Hello. My name is Helen Rosner and I’m the new kid.
It’s an understatement to say that I’m excited to be stepping into the very brilliant, very funny, very large shoes of Adam Peltz, your guide through the last 15 months of MP Chicago. I’ll be posting here every day, keeping up the old features and gradually rolling in some new ones. We’ll be staying on top of openings and closings, chefs on the move, evolving menus, cheap eats, expensive eats, reviews, reviewers, the reviewed… pillorying and glorifying as necessary. Got tips? Ideas? Hot news? Drop me a line!
So who am I? I’m a Chicago girl, born and bred. I spent those long years from birth to legal voting age in Hyde Park and then down the Metra line in Homewood-Flossmoor (hey there, south side), teething on shu mai from Thai 55 and driving all the way up Western Ave in high school for late-night chorizo tacos at Arturo’s.
More importantly, though, as far as I’m concerned, I don’t eat enough. Not by, you know, nutritional standards – I do quite well by caloric intake, thanks. But take a finite span of time spent here on Earth, and divide that by a near-infinite panoply of dim sum carts, churrascarias, morel-mozzarella s’mores, egg-and-cheese counters, gyros cones, wheels of manchego, pickle barrels, and just-picked strawberries – just to name a few – and the resulting sum is a big flashing arrow pointing to the fact that the three-square-meals-a-day plan falls woefully short, and next thing you know the only thing standing between me and The Scary Dark Abyss is that next great plate of food.
When I’m not thinking about what to eat, I spend a lot of brainpower overanalyzing pop culture, grammar, and what to wear each day. I have a weakness for tuna tartare, will buy almost anything that has a robot on it, and threaten to get a puppy on a regular basis. I have horrible taste in music, I stop the car for garage sales and street fairs, and last night I made a paella that was so delicious that it is currently providing me with enough confidence to buoy me through my first-day jitters.
Here we go!
Thai 55 [MenuPages]
Arturo’s Tacos [MenuPages]
[Photo:”Welcome to Chicago” via chicoivan’s flickr]
