WBEZ | Louisa Chu

Handpicked: Fiestas Puertorriqueñas, Meet the Market and more

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 05:00:00 -0500

Friday, June 14
31st annual Fiestas Puertorriqueñas in and around Humboldt Park. The Puerto Rican Festival and Parade is second in size only to the Taste of Chicago, and the biggest Hispanic fiesta in the country. The four-day cultural celebration includes food vendors of course, and is sponsored in part by La Bomba and Borinquen restaurants, the latter the inventor of the iconic Chicago jibarito. Be sure to taste mofongo (fried green plantains mashed with garlic and meat, classically pork, but preferably chicharrónes if I can help it) and arroz con gandules (rice with pigeon peas, and again, classically pork, cooked in aromatic sofrito). Admission FREE, food, drink, and carnival rides extra.

Saturday, June 15
Les Dames Culinary Garage Sale and Cake Walk at Kendall College. Chicagoland’s top chefs have cleaned out their prized culinary closets of Le Creuset and other treasures, plus top pastry chefs will donate their goods to the cake walk on the terrace. Proceeds benefit Les Dames d’Escoffier scholarships and Green City Market. Food trucks and live music round out the event. Admission $5 general; $75 VIP includes early entry to the sale, food, drinks, and a swag bag; food trucks extra.

If Recipes Could Talk: Wisconsin Foods and the Stories They Tell at Kendall College. Author Terese Allen shares classic Wisconsin recipes for the Friday night fish fry, and Hmong egg rolls? Hear the stories behind them, plus taste said Hmong egg rolls, filled with ground pork, rice noodles, and minced onions. Allen is a columnist for Edible Madison and Edible Door County magazines, food editor for the Organic Valley brand, co-author of the award-winning The Flavor of Wisconsin: An Informal History of Food and Eating in the Badger State, and much more. Presented by the Culinary Historians of Chicago, this event will be recorded for WBEZ’s Chicago Amplified. Admission FREE for Kendall students and faculty with ID, $3 general.

Spring Open House at Growing Home’s Wood Street Urban Farm. Tour the city’s first and only certified organic farm with refreshments and music. The farm stand will be open, plus gardening and nutrition workshops, and healthy cooking demos and tastings. This is the final open house celebration of the year. Admission FREE.

Above the Pavement: A City Fair at Maria’s and Pleasant House Bakery parking lots. Billed as the smallest city fair in the world, with food from Pleasant House and local chefs at Maria's Packaged Goods & Community Bar; Small Manufacturing Alliance (SMAll) members vending their wares; and live music. Plus an after party at Co-Prosperity Sphere. Admission FREE to the fair; food, drink, and wares additional; $5 suggested donation to the after party.

Sunday, June 16
Happy Father’s Day!

Thursday, June 20
Meet the Market at Table, Donkey and Stick. Chef Scott Manley will feature ingredients from Radical Root Farm, plus La Sirena Clandestina and Barrelhouse Flat mixologist Austin Skyles makes cocktails with New Holland Artisan Spirits. The food menu: fried duck liver with hard cooked egg, spring onion marmalade, and charred green garlic; smoked chicken with grilled kale on and sunflower oat bread crostini; kohlrabi slaw on roasted kohlrabi rolls with quark. Admission FREE; cocktails extra and act as your donation to the Green City Market's youth education programs, Club Sprouts and The Edible Gardens.

Soirée in the City at Salvage One. An evening featuring hors d’oeuvres, cocktails, and a silent auction benefits Rape Victim Advocates. Bid on a coveted maple syrup run ride-along with the one and only Tim Burton, of Burton’s Maplewood Farm. A dozen guests will take a progressive drink tour in the back of Burton’s 1949 cherry red Chevy farm truck, the Donna Sue, with mixologist Adam Seger. Celebrate the summer solstice with exclusive al fresco access and tastings at the Little Goat Diner, The Ritz-Carlton, Table Fifty-Two, Perennial Virant, and the J. Parker. Admission $95 advance, $115 door.

