For this month’s podcast, I sit down with chef Richard Sandoval of Mexx Kitchen at the Whiskey (1015 N. Rush St.) a man noted for Asian-inflected and modern Mexican flair at spots like Zengo in Denver and Maya in New York City. Sandoval’s genius is in his willingness to punch you with the heat of chilis and then sooth with a bit of citrus or sweet.

If you don’t have flash installed, you can download the interview here: Richard Sandoval Interview

Otherwise press play below and enjoy!

The Gage’s idea of surf and turf, sea bream with braised oxtail

I’ve taken measure of the Gage and were it a thermometer, the reading is pretty lukewarm. It’s surprising because as a critic, I’ve been about as slow as the Jamaican bobsled team in filing a review on this somewhat new Michigan Avenue restaurant. It opened in April, and everyone from the fleet Time Out to the tortoise-like Phil Vettel has weighed in. Almost all the reviews were overwhelmingly positive. More »

Taken at face value, Prunus might be assumed to have something to do with prunes. However, in actuality, all stone fruits are members of the genus Prunus. Of course, plums (and future prunes) are members, but Prunus avium and Prunus cerasus happen to be cherries. More »

For anyone who likes my stuff (all three of you, thanks mom and dad, and that homeless guy I gave a quarter to yesterday) I’m debuting a twice monthly column at Ed Levine’s website Serious Eats. Levine is a great writer who really evangelized the worth of cheap eats in every venue from the New York Times to his own book over the last decade or so. In fact you can see his mug on Iron Chef from time to time as one of the guest judges. I’m proud to bring a little Chicago flavor and rub elbows with his stable of respected writers.

I love champagne like fat kids love cake. Of course I’m a fat kid and I love cake, too. But the state legislature isn’t banning the out-of-state retail sales of cake. On August 7, both houses of the Illinois legislature passed bill HB429, which is supposed to reconcile state law with a Supreme Court ruling that requires states to treat in-state and out-of-state wineries the same. More »

Former ghetto gourmet chef Efrain Cuevas, a former engineer turned chef, and now new local underground dining bad boy has been getting a lot of press lately including a Time Out piece and a Tribune piece.

While it’s a nice feel good story about a guy leaving corporate America to start a clandestine dining operation, I wonder, is a mediocre chef newsworthy? More »

P.F. Chang’s Orange Peel Shrimp

Batman eats at Ben Pao. Rather, according to last month’s tabloids, his alter-ego Christian Bale does. As I recently wrote of Katie Holmes’ order of Gino’s East pizza, you figure folks who have millions of dollars could find themselves a first-rate food concierge to point them to better fare. Bale is after all an extremist who almost starved himself to death for his role in “The Machinist.” Comparatively, a stop in Chinatown for spicy Lao Szechuan stylings or the Yunnan delicacies at Spring World is like a Sunday cruise in the Batmobile. More »

Image courtesy of McDonald’s

From the Chicago Tribune’s Phil Vettel and his August 9th column on portable breakfasts:

“In my humble opinion, McDonald’s is the creator of the greatest breakfast sandwich ever invented, and the most heinous breakfast sandwich ever invented. The former is the sublime Egg McMuffin, a fast-food sandwich virtually without artifice. … The latter is the profane McGriddle, which purports to create a hand-held version of eggs, bacon and pancakes with maple syrup. I hate the spongy feel of the “pancakes.” I hate its artificial-maple taste. And the Golden Arches imprint on the outside of each pancake virtually screams “make-believe food!” One of my great fears is that the person who thought up the McGriddle is thinking up something else.”

Maybe it’s a generational thing but I think the McGriddle is the greatest invention since Tostino’s pizza rolls. Blame it on being raised on artificial flavoring from the New Jersey turnpike laboratories and Swanson microwaved pancakes, but I love the McGriddle precisely because of the Log Cabin/Aunt Jemimaish tinged spongecake. I also dip my McNugget’s according to the following equation: one dip sweet and sour, one dip hot mustard, one dip sweet and sour, bite….so what do I know.

Carol Goldman with her mixer Big Mama

Growing up, Jeff Goldman was a pretty popular guy. While we’re sure he wasn’t lacking in looks or personality, it was precisely because of his mother, more specifically his mother Carol’s cookies that gave him VIP status among his friends. More »