Virtual Cheeseblogger

Mini Chocolate Chip Banana Cake Food Pr0n!

2012-01-25T23:07:00.001-06:00

Some of you may have already stumbled on my recipes page over at EdHeller.com. For those who haven't, you're totally missing out on my mom's banana cake recipe.

Today, I kicked the recipe up a bit with some extra chocolate chips (I used an additional cup of dark chocolate chips) and I use both chopped walnuts and pecans. This time, instead of the traditional bundt cake pan, I used two large muffin pans that I had buttered and crusted with finely chopped pecans. I couldn't find ground pecans at the grocery store, but the chopped pecans gave the cakes a more substantial outer crust and they came out of the pans with ease.

Baking time, about 35 minutes @ 350 degrees F

Here's some food porn:

Monthly Special at Kuma's Corner - COFFINS

2012-01-06T16:13:00.001-06:00

As some of you are aware, a popular Chicago burger joint called Kuma's Corner has continued their "whenever the heck we feel like doing it" tradition of monthly burger specials named after heavy metal bands into 2012.

This month's special is : COFFINS
A sample of Coffins music can be found here.
A Japanese death/doom metal band, they kinda sound like
someone dropped all the pots and pans from your kitchen
onto the floor of a chainsaw testing factory where you can hear the nearby trees screaming of the coming apocalypse. (If you are in the band, Coffins, please consider this to be the compliment that it is.)

The burger tastes nothing like that analogy.

This burger is topped with a messy combo of teriyaki shitake mushrooms, fresh jalapeños, sweet & sour pork and toasted sesame seeds, which makes it a bit of a savory, salty, heat bomb. If you've had other spicy burgers from Kuma's, it doesn't quite reach "Plaguebringer" heat, but will definitely get you sweating.

DANG TASTY!
This is what it looked like before I devoured it. This was a TWO NAPKIN burger.

A Helpful Trick to Cut Down on Telemarketers & Phone-Scammers

2011-12-29T17:45:00.002-06:00

If you have a phone (who doesn't),
you probably get phone spam, phone scam, telemarketing, wrong number collection calls,
and any number of other annoying unsolicited calls from people who should not be calling you.

You registered on that DO-NOT-CALL list, didn't you?
You pay most of your bills on time, right? (righhht?)
WHY THE HECK ARE THEY BOTHERING YOU DURING IRON CHEF?!?!?
Whyyyyyyyyyyyyy?!?!??

Well, mostly because all of our numbers got sold by companies we do business with, who have less than decent ethics about that sort of thing. Privacy Notice? YEAH RIGHT! Well, other than changing your number and making it unlisted, or flat-out cancelling your phone bill, there's not a whole lot we can do about it, short of a class action lawsuit.

Putting your justified rage aside for a moment, let's assume that you just want to make the darn calls stop.
I don't have a perfect solution for you, but I do have a little trick that might get rid of a good number of those calls.

Right-Click and Download this audio file: wrongnumber.wav

It's the 'wrong number' tone that you may be familiar with if you accidentally dial a disconnected number.

An auto-dialing computer will remove a "disconnected" number from its phone list if it hears the "wrong number" tone, and lucky you... these are the machines that most of these wonderful people use to harass us continuously.

So, here's what you do:

Have that audio file you just downloaded open and ready to play on your computer

or just use the audio player below (if it shows up in your browser).

When a phone number comes up on your caller-id that you recognize as one of your phone-spammers,

pick up the phone before the 3rd ring and play the "wrong number" audio into the phone, several times in a row if you want, and then hang up.

If they ever call back, just play the "wrong number" tone again.

It won't work every time, but it should cut down on the calls significantly.

This won't solve the problem overnight. It could take weeks or longer until you see results.

One year the calls were so bad that I put the tone on the front end of my outgoing voicemail message.
That way, my voicemail did all the work for me when I wasn't home, and when I was home, I could pick up the phone if I recognized the number, or let it go to voicemail if I didn't.
The phone-spammer calls were almost completely eliminated. Of course, the one drawback to doing this is that some of your friends and family (and occasionally a legitimate creditor) think your phone number is disconnected if they don't listen past the tone.