Save the Date!
Friday, July 21
Second annual CigarBQue at Beyond Design. Primehouse's Rick Gresh, Fountainhead's Cleetus Friedman, and GT Fish & Oyster's Giuseppe Tentori invite you to an intimate evening of fine cigars paired with food, beer, wine, and cocktails by master mixologists. The evening benefits the Cigar Family Charitable Foundation whose mission is to provide a significant humanitarian impact to the communities in the Dominican Republic. Admission $150.

When breakfast and lunch fall in love: Brunch with the next generation of underground dining and food trucks in Chicago

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 05:00:00 -0500

It takes a village to raise the lovechild of a former underground dining club and what was once just a plucky little pie truck.

In breaking food truck news, the Schnitzel King, Cupcakes for Courage, and the Institute for Justice just scored a big win in court today. Cook County Circuit Court Judge Peter Flynn has ruled that they can move forward contesting the 200 foot rule and GPS requirement. They will meet again in 30 days.

This past weekend, Sunday Dinner Club and Bang Bang Pie Shop hosted brunch in a lofty perch above the corner of Elston and Roscoe. They invited me to join three dozen other guests, all from SDC's email only list. The space is above their highly anticipated Honey Butter Fried Chicken, opening this August if the City of Chicago inspection gods are kind. We were seated at a trio of communal tables.

In communal table news, critically acclaimed Elizabeth restaurant (born from chef/owner Iliana Regan's former underground restaurant One Sister) announced this week they're swapping out their communal tables for conventional seating. Evidently we don't like communal tables in Chicago.

I missed including in the brunch class photo Sunday Dinner Club partners Jen Mayer and Chris Jennings. Graphic designers of Kitemath by day, they created the keepsake newsprint menus. SDC's now permanent home showcases an interactive and growing gallery of their stunning menu work.

Yes, meet the new generation of moms and pops in Chicago.

Chicago food and drink destinations: The intangible cultural heritage list

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 05:00:00 -0500

I present the 27 food and drink destinations that best represent Chicago's intangible cultural heritage.

Here's why I felt compelled to compile this list, and how. At a recent dinner, I discovered that someone at WBEZ has never had Garrett's popcorn, specifically Chicago Mix, the unique sweet and savory mélange of caramel and cheese corns. Yes, he moved here from Alaska, but about a year ago, and he's a big food fan, plus there's a Garrett's at Navy Pier where the radio station is also located. I was so shocked that I literally slammed my fist on the table. How had I let this happen?

But then I realized we might have been saved by a close call. This particular first taste of our city is best had in a real part of our city, not the pier. For me it's the Madison Street location, the oldest remaining of the popcorn shops that first opened in 1949. Preferably at the end of a long hard day, slipping in line with a cross section of our fellow Chicagoans, to receive a moment of restoration in a waxed paper bag.

It's not just the food or drink but the place and people too.

The List

Jimmy's Red Hots [Warning: autoplay audio] (1954). Chicago style Depression dog: plain bun, hot dog, mustard, onions, relish, and sport peppers. Order a hot dog with everything, fries are included. No ketchup available.

Vienna Beef (1893), factory cafeteria (1972). Chicago style hot dog: poppy seed bun, Vienna Beef hot dog, mustard, neon green relish, onions, tomatoes, pickle spear, sport peppers, and celery salt. Order a hot dog with everything.

Jim's Original (1939). Polish sausage: sandwich on bun with Polish sausage, mustard, grilled onions, and sport peppers. Order a Polish with everything, onions well done, fries included.

Superdawg Drive-In [Warning: autoplay audio] Chicago location (1948). Superdawg: proprietary beef hot dog on poppy seed bun with pickled green tomato wedges, mustard, chopped Spanish onions, neon green piccalilli relish, sport peppers, and kosher dill pickle spear. Order Superdawg with everything, with crinkle cut Superfries. Can be ordered without fries, and 2-for-1 with WBEZ MemberCard.

