‘If I could run away, I would’

Chicago Reader (Food & Drink) 11/20 7:45A Maura Turcotte

Restaurant owners of color struggle to stay afloat during the pandemic. Omelets alongside tortas and Polish sausages, pink lemonade next to agua fresca de pepino, Valentina hot sauce next to Heinz...

The power of the Snack Collective pivot

Chicago Reader (Food & Drink) 11/20 4:00A Mike Sula

Three Vietnamese American chefs do it their way and offer a boost to their friends. I used to struggle to keep up with the number of restaurants that opened each week in Chicago.…

Quarantinis delivered

Chicago Reader (Food & Drink) 11/18 9:45A Jenna Rimensnyder

Here’s where you can get to-go cocktails around Chicago. As we begin to make our way into the winter months, the skies begin to grey, and the streets become windy as hell, we all begin to feel a...

Minahasa brings Northern Sulawesian food to your door

Chicago Reader (Food & Drink) 11/10 7:30A Mike Sula

Another furloughed chef, another regional treasure John Avila’s mom and grandma tried to “sneak” some tikus rica rica into his bowl when he visited their hometown in the mountains of North Sulawesi,...

You don’t mess with Teta at Evette’s

Chicago Reader (Food & Drink) 11/9 5:45A Mike Sula

Grandma would approve of this Lincoln Park Lebanese-Mexican mashup. Rafael Esparza was a “weird kid” who hated spaghetti. Specifically he did not like his grandmother’s cheesy, chile-spiked pasta...

Meet Dinkey DaDiva, creator of the Jerk Chicken Egg Roll

Chicago Reader (Food & Drink) 10/28 9:20A Mike Sula

The Egg Roll Lady has 75 varieties in her arsenal. Dinkey DaDiva, the Egg Roll Lady, and her sister Pinkey grew up on the west side eating their Auntie Cathy’s egg rolls stuffed with ground beef and...

Stay pizza-positive with Crust Fund Pizza

Chicago Reader (Food & Drink) 10/16 7:05A Mike Sula

Food writer John Carruthers auctions his tavern-style pies for social justice. Back in the days when one couldn’t possibly keep up with all the restaurants that opened every week in Chicago, I used to...

Bokuchan’s ghost curry holds up in transit

Chicago Reader (Food & Drink) 10/13 9:35A Mike Sula

It’s Shin Thompson’s pivot to Japanese soul food, from a virtual kitchen. In early March, Shin Thompson’s Furious Spoon ramen minichain was humming, with five locations in the city and Evanston, and a...

Fill up with Pat Badani’s Comestible 7-Day Meal Plan

Chicago Reader (Food & Drink) 10/6 8:10A Mike Sula

It’s a manifesto of ecological cooking. Pat Badani’s seven-day meal plan includes a recipe for greens that calls for “a measure of moral evaluation.” She recommends that, on day two, readers serve a...

Rachel Kimura goes all in on Japanese farming

Chicago Reader (Food & Drink) 9/29 8:55A Mike Sula

Hinata Farms is a natural. Rachel Kimura conducted more than a few experiments during the first growing season on her 1/8-acre Hinata Farms.…

Jennifer Kim's pojangmacha and more food and drink to look forward to in the fall

Chicago Reader (Food & Drink) 9/25 6:00A Mike Sula

Everything is terrible, but we're not starving. Yet. Earlier this week, the city dropped its outdoor dining rules for winter: all about tents, heaters, and safety protocols, and all about as agreeable...

Ethan Lim's seven-course Cambodian ode to mom and dad is live

Chicago Reader (Food & Drink) 9/18 7:00A Mike Sula

Family Meal @hermosachicago is the chef's next step toward a culinary Khmerica. It hasn’t even been a year since I first wrote about Ethan Lim and Hermosa, his extraordinary sandwich shop in the...

Jennifer Kim is bottling love

Chicago Reader (Food & Drink) 9/16 10:35A Mike Sula

As Passerotto closes, its chef reimagines the future by preserving the past. Jennifer Kim’s mom keeps a bottle under her kitchen sink containing knobby, gnarly roots and a continually replenished...

Gone but not frog-otten

Chicago Reader (Food & Drink) 9/14 10:45A Megan Kirby

A zinester remembers Rainforest Cafe. I watch a TikTok where the Rainforest Cafe frog sits on a trailer in a parking lot, dismantled.…

Get weird with mustard beer

Chicago Reader (Food & Drink) 9/11 7:50A Michelle Bruton

Are Chicagoans ready for some of the yellow stuff in their brews? In the days between summer and fall, past scorching July with Oktoberfest looming, almost nothing hits the same as a grilled sausage...