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Amy Cavanaugh: Welcome to Dish From Chicago Magazine. I’m Amy Cavanaugh, Chicago magazine’s dining editor.
John Kessler: And I’m John Kessler, Chicago magazine’s dining critic.
Amy: Today we’re talking about a piece that John wrote for the latest issue about reviewing restaurants while high. We’re also going to take a Filipino food crawl in Ravenswood, and we’re going to wrap up by sharing the best things we’ve eaten lately, which includes a fancy quesadilla.
Amy: John in the new issue of the magazine, you have an essay about reviewing restaurants while high. This is not something that I have any experience with whatsoever, so I’m really curious about your relationship with weed.
John: Yeah, so I honestly, I can’t believe I’m doing this, but live your truth. My relationship with weed goes way back. I probably got high for the first time when I was around 11. My brother passed me a joint, and — I feel like, you know, my mom is rolling over in her grave now hearing this — but it was fun. I liked it right away. When I was in junior high school, I’d buy a baggie here and there. I was also a big nerd. I was on the mathletes team and stuff.
Amy: Oh, I was, too!
John: Were you really? And I could not let my mathlete friends know that I also hung out with the freaks up on the hill. The hill was the was the place people went to get high behind the school. And so I lived that double life through junior high school. By High School, it had kind of reintegrated. I figured out that my people were the ones who, you know, had smaller parties, sat around someone’s living room, passed a joint around, had a bottle of wine. We didn’t go to the keggers, and that was kind of my college group, too. And so then I entered adulthood and had children, and you can’t really get high around children. And I also moved. We, you know, we’d been living in Colorado, which was, has always been a very open state in relationship to marijuana. And then we moved to Georgia, much more conservative place. And also, the weed got stronger. When I was growing up. It was, you know, just this kind of ditch weed that you’d pass the joint, and you’d feel good after smoking half of it, and then it just got, you know, with the development of these hybrid strains, it got so strong that I would just take one or two hits and feel that like weed-induced paranoia. So I pretty much stopped for a couple decades and didn’t really start using it again in any kind of earnestness until the pandemic. If you remember, the recreational cannabis became legal in Illinois in January 2020, just,
Amy: That’s right.
John: Yeah, just in time, and I started going on just these long walks, you know, I’d take a gummy, I learned how to dose it better so that I could get that nice, creative feeling, but not feel that I was constantly putting my foot in my mouth or not getting the strains that made me feel too lethargic, and it was great.
Amy: When did you start going from taking an edible and taking a walk to taking edible and going to review a restaurant?
John: I know. And all these like chefs around town are going, “I knew it. There was something — he had that glassy-eyed look as he was just shoveling the food into his face. No, I think before I actually officially signed on as reviewer for Chicago magazine, I was writing some food stories here and there, and you and I had been in contact about doing this big sushi package. And do you remember I called you after having this ridiculous omakase?
Amy: I do, I, I remember that dinner well.
John: Oh my God, it was so funny. So I went to this place, Omakase Q in Ravenswood, and sat at the little bar there where there were five of us, and it was just such a like a social experiment to be doing that high, you know, with this chef with his torch and all his fancy toppings and all the show, and then this like tech bro, who had just moved here and wanted to talk about all the expensive omakase he had eaten. And I just realized my sense of perception was really heightened when I was high. It wasn’t, you know, the associations I was making, the way that I was just kind of comfortable in my skin and just watching the, you know, the human comedy going on around me. And so it began to occur to me at a certain point that if I just had one meal high at a restaurant, you know, not, you know, not always being in a haze of pot smoke, but just one meal. Go feel it out, lean into it, just see how the food tasted and what the vibe was like. I thought that was really helpful.
Amy: How would you say that this makes you a better critic?
