For a foodie event, there is hardly a more prestigious location than Sur La Table, the beloved kitchenwares emporium. So when Ali Banks, the resident chef at Chicago's swanky Sur La Table store on Michigan Avenue, reached out to me about hosting a food swap in her kitchen, I was falling over myself to say yes. While Michigan Avenue is inevitably ...
Culinary Tour of Devon Avenue
Does your city have ethnic neighborhoods filled with markets, shops and restaurants where recent and not-so-recent immigrants can recreate a little of their homeland here in the United States? Most cities do. All over America there are Chinatowns, Koreatowns, Greektowns, Little Saigons, Little Odessas and Little Italies. Some of these neighborhoods ...
Mariano’s Makes Summertime Living Easier
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. #MyMarianos #Collective Bias Summertime and the living is easy. Nowhere is that more true than Chicago. Winter is brutal and spring inevitably a wet, cold disappointment, but summer in Chicago is glorious. The days are warm and sunny; every weekend boasts a different ...
Restaurant Review: Sepia
Today, May 26, is my twelfth wedding anniversary. My husband and I got married on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend in a beautiful outdoor ceremony. I wrote more about my wedding, and how we served corn pudding at dinner, in this post. For today, I only bring up the fact that it is my anniversary because I am reviewing the restaurant we went to ...
Cookbook Review: Hoosier Mama Book of Pie
Some say that pie-making is a lost art. I have found, however, that there are countless men and women toiling away anonymously in their kitchen, keeping this quintessentially American art alive. I was at a party the other night and got to talking with one of my neighbors. The party was a dessert party so the subject naturally turned to our favorite ...
How to Get the Most out of Shopping at the Farmers Market
This Saturday, my beloved Oak Park Farmers Market reopens for the season. It can't even tell you how excited I am. Zuzu has swim practice across the street from the farmers market from 9-10:30 am and my plan is to spend that entire hour-and-a-half browsing at the market. Ninety minutes at the farmers market is not too much for me. As a home ...
May Chicago Food Swap Recap
The Chicago Food Swap had its May event this past Sunday, May 18, at Green Home Experts, a "green" lifestyle boutique in Oak Park. This was the third time that owner Maria Moran opened her store's doors to the Chicago Food Swap and, just as before, it was a perfect location for a swap. On a sunny spring afternoon, Maria's garden center was a ...
Recap of the April Chicago Food Swap
This past weekend the Chicago Food Swap returned to The Chopping Block, the spacious and beautiful cooking school located in the iconic Merchandise Mart, for its April swap. And it was an outstanding afternoon of sampling, swapping and shopping. As I said in my opening remarks to the group, when we are at The Chopping Block, it is like the ...
Family-Friendly Brunch at GT Fish and Oyster
When you are a parent who is passionate about great food, you usually have to choose between exciting food and being with your family. In other words, when you are with your kids, you eat at safe, inexpensive, family-friendly places that leave you uninspired. Other times, you hire a babysitter, leave your kids behind and venture out into the world ...
Visiting Eataly Chicago
Eataly Chicago, the latest colonial outpost of Chef Mario Batali's culinary empire, opened just two months ago to record-breaking crowds. How record-breaking? After more than 120,000 visitors during the first week, Eataly Chicago had to close for a day just to restock. In other words, Chicago broke Eataly. Take that, New York! I can't stand ...
Recap of the February Chicago Food Swap
The Chicago Food Swap held its February swap this past weekend, on February 8, at the kitchens of All Natural Chicago Catering, a local catering company specializing in healthy, freshly made food for corporate and private events. Husband and wife owners Tess and Mickey -- he's the chef -- were incredibly gracious hosts and everyone loved their ...
Chicago Restaurant Week: Naha and Blackbird
Chicago Restaurant Week ended yesterday, although I hear that many of the restaurants extend their special menus for an extra few days. I took advantage of the special $22, three-course Restaurant Week lunch menus to return to two of my favorite restaurants in the city: Naha and Blackbird. Naha is one of the most reliably excellent restaurants ...
Pasta-Making Class at The Chopping Block
One of the kitchen skills that has eluded me for years was how to make fresh pasta. Despite purchasing the right ingredients -- hello, semolina flour! -- and following instructions, my dough never became smooth and elastic enough to roll into long sheets. My noodles always ended up dense and chewy instead having that perfect toothiness that fresh ...
Warm Up with Argo Tea
Today’s post is sponsored by Argo Tea. Argo Tea has a special offer for West of the Loop readers to warm up this month: receive a free oatmeal with purchase of a signature drink at any Argo Tea cafe location. Argo Tea is also giving away a special gift to two West of the Loop readers: a tea gift set and a $50 gift certificate to its website. See ...
Cooking Tips from Marcus Samuelsson
Last week, Macy's Culinary Council, which is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, invited me to attend a demo by celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson at the State Street Macy's store. Everyone knows Marcus Samuelsson from his many television appearances and, of course, from his Harlem restaurant Red Rooster. I have long been a fan of his and ...
Roasted Garlic Hummus for the Chicago Food Swap
Last Saturday was the second anniversary Chicago Food Swap. It's amazing how this community has grown in such a short time. From the dozen or so swappers at that first event in December 2011, the Chicago Food Swap has grown to a community of several hundred people with events that regularly draw eighty or ninety. Each swap, it seems, is a mix of ...
Tips from a Cooking Class at Williams-Sonoma
Do you love Williams-Sonoma as much as I do? I walk into that store and instantly start adding things to my mental wish list. A new stand mixer, a shiny saute pan, maybe some serving dishes, a cookbook or two -- I want it all! One of the best things about Williams-Sonoma is that it takes the home cook seriously. Whether you are just starting out in ...
Restaurant Review: GT Fish & Oyster
A restaurant with the words "fish" and "oyster" in its name is not the kind of place that I would normally drag my non-seafood-eating husband. But when I am not the one choosing the restaurant, anything can happen. Last week, various members of my extended family came to Chicago to celebrate my first-cousin-once-removed graduation from ...
Scenes from the Oak Park Farmers Market
The Oak Park Farmers' Market has been open since May 18, but, as always, the market started slow. The first few weeks offered little locally grown produce beyond lettuce, asparagus and rhubarb. Don't get me wrong: I can do a lot with asparagus and rhubarb. Like grilled asparagus, asparagus pesto, rhubarb jam, and rhubarb-ginger buckle, just to name ...
Glazed Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies
Back in March when I attended the Good Food Festival, I met some folks from Hazzard Free Farm, a Certified Naturally Grown farm near Rockford, Illinois. Hazzard Free Farm grows heirloom grains, like blue and red cornmeal, barley, wheat and oats, and sells them to many of Chicago's best restaurants. Recently, with help from a grant from Rick ...