Madhur Jaffrey, an actress, a writer, and a cook, is a true Renaissance woman. Born in Delhi, India, she moved to the UK to study acting. While there, she pined for an authentic home cooked Indian meal. While growing up she never really cooked, so she wrote her mother asking for cooking advice and recipes. The letters they exhanged launched the ship that now constitutes hundreds of articles, many critically acclaimed cookbooks, and a few cooking shows. Jaffrey has a new memoir out called Climbing the Mango Trees, about her childhood in India. It’s a rich and vivid romp of the senses and last week while she was in Chicago we caught up via a phonecall.
If you have Adobe 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: Madhur Jaffrey Interview
Steve Chiappetti made his bones at Mango, Grapes, and Rhapsody. He was really one of Chicago’s first celebrity chefs. In 2000, he closed all of his restaurants and took some time off to raise his kids, pursue photography, work on a book, and start a bakery with his wife. He returned in 2003 with Café Le Coq in Oak Park, where his sweetbreads in a vanilla and Moroccan BBQ sauce were one of my favorite dishes in 2003. Now, Chiappetti’s breathing new life into Viand (155 E. Ontario St.; 312-255-8505), an American bistro that he’s patterning after Mango. In this podcast we touch on life before and after the break, what it’s like to cook for movie stars and their dogs, and the famous Chicago based family business, Chiappetti Veal and Lamb.
If you have Adobe 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: Steve Chiappetti Interview
A scene from the movie Blow between Johnny Depp (George), who plays a drug dealer, and his father Ray Liotta (Fred):
FRED
I just don’t know what you’re thinking. I don’t understand your choices. You know, the police are looking for you.
GEORGE
I know. I’m great at what I do, Dad. I mean, I’m really great.
FRED
Let me tell you something, son. You would have been great at anything.
The thing I’ve learned in the last year of interviewing food personalities is that great chefs, like Depp’s character, would be great at anything they do. Great chefs don’t bow to economic pressure and buy substandard product, poorly sauce plates, or overcook protein when the weeds are high. They adhere to their principles and an idea of quality no matter the consequence.
Great chefs work clean, treat the mincing of rosemary, the segmenting of citrus, and the sweeping of the floor with the same importance as writing a menu and inventing a new dish. Great chefs are always in the moment. Chef Rick Tramonto once told me that Charlie Trotter’s philosophy was that “If everyone in the restaurant came in and did one thing better than they did the day before, then you’d have 50 people doing one thing better each day.” That’s a powerful message and it’s ultimately the hallmark that great chefs strive to do each day better than the one before. Grant Achatz is one of those chefs.
Achatz’s restaurant Alinea was recently named the #1 restaurant in America by Gourmet magazine for many of the reasons outlined above. In this podcast Achatz talks about what it means to be committed to a vision of constant evolution, perfecting something, throwing it away, and starting again. We also talk about customer expectations, why molecular gastronomy isn’t a meaningful label, how family meal or “comida” is different for the Alinea staff, and of course the most important question, what is Achatz favorite Potbelly sandwich?
If you have Adobe 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: GrantAchatzInterview.mp3
40 men were interviewed, but only she was hired. Chef Maneet Chauhan is burning it up with a new fusion of spicy Indian and Latino fare at Vermilion restaurant. In this podcast, Chauhan talks about Indian food in America, where she likes to eat in Chicago, and how to pair wine with Indian food.
If you have Adobe 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: ManeetChauhanInterview.mp3
Don’t call it a comeback, it’s been there for years. Grant Achatz’s signature black truffle explosion, the dish that launched his career at Trio is back on the Alinea menu, at least for tonight. It’s not quite like Michael Jordan’s multiple returns to the NBA, but in culinary terms it’s close. Achatz never officially retired the dish, but his vision is to perfect a dish and then replace it, and the storied black truffle course has only been broken out a few times since he left Trio.
I sat down with Chef Achatz this afternoon for an upcoming podcast interview that we’ll post within the next few weeks, and we spoke about the art of retiring dishes, and whether it was a disservice to the diner to do so. You can listen to the five minute podcast snippet below. Don’t mistake the black truffle return as a bit of softness. Achatz is still working tirelessly to develop mind blowing meals. Also, good luck getting a chance to taste the fabled course. Gourmet did just name Alinea the #1 restaurant in America. Also in case you’re wondering, in the snippet below, Achatz references a Victor Pasmore painting on the wall at Alinea. Pasmore is a British abstract artist.
If you have Adobe 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: Achatz on the Black Truffle Explosion
One of America’s best chefs launched his career at Wendy’s Hamburgers. It’s been a long road since those early days. Rick Tramonto has worked at Tavern on the Green, Gotham Bar and Grill, and Charlie Trotter’s. He’s opened up some of Chicago’s best restaurants including Brasserie T, Trio and the award winning TRU. If that weren’t enough, Tramonto also writes cookbooks with a John Grisham like frequency, and in 2001 he won the James Beard Award for best Chef Midwest.
Instead of resting on his laurels, Tramonto is about to launch four new restaurant concepts including Tramonto’s Steak and Seafood, Osteria di Tramonto, RT Lounge, and along with his long time kitchen partner Gale Gand, Gale’s Coffee Bar. The coffee bar and the osteria are slated to open on October 12th at the Westin Chicago North Shore in Wheeling. We sat down to talk about the new concepts, and as it turns out the Wendy’s beginning isn’t the only surprising thing I learn. Tramonto is remarkably complex, candid, and fascinating. In this interview we talk about spirtuality, family, drugs, divorce, success, the invention of the caviar staircase, and why Mario Batali beat him on Iron Chef.