Fat Johnnie's Famous Red Hots (1973). Mother in Law: Chicago style tamale in chili, in Chicago style hot dog bun or cup. Order a Mother in Law on a bun with onions, and sport peppers. Thanks to Peter Engler, Investigator of Southside Culinary Oddities, aka Rene G on LTH Forum.

Hot Doug's, The Sausage Superstore and Encased Meat Emporium (2001). Order the Foie Gras and Sauternes Duck Sausage with Truffle Aioli, Foie Gras Mousse and Fleur de Sel; duck fat fries on Fridays and Saturdays only.

Al's Beef (1938) Taylor Street location. Italian beef: sandwich on Italian style bread roll with thinly sliced, wet roasted, seasoned roast beef, topped with hot Chicago style giardiniera or griddled green sweet peppers. Order a beef, wet and hot.

Pizzeria Uno (1943). Invented Chicago style deep dish pizza, sausage preferred.

Vito & Nick's Pizzeria (1932). Chicago style thin crust pizza, sausage preferred.

Burt's Place (1971). Pizza-in-the-pan, sausage preferred.

Mario's Italian Lemonade (1954). Order lemon, peach in season.

Garrett Popcorn Shops (1949) Madison location. Order a bag of Chicago Mix, CaramelCrisp caramel popcorn mixed with CheeseCorn cheese popcorn.

Original Rainbow Cone (1926). Rainbow Cone: five layered slabs of ice cream with chocolate, strawberry, Palmer House (New York vanilla with cherries and walnuts), pistachio, and orange sherbet on a plain cone. Order a small Rainbow Cone.

Borinquen Restaurant (1996) California Avenue location. Jibarito: sandwich between fried plantains with steak, American cheese, tomato, lettuce, mayonnaise, and garlic.

Billy Goat Tavern (1934) original lower Michigan Avenue location only. Order cheeseburger, chips, Coke, and beer.

Nicky's The Real McCoy (1969) Kedzie location. Big Baby: griddled sesame seed bun, grilled onions, griddled beef patty, American cheese, second griddled beef patty, pickles, mustard, and, ketchup. Thanks to Peter Engler, Investigator of Southside Culinary Oddities, aka Rene G on LTH Forum.

Twin Anchors Restaurant & Tavern (1932). Baby back ribs.

Lem's Bar-B-Q (1951). Chicago style rib tips and hot links.

Calumet Fisheries (1948). Smoked fish, order chubs when available.

Orange Garden (1924). Chicago-style egg rolls: Golden fried, filled with cabbage, pork, shrimp, and peanut butter.

Italian Village (1927). Chicken Vesuvio: Roasted chicken and potatoes with garlic, white wine, and herbs.

Gene & Georgetti (1941). Garbage salad: shrimp, salami, mozzarella, iceberg lettuce, pimento, radish, red onion, celery, Parmigiano-Reggiano; plus order steak.

Myron & Phil [Warning: autoplay music] (1971). Shrimp DeJonghe: shrimp baked in butter, garlic, and sherry, under buttered garlic sherry breadcrumbs. Please note the restaurant is currently closed due to a fire.

The Parthenon (1968). Invented flaming Saganaki: kasseri cheese flamed with brandy.

The Walnut Room (1905). Mrs. Hering’s 1890 Original Chicken Pot Pie.

Calumet Bakery (1935) Chicago location. Atomic Cake (1940s to 50s): three layers of cake and three layers of filling including banana cake with banana filling, yellow cake with strawberry filling, and chocolate cake with fudge topping. Available as a single serving cup by Orland Park Bakery at the Taste of Orland Park.

Simon's Tavern (1934). Malört: the notorious bitter wormwood spirit.

Follow Louisa Chu at @louisachu.