If you try it, please let me know and let me know how it worked out for you.

Chocolate Fudge Food Porn - WITH VIDEO!

2011-12-17T12:00:00.001-06:00

This year I managed to check my candy thermometer for accuracy with a pot of boiling water before I tried to make fudge with it. This turns out to be the key to making a successful batch of old school traditional fudge. :-) Follow Alton Brown's fudge recipe, get your fudge up to 234-236 degrees, then wait for-freaking-EVER for the fudge to cool down to 110 degrees before stirring until both arms fall off.

If you happen to have one of those Cheese Knives from thecheeseknife.com , you can cut thru fudge like butter!

Here's a video and a few pictures:

"Yule Log" for Chocolate Lovers

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Chocolate Fudge Food Pr0N!

Buy things that have cheeseburgers on them!

2011-11-29T15:01:00.001-06:00

Buy things that have cheeseburgers on them!

http://www.cafepress.com/vcheeseburger

Post Thanksgiving Food Porn

2011-11-26T19:01:00.001-06:00

A Bit 'O Good 'Ol Food Pr0n: Please enjoy.

Before Thanksgiving, I made a crock-pot beef chuck roast with carrots, pearl onions, celery, crushed tomatoes, small potatoes, and some seasonings.

Here, it is served on a few sourdough roll "trenchers" to soak up the gravy.

Leftover beef gravy from this dish was later added along with some red wine to some caramelized onions and mushrooms that I reduced down to make a "french onion soup" style filling/jam for a thanksgiving appetizer. (not pictured). I will post photos when I make a followup batch that's prettier than the ones I made.

Below, my Super Sage Stuffing, now a family favorite!
Make it at home! http://edheller.com/superstuffing.htm

Dark Chocolate Pecan Pie with Citrus Vodka Crust.
Search google or food.com for a vodka pie dough recipe, but use citrus vodka.
I used a vodka which I had been soaking mandarin and lime zest in for a few months.
The citrus vodka dough would probably work even better in a lemon merengue or key lime pie.

Use your favorite pecan pie recipe,
but put dark chocolate chips in the bottom before you cover the bottom with pecans,
then pour in the pie filling and bake. If your pie hasn't set after 50 minutes (it can still be wobbly in the middle),
cover the pie loosely with foil and continue baking for another 10-15 minutes.

UPDATE: 11-30-2011 - This French Onion Filling/Jam I made is turning out to be pretty versatile.

Above - French onion jam on a wedge of corn bread with mozzarella and provolone.
Below - French onion jam hot dog with yellow mustard and sriracha hot sauce,
served on a provolone and cheddar toasted poppy seed bun
with a side of taco-flavored corn chips.

Dear NBA Players and Owners (rant)

2011-11-14T15:40:00.001-06:00

Dear NBA players and owners:
F*** YOU!
Thousands and thousands of people that your industry would have directly or indirectly employed are left suffering, while you fight over the billions of dollars that you wouldn't be making if it weren't for us.
Don't bother coming back. We're over you.
We've got hockey and football and baseball.
We don't need you any more.
Besides, you'll never top Michael Jordan's years with the Chicago Bulls.

p.s. - Suck it , Lebron.

Long Overdue Food Porn

2011-11-08T16:37:00.005-06:00

Hot Doug's GAME OF THE WEEK - top left
(Apple, Pear and Port Elk Sausage with Cherry-Fig Mustard and Caramelized Onion Marmalade Cheddar Cheese) ,
French fries (non-duckfat version),
and a Char-grilled Thuringer (aka The Norm Crosby - formerly the Marty Allen and the Don Rickles)
with mustard and sport peppers - bottom right.

Kuma's Corner Green Flash Double Stout Black Ale, above;
below, an insanely good, brief revival of the Dark Throne burger
(Chipotle Peppers, Goat Cheese, Fresh Pico de Gallo) and a very welcome pile of fresh hand-cut french fries!
The Dark Throne was a weekend special, which I truly hope they bring back to the menu full-time.
If you're familiar with the burgers at Kuma's, in heat level, it falls somewhere below Plague Bringer, but at the same level or above the Pantera Burger (Roasted Poblano Pepper, Bacon, Chedder and Monterey Jack, House made Ranchero Sauce, Tortilla Strips, not pictured).