John: So I feel like there’s three things it does that really helps me, and we can get into this a little more, you know, in a little more granular way in a sec. But No. 1, I think it has a really great effect on my senses of taste and smell. Now we can talk about, are they really better, or do they just feel heightened for the weed and for that, we’re going to have to get into the into the science a bit, but I feel like I taste better and smell better. So that’s one. Two, I get out of my head with it. I am a ruminative thinker. I am always processing stuff. I’m a little bit of an introvert. I watch people a lot, and I tend to get lost in my own thoughts, but the weed keeps me there so that I’m observing when I’m thinking, I’m thinking about the people around me, the staff, the guests, the timing and just the general mood of the place. Are people happy? Are they anxious? Are they having a good time? Is the staff running through its paces in a way that feels like a well-oiled machine? And No. 3 is I really feel like it de-stresses me. You know, if I walk into a restaurant bearing the stress from the day, maybe I’m hangry, maybe I go in and I haven’t eaten a lot that day, because I know it’s going to be a lot of calories at this meal, and then the food takes forever. And I I don’t want the review to be about me, right? I’m there to have it be about the place. So if I’m not stressed, I’m not, you know, I’m not all up in my own craw.
Amy: I mean, I, I’ll have a, you know, a martini to start the meal, and that’ll often put me in a good mood for what’s to come.
John: Same, same. Yep.
Amy: So in the piece, you get into the science behind it a little bit. Can you break down the science in layman’s terms?
John: Sure, and I’ll try and keep it super simple, because I don’t know if I understand it that thoroughly myself, but I’ve done a lot of research — and I did do the research straight. So we have within our own brains and our own neural chemistry, we have something called the endocannabinoid system. And what this does is it maintains a balance across different physiological functions we produce in our own bodies, different endocannabinoids to reduce inflammation, to reduce stress and also to increase feelings of pleasure. In fact, there is one endocannabinoid that is called anandamine, and its nickname is the bliss molecule, because it is the thing that we produce that makes us feel relaxed and happy. Maybe you get it after a long run, our great meal, our sex, our great concert, but these are things that can release that chemical.
Amy: And you also talk about the cannabis studies program at DePaul. What’s, what’s the story behind that?
John: So it’s really interesting. It’s an interdepartmental minor that they’re doing, and it looks at all aspects of the cannabis industry and cannabis and culture, and they have a big focus on social justice. Laws have been particularly draconian when it comes to people of color, and so there have been a lot of social justice issues around weed, and that is part of the program. Now the science and physiology is also part of the program, and they have a scientist there, a neuroscientist named Eiron Cudaback. And I spoke with him for a long time, and he helped me to understand that THC, the active chemical you get from cannabis, is a lipid. So it’s a fatty molecule, and so that what it can do is it can find its way into, just slide its little greasy self into every part of the brain, and, as he said, hide out there. So whatever part of your brain it goes to, it’s going to increase the sensations in that part of the brain, whether it’s the part that you know controls your emotions or your sense of pleasure. Or whether it’s the part that regulates your hunger, you know, if it goes to the hypothalamus, then you get the munchies, which I don’t, you know, I’m sure you’ve heard about this not being a partaker yourself, but sometimes
Amy: I’ve heard about it, yes.
John: Sometimes we end up in a cloud of Cheeto dust when we, when we ingest this drug, and also it affects the part of your brain that controls your motor responses, and I find for myself, they improve. I feel like I have much better balance and quicker responses.
Amy: I feel like one of the main questions we kind of alluded to earlier is, do you actually taste things better, or are you just thinking that you do?
John: So that is the big question, right? Is it the weed talking, or is it actually something going on differently in your brain? And one thing that Eiron Cudaback said to me that I thought about a lot, which is, he said perception is different from sensation. Is it what you perceive or what you’re actually feeling? What does the weed do to you? So there have been studies, there have been mouse studies that show that weed actually does improve the sense of taste and smell in the subjects, so that your senses actually are firing. The neurons that are controlling your senses are more active, but it is also very associative. It gets in your brain, you are thinking about, I mean, I find when I am high that I think a lot more about the taste and texture of food, and if it makes me free associate a bit, then great. Like I remember at one point I was eating tahdig in an Iranian restaurant high and that’s the crispy rice bottom. And I thought, Oh, wow, this is just like that corner piece of lasagna I love, and I’m like, That was a great association. That’s what I want to do as a food writer.
Amy: Oh, funny. So in the piece, you also mentioned three restaurants that you thought were particularly good to dine at high. What are those?
