Cheap meat is not The Wurst

Chicago Reader (Food & Drink) 7/10 9:07A Mike Sula

Pasture raised, GMO- and antibiotic-free meat isn't cheap, but it's free of Big Ag consequences that put the food supply at risk. Indiana ironworker-turned-butcher Ricky Hanft had a lot of interesting...

The Wurst has the best meats

Chicago Reader (Food & Drink) 7/7 8:15A Mike Sula

A small northwest Indiana butcher shop makes a go of it mid-pandemic with small farmers, small slaughterhouses, and naturally raised beef, pork, chicken, and lamb. The last fun party I went to was...

Bye Bye Blackbird

Chicago Reader (Food & Drink) 7/3 1:20P Mike Sula

Farewell to one of Chicago's most iconic restaurants. I celebrated my 28th birthday at Blackbird six months after it opened. I don’t remember exactly what I ate, but I know pork belly was involved,...

Geno Bahena is back at Mis Moles

Chicago Reader (Food & Drink) 7/1 1:00A Mike Sula

Did you think a little pandemic was going to stop Chicago’s most peripatetic chef? Vlad the Impaler no longer presides over the dining room at 3661 N. Elston. I know this because I’ve seen the...

Farmer Vera Videnovich is raising Balkan sisters the Native American way

Chicago Reader (Food & Drink) 6/23 4:15A Mike Sula

She’s bringing corn, beans, and squash back to where they came from. Baba Petra was getting old. She wanted to see her family in her village near Banja Luka again, so during the middle of the Bosnian...

Where to eat for the Juneteenth Restaurant Celebration

Chicago Reader (Food & Drink) 6/18 3:30P Mike Sula

Your guide to an infinite combination of al trunko food crawls Jeremy Joyce, the dynamo behind @blackpeopleeats, is one of the pandemic’s great pivoters, scrapping plans for an inaugural outdoor food...

A culinary confession

Chicago Reader (Food & Drink) 6/16 8:45A Mike Sula

The story I wish I'd told a year ago Last July I told myself I was done with Abe Conlon. But here I go again.…

Marz Community Kitchen is the future

Chicago Reader (Food & Drink) 6/12 8:07A Mike Sula

Restaurants should embrace community food stability during patio season, and beyond If you took a spin down Clark Street through Wrigleyville last Saturday evening you could imagine it was a game day...

Dinner at the Grotto and Black Cat Kitchen make staying at home deliciously weird

Chicago Reader (Food & Drink) 6/2 4:00A Mike Sula

A supper club and a caterer turned on a dime during quarantine. Some of the rare bright moments in this slow terror are the random porch presents from masked bandits bearing treasures. Last month,...

Wine, cheese, and Decrypto

Chicago Reader (Food & Drink) 5/27 6:30A Brianna Wellen

The Chicago Board Game Cafe offers food and drink pairings to go with your new favorite games. Eric Garneau keeps playing Pandemic Legacy. And as the director of games and retail at the Chicago Board...

Ethan Lim leans in to Cambodian food

Chicago Reader (Food & Drink) 5/26 11:10A Mike Sula

Hermosa’s chef makes space on his sandwich menu for the city’s only Khmer food. Unless your mom is Cambodian, it seems like every time there’s an opportunity to eat Khmer food in Chicago, it’s the...

As for the Chicago chef who stole Diana Kennedy's book. . .

Chicago Reader (Food & Drink) 5/22 9:20A Mike Sula

A new documentary about the great chronicler of regional Mexican food starts streaming tonight If you’re the Chicago chef who stole one of her own cookbooks from Diana Kennedy’s kitchen, she has your...

Eating stuff on the sidewalks

Chicago Reader (Food & Drink) 5/8 8:32A Mike Sula

A public service announcement It’s spring!…

It’s just a weed, Chicago

Chicago Reader (Food & Drink) 5/5 10:50A Mike Sula

Right now may be the easiest, safest time to grow cannabis outdoors. There’s a patch of ground behind the lilies in Lauren’s west suburban backyard garden where tomatoes won’t grow. She thinks it has...

Brasserie Jo returns after 10 years as a carryout-only popup serving set dinners

Chicago Tribune (Food & Dining) 4/24 5:18A Phil Vettel

Brasserie Jo, Chicago chef Jean Joho's beloved less-expensive restaurant, returns as a carryout-only popup serving set menus.