Speaking of the Plague Bringer...
(Roasted Garlic Mayo, Tortilla Strips, House Made Hot Sauce, Fresh Garlic, Pepper Jack, Sliced Jalapenos)

Square Bar in Chicago has a respectable burger and some tasty beer-battered onion rings.

The Big Square burger with fries (sweet potato fries are also an option)
(grilled onions, bacon, cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato and chili garlic sauce)

beer-battered onion rings with a side of chili-garlic sauce

Most of my deep dish pizza food porn will be published at my new site, RealDeepDish.com,
but I figured, as long as I'm posting food porn...

Spinach and Garlic with Italian Sausage.

Sorpressata, Pepperoni, and Italian Sausage.

A Quick Note to Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke

2011-10-17T12:12:00.000-05:00

TO: Mr. Bernanke

SUBJECT: HOW TO FIX THE U.S. HOUSING MARKET

1) Estimate the total amount in $ of negative equity in "underwater" mortgages
(aka the amount of $ it would take to bring all of the underwater mortgages down to their current value).

2) Divide that number by 2

3) Make Congress (and their 501c4 money) pay for half and make the big banks pay the other half.

I call this plan: Operation TWIST-AND-SHOUT

You're welcome.

Please feel free to contact me for any further advice on repairing our failing economy.

Sincerely,
Me

Occupy Wall Street Explained in Cheeseburgers

2011-10-10T11:45:00.000-05:00

Does anyone honestly still not understand this?

Maybe Elizabeth Warren can help:

Class Is Now In Session! - Deep Dish 101

2011-09-25T14:27:00.000-05:00

If you haven't checked out my other site, RealDeepDish.com ,
now is a really good time to check it out.
I've just begun a series called Deep Dish 101.

The Evolution Of Bacon

2011-09-20T21:57:00.001-05:00

The Evolution Of Bacon

Billions of nanoseconds pass while primitive slices of cured pork belly
evolve into crispy, chewy, salty modern bacon before your eyes,
transformed in a heated carbon coated cast iron skillet.

Happy National Cheeseburger Day!

2011-09-18T08:00:00.000-05:00

Every September 18th is National Cheeseburger Day!
(Did you really think we were gonna miss this one?)

I'm not going to waste my time searching for the mysterious origins of this holiday,
as many attempted googlings* in the past have brought up little results.

Besides, that's taking up way too much precious CHEESEBURGER-EATIN'-TIME!

GO EAT A CHEESEBURGER!
IT'S YOUR NATIONAL HERITAGE!

*googlings - the attempt to acquire information via a popular internet-based search tool.

Twitpic'n with my Offset Smoker - BBQ!

2011-08-07T16:50:00.001-05:00

What do you get when you combine my crappy phone camera and my intermediate BBQ skills?
Food Pr0n for a Virtual Cheeseburger blog post!
(Now updated with additional digital camera Food Pr0n!)

If you can't see the story feed, there should be a link to it below:
http://storify.com/vcburger/twitpiccin-with-my-offset-smoker

Here's some slightly better digital camera photos of the final result:
Beef back ribs are tasty, but they don't have a lot of meat on them.
I think next time I will try to make brisket again instead.
St. Louis spare ribs came out great, even after applying my Cocoa-Chili Dry Rub only moments before smoking.
Usually, I apply the rub the night before, but it doesn't seem to make a lot of difference.
Smoked Italian sausages tasted great the next day when chopped up and fried in an omelet (not pictured)!

Real Deep Dish - Smoked Italian Sausage Food Pr0n

2011-07-17T13:50:00.000-05:00

A successful first attempt at merging bbq and deep dish -
6-hour-smoked italian sausage (and pepperoni)
with provolone and mozzarella.

