06/18/08
Mass Marketing “About a year ago I made the decision that we had outgrown what we were doing,” says Eric Larson, the owner of Marion Street Cheese Market (100 S. Marion St., Oak Park; 708-848-2088). So Larson moved the market across the street into a 4,200-square-foot space, which houses a retail gourmet shop, a “cheese-centric” 60-seat Euro-style deli and...
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06/11/08
Goodbye Milk, Hello Prosciutto Carol Watson recently shuttered her Milk & Honey Bake Shop (1543 N. Damen Ave.; 773-227-1167) with plans to spin it into Cipollina, an Italian deli. “Business was fine, but I screwed up, quite frankly,” says Watson. “We don’t have a kitchen on site, so we were dragging everything over from Milk & Honey Café [1920 W. Division St.; 773-395-9434], and it was driving me nuts.” Watson is now working with John Manion (Mas) on a menu of...
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06/05/08
Sneak Peek Last Friday afternoon, a trusted FOD got tipped off that Graham Elliot (217 W. Huron St.; 312-624-9975)—still awaiting its liquor license at the time—was opening quietly that evening, and he had no trouble scoring a table. Considering the high profile Graham Elliot Bowles cuts on the dining scene, the début of the chef’s eagerly anticipated spot was relentlessly low profile. Then again, plenty of foodies must have heard the same...
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05/28/08
A Star Is Born Dennis Ray Wheaton, Chicago magazine’s chief dining critic, is set to add a new name to the league of extraordinary chefs in Chicago: Curtis Duffy. Duffy, 32, recently stepped into the huge void left at Avenues (The Peninsula Chicago, 108 E. Superior St.; 312-573-6754) by the departure of Graham Elliot Bowles—a daunting task, even for a veteran of Alinea and Charlie Trotter’s. But it appears Duffy is up to the task. “The meal I had was in the league of [Grant] Achatz and Bowles, and beyond [Homaro] Cantu in brilliance of flavors and old-fashioned refinement,” Wheaton says. “Duffy uses a lot of grains, foams, berries, and you get the true...
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05/21/08
From BB’s to Brigitte Bardot The owners of BB’s (22 E. Hubbard St.), a pub that lasted less than two years, are in the process of reconcepting their River North space into Madame Tartine, a 1960s-style French brasserie. “French food is too serious in Chicago,” says Donnie Kruse, a partner. “We are going to have a lot of fun. Hubbard Street will become the Côtes d’Azur.” Kruse describes the décor as “feminine and realistic European,” and the food from chef Jon Foster (Savarin, Le Passage) as “approachable, honest, hearty French food.” (Think escargots, steak tartare, and plenty of rosé.) ETA: late June, says Kruse. “We’re just waiting for our trunks to get...
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05/14/08
Foie’d Logic Chicago’s city council repealed the infamous two-year-old foie gras ban on Wednesday by a vote of 37 to 6, thus ending one of the stranger episodes in local politics. Alderman Tom Tunney (44th ward), along with cosponsors Emma Mitts (37th) and Bernard Stone (50th), introduced the repeal with no debate, reportedly over the strenuous objections of Joe Moore (49th), who, according to the Sun-Times, said it would be “the first time in my 17 years on the city council that a matter was...
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05/07/08
Go Now Mixteco Grill (1601 W. Montrose Ave.; 773-868-1601), a 35-seat BYO restaurant named for a region of Oaxaca and the indigenous people who inhabit it, opened last week—and we’re smitten. “The food there is the only food that is 100 percent authentic Mexican,” says Raul Arreola, the chef/owner. “No influence of other food. No Mayan. No Spanish. No French.” Arreola, a Mexico City native, put in 11 years at Frontera Grill, and ascended to sous-chef at
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05/06/08
Then and Now
A full Dish column is coming tomorrow, but first we wanted to direct you to two terrific stories from our upcoming June issue. One is Burned, a dramatic narrative by Jennifer Tanaka on Grant Achatz’s brave and frightening days since his diagnosis with oral cancer. The other is Dennis Ray Wheaton’s From There to Alinea, a thoughtful examination and comparison of Achatz’s current stunner with the place where he came of age years ago: Napa Valley’s legendary French Laundry.
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04/30/08
Get Provincial Randy Zweiban, the longtime exec chef/partner of Nacional 27 (325 W. Huron St.; 312-664-2727), steps down on April 30th to open Province (161 N. Jefferson St.), a 140-seat spot in the West Loop. “It’s modern American cuisine influenced by the flavors of South America and Spain,” Zweiban says. “It will be a bit broader than what I’ve done here at Nacional.” A few dishes he’s got nailed down for the menu: Tasmanian salmon carpaccio with preserved Meyer lemon and salsa; spice-rubbed grilled ahi tuna taco with chipotle tartar salsa; prawn and...
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04/28/08
Fahrenheit (1890 W. Main St., St. Charles), a new 130-seat stunner that was going to be a boon to the far west suburban dining scene, has closed. The restaurant, led by Spiaggia veteran Pete Balodimas, quickly earned two stars in the Tribune and in Chicago magazine. Heck, we even put it in our Best New Restaurants issue (May 2008). So why did the place pull the plug after only...
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