey, and peach cocktail which couldn’t possibly be a more Alexa-coded drink unless, of course, it were Sir Davis whiskey spiking it. Then I was sipping on a beautiful little bowl of gumbo that, along with the whiskey, warmed me right up on what turned out to be a blustery, cold evening. I don’t even like fried green tomatoes like that for real but the ones we had that night truly redefined my feelings on the dish – I love them now if they’re seasoned and battered like those were. I haven’t even gotten to the blackened catfish I had, my entree, which was flat-out the silkiest, tenderest, tastiest iteration of the dish I’ve ever had. The banana pudding I rounded out the meal with was a fluffy cloud of perfection with “happy birthday” written on the bottom of the plate in chocolate longhand. Like I said: death row meal.

Going to Monteverde on my actual birthday was a treat of a different kind. It’s located in West Loop/Fulton Market instead of Virtue’s Hyde Park, I sat at the bar instead of at a table, and it was a Thursday lunch instead of a Saturday dinner. But more centrally, I had a light but incredibly gratifying meal at Monteverde as opposed to the holy but heavy one I had at Virtue.

I enjoyed a citrusy cocktail that the mixologist recommended to me (I figured he’d know better than I what would vibe with my food choices) and a delightful couple of slices of bruschetta while I waited for the main event – the tagliatelle con limone. The hand-cut pasta was the softest and freshest-tasting I’ve ever had in a way that I truly didn’t know pasta could be. Topped with asparagus, crispy artichoke, pecorino, and (in a detail I heard the floor manager share with the gentleman sitting next to me) Sorrento lemon from a place in Capri that Monteverde is the only establishment in Illinois to serve. I believe it was sourced from a particular location or farm there and, though I don’t have a ton of Sorrento lemon experiences to compare it to, I felt I could see why. The lemon really makes this otherwise delicate, green-tasting dish sing. I do mean green-tasting in the absolute best way possible lol! I never knew pasta could be so tender and refreshing.

My favorite part of the excursion, however, was the birthday cake they brought out at the end. It wasn’t on the dessert menu and I didn’t ask for it – this slice of heaven just materialized in front of me adorned with a lit candle and a swirly whirlpool of melted chocolate that sparkled with sprinkles. The cake was probably the best I’ve ever had and I didn’t even order it – a white funfetti cake with custardy vanilla ice cream layers and freshly toasted meringue wrapped around the shoulders of the slice like a shawl, it had this gorgeous à la mode, warm-and-cold vibe that literally caused me to perish instantly. I walked away from both restaurants having experienced a euphoric culinary revelation tbh, but one had me convening with the ancestors over soul food in the Delta and the other had me feeling like I was picknicking on a grassy, sun-drenched hill in the Italian countryside.