See the rest of the photos at:

The Brisket's Last Hurrah : Smoked Brisket Sandwich Food Pr0n

2011-07-09T18:45:00.000-05:00

Hello, dear food blog readers!

Last weekend, I fired up the 'ol offset smoker and made some the best St. Louis cut smoked spare ribs ever!
A first-attempt at a beef brisket and several sausages were also along for the 6+ hour smoky ride.

As often happens when I'm cooking and serving, I'm not always mindful to shoot photos of the stuff we're going to eat before we all dig in. Also, my camera is getting kinda old and wonky, but I'm occasionally able to coax a few good shots out to post up on the CheeseBLOGGER.

The ribs, more or less, looked like they did the last few times I made them.

Outtake of BBQ Ribs from 2010 NETGA

Sausages look like.. well, they look like sausages (borrrrrrrring to shoot photos of, but tasty as hell!).

...and the brisket?
Well, you would have loved to see how deep the smoke ring was on that brisket. You really would have been in awe of that inch deep pink smoke ring around the outside of those tasty smoked beef slices, cut precisely against the bias and stacked and spread out like the most amazing (cow-flavored) deck of cards on the serving platter,
but sadly the camera was not conveniently available.
I will be sure to take extensive photos of the next brisket I smoke.

The last bits of the brisket got chopped up and put on a sandwich, which just happened to have some really good natural lighting, and had visible steam coming off of it from that light, so I was motivated to shoot a few shots and hope for the best.

So, here's a couple shots of
CHOPPED SMOKED BEEF BRISKET SANDWICH
served on a hoagie roll with melted sliced mozzarella.

America! Eff Yeah! - Happy Independence Day!

2011-07-04T15:43:00.001-05:00

Happy Independence Day
from Virtual Cheeseburger!

May an over-abundance of tasty grilled animals be served unto you
on this most patriotic (and firework-filled) American celebration.

Not in any way related to Cheeseburgers, Virtual or Actual

2011-06-16T10:52:00.000-05:00

We interrupt the regularly scheduled Cheeseburger post to
go totally nerdtastic about the upcoming season of
FUTURAMA!
Here's a Tron-alicious clip, courtesy of Comedy Central.

Futurama

Futurama's one-hour season premiere airs
June 23 at 10/9c
on that Comedy Cental type channel dealie
with two back-to-back new episodes!

Happy National Donut Day!

2011-06-03T09:25:00.000-05:00

The first friday in June is NATIONAL DONUT DAY!
Please celebrate accordingly.

Remember, don't donut and drive.
Donut responsibly. If you are going to donut today, PLEASE get a designated coffee drinker.

Pizza De Mayo 2011, featuring Deep Dish MEATZA 2 (Electric Meataloo)

2011-05-14T13:58:00.000-05:00

reposted from

DEVELOPING STORY:

Pizza De Mayo 2011 is over, and the photos need to be sorted, cropped, and awesome-tastic-o-fied, so until I complete this post, please enjoy this teaser photo of 'Deep Dish MEATZA 2 (Electric Meataloo)'.

A photo of a partially devoured Deep Dish 'Meatza' from PIZZA de MAYO 2011.
Also pictured in the back, a sausage, pepperoni, mushroom and sweet pepper combo.
Not pictured: a 14" Italian sausage patty / pepperoni combo, and the best 12" spinach /garlic with provolone and mozzarella. We were too busy eating them to take their picture.

You can also read about last year's Pizza De Mayo post here.

UPDATED - 05-14-2011 :

I'd like to thank everyone who attended 2011 PIZZA de MAYO, and would like to especially thank Dov and Ann and anyone else who figured out how to use my camera to help take some of the photos that you will see below. So without further ado, I bring you:

DEEP DISH MEATZA 2: ELECTRIC MEATALOO

If you've read about last year's Pizza de Mayo , you may know that I've already made a deep dish 'meatza'. The original intent was to see if I could make a deep dish pizza with a meat crust instead of the traditional dough crust. I had always intended to try making it more than once, so the first attempt was always considered a learning experience. I did learn valuable things from the first attempt and was ready to try again.

