Where to Find Great Comfort Food in the Windy City By Bob & Sue In addition to three of our favorite fine dining restaurants in Chicago—Grace, Alinea and 16 at the Trump—we enjoyed several first time places for memorable comfort food: Credit: Huge Galdones Momotaro This large Japanese restaurant offers delicious sushi and high-quality small… Read More →
Authentic Americana Cuisine Tune in for Bizarre Foods: Route 66 on Tuesday, February 21 at 9|8c on Travel Channel. Stretching from Chicago to Los Angeles, Route 66 is the most historic road in the country, an emblem of the American Dream. The fabled highway, also known as “the mother road,” is not just a means… Read More →
Edward Kim on Where to Eat & Drink in Chicago After graduating from culinary school, chef Edward Kim worked in kitchens in Los Angeles, Seoul and New York City—most notably under Thomas Keller at Per Se—before returning to his native Chicago to open Ruxbin in Wicker Park. After the wild success of his globally-influenced 32-seat neighborhood BYOB,… Read More →
From the culinary adventures of Bob & Sue By Bob & Sue We enjoyed three spectacular dinners and several memorable lunches from the best of Chicago: Grace Both the Fauna and Flora tasting menus included a number of dazzling presentations from a highly-trained kitchen staff. Among the highlights were Alaskan king crab in cucumber juice with… Read More →
The Second City Chicago’s food scene is dynamic. There is a willingness from chefs and diners alike to experiment with food, which means every time I visit something new and exciting is happening. From classic Chicago deep-dish pizza joints to once-in-a-lifetime culinary experiences, Chicago holds strong as one of America’s most diverse and fascinating food… Read More →
Add this one to your weeknight rotation. Last weekend, KitchenAid invited Gail Simmons and I to their Chicago showroom to host a cooking demonstration. Lucky for us, Gail was willing to share her recipe for this flavorful noodle dish that should be in every cook’s repertoire.
Nico Osteria By Bob & Sue This Paul Kahan restaurant on Rush Street features imaginative Italian fare. Executive Chef Erling Wu-Bower, a James Beard finalist in 2017, brings his own interpretation to traditional dishes. Crudo selections included Suzuki bass with chili flakes, Madai snapper with a kohlrabi salsa verde, bigeye tuna with black olives and… Read More →
Chicken Fried Steak with Cream Gravy By Andrew Zimmern Stretching from Chicago to Los Angeles, Route 66 is the most historic road in the country, an emblem of the American Dream. Last year I drove a section of the famed highway in Oklahoma and stopped at Clanton’s, world famous for their chicken fried steak. Once I tasted their… Read More →
Central Asian Comfort Food in Chicago You’ve probably heard me say that you can understand the history of a country and its people by looking at its food. No where is this more true than the countries of Central Asia, where the Silk Road impacted all parts of culture. Dive into the meat-centric culinary traditions of… Read More →
Series premiere kicks off in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday, August 16 at 9 p.m. ET/PT Any time I travel, to a new destination or an old favorite, I always walk out of an airport and get in a car. Local drivers are the first people I converse with about where I am and what… Read More →
The Future of Restaurant Reservations Chicago restaurateur Nick Kokonas co-owns Alinea, Next and The Aviary with chef Grant Achatz. After recognizing the downfalls of traditional restaurant reservations, Kokonas set out to transform the industry with his ticketing system Tock. Similar to buying tickets for a concert or sporting event, Tock creates a transparent and seamless booking… Read More →
Eating Words: A Norton Anthology of Food Writing Edited by literary critic Sandra Gilbert and professor and award-winning restaurant critic Roger Porter, Eating Words is a vast volume of exquisite food writing, from Biblical times through modern day. It’s a historically and conceptually diverse anthology, that goes beyond mere consumption and explores food’s relation to politics,… Read More →
A Way with Words An award-winning food writer and creator of the long running blog The Food Section, Josh Friedland was the man behind one of Twitter’s greatest mysteries—the elusive and satirical personality mash-up known as @RuthBourdain, which won a James Beard Award for Humor. He’s dropped the alternate persona, and has now authored a new… Read More →
Reimagining Bread & Butter A seasoned writer and recipe developer, Raquel Pelzel started her food career in pastry school before landing a gig in the test kitchen at Cook’s Illustrated and later moving on to Tasting Table as a senior food editor. She’s co-authored 20 cookbooks—including the James Beard award-winning Quick Recipe and the James Beard… Read More →
Jonathan Brooks’ Top Picks for Indianapolis Indianapolis native Jonathan Brooks opened his first restaurant, Milktooth, with his wife in October of 2014. It didn’t take long for his edgy brunch menu to gain a following and a national reputation. In 2015, Brooks was named a Food & Wine Best New Chef (the first award given to… Read More →
