Don’t mess with me or I’ll cut you.

1. Spike is depressed that his kiwi brofriend Mark is gone.
2. Can you image being the intern that needs to put all those fork and spoon decals on those knives?
3. With all those hats, Spike must be dating a milliner
4. Dale asks the question I’ve been wondering for weeks: Why is Nikki still here?
5. Stephanie whips mayo like a high priced dominatrix and wins the quickfire challenge. From now on we’ll refer to her as “The Forearm”.
6. Seriously, I don’t care how big a Top Chef groupie you are. You don’t let Top Chef cater your wedding.
7. Andrew and his “culinary boner” proves he’s probably on crystal meth, since he’s all tweaked out about staying up all night.
8. The bride doesn’t want classic catering menu items for her wedding, but she loves “well seasoned steak with mushrooms and blue cheese.”
9. Dole fresh asparagus…mmm, nothing says wedding food like factory farmed produce
10. Nikki doesn’t know how to cook her own recipes, awesome
11. Pre-peeled garlic, sweet, the show has now become Top Second Class Caterer
12. Colicchio talks trash about the groom’s cake, calling it a “battleship”. I like.
13. Well it’s good to know that the co-owner of Galleria Marchetti actually gets married at Galleria Marchetti. I wonder if his new wife is cool with him pimping out their wedding on behalf of the family business?
14. I’ve come to love Dale. He better not go home.
15. Nikki. She gone. Finally.

I spent some time in Three Oaks, Michigan a few weeks ago checking out the hydroponic heirloom tomatoes of McWethy farm for the Sun Times. Forget spring grocery store tomatoes. Todd McWethy’s tomatoes are better than anything available at this time of year locally. They’re even almost as good as late August traditionally grown tomatoes. Take a look at this photo slideshow of the farm.

Saying that the 77-year-old red-sauce joint Tufano’s Vernon Park Tap has seen a lot is like saying Magellan took a short boat trip. When the tap opened in 1931, Halsted was paved with brick and Taylor Street was the port of entry for Italian immigrants. Italian beef may have been drenched in gravy and sandwiched between two pieces of Gonnella bread, but only in those immigrants’ kitchens, as Al’s Italian Beef didn’t open until 1938. More »

Grant Achatz of Alinea gets the New Yorker treatment. For me, the most interesting part of this piece has nothing to do with the culinary stories. Rather, it’s the idea that in society we tend to treat authority figures, doctors in this case, with undue reverence and infallibility. If Achatz had listened to the surgeons who suggested cutting out his tongue in response to his cancer was the only realistic treatment, this story may have ended much differently. Instead, Achatz found an alternative treatment that, for now and hopefully forever, saved his tongue, and a chance at salvaging his taste.

This really illustrated the crux of what I’ve learned from working as a contributor to the Alinea cookbook with Achatz, his partner Nick Kokonas, and the whole team at Alinea: there is an incredible importance in being disciplined to challenge what’s been done before. It’s what separates Alinea from so many. And though it sounds like a simple formula, it’s really hard to do.

Chris Borrelli had a good article in the Chicago Tribune last week about tips and how they get disbursed. I think the article made some great points, especially about what I consider an exploitative behavior of some restaurants which charge a percentage of the waiter’s tip to cover credit card processing fees, as if it’s the waiter’s fault the restaurant accepts plastic.

Assuming the restaurant doesn’t pay a flat processing fee to the credit card company, I might buy into the idea of sharing a percentage of the cost of a tip on an exceedingly large gratuity, since the restaurant would have to pay a greater processing fee without receiving any portion of the tip. Of course, I’d more likely accept that premise if restaurants started treating their waiters as real business partners and paid them full minimum wage.

