the road | the food | a new direction
Things are a little quiet here at Stanley’s after the lunch rush, so bartender Guy comes over to chat and do a little standup for the four of us. After every politically incorrect joke, each one filthier than the last, he slaps Sue’s brother Dave’s back and exclaims, “What! Ya killin’ me!” We like Guy. After he leaves to tend to other matters, owner Wanda, well into her 80s, sidles over, rolls her eyes, and sighs, “He’s a pain that no pill can cure.” Continue reading
The finalists for the annual James Beard Awards were announced this morning. Some of our personal favorites among the nominees include: Continue reading
We were reading a chicagoist story in which the writer notes with amusement how the new Texas edition of Al’s #1 Italian Beef has been such a local hit that they’ve repeatedly run out of food. They point out, sort of in passing, that only the original Al’s, in operation since 1938 on Taylor Street, actually roasts the beef in-house. All the others (including the only one we’ve ever been to, in River North) get their beef from a commissary. And that, presumably, makes a difference. If chicagoist says it’s so we’ll accept it although we don’t really know for sure if that’s true. We thought the Italian beef we’ve enjoyed at Al’s on Ontario was extraordinary. Our question: is the original even better?
We’ve been posting here at LeftAtTheFork.net lately about the disappearing kosher deli, but let us not forget that many of the same forces that are hitting old-fashioned Jewish cuisine hard — assimilation of the customer base, dying off of the generation that embraced these restaurants, modern health-consciousness, the younger generation’s rejection of the previous generation’s ways — are having a similar effect on the old-style African-American cuisine known as soul food. The situation isn’t as dire but, as the Chicago Sun-Times documented in a 2011 story, soul food restaurants have been closing rapidly in Chicago. Continue reading
There’s no shortage of great breakfast spots in Chicago, many of which can be found all over the net. Let us add one of our favorites to the mix, Andersonville’s m. henry. Their motto is “chow for now,” which apparently refers to a modern food sensibility that focuses on locally sourced and organic provisions and healthy eating. But, clearly, taste comes first here because the breakfasts we’ve tried have been sensational. Continue reading
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