July is national hot dog month, which means today — the first day of the month devoted to the weiner — basically should be a civic holiday in Chicago, where we don't just pretend to be into the sausages for...
The comparisons are inevitable between the recently-opened Chicago's Dog House in Lincoln Park and Avondale's Hot Doug's — taking their cue from the king of encased meats, the boys behind the Dog House have turned to some nontraditional animals in...
The July issue of Men's Health contains a culinary prescription for virility: the mag claims that if you're looking to enhance your sexual performance and beef up the ol' sperm count, you should look no further than pantry staples popcorn...
New York Times columnist David Carr is in Chicago right now, and he told our sister blog Grub Street New York that while he's here he's giving up his epic pork bun consumption in favor of the Chicago-style hot dog....
Today the Windy Citizen's readers voted up how-to website eHow's 10-step tutorial on making a Chicago-style hot dog. And we would just like to point out that eHow is horribly, totally wrong. For example, the tomato should be sliced into...
We've always thought of the corn dog as a state fair food (what? it's on a stick!) but to Chaise Lounge chef Cary Taylor, it's a baseball treat. In honor of opening day (postponed, schmostponed), he's introducing two haute corn...
Dan Dan Noodles — the slurpy, slithery Szechuan dish of hand-cut noodles in a fiery chili oil topped with pickled vegetables and (more often than not) flavorful ground pork — is a real treat. It's light but filling, sharp but...
Today's New York Times dining section contains a love letter to Whoopie Pies. These cakelike cookie-esque bakery inscrutables, sandwiched around a creamy filling, were a staple of many a childhood, and can incite their fans to extraordinary frenzy. Screw...
A recent Slashfood post ribbed on the economy with the throwaway question "Who's eating caviar staircases these days?" and, we figured, well, we'll find out. Slashfood might think of the caviar staircase as an example of absurd gastronomic luxury, but...
Ladies and gentlemen, Chef Phillip Foss! We asked, and he delivered. Three weeks ago, we wondered why none of Chicago's extraordinarily inventive and envelope-pushing culinary talents had taken it upon themselves to deconstruct or reinterpret that most iconic of local...
The donuts that end a meal at L2O are a stark counterpoint to the flavors that precede it: the warm, familiar, homey spheres of fried dough are the diametric opposite of the refined, precise flavors found on the savory...
We're thinking the banh mi has officially arrived. Last month we rounded up the best banh mi in Chicago. Just a short few weeks later we personally got very excited while spellchecking the brand-spanking new menu for Bon Bon...
Earlier today we asked how on earth it is possible that in our city of experimentation-happy chefs, there's no crazy $50 take on the Chicago-style hot dog. A tipster reminded us of the Chicago Dog dessert at Moto, where the...
Today in the Reader, The Straight Dope explores the origins of Italian beef: According to [Dave Howey, head of Chicago Franchise Systems, which owns Al's No 1 Italian Beef], Al Ferreri and his sister and brother-in-law, Frances and Chris...
Nick Kindelsperger of The Paupered Chef was skeptical of Italian beef when he first moved to Chicago, but a trip to Al's #1 on Taylor Street converted him: The sandwich is astonishingly tender and succulent, and the peppers provide...
Yesterday, Lockwood chef Phillip Foss unearthed a dessert from last summer — a multipart plating whimsically titled "Peach, Peach, Peach, Peach, Peach, Peach & Peach." Foss cites the dish's inspiration as a dinner at Alinea, where this kind of...
The key for me with Japanese curry is cold: either I've got to have one, or it's got to be that way outside. Or, as is the case today, both. As I sniffed and sniffled my way through my daily...
The savvy bloggers from L2O offer us a rare glimpse into the process of dish development, with photos of first and second drafts of chef Laurent Gras's beet salad with watercress and frozen carrot. See if you can spot the...
After a month-long hiatus for rest, relaxation, and recipe development, Chef Curtis Duffy et al will be reopening Avenues at the Peninsula hotel next Wednesday, February 4th. On his blog, Duffy gives us a glimpse of what went on during...
Blame Serious Eats for this one. The food megablog reported on a killer version of the Vietnamese sandwich at New York's Baoguette, and the pictures were like a shot of gastronomic adrenaline. Right now, a furious battle rages: My...
