According to Chicago Magazine’s Dish Newsletter:

The old Platiyo space (3313 N. Clark St.) next to Mia Francesca is getting a big-name tenant: Lynne Wallack, the owner of Deleece (4004 N. Southport Ave.; 773-325-1710). Wallack; her husband, John Handler; and Deleece’s chef, Josh Hansen, are partners in Shochu, the planned 80-seat Japanese-American lounge named for a Japanese distilled liquor. “This will be the place that brings shochu into Chicago, and does it in an American way,” says Wallack, who cites the fact that shochu now outsells saké in Japan. “The Japanese compare it to vodka but it’s lower in calories and alcohol content. [Shochu is roughly 25 to 30 percent alcohol content]. And smoother.” Wallack’s crew has a menu of “Asian-edged” small plates (maki, yakitori with seven different sauces) to go with an extensive shochu/cocktail list.

As if Chicago doesn’t have enough trendy over-rated pan-asian treats…can you say Japonais?

Basing a restaurant on an obscure Japanese spirit (obscure to Americans anyway) that’s akin to overpriced clear, tasteless vodka seems like recipe for disaster. Of course everything’s about location, location, location, and no doubt the Clark Street mafia will be toasting each Cub’s victory with a mix of Red Bull and Shochu (Shochu Bombs anyone?).

Looks like the small plates craze is here to stay. [Sun Times] Chefs seem to be enamored with the trend. Though there’s no word from the dishwashers, we’re pretty sure they’re not too geeked about the 300 extra plates they have to wash a night.

Bill Daley over at the Trib has a nice noodle segment with Jackie Shen of Red Light.

The 2008 Jean Banchet Awards for Culinary Excellence were announced. Winners are elected by their fellow chefs, so the winning chefs probably appreciate this award more than most. The wording used for the top chef award is a little weird. The Banchet foundation should probably drop the word “celebrity” and make the category “Top Chef”. Sure, winner Paul Virant was a top Food and Wine chef last year, but he’s the kind of guy who works with his head down and eschews the limelight in favor of honing his craft. Though Tim Dahl won for rising pastry chef, he should be looking over his shoulder, because his wife, Elizabeth Dahl, who was also nominated in the category, is making some serious bones at Boka. Her corn flan with blackberries was one of my favorite desserts of 2007.

Paul Virant, Vie-Chicago’s Top Celebrity Chef

Bill Kim, Le Lan - Rising Chef award

Mary McMahon, Now We’re Cookin’ - Celebrity Pastry Chef category,

Tim Dahl, Blackbird - Rising Pastry Chef

Lula Cafe - Best Neighborhood Restaurant

Blackbird - Best Fine Dining

Joe Catterson, Alinea - Best Sommelier

For most of us, this year’s Super Bowl was a doleful reminder of last year’s Bears collapse in the big game. Sitting down to watch the Giants battle the Patriots did nothing but stir up 2007’s carnival of failure featuring Lance Briggs’ pre-season hold-out and Lamborghini hijinks, Tank Johnson’s legal woes, Brian Urlacher’s baby-mama drama and press tantrums and Rex Grossman’s ability to make ‘ole neckbeard Kyle Orton look like a promising NFL quarterback. Now that Eli Manning has shown Rex Grossman that drawing the constant ire of fans and the media doesn’t have to end in futility, it’s time to hit the road in search of Chicago’s own super bowls of soup, chili and stew to keep you warm. More »

Restaurants and Instititutions magazine has a good podcast interview with Charlie Trotter, and Paul Kahan and Donnie Madia of Blackbird. It’s really enlightening to see Paul and Charlie together. Paul’s approach is humble and self effacing, while Charlie is the embodiment of the Daniel Burham ethos of “making no small plans”. Yet the two of them are probably the most successful culinary faces of Chicago, proving there’s no one way right way to make it.

As usual, there’s the obligatory question about what the two classically based chefs think of the molecular gastronomy movement. Trotter, at least this week anyway, seems to finally have made amends with the idea saying:

Q. You have two of the best-known restaurants in Chicago, yet neither is linked strongly with what some observers now associate most with the city: molecular gastronomy or avant-garde cuisine. Can a restaurant built around that sort of food last for 10 or 20 years?

A. TROTTER: Absolutely it can, but it’s like any restaurant or any business. If your service is great, if the food tastes great and you continue to refine things and evolve things, you can last as long as you’re able to keep on pushing it. It’s another great aspect of what’s available not just in this city but nationwide or worldwide. But yes, in the wrong hands, the quote-unquote “molecular gastronomy” can be a little muddled. But in the right hands it can be very provocative.