Handpicked: No Dessert Left Behind, Whole Larder Love and more

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 05:00:00 -0500

Friday, June 7
76th annual Donut Day throughout Chicagoland. As I wrote last year, the holiday held annually on the first Friday of June was established in 1938 to honor The Salvation Army “Donut Lassies” who served the treats to soldiers during World War I. The Salvation Army and Entenmann's will give away free donuts at Federal Plaza. At Firecakes Donuts receive a complimentary Old Fashioned Buttermilk donut with your purchase excluding beverages, plus 100 percent of the day’s profits will be donated to The Salvation Army. Admission FREE at Federal Plaza, at Firecakes food and drink additional and act as your donation.

Saturday, June 8
Dragon Boat Festival at the Chinese-American Museum of Chicago. Zongzi (bamboo leaf wrapped sticky rice stuffed with fillings sweet or savory) are traditionally eaten for this festival on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, falling on Wednesday (June 12) this year. See a zongzi making demo then taste with tea, plus listen to live Chinese music and poetry readings. For actual dragon boat in Chicagoland, we’ll have to wait until July, but there will be two races this season. Admission $8 for Chinese-American Museum of Chicago members, students, and seniors; $12 general; RSVP requested.

Sunday, June 9
Inaugural No Dessert Left Behind bake sale at Little Goat Diner. All proceeds benefit Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry Bake Sale campaign. The dessert event features goods from local top pastry chefs, most notably the pioneering pâtissière Gale Gand and the elusive Butcher and Larder’s Allie Levitt, plus many talented home bakers. There will be sweet and savory cookies, brownies, pastries, pies, cakes, tarts, tortes, chocolate, and macarons; plus full bar and outdoor deck seating. Admission FREE, food and drink additional and act as your donation.

Whole Larder Love reading, skinning, and dinner at City Lit Books, Longman & Eagle, and Nellcôte. Australian hunter, gatherer, blogger, and author Rohan Anderson takes over Chicago for three events in one day. Anderson will read and sign his new book Whole Larder Love: Grow Gather Hunt Cook. At L&E's Off Site Bar he will demo a rabbit skinning. The book dinner menu at Nellcôte: Humble Summer Broccoli & Garlic Pasta, Hare Tagine, and a seasonal dessert. Admission FREE at City Lit and Longman & Eagle, $35 dinner at Nellcôte.

Fifth annual Slow Food Chicago Pig Roast at Goose Island Street Brewery. This year featuring Duroc and crossbred hogs, raised on pasture and fed mash from the Goose Island brewery, at Gunthorp Farms in LaGrange, Indiana. Pig chefs include Big Jones’ Paul Fehribach, Butcher & Larder’s Rob Levitt, Nellcôte/Old Town Social’s Jared Van Camp, and more. Plus vegetable dish by vegetarian/vegan restaurant Handlebar’s Ryan Stevens, and dessert by Nightwood’s Sarah Mispagel. Admission $70 general, $90 ticket plus $20 donation to 2014 Terra Madre delegate fund, both include a commemorative beer glass and beer.

Inaugural Comfort Food Potluck at Comfort Station. In collaboration with Food on the Dole chef/blogger Hugh Amano, all are welcome but there’s one requirement: all food must be homemade by you and yours, based on the food you ate growing up. Thereʼs no competition. Comfort Food aims to bring all members of our community together in a forum inspired by sharing and exchange of food and ideas about food. Admission FREE, donations large or small benefit the Comfort Station to cover potluck supplies costs and accepted by jar.

Tuesday, June 11
Kinfolk Freshen Up Chicago at Greenhouse Loft. A Kinfolk magazine event with Estera Style, local and seasonal herbal cocktails and bites will be served. Plus make your own natural cleaning products at workshop stations and leave with a complete home care kit. Admission $55.

Follow Louisa Chu at @louisachu.