One aspect that wasn’t covered in the article which I think bears some attention is the long simmering tension between the front of the house (i.e. the service staff) and the back of the house (the cooks and dishwashers etc), particularly in high end restaurants, which is often exacerbated by the tip system. More »

I stopped in at Artropolis, Chicago’s mega modern art fair at the Merchandise Mart last weekend. I documented as many food related pictures I could find. Interestingly enough, even though food is rising in prominence on our country, it seems the current generation of artists hasn’t really escaped the Claes Oldenburg/Andy Warhol aesthetic of depicting it. Enjoy this photo slideshow.

This just in: I will no longer be terrorizing Chicago’s Whole Foods’ Staff Any Longer

1 - Uncle Ben’s Rice quickfire challenge – Next week: Spam Throwdown

2 - I can’t figure out who’s bitchier in the quickfire judging, Art Smith or Padma

3 - Spike’s Mark Twain meets Marc Jacobs porkpie is totally hobo couture

4 - Richard, abusive to the fishmonger as usual

5 - 10 dollar budget at Whole Paycheck should cover one organic lime for each contestant

6- Dale buys sausage, making it three weeks in a row that no one heeded Paul Kahan’s lesson to make your own sausage

7 -Child labor, sweet.

8 -Nikki cooking Brussels sprouts for a kid friendly dinner. I’ve seen this movie before and it doesn’t end well. (I stand corrected.)

9 -Colicchio seems concerned that OSHA might bust Top Chef for child endangerment

10 - There’s a commercial for Step It Up and Dance on Bravo, and it’s really scary how much the host Elizabeth Berkley sounds like Padma, like they’re cloned from the same super-spokesmodel planet.

11 - Oh, god, Richard wants to make babies…if there’s a case for state mandated sterilization, I think this is it.

12 - Antonia, we…loved…your…whole wheat noodles…robot Padma’s batteries are running low.

13 - Marc. He gone. God the indignity, he’s drinking Michelob to drown his sorrow.

14 - Next week: the dumbest people on earth get talked in to letting Top Chef cater their wedding.

Chef Randy Zweiban, the ceviche king of Nacional 27, is set to open “Province” in September at 161 N. Jefferson St. The new concept is described as:

A new American restaurant influenced by the modern, evolving cuisines of South America and Spain. Housed in a certified green building, Province will incorporate green building materials, recycled design materials, low-voltage lighting and Energy Star equipment. Sustainable practices will be followed in the kitchen, from an aggressive recycling program to a composting partnership with a city farm.

Sample dishes from the proposed menu:

House-smoked sable ceviche with Hawaiian papaya $7

House-cured anchovies with celery, Parmesan, arbequena olives $7

Prawn and bay scallop “paella” with saffron and roasted peppers $19

Shrimp and organic grits with manchego cheese $9 (pictured below)

I find that most people are surprised to learn that there is a plant called the marshmallow. It grows in marshy areas and, like most mallows, has pretty flowers—though the flowers are not as showy or large as those of the related hibiscus and hollyhock. The marshmallow has a root that was at one time used to make a creamy confection, which has more recently found itself vaguely imitated by the sugar and gelatin puffs we now buy in bags. More »

All I really know about Romania I learned from Nadia Comaneci, Dracula and those late-eighties/early-nineties commercials depicting squalid orphanages. And I might have kept on thinking that the country was populated exclusively by agile beauties, blood-sucking monsters and doleful children if my favorite burger spot, Kuma’s Corner, didn’t have a two-hour back-up last Friday. More »

Giuseppe Tentori and Ryan Poli do the guest bartender thing tonight at the Libertine. Bring your clogs and the bourbon’s cheap.

Yeah, I’m a pastry chef, but I’m totally aggro, check out my wallet chain.

1 - Top Chef pimps its own cookbook during the quickfire challenge.

2 - After three previous seasons of Top Chef dessert disaster, anyone who doesn’t have a dessert or two planned for this quickfire competition is an idiot and should go home.

3 - Didn’t the wallet chain go out of style in 1997?

4 - There’s something about Richard’s pink shirt that doesn’t jive with his faux hawk.