This year, the plan was very much about grease control and stability. Last year when I built the Meatza, I used raw bacon for the bottom and filled in the gaps with ground beef, as well as using ground beef for the entire outer lip. This year, I eliminated the major contributor to last year's grease-overload by pre-cooking the bacon (2 lbs of it). I cooked the strips until they were almost crispy, but still soft enough to bend, draining them on layers of paper towels. Last year, I didn't have enough ground beef to cover the whole bottom. This year I made sure we had plenty of ground sirloin to cover the bacon. (I will probably be making a batch of chili later in the week; I bought too much beef this time). Instead of an entire patty of Italian sausage, I put a criss-cross lattice of sausage, and then placed pepperoni sparingly on the top in the spaces between.

In a slight variation from the theme, I took out extra insurance on the grease-factor this year by surrounding the bacon/beef crust with a traditional deep dish pizza dough crust. Why put all that amazing flavor to waste as drippings in the pan when you can soak it up in the crust ? This turned out to be the best thing because it tasted incredible, but also increased stability of the entire Meatza and made serving easier.

I hope some of you are able to make it out next year for Pizza de Mayo 2012, which will feature a variety of deep dish pizzas, where you will very likely encounter DEEP DISH MEATZA 3 : Subtitle TBD.

BUILDING A BETTER MEATZA :

Different from the previous attempt, I opt to use a standard deep dish crust for the base.
This turns out to be a great move.

This is a 12" round aluminized steel cake pan. I call this a medium deep dish pan.

After a liberal sprinkling of crushed garlic, the bacon lattice is applied.

Yeah. Bacon lattice. It's a thing.

Some of my guests had commented that they'd never seen anyone weave bacon before.

See the bacon on the left? That's TWO POUNDS (pre-cooked weight).

I cooked them all the night before and didn't eat one slice! How's that for discipline?

Yes, we used ALL OF IT in the Meatza!

A fully-baconed meatza, only PARTIALLY completed

The original reason to weave the bacon into a lattice was that it WAS the bottom of the Meatza.

(Also, it looked freakin' cool!)

Only AFTER weaving this over a pizza dough crust did I realize I probably didn't need to be so precise.

(Still looked cool, right?)

2 lbs of lean ground sirloin are pressed into a solid patty and worked up the sides.
Then comes the cheese.

A full layer of ground beef would add to the stability of the Meatza.

A layer of sliced mozzarella going on top of the ground beef.

Hold on a second! Ground beef? Cheese? IT'S A CHEESEBURGER! No wait, there's more...

A criss-cross of italian sausage was added, but the photographers took a break to eat pizza.
Crushed tomatoes are added to cover the pie. Then, a sprinkling of parmesan/romano and IN TO THE OVEN!

No, I don't know why we didn't move the can-opener before taking the the last 2 shots either. :-)

WE'VE GOT MEATZA!

Wow! Look at how there's a bit of caramelized cheese on the outer crust, and that bit of char on the pepperoni!

If you look close enough, you can see the criss-crossed italian sausage.


At this moment, I am so happy I pre-cooked the bacon. It came out perfect!

Hey! STOP LICKING THE SCREEN!

Who wants the first heart-atta....err, I mean who wants the first slice?

Look at the strings of cheese hanging from that first slice!

Dang! Blogging is sure making me hungry! BRB. Gonna nuke a slice!


Meatza - closeup (reheated). This slice was eaten minutes after shooting and uploading this photo.

So, how should we configure Meatza 3?

Bacon on top? Bacon below the dough? Beef on the outside? Additional tasty (possibly endangered) animals? Some other artistically formed meat pattern?

Tune in next year for PIZZZZZZZZAAAAAA De MAAAAAAAAAAYOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

(insert superhero tv show music & roll credits).

The oddest things pop into your head while eating a cheeseburger.

2011-04-21T14:15:00.000-05:00

While eating a cheeseburger today, the oddest thought entered my brain.
Cheeseburgers do that a lot.

Math nerds might want to pay attention to this.
The rest of you can go back to looking at pictures of food porn on the other posts
and on realdeepdish.com

Pi:

You know Pi, right? Not the dessert. The thing that starts with 3.1415926... etc.