Sticky situation: Thai food and festival in Chicago

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 05:00:00 -0500

Thai food generates heat unlike any other exotic cuisine in Chicago, literally and figuratively. In fact the current darling of local food fans is Rainbow Cuisine in Lincoln Square. The hidden in plain sight, one-year-old, 12-seat restaurant was first discovered by LTH Forum member Matt Zatkoff (aka laikom), and since covered by the Reader's Mike Sula, Tasting Table's Heather Sperling, and soon by the Hungry Hound himself, Steve Dolinksy.

Chicago's Thai Consul General, Songphol Sukchan, hosted an "authentic" Thai media dinner at trailblazing Sticky Rice restaurant in North Center last night to ostensibly promote the upcoming 11th annual Thai Festival. Starting two weeks from today, the three day event (June 19 to 21) takes over Federal Center Plaza downtown with not only food and fresh coconut juice, but traditional dance and music, Muay Thai kickboxing, and even Thai massage.

Sticky Rice will open a second location, Sticky Rice Chiang Mai, on Western Avenue in Bucktown soon after the Fourth of July. Sadly they stopped serving their infamous insect menu about a year ago, because they could no longer source insects.

Not that we missed them, nor pad thai for that matter. As I learned from the Consul General's wife, the charming Piyachanid Suthinont Sukchan, seated across from me at dinner, a proper pad thai is a complex dish that should only be prepared two servings at a time due to the ideal immediacy of the ingredients, Mrs. Sukchan said their official residence chef once served pad thai to only a dozen guests, taking nearly three hours. Chicago's own Thai food expert and SheSimmers food blogger, Leela Punyaratabandhu, once posted an epic five part pad thai recipe.

A few lessons on Thai dining etiquette:

Eat with spoon and fork, no knife, or right hand fingers only, but never chopsticks.
With rice dishes, use fork to push food on to spoon then eat, but spearing food like sausages is acceptable.
With sticky rice, use it as your only utensil.
Beware, the rice is hot, very hot. With fingertips only, quickly pull off a bite-sized piece, then rapidly roll into a ball, again fingertips only.
Mrs. Sukchan said Thai mothers roll tiny sticky rice balls for their children, lining them up along the edge of their plates.

The Consul General once called after landing at the airport asking for the one Thai dish he'd been craving most while away: Kai Jiaw, the classic Thai omelette comfort food. He and the Royal Thai ambassador in the UK had actually gone in to the kitchen at a pub in Scotland to show the chef how to make one, but they couldn't get it quite right.

But sticky rice is also featured sweet, in the nearly mythical mango sticky rice, and lesser known but far more seductive durian sticky rice. The durian dessert is Dolinsky's favorite too. A Thai food aficionado, the Consul General consulted the Hound on last night's guest list.

Follow Louisa Chu @louisachu.

Handpicked: Kegs for Kidneys, Mushroom Club tea and more

Fri, 31 May 2013 05:00:00 -0500

Friday, May 31
Second annual Kegs for Kidneys at Fischman Liquors & Tavern. Gird your livers and stomachs, then fill a keepsake tasting glass with favorite and rare craft beers from more than 40 breweries. Eat great food from Wagyu Wagon’s, serving the Dirty and Sumo, and the debut of Lovely Bakeshop’s bourbon cherry brownies. Plus there will be a rare bottle and basket raffle, live jazz by Soulio, all in a tented lot. The event sponsors a child to Kidney Camp, with remaining proceeds donated to the National Kidney Foundation of Illinois. Admission $40, food additional.

Saturday, June 1
Jammin' in the Lot Kidney Fundraiser at Fischman Liquors & Tavern. Go back to the Fisch-ture for their annual fundraising 80s style theme party with special live musical guest The Breakfast Club, Chicago’s ultimate 80s cover band. Proceeds donated to the National Kidney Foundation of Illinois. Admission $5 suggested donation, food and drink additional.