5 - Spike and Andrew were totally separated at birth…when they were removed from their foster parents’ meth lab.

6 - Now that the chefs have been shopping at the same Whole Foods like ten times, I wonder if the butchers see Mark and Richard and are like “oh god, here comes that abusive kiwi bastard and his punky egomaniacal friend.”

7 - Antonia and Lisa buy chorizo for a Polish sausage challenge…..joke time: How many Spaniards does it take to make a Polish Sausage? Can anyone say Nikki?

8 - Well, since they removed all the electrical equipment from the kitchen, now we’ll discover the “Top Chef to Call During a Power Outage”.

9 - Squash soup, that’s totally Chez Panisse 1977.

10 - Nothing says sexy like the word “log”.

11- There’s a whole bunch of empty and half-drunk Michelob bottles next to full glasses of wine at each diner’s place-setting…that wine must really suck.

12 -When Dale and Richard end up in the final against each other, their man love is going to get really ugly.

13 - Lisa says, the only Polish sausage she’s ever had is cryovaced Turkey sausage? She must hail from the Polish community in Oregon or Berkeley.

14 - I wonder if Tom Colicchio calls his soul patch a “flavor saver”. That would be totally appropriate considering his profession.

15- Jen. She gone. Happy reunion with Zoi time. Stephanie, close shave.

Next Week: Art Smith and Common Threads edition

Chef Rob Levitt makes pasta at mado

We’re the green-market dorks,” says Allison Levitt, chef and co-owner with her husband Rob of the just-opened Bucktown restaurant, mado. Levitt’s referring to the band of chefs who get up at dawn most every Wednesday and Saturday to scour the Green City Market looking for the best responsibly grown food for their restaurant kitchens.

These chefs aren’t who you think they are. There are very few big-time local chefs. Most of those guys drop by occasionally, but usually only for a photo-op. The real “green-market dorks” are more likely line cooks, sous chefs and young restaurateurs, a group of inspired, hungry unknowns. More »

Hey, you come here often? Nice shoes…

According to some reports, Tom Colicchio is big in the bear community. This week he visits a different kinds of Bears community. Apparently, according to the Top Chef cell phone poll, 50% of America wants to touch him in touch football too.

1 - Koren Grieveson is a guest judge. Bring the Avec love.

2 - Dale says he has no experience pairing beer with food and seems scared. Odd, I thought good chefs trust their palate. Though he’s not nearly as bad as Spike who says, “It all tastes the same to me.”

3 - Quickfire challenge = Anheuser Busch commercial

4 - Stephanie takes a page out of the Hopleaf pagebook, mussels and beer

5 - Spike not only hates women, but now he’s a homophobe. Though he takes a bath with Mark in this episode, so maybe he’s just a self hating closet case.

6 - Richard only likes “refined” food. That’s cool, I only like humble chefs.

7 - Ryan’s making poached grilled pears with creme fraiche? It’s a tailgate dude, not Charlie Trotter’s in 1994.

8 - Richard goes with a gas grill. The dude smokes everything with his porta-smoker, but he wusses out here, odd.

9 - How cute, Paul Kahan and Tom Colicchio wore matching newsboy caps.

10 - I still think Andrew’s on crystal meth.

11 - Richard confirms multiple personality disorder and refers to himself as “we”

12 - Nicky bought sausage and grilled some peppers and onion? Hmmm, the show is called Top Chef, not Top Short Order Cook.

13 - Ryan - he gone. Bit of a shocker. At least he cooked something.

