Oh, Eric Schlosser, where have you gone? Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you.

I’m pretty sure that the author of Fast Food Nation would be interested in gourmet Chef David Burke’s newest invention. David Burke, the Iron Chef America lamb battle veteran, chef/partner of David Burke and Donatella in New York, and the upcoming Primehouse David Burke in Chicago has a new bag, the Flavor Spray. More »

It was a low carb dieter’s dream.

Wednesday night, some of Chicago’s finest chefs joined St. Francis winery to offer up a feast of red meat and wine. The Big Red event, a fundraiser to benefit the Boys and Girls Clubs of Chicago, was held at the University Club downtown. Offerings included roast beef tenderloin and gorgonzola risotto, oxtail ravioli dumplings, braised short ribs, and roast lamb loin chops.

In our podcast review of the event (What is a Podcast?) we caught up with Jesse Fultineer of N9NE steakhouse, David Burke of the forthcoming Primehouse David Burke and current NYC fave David Burke and Donatella, Noah Bekofsky of Aria, and Gil Langlois of SushiSamba.

If you have Macromedia Flash installed, you can play the file right on this site, below, by pressing the play button. If not, download the file and play it on your PC or on an MP3 player here: Big Red Interviews

If you missed the event, you can still help the Boys and Girls Club of Chicago by volunteering or donating your time. For more information, check out: Boys and Girls Clubs

You can also view a slideshow of Big Red from Hungry magazine photographer Tuan Bui.

A few weeks ago, some good friends cashed in on a dinner that I owed them.

Since I love cooking so much, I tend to plan ahead for a good meal. I’m still relatively new in the kitchen, so I try to cut corners wherever I can to save time. Two days before the dinner, I had planned on making a Flourless Chocolate Cake from a trusted recipe. I was thinking of plating it on some Orange Crème Anglaise, striped with Raspberry Sauce. This was a safe and easy standby, considering I had made the cake flawlessly a few times before, along with the accompanying sauces.

On the other hand, I might have been drinking some whiskey when I made the cake. More »

We provided a garnish recipe for four, but the amount of cake and raspberry sauce produced in this recipe will serve 8-12. You can just double or triple the garnish recipe to match. More »

Chef Roche Works the Moto Laser - Photo: Tuan Bui

If the whole physics thing didn’t pan out, and Albert Einstein pursued a career as a pastry chef, he’d probably would have been a lot like Chef Ben Roche. Chef Roche, pastry chef at Moto restaurant in Chicago’s Fulton Market neighborhood, employs an arsenal of lasers, liquid nitrogen, and alginate powders to construct a new dessert movement in American cuisine. Chef Roche, along with his partner at Moto, Chef Homaro Cantu, are not breaking conventions. They are ignoring them altogether. Chef Roche eschews cookbooks for inspiration, and instead finds inspiration in Surrealism and the experimentation of Salvador Dali.

In our podcast (What is a Podcast?) Roche talks about Dali’s influence, collecting smokey vanilla essence with a class 4 laser, and inventing hot ice cream for Albert Adria of El Bulli.

If you have Macromedia Flash installed, you can play the file right on this site, below, by pressing the play button. If not, download the file and play it on your PC or on an MP3 player here: Ben Roche Interview

You can also view a slideshow of Chef Roche working in the Moto kitchen from Hungry magazine photographer Tuan Bui.

Nothing cures the ailing winter soul like a good braise. Perk up your spirits with this recipe from Chef Shawn McClain and the Custom House restaurant kitchen. Be sure to check out our podcast with Chef McClain here. You can print this recipe out by clicking on the “print article” link below.

Prep Time: 45 minutes prep, 90 minutes cooking, and overnight marinade
Serves: 4 More »

Chef McClain Plates - Photo by: Tuan Bui

Shawn McClain is one part Steve Jobs, one part Charles Barkley, and just a dash of Jeff Spicoli. Chef McClain, like Jobs, is restless with ideas and vision. McClain focuses on the essence of an ingredient. Whether it’s Asian-inspired seafood at Spring, seasonal and veggie driven cuisine at Green Zebra, or a juicy bone-in-ribeye at his newest venture, Custom House, ingredients shine on the plate. McClain, like Barkley, also isn’t afraid to speak his mind. He is not a fan of snarky food criticism and refuses to be defined by it. Like Sean Penn’s character Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, McClain mixes in a bit of a west coast attitude and serendipity, attending culinary school, even when he wasn’t sure what it would amount to.

It has added up to a small empire that includes three of the finest restaurants in Chicago, all of which have received critical and national acclaim. Chef McClain has received best new restaurant honors from Bon Appetit, was named “Chef of the Year” by Esquire magazine and one of “40 under 40” to watch by Crain’s Chicago Business, and has been nominated by the James Beard Foundation for Best Chef Midwest.

In our podcast (What is a Podcast?) McClain talks about developing his simple culinary approach, what it takes to succeed in fine dining, what it takes to sustain the success, and why GQ magazine food writer Alan Richman should be “put to pasture.”

If you have Macromedia Flash installed, you can play the file right on this site, below, by pressing the play button. If not, download the file and play it on your PC or on an MP3 player here: Shawn McClain Interview

You can also view a slideshow of Chef McClain working in the Custom House kitchen from Hungry magazine photographer Tuan Bui.

It’s like Las Vegas in the Chicago suburbs. Amidst mountains of crab legs, neon lights, crème brulee pyramids, and Japanese families grazing on all-you-can-eat sushi, it’s easy to forget that you are at the Todai Japanese Seafood and Sushi buffet in Schaumburg’s Woodfield Mall.

I haven’t been to an indoor mega mall in years, but a few weekends ago, after much protest that city malls were the same as any suburban mall, I gave in and accompanied my wife. More »

Target may not be a shiny food retail mecca like Sur La Table or Williams Sonoma, or a secret grungy restaurant supply shop, but they have mastered the merchandising of designer flair and offer the occasional good deal on cookware.

A week ago as I was walking down the aisle at Target, I spotted the Riedel glass logo. I am not sure I buy the whole argument that Riedel’s wine glasses alone offer superior taste. I do believe glass shape and construction enhances taste, but Spieglau offers similar glassware at half to a third of the price of Riedel. I do recognize the grace and balance in a Riedel glass. The lightness of the bowl, the sharp thin lip, and the slender stem conjure a prima ballerina in mid-arc. For me, I suppose Riedel is what super high end amplifiers and speakers are to audiophiles. That being said, I still couldn’t justify 30 bucks for a wine glass, but when I saw the sign for Riedel Vivant at Target, I thought, hey, Riedel design at reasonable prices. In fact four red wine glasses were 39.99, still alot of money, but rather good for a Riedel. More »

Three words: I love barbecue.

Chicago is in the middle of winter with no hint of summer in sight. One way to bask in the summer sun during the coming frigid months is to eat warm weather food – smoky, slow cooked, spice-infused, melt-in-your-mouth, piles of meat.

Barbecue often gets confused for another warm weather style of cooking, grilling. True barbecue traditionally uses cheap cuts of tough meat, cooked over low indirect heat for long periods of time (8 – 12 hours), accompanied by layers of wood smoke and tons of flavor. And even then, there are different kinds of barbecue across the states. More »