Monday, June 3
Chaga lecture with mycologist Britt Bunyard at the North Park Village Nature Center. Presented by the Illinois Mycological Association, aka Mushroom Club. Chaga is currently the "it" fungus (of course) and has been used since at least the 16th century in Russian folk medicine. There will be chaga, ground by hand, and served as tea. Bunyard, mycologist and FUNGI Magazine editor, will discuss harvesting chaga responsibly, the sex life of the fungus, and proper identification and avoiding poisonous look-alikes. Admission FREE for Illinois Mycological Association members, $5 suggested donation general, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Amigos of Pintxo Homaro Cantu and Gaetano Nardulli at Barcito. Presented by Barcito chef Ryan Poli, this bi-week’s guest chefs, Moto’s Cantu and NEAR’s Nardulli, will create delicious and unique Basquaise pintxos (small bites). A portion of the proceeds will benefit Pilot Light. Admission $25 all you can eat.

Wednesday, June 5
Lions, Tigers and Beers at Northdown Cafe and Taproom. Tapping rare beers including craft brews made exclusively for the event: a 3 Floyds and Surly collaboration, an Against the Grain and To Øl collaboration, and an Off Color Brewing. All to benefit The Wildcat Sanctuary in Minnesota, There will be raffle prizes donated by some of Chicago’s best artists and shops, including this year's coveted print by Tony Fitzpatrick, limited edition, signed, and numbered. Admission $10 suggested donation, cash only, ATMs will be available.

Taco Truck Throwdown with Big Star and The Salsa Truck at The Garage. Presented by the Garage, home of the Salsa Truck, and the new food truck commissary/food court/record store. Proceeds benefit Rock For Kids. providing music education to underserved children in Chicago. Admission $10 suggested donation.

Follow Louisa Chu @louisachu.

Chinatown Cafe closes after 30 years of Chinese-American diner food

Wed, 29 May 2013 05:00:00 -0500

My cousins Irene and Pauline Yau closed Chinatown Cafe Friday night after 30 years of serving Chinese-American diner food including Chicago style egg rolls, General Tso's chicken, and their famous satay chow mein.

You know how much I love diner food. And Chinese-American diner food? An even more personally beloved endangered species.

I took my mom for one last meal at tea time missing both lunch and dinner rush so we all had a chance to chat. Irene and Pauline's father actually told my parents about the closing a few weeks ago but they never bothered telling me. Instead my friend and LTH Forum co-founder Catherine Lambrecht forwarded me the story from DNAinfo Chicago.

At its peak Chinatown Cafe was packed with cops and city workers thanks to the Yau son who works for the city himself, and Irene's husband Marvin Tang too, a Streets and San dispatcher no less. I used to think they had the safest restaurant in the Chicago at lunchtime, even as cash only.

But in 2008 business dropped off dramatically when the city forbade workers from driving work vehicles outside their districts and installed GPS units. The only time out of area police regulars could stop in for lunch was on their way to or from court.

I've shown you Chinatown Cafe's egg rolls previously with my Egg Roll Project. Pauline revealed that they did in fact fry their egg rolls in lard.

"That's the only way they look so pretty," she said.

And yes, the Yau sisters and I are blood cousins: their father's father's parents were my mother's father's grandparents.

They think the building dates back to the 1920s or 30s, starting its restaurant life as a Greek diner, then as Chinese-American diner, opened as Chinatown Cafe by the immediately preceding owner, then continued by their father in 1983. A cop regular bought all the furniture, which he'll use at a club he's opening. The plates, cups, and flatware will now be found at Turtle's in Bridgeport. They don't know what will happen to the space which they've always rented.

But the food, though gone from the restaurant, will live on. Trust me.

Most Innovative New Products award winners at Sweets & Snacks Expo 2013

Tue, 28 May 2013 05:00:00 -0500

The annual Sweets & Snacks Expo held last week at McCormick Place West in Chicago is widely known as the "candy show" and notorious for its free samples. But that's not quite right. The trade only event, not open to the public, does have candy, but much more too. The sweets, snacks, and cookies at the show represent just a taste of the $150 billion industry worldwide.