John: I think there are 100 restaurants that are great to dine at while high. But the three that I chose for this story, for a nice variety, No. 1: Cariño, the Mexican tasting menu restaurant in Uptown. But don’t go for the regular tasting menu. Go for the 10 o’clock omakase. I am pretty sure that if you go to that late at night doing some really great tacos, you are not going to be the only one who’s high there at that counter. So that’s,
Amy: I got that sense when we dined there.
John: Yes, in fact, I think you may have been the only person in the room who wasn’t high. No. 2 is Void. Void is just like, it’s that, you know, Italian-ish restaurant in Avondale that feels like a dive bar, and it has kind of very witty food that’s also quite delicious. And just find that there is something about the, it is low key. It’s kind of weird. The food is very associative. You know, you’ve got those spaghetti uh-ohs, which is their sort of star dish, which is their gourmet version of SpaghettiOs. But then they also have other dishes that make you think of childhood favorites. So I definitely recommend Void. And then the third one was a little bit out of left field, but it’s called Restaurant Mehanata, which is a Bulgarian restaurant in Des Plaines that looks like a country in in Bulgaria, and people break into line dances, and all the food like the shashlik comes on these huge meat skewers that are standing straight upright. And it’s very like hearty, yummy food that is also very like far from our everyday existence.
Amy: So if readers wanted to take a page from your book and go visit a restaurant high, would you have any advice for them?
John: Your brain isn’t my brain. I can tell you what has worked for me is to find a sativa-heavy or hybrid strain, I find that the indica kind of just makes me a little bit too sleepy and noncommunicative, but a more sativa-heavy strain turns my brain on to sensation. Also, don’t take too much. I like edibles, because I can dose myself carefully, and I almost never go beyond 5 milligrams. But I would start with the small doses of sativa and go from there.
John: Amy, in the latest issue, you write about Filipino food in Chicago, which really seems to be having a moment. What’s going on and how’s it gotten so popular?
Amy: It is. I mean, the past decade, you have seen so many Filipino openings. We have some really big-name spots. I mean, obviously Kasama, you know, Beard Award, Michelin star, tasting menu by night, wonderful pastries and other dishes by day. I mean, I have a friend who lives across the street, and I’ve said, Is there any time there’s not a line that I could, like, sneak in and go? And she’s like, there’s always a line.
John: Wow
Amy: That really, I think that was really the one that put it on the map here. But I also love Boonie’s, Joe Fontelera’ss spot. I’ve had some excellent meals there. I’m a big fan of Bayan Ko and Bayan Ko Diner. The tasting menu at Bayan Ko is just like, it’s so respectful in terms of pricing and portions and all of that, and it’s just it’s really homey and great. And there’s so many other spots. You know, we have restaurants like Cebu, which is recently moved to a new location, and just tons and tons of openings, which has been super exciting. But this story came about when, I certainly knew about Side Practice, which opened in 2020, in Ravenswood. that’s Francis Almeda’s coffee shop. But this spring, I started hearing about Del Sur Bakery and Kanin. Both of them got their start as pop-ups at Side Practice, and both of them opened brick and mortar spots in March.
John: Wow. And you’ve actually braved the lines at Del Sur. I was very jealous when I saw your haul.