Of course a few months and a few years ago he had a different idea, according to this passage from David Tamarkin’s excellent Time Out Chicago article:

Almost since the day Alinea opened in 2005, Trotter has expressed doubts about its avant-garde food. In The New York Times, he famously referred to Achatz’s chemically enhanced cooking style as “nonsense on stilts.” And during the course of our conversations, he makes several thinly veiled references to the restaurant. “It’s great to see other wonderful young restaurants around town,” he says. “It’s fantastic. Bravo. You’ve been doing this for two years, three years. You want to do this for a long time? Let’s see if you have the wherewithal to really be avant-garde for 20 years.”

Ex-pat sommelier Belinda Chang formerly of Trotter, Tramonto et al. dishes on her plans to overhaul the wine list at The Modern in New York. She also takes a shot at her former hometown, suggesting we’re still a bunch of Midwestern rubes. Though, she basically kids because she loves us.

Tammy and Bridget over at Chicago Bites, have a podcast review of Lumes Pancakes House (11611 S. Western Ave.). Weighing in at a whopping 19/20 total points, it sounds like this spot could be the antidote to the weekend cattle call for precious french toast kebabs and expensive breakfast burritos at neighborhood trendoids like Orange, Bongo Room, etc. Then again I love the breakfast burrito at Bongo Room, just not the lines.

Everyone’s been all atwitter regarding Chicago’s impending Restaurant Week Feb 22-29. The idea is 40 “local” restaurants will be offering reasonably priced fixed multi-course menus in an effort to promote and celebrate Chicago’s arrival as a top dining destination. I imagine the promotion’s also supposed to offer consumers a more affordable opportunity to check out the breadth of local spots.

I’m all for anything that raises national and local awareness for Chicago’s food treasures, but the restaurant promotion as it is now feels more like a weak publicity stunt on behalf of mostly corporately owned restaurants then a genuine accurate celebration of Chicago food. More »

Trib has an article on Ming Tsai and his Patriot’s fanatacism. The article mentions his guest role on Chicago’s version of Top Chef as well as his impending return to cook for a Common Threads benefit. These two connections hardly justify a local article on the man. It’s not like he has a new cookbook out. So why’s the Trib covering him, or maybe more importantly why’s he out doing press in Chicago on the eve of the Super Bowl? This may be total speculation, but it sure smells like a ploy to build some name recognition for Tsai to make a foray into the Chicago restaurant market….stay tuned.

Chicago Magazine and the Trib both report the impending demise of Kevin restaurant.

Our man in Humboldt Park, Aamir Burki weighs in on the matter:

When my wife and I visited a then-new Kevin Restaurant in River North, we were initially pleased by the warm decor and comfortable service. Unfortunately, then the food started coming. Like the famous mad-scientist chefs of Chicago, Kevin performed feats of texture, flavor and innovation I’d never seen before. All the dishes seemed to be formed from water! The flavors were so subtle, delicate and wimpy that I actually believe they’d managed to create translucent sauces, foams and even flesh from the Lake Michigan water flowing from the kitchen tap.

As Kevin closes, I wonder, how did it manage for so long?

I finally got a chance to check out the Sound Opinions podcast with Anthony Bourdain, G. E. Bowles and Doug Sohn yesterday. Pretty good stuff. I also caught up by listening to a few more shows that I’d missed over the last year. The one thing you can say about DeRo and Kot is that those dudes, even after all these years, are still passionate about their craft. They work hard at staying relevant and are good at what they do. I wish I could say the same about our prominent local food critics. More »

Bleeding Heart Bakery (1955 W. Belmont) is punk rocking it out on Valentines day with a limited run of seven deadly sins inspired cupcakes

envy - strawberry/basil/ginger
sloth - nutmeg/carrot/pineapple
wrath - avocado/black pepper/balsamic
gluttony - peanut butter bacon/banana
greed - wine/walnuts/ goat cheese
lust - fennel/figs/pinenuts
pride - vanilla bean/raspberry/chocolate

There’s also a whiskey and chocolate Sid Vicious cupcake available (pictured above). Somehow I think as much as he’d admire Bleeding Heart’s mission, he’d probably take umbrage with the commercial exploitation and spit on the window of Bleeding Heart if he were in the hood.

This brings up another rock and roll food story….when Doug Sohn of Hot Doug’s released the Steve Diggle dog named after the Buzzcocks guitarist, Diggle allegedly told Sohn, “I’ve always wanted to eat my own sausage.”