Well, many have been trying to calculate how many digits they can count Pi out to, and some have been trying to determine if Pi, in fact, is a non-repeating, non-terminating decimal. I don't have the answers, and I'm not going to 'Beck' up some figures for or against what scientists currently hold as true, so I'll just say it:

I found the last digit of Pi.

The last digit of Pi is ZERO.

Even if Pi repeats, doesn't repeat, ends, or doesn't end, and even if you never know the numbers preceding it, the last digit will ALWAYS be zero.

i.e. -

1.10 = 1.1
3.14159265 = 3.14152650
3.14159265????? = 3.14159265?????0

Math nerds, please confirm.

Real Deep Dish - New Year – New Oven – plus Pizza Food Pr0n

2011-04-10T17:07:00.004-05:00

reposted from

New Year's Eve, 2010:

I am making a deep dish pizza when halfway through the baking, smoke starts coming out of the oven and the smoke alarm goes off. This is not an uncommon occurrence when I bake things in my oven because I don't have external exhaust for my gas range and placement of the smoke alarm in my condo is not far enough away from the kitchen to avoid a 'false alarm'. Except this time, the smoke is starting to burn my eyes, so I turn off the oven (a pizza is still baking in there), open all the windows (thank goodness the weather was unseasonably warm) and put a window fan on full blast at the nearest window to the oven, blowing outward (and every other fan I have working to move the air in that direction). The residual heat from the oven finishes the pizza nicely, which I partake of a slice, and then wrap the rest up for later reheating in my toaster oven (now my only oven). While wearing a wet cloth over my face to filter the grease-filled air, I steal some sips of beer under the cloth and I wait for my home to ventilate while flipping back and forth between the Doctor Who marathon and the sub-par local and national New Year's coverage, waiting for the count down to 2011 with Seacrest and Dick Clark's head.

Days later, after having purchased a number of cleaning supplies and room deodorizers, my condo is almost back to normal, but the damage has been done. I assess the damage. Gas burners still work, but the oven is dead, and my tax refund is months away. Out of necessity, I teach myself how to make deep dish in a toaster oven. It dulls the pain. Then, finally in March (after early filing), my tax refund comes in. I schedule my installation, and on April 2nd, I have a new oven.

New Hotness : 5 burners plus SpeedBake

So what happened?
Days before baking, I had been experimenting with deep frying things (like bacon, chicken, and french fries) in an enameled cast iron pot on my stovetop. I discovered the hard way, just how inaccurate my deep fry thermometers are (digital thermometers have been added to my amazon wish list). I also learned that it's very easy to overflow a deep fryer when you put too much into the fryer at once, add wet or starchy items to really hot oil, or use too much oil in the first place.

When the manufacturers say that your gas range has 'sealed burners', this is not 100% accurate.
The truth is there is still a little hole in the middle of each burner, and any amount of oil that overflows into the surrounding burner well, will most certainly leak down into that hole, and into the surprisingly unprotected insulation pad that surrounds your oven. The insulation pad keeps the majority of the heat inside your oven so it is more efficient and heats up your food instead of your home. That insulation pad, I learned, is a $70 part, that would cost about $300+ in labor to replace, if repair shops even wanted to do that repair for you, which they don't.
The main problem is that you have to take the entire oven apart to get the pad off, and even if you were able to clean and replace the insulation pad, your oven would never be the same. Bottom line - If you're going to spend upwards of $400 to repair an oven, you might as well buy a new one.

Word of advice:
Be extra careful when deep frying on your stovetop. Test your thermometers for accuracy with a pot of boiling water. Your thermometer should more or less read 212F. If it doesn't, you may need to get a new one.

If you see the oil heading for a boil-over, KILL THE HEAT IMMEDIATELY or you can potentially have a grease fire on your hands when the oil overflows onto a live flame.

If you can get one of those electric counter top deep-fryers with the built-in thermometer and heating controls, you are probably going to be a lot safer in the long run.