Expo buyers picked eight Most Innovative New Products award winners in the following categories:

Novelty/Licensed: TABASCO Jelly Belly jelly beans
Chocolate: Kit Kat Minis
Salty Snack: Sahale Snacks Pomegranate Pistachios
Gourmet/Premium: Hammond’s Candies Red Velvet Cake bars
Seasonal: Russell Stover Big Bite S'mores Bar
Sweet Snack: Sprinkle It On marshmallow sugar cones
Non-chocolate: Tierra Nueva Coffee Thins
Savory Snack: Fire Corn Popcorn

Buyers picked the eight award winners from 40 finalists, chosen by a panel of industry experts, including Chicago's own Moto restaurant chef/owner Homaro Cantu.

I thought of Cantu when I heard the story behind the pizza candy, PIZZA is 4 suckers, one of the 40 finalists. Cantu's Miracle Berry Diet Cookbook was first inspired by helping a cancer patient taste food better.

The pizza candy lady, Rita DiCarlo, starts her story unexpectedly as well: when she donated a kidney to her cousin in Detroit. Soon after she became a nurse for kidney patients. With their dietary restrictions, she tried to help find a substitute for pizza. Somehow pizza candy was her answer.

While it may not be my first choice in either the sweets or snacks categories, my mouth waters at just the memory. DiCarlo's pizza candy is sugar free, sodium free, potassium free, gluten free, fat free, and with no net carbs. Its aroma is pungent with oregano, and the flavor triggers a sharp and pleasant taste memory of cold pizza. DiCarlo worked with a hard candy scientist at the “Candy School” at the University of Wisconsin Food Science Department.

While East Coasters might now harvest wild 17 year cicadas, as my friends at LTH Forum did in 2007 around Chicagoland, safe insect candy and snacks can always be found by HOTLIX. They raise their own insects for human consumption. Their newest ANT-LIX suckers are available in four flavors: blueberry, watermelon, banana, and apple. COO Dena Price told me they roll caramel apples in Larvets at their store in Pismo Beach, California.

Last year I reported Chicagoland based Ferrara Pan merged with Farley's & Sathers in Minnesota. This year their booth was as big as ever, introducing a new limited edition 50 years Lemonhead tin, and an impressive Lemonhead social media campaign.

Haribo finally brought over gummi Smurfs from Europe, for the premiere of The Smurfs 2 this summer. As I was at their booth, a gummi specialist complimented the strawberry and raspberry Smurf blue candies' definition.

"It's the quality of the molds," she said, nodding knowingly.

Yet still no gummi Venus de Milo. Maybe next year.

Follow Louisa Chu on @louisachu.

Handpicked: Radler sausage party, Mole de Mayo and more

Fri, 24 May 2013 05:00:00 -0500

Friday, May 24
Inaugural WBEZ Day of Service registration deadline. Presented by WBEZ and Chicago Cares, volunteer for service projects with a range of non-profits across Chicagoland. Food-wise, on Wednesday (May 29), sort and pack donations for food pantries and soup kitchens at the Greater Chicago Food Depository; and Thursday (May 30) throw a Bingo and Birthday Party for 40 seniors with food, balloons, and lots of fun at the CHA’s Flannery Apartments. On Saturday (June 1) celebrate service with your first Goose Island Green Line Pale Ale on the house at Schubas. Admission FREE, but reservations required here.

Saturday, May 25
Inaugural West Loop Craft Beer Fest on Clinton between Lake and Washington. Last call for Chicago Craft Beer Week 2013 with the city's largest craft beer outdoor block party. There will be local craft beer of course plus food for purchase by participating Chicago French Market vendors Lillie's Q, Saigon Sisters, Beavers Coffee & Donuts, Fumare Meats, and Ovie Bar & Grill. Admission $40 general, $65 VIP including one hour of free food.