FYI, Potential Spoiler: Pete Wells over at NYT speculates that a female chef might win it all this year. Here in Chicago, my sources tell me that Stephanie Izard hasn’t been looking for a job, and has been cooking a lot of “dinner parties” for friends and other cooks. Sounds like practice for a live finale to me.

mado (1647 N. Milwaukee), Allison and Rob Levitt’s Bucktown restaurant makes it’s debut today. The Levitt’s vision behind mado reflects the early 90’s DIY spirit of Wicker Park/Bucktown, rather than the hipster mag mile of boutiques hawking $200 shoes that it has become. Their plans remind me of Avec crossed with Lula Café, a spot to grab affordable rustic fare in a casual no fuss setting that’s committed to the farm and the community. Lots of chefs say they’re using farm produce and seasonal stuff, but the Levitts are the real the deal, the antidote to phony Food Network driven celebrity. I’ve got a big profile of the two and the restaurant coming out in Wednesday’s Newcity. In the meantime, check out these photos of Rob Levitt making tagliatelle, the mado kitchen, and early menu templates.

“You know Jerry Springer? I’ve inhaled with him more than a few times,” says Ed, a displaced Cincinnati architect nursing a glass of red wine at the end of the bar. On my left, a barrel-chested buzz-cut man, another former Queen City native, a national guardsman about to be deployed to Afghanistan, reminisces about lazy afternoons watching Pete Rose and the Big Red Machine at Riverfront stadium. The transplanted faithful are out in force on the first Saturday night of Lincoln Square’s new Cincinnati-style chili parlor and lounge, Cinner’s. More »

Each week, Bleeding Heart Bakery (1955 W. Belmont Ave.) plans to cook up cupcakes inspired by ingredients from the previous week’s episode challenges. Pictured above is fire, a spicy chocolate ganache cupcake with a “bacon” rose from the “earth, wine, and fire” episode.

We’d like to see cupcakes representing each of the personalities and guest judges too. No need for a Padma version though, as plenty of local bakeries cook up beautiful looking, but insipid tasting cupcakes.

Andersonville is hot. The strip of Clark north of Lawrence and its surrounding blocks are home to Chicago’s best beer bar, Hopleaf, Chicago’s best pastry shop, Pasticceria Natalina, and of course its most beloved if not quite best cinnamon roll at Ann Sather. In the last few months the strip has also seen the birth of La Cocina de Frida, Great Lake pizza, and now Big Jones, a spot for coastal southern cooking out to prove that the south is haute. More »

1 - Ming Tsai might be the first guest judge who’s taller than Padma.

2 - Richard “I’m basically the executive chef” Blais and his faux-hawk is an affront to Dale Levitski.

3 - Lisa doesn’t like Dale and Stephanie’s seared beef and deviled egg dish. She would rather pander by cooking Asian food for Ming Tsai…’cause it’s always a good idea to give a sermon to the pope.

4 - I think Team Air should just do a series of foams.

5 - Isn’t Zoi’s name spelled wrong? Shouldn’t Zoi be pronounced “Zoy” and not “Zo-E”…

6 - Spike belies his contempt for female chefs with a smile.

7 - Why does Tom Colicchio put on his chef’s jacket everytime he goes into the kitchen. It’s not like he ever does any cooking.

8 - Tom Colicchio hates shot glass drinks on plated dishes. He and Graham Elliot Bowles probably wouldn’t get along.

9 - I stand corrected. Lisa standing up for herself results in a team win and a trip to Italy.

10 - I’m waiting for Spike to get all alpha male like last week and talk about how security guards are going to have pull him off the set. Maybe his porkpie hat is the source of all his power.

11 - Zoi - she gone.

13 - Top Chef total freakout. Dale vs Lisa. My money’s on Lisa.

14 - Next week, Tom Colicchio proves he’s never been to a football game in his life by wearing a beret with his Bears jersey

When nutritionists eat at TRU. [SACfoodies]

Kleiner finally opens Park 52 in Hyde Park [Tribune Stew]

Big Jones opening in Andersonville [Drive Thru]

Get Yer Fruit Beers[Chicago Tribune]

Gaetano DiBenedetto, definitely one of Chicagoland’s underrated chefs, opens a new spot [Forest Park Review]