Justin Yu on Where to Eat & Drink in Houston With an astounding blend of cultures and cuisine, Houston has long been one of America’s great food cities. But it’s only been until recently—with chefs like Chris Shepherd, Hugo Ortega and Justin Yu leading the pack—that anyone’s paid attention to the robust dining scene. Well… Read More →
My Favorite Cooking Tunes Music is always playing when I’m in the kitchen. What I listen to varies, but the playlist I’m sharing today is my perfect catch-all for spending time behind the burners. It’s an eclectic mix of genres, of new and throwback tunes… Holly Williams to Talking Heads to The Jayhawks. Listen here or, if you… Read More →
Congratulations JBF Award Winners! As always, I had a fantastic time at the annual James Beard Foundation Awards, the nation’s most prestigious awards ceremony honoring professionals in the food and beverage biz. I’m so proud to be a part of this amazing organization that works hard on education, agriculture issues, food insecurity and hunger relief. You… Read More →
The Votes Are In! Hosted by yours truly and an expert panel of 43 in-the-know culinary experts, the 2015 Munchies: People’s Choice Food Awards recognize the best-of-the-best in the food biz. After more than five weeks of competition and hundreds of thousands of votes, Tablespoon.com reveals the 2015 winners in 20 different categories, from terrific tastemakers to top food… Read More →
Minneapolis’ Young Chef in the Spotlight Mike DeCamp, the incredibly talented and creative chef de cuisine at Minneapolis’ award winning La Belle Vie, just announced he’s leaving his longtime mentor Tim McKee to open a new restaurant with Jester Concepts (the team behind Borough and Coup d’etat). They’ll be taking over Hotel Ivy’s first floor restaurant, formerly Porter &… Read More →
An Impressive Debut After working in some of Chicago’s most prestigious kitchens—Charlie Trotter’s, Alinea and Schwa—chef Jake Bickelhaupt started an underground supper club, or “guestaurant,” called Sous Rising. With his wife Alexa Welsh, Bickelhaupt hosted Michelin-quality meals with a casual, dinner party feel in their Chicago apartment for nearly two years. In early 2014, Bickelhaupt and Welsh opened… Read More →
Cookbook Gurus Brothers Matt and Ted Lee grew up in Charleston, South Carolina but attended colleges in Massachusetts. They so missed the foods from back home that they founded The Lee Bros. Boiled Peanuts Catalogue, a mail-order Southern food company. When an editor of Travel + Leisure magazine asked them to write a story about road-tripping their home state… Read More →
Kevin Pang For Grace Food journalist Kevin Pang joins Andrew & Molly to talk about his new film For Grace, the end of Hot Doug’s, and the state of print journalism. Plus, Andrew gives his advice on eating bushmeat and shares what he thinks is the next new thing in beverages. Read: Researchers retract study supporting… Read More →
New State Fair Foods for 2014 Every year there’s a host of new foods at the Great Minnesota Get-Together, and while the imaginative deep-fried-on-a-stick creations can be hit or miss, sometimes the shear novelty is worth shelling out a few bucks to try. Without further ado, here’s the line up for 2014: Photographs courtesy… Read More →
Beer-Battered Fish Tacos This recipe for crunchy, beer-battered fish tacos comes from Big Star’s Chef de Cuisine Cary Taylor. Topped with a tangy slaw and wrapped in fresh corn tortillas, it’s the ultimate summertime fish fry.
Heritage Hog Renaissance As the founder of the pork-centric culinary competition Cochon 555, Brady Lowe is on a mission to remind us what true pork tastes like. In each of the 10 cities on the annual tour, Cochon 555 showcases five chefs, five heritage breed pigs and five winemakers to promote breed diversity and whole animal… Read More →
Sin City Recommendations Las Vegas is wholly intoxicating, a city dedicated to sensory overload that’s all about being the biggest and the best. And while chefs from all over the country are generating a lot of great food in glamorous settings on the Strip, you won’t be sorry if you venture off the main drag… Read More →
Rust Belt Revival After years spent working in some of the best restaurants in New York City, chef Jonathon Sawyer is back in his hometown, raising his family and Cleveland’s food profile. He’s become an incredible son of Ohio, who has changed this town’s culinary landscape with his restaurants Noodlecat, Sawyer’s Street Frites, SeeSaw Pretzel… Read More →
Congratulations JBF Award Winners! I had a fantastic weekend at the James Beard Foundation Awards in NYC, the nation’s most prestigious awards ceremony honoring professionals in the food and beverage biz. Winners of the Foundation’s annual Book, Broadcast, and Journalism Awards were presented on May 2, at Gotham Hall in New York City, during a… Read More →
Another Austin Food & Wine has come and gone, and I for one can’t wait for 2015. One of the most fun, intimate festivals in the country. Without further ado, some of the best moments (and one sort of ugly one) from this year’s party: 1. Paul Qui has confirmed for me that the Next Big Food Trend… Read More →