Fifth anniversary Mole de Mayo at Halsted and 16th. The mole cook-off and outdoor festival will feature mole judging, food vendors, a beer garden, open-air market, lucha libre, and more. Admission FREE, food and drink additional.

Sunday, May 26
The Radler Kickstarter Kickoff Party at Heineman Bar Company. Former Vie chef de cuisine and sausage meister Nathan Sears hosts this highly anticipated first taste of his upcoming modern Bavarian beer hall. There will be handmade sausages, German potato salad, and Flesk Brewing beer. Your donation will be used to protect the existing 120 year old mural discovered in the space, commissioning local artists for new work, and much more. Admission FREE, but please donate at the event or The Radler Kickstarter.

Monday, May 27
Happy Memorial Day!

Tuesday, May 28
Chemistry of Chocolate at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. Presented in partnership with Illinois Science Council, this chocolate chemistry workshop will be led by Northwestern University chemistry lecturer Dr. Shelby Hatch and Blommer Chocolate R&D Specialist Melissa Tisoncik. The adults-only night will feature a local craft beer cash bar, plus access to the new exhibit Food: The Nature of Eating, live animal interactions, live music, and more. This event will be recorded for WBEZ’s Chicago Amplified. Admission $35, $25 for Nature Museum members.

Wednesday, May 29
Rick Bayless chef demonstration at the Green City Market. Watch the Top Chef Master demo ingredients from the market. In case you were wondering, yes, his Taste of Chicago turn as Celebrity Chef du Jour sold out. But you can always listen to his turn on WBEZ's own Lauren Chooljian’s Year 25 series: "Where was Rick Bayless at 25?" Admission FREE.

Follow Louisa Chu on Twitter at @louisachu.

The most important meal of the day

Wed, 22 May 2013 05:00:00 -0500

Our recent Curious City diner tour focused on their stories and with arguably 151 years of history behind them, we didn't have nearly enough time to talk about the food, as least as far as I'm concerned.

And I'm only talking about the specials here. It might take another century and a half to detail full menus. Take the Garbage Plate at Franks Diner in Kenosha, Wisconsin. With five eggs, hash browns, green peppers, onions, optional jalapeños, and a choice of up to five meats (ham, bacon, sausage, SPAM, "scratch-made" corned beef hash, or chorizo), five cheeses (American, Cheddar, Swiss, pepper jack, or mozzarella), plus toast (house baked wheat, white, rye, or cinnamon swirl), any mathmeticians want to calculate the possibilities?

While the origin of Franks Garbage Plate is lost to history, not so for the Jumpball at Moon's Sandwich Shop on the Near West Side of Chicago. Owner Jim Radek said he created the dish based on a somewhat similar Italian specialty, in preparation and name, but no one could pronounce it so they just called it Jumpball instead. The cooks griddle an Italian sausage patty then chop it on the flat top, before folding into three eggs, potatoes, cheese, and onions. All served with toast.

One of the most misunderstood notorious breakfast dishes in Chicago has got to be the Slinger at Diner Grill on Irving Park Road. Built on a bed of hash browns, made with real potatoes, grilled onions, two cheeseburger patties and two eggs fried to order, the chili is actually housemade. Culinary historians say the dish was invented sometime in the 1970s in St. Louis, where it's found on menus with so many variations that one blog has so far covered 56 Slingers.

Ironically the Deuces Wild at the late Ohio House Coffee Shop may have been the most restrained yet precisely prepared of all our diner breakfast specials. Two eggs, two pancakes, two bacon, two sausage — that's it and that's all she wrote.

As I wrote previously, Executive Chef Daniel Traynor researched historic recipes including Pullman bread, plus a relish tray with pickled watermelon rind and Illinois Central salad dressing. For breakfast he serves a signature stuffed French toast, using Pullman bread. The restored Pullman cars first served local test dinners. I for one hope they do them again.

Or test breakfast in bed cars, served all day and all night of course.

Follow Louisa Chu on @louisachu.