Amy: I braved the line. I got there on a Friday at about, a few minutes after they opened at 8 a.m. and got my coffee. Knew it was gonna be a bit of a wait. I was out in 45 minutes. And I think there’s something to a line, a place where you line up and, you know, you chat with the people in line. It can be kind of fun. But I got to the front, and I was like, I will take one of everything. I did learn later that they cycle pastries through. So I saw them posting some things later. And I was like, I didn’t get to try that. I’ll need to go back. So Del Sur is Justin Lerias’s place. He was the pastry chef at Big Jones, and he really has a kind of a novel perspective. Here, he draws on his Filipino heritage and makes a point of using like Midwest ingredients, like wild rice and things like that, in his pastries. You know, you can certainly get one of everything, like I did, though, it is a lot of pastries. So definitely, you know, you’re gonna wanna share with a group. But if you’re just, if you’re going and just want to try a couple, I really love the basque cake, which I think I’ve talked about on this podcast before, he tops it with pandan cream. And then he makes a rotating seasonal jam. It’s like something different every week, some new fruit that’s in season. It’s just really a beautiful cake. And then I love the turon danish, which is a long pastry that is filled with caramelized banana jam and vanilla flan. Oh, man. And I’m, I know I’m not even like the biggest banana fan. That’s probably the fruit I struggle with the most. And this is phenomenal. So this is, this is definitely a must get. So you’re going to want to make Del Sur your first stop, okay, get your pastries, then head up the street. Stop two is Kanin, which is, I walked, it’s like 15 minutes, but you can also hop on the 50 bus and just take it up the street. So Kanin is from Julius Tacadena, who was born in the Philippines and raised in Hawaii, and so he draws on both places for the food at his bodega, this place is super cute. Couple tables, coolers, and shelves filled with Asian snacks. It’s great. And so they always have musubi. So you can go get a spam musubi, which is the classic, you know, spam on rice wrapped with seaweed. But he really is doing some, like, very creative ones, which is, you know, what you see in Hawaii is people mixing it up and trying new things. He makes a shrimp version, which is really good. There’s a tomato and egg, but my favorite is the longanisa and egg. So it’s like a, you know, the longanisa is Filipino sausage. It’s like sweet and savory. So it’s really fantastic. So that makes a really good breakfast, savory breakfast bite. And then at 11 a.m. he puts bento boxes in in the case, and I had the barbecue chicken one ,was really good, comes over white rice with some pickled daikon and ginger and furikake over the top. So really tasty. Grab a container of Ube banana pudding out of the cooler to take with you. And so you can eat there, or you can head next door to Side Practice Coffee to enjoy all of your spoils together.
John: Yeah, wow, that sounds great. I love, I love musubi. Like, just having rice for breakfast is so great.
Amy: It’s so great. And so I know, like, this is a lot of food by this point. So, you know, you could totally take some things to go but, yeah. At Side Practice, it’s a Filipino coffee shop. Francis Almeda, who also has Novel Pizza and Drip Collective. Novel Pizza in Pilsen and Drip Collective in the West Loop is really, you know, a connector, a man about town. I mean, if you’re in food at all, you have absolutely crossed paths with him. He’s such a wonderful guy. And you can get classic coffee drinks, but there’s all sorts of Filipino specials. I love the pandan vanilla latte. It’s really, really great. And it’s just a, it’s a great little neighborhood gathering place. And all these places have a through line. Everyone’s really good friends with each other, and you’ll see them in each other’s establishments. And so it’s a really good way to spend a morning.
Amy: John, what’s the best thing you ate lately?
John: So it’s been a while since I’d done it, but I went and got some hosta carry out from Flour Power, which is that sort of it’s a small restaurant with does a lot of carry out business. Wilson Bauer is the chef there, and was so good. We did this truffle spaghetti with egg yolk, which was, you know, one of the specials. It was the expensive thing, and it was great. Loved it. But just the basic like his homemade casarecce pasta with an arrabiatta sauce. It was just this nice dried pasta that had the absolute perfect chew. And then this his homemade, you know, spicy tomato sauce, which is it reminded me so much of the marinara I put up every year from my own rooftop tomatoes, but like, 10 times better, like the flavors, just the umami he got out of the tomatoes and just the right amount of garlic and onion and chili in it. So man, that is some serious pasta. How about you?
Amy: Well, I just had dinner at North Pond, which is the long-standing staple in Lincoln Park. It had been years since I was last there. The executive chef is Cesar Murillo, who you may know, who was just on Top Chef where he went, he did an incredible job. And you know, was the fourth, made it to the final four. And so I wanted to go try his food. The mic drop dish was the quesadilla, and it was, it was just like it was so delicious. It’s filled with mozzarella from J2K out of Indiana, chicharrones, it’s got some salsa morita. And then everything at North Pond is tied to, you know, local produce, and much of it is sourced from Lincoln Park, or it’s grown like at the restaurant. And so there’s this, like, beautiful sprinkle of, like, little elder flowers across the top. So, it was a beautiful plate, and it was really a delicious dish. So I’m gonna be thinking about that one for a while.
John: Wow, I really need to get there and try his food.