You can get more tips on safe deep frying here: http://www.wikihow.com/Deep-Fry-at-Home

Here's some photos of the very first deep dish pizza from my new oven!

and some bonus photos of my 2nd Chicago Style THIN CRUST pizza trials, which I baked last night -
now with SQUARE CUTS!

ChicagoFoodTruckPalooza! - Food Trucks!

2011-03-28T11:29:00.005-05:00

If you haven't seen it yet,
you can now follow the twitter updates of 20+ Chicago food trucks
on the ChicagoFoodTruckPalooza Tracker food truck feed on this blog,
at http://www.virtualcheeseburger.com/
or on twitter @vcburger/chicagofoodtruckpalooza .

Here's the lowdown on a few of the more popular trucks:

Meatyballs Mobile currently has two trucks (soon to be 3).
If it can be made into a ball, odds are good they will end up on a tasty torpedo of goodness.
Most of the sandwiches have creative and 'ballsy' names and that's part of their charm!
Bonus points to Chef Foss for giving South Park fans a nod and offering 'Salty Chocolate Balls' for dessert.
http://meatyballsmobile.com/

5411 Empanadas truck has a variety of tasty empanadas.
http://5411empanadas.com/

Tamalli Space Charros Tamale Truck. Say no more!
http://tamallispacecharros.blogspot.com/

Gaztro-Wagon ‘Naanwich’ truck . Think of it as the "Hot Doug's" of Naanwiches. Gourmet sandwiches in a naan (pita-like flat bread) wrap. Menu varies, and sometimes includes exotic ingredients like Venison, Buffalo or Lobster.
http://www.gaztro-wagon.com/

Traveling Burrito has a number of trucks that operate all over the city. Their twitter feed also teaches you spanish words and phrases. Most of them are related to telling people how hungry you are and where the burrito truck is hiding.
http://www.travelingburrito.com/

The Southern has a Mac and Cheese truck with a number of varieties available.
http://thesouthernmac.com/

Ste Martaen has a Vegan Food Truck.
http://stemartaen.com/food-truck/

Coming to a curb near you in April is the Haute Sausage Truck who are promising sausages on a bun featuring Lamb, Bison, Duck, Beef & Pig.
http://www.hautesausage.com

In May 2011 (we hope) The Slide Ride Truck hits the streets, selling gourmet 'sliders'.
We've heard that they won't necessarily be burgers though, so we'll wait and see!
http://twitter.com/theslideride/

Chef Aaron Crumbaugh says on his twitter page that his Wagyu Wagon ,
serving wagyu beef, (in what form, we don't know) should be hitting the streets in late June or early July 2011.

http://www.thewagyuwagon.com/

I've also included the twitter updates for the people who deliver burgers and tamales to the bars.

There’s a handful of different cupcake and dessert trucks that frequent our area as well.

Still no donut truck to speak of, though, but we can dream, can’t we?

Saving America, One Star-Spangled Job at a Time

2011-03-19T11:54:00.001-05:00

We interrupt other important cheeseburger news to bring you IMPORTANT WORLD NEWS!

A photo has been released of Adrianne Palicki in costume for the upcoming Wonder Woman TV reboot.

Let's just come out right now and say it... It's not quite right.

To save the producers and associated artists and decision-makers' jobs, I've volunteered 10 minutes of my time in photoshop (that's extremely valuable time!) to recommend a few minor tweaks that will save your collective jobs.

Example below:

You're welcome.
Had someone only come to me sooner, this devastating travesty could have been avoided.

RealDeepDish.com - Happy 40th Anniversary, Lou Malnati's!

2011-03-17T12:44:00.000-05:00

REPUBLISHED from REALDEEPDISH.COM

I know I've been slacking on the pizza posts here, but I will be hitting you with a barrage of deep dish info as soon as I replace my oven (My oven died on New Years Eve - I will post more about that later).

I thought it was important, however, to mention that in 1971, 40 years ago today (Yes, St. Patrick's Day!), Lou Malnati opened his very first Deep Dish Pizza restaurant in Lincolnwood, IL.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, LOU'S!
Keep the deep dish coming!