If you have Adobe 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: Rick Tramonto Interview
This week I sit down with Cameron Hughes, the man some folks are dubbing the robin hood of wine. Hughes owns no vineyards, makes no wine, but he has an inside connection to some of the best wineries that do. The way the model works is many top wineries produce wine that either doesn’t fit in to their profile or they make too much of a wine. That’s where Hughes steps in. He buys up the excess lots and then markets them under his own label and sells them direct on his website or through Costco. Because Hughes bypasses traditional middle men and marketing fees, he’s able to offer incredible wines for about $10 bucks.
Now I know this all sounds too good to be true. I was skeptical myself. I’m very concerned about craftsmanship and it seems that if this excess wine was any good, it would be selling, or the wineries would market the wines themselves. I don’t know why I decided to listen to Hughes. I guess part of it was the Two Buck Chuck, or Charles Shaw cheap wines phenomenon. While I don’t drink it everyday, Charles Shaw is a good drinkable wine and it’s cheap. I was curious why I’d want to pay more. As you’ll hear in the interview, there is no comparison. Hughes wines are superior to Charles Shaw and only for a few bucks more.
If you are in Chicago, Hughes will be in store at the Lincoln Park, Glenview and Oakbrook Costcos this weekend telling his story. My personal favorite was the Lot 14, a nice spicy 2003 Merlot.
If you have Adobe 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: Cameron Hughes Interview
Andrew Zimmerman once played music for 10,000 people, recorded with famed Producer Steve Albini who’s recorded PJ Harvey, Nirvana, and the Pixies, and played a guitar Kurt Cobain once used. He gave up his music career, and now rocks it out in the kitchen at Chicago’s Del Toro restaurant, a gourmet Spanish influenced small plates restaurant.
If you have Adobe 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: Andrew Zimmerman Interview
This week we try something different, with a little reporting piece on the history of greek restaurant staples the gyro and flaming saganaki. Believe it or not, flaming saganaki, Opaa, and the whole theatrical production was invented in Chicago on Halsted St in the 1960’s at the Parthenon. The Parthenon also played a role in popularizing the gyro in Chicago by giving it away as sort of a free amuse course in the late sixties.
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: Saganaki History
Adam Seger is the Charlie Trotter of cocktails. Actually, Trotter doesn’t serve spirits in his Lincoln Park restaurant, so it might be more appropriate to call Seger the Grant Achatz of spirits. The important thing is that Seger, also the general manager and sommelier at the Nuevo Latino restaurant Nacional 27 in Chicago, is blurring the distinction between the bar and the kitchen. He’s leading a wave of mixology that focuses on creating balanced cocktails from farm fresh locally sourced produce, with homemade liquors, aromatic infusions and spiced drink rims. As Seger puts it, “I think about food and how I can translate that to a liquid form.”
A lot of this philosophy comes from Seger’s time working with Rick Tramonto and Gale Gand at Tru and Thomas Keller at the French Laundry. Seger was even hired as the pre-opening GM of Keller’s new york outpost Per Se. For this podcast, Adam and I met at Chicago’s Green City Market so I could see how he constructed his weekly market based cocktail list.
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: Adam Seger Interview
If you would like to read about the experience, view the companion article I wrote for Newcity Chicago here
This week I speak with Ayun Halliday, a saucy, hip New York City mama. She’s written a food memoir called Dirty Sugar Cookies, which is a wry romp chronicling Halliday’s path from fussy childhood eater with a “pinched” sense of culinary adventure, to wanderlusting adult chomping on Bahn Mi in Vietnam and Mangosteens in Thailand, and then karmically back to her current role as a mother of her picky eating daughter, Inky. It’s a great read for frustrated parents, gourmands, and even the pickiest of eaters.
In this podcast, we talk about great Bahn Mi in New York, raising picky eaters, ramen noodles, the hazards of writing food memoirs, and more.
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: Ayun Halliday Interview
This week, we catch up with Master Sommelier Alpana Singh. Singh is the director of wine and spirits for Chicago’s Lettuce Entertain you restaurant group in Chicago. She’s also the host of Check Please, Chicago’s popular PBS restaurant review show.
At 26, Singh was the youngest person ever to garner the Master Sommelier title. There are only 120 Master Sommeliers in the world, and only 13 women have earned the distinction in North America. The MS diploma exam includes a blind tasting of 6 wines, for which the sommelier must name the grape varietal, country of origin, district of origin, and vintage. This is certainly a monumental task, even for the most distinguished palate.
In the podcast interview we talk about fusion cooking, whether the newest generation of wine drinkers is being exposed to good wine, the hazards of dating a sommelier, and drinking champagne with Mahatma Ghandi, Bill Clinton, and Larry David.
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: Alpana Singh Interview
If your coffee comes from metal cans or has been sitting in the icebox for months next to that freezer burned box of Fudgsicles, throw it out, and then listen to this week’s podcast.
This week I sit down with Thomas Meinl, the fourth generation from Vienna’s Julius Meinl coffee roasting family, and Doug Zell, the founder and CEO of Chicago’s craft coffee roaster, Intelligentsia. We talk about issues of fair trade, the economics of coffee, the best way to brew coffee, the story of how coffee came to Vienna, and eating mole and drinking Mezcal in Oaxaca.
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: Thomas Meinl and Doug Zell Interview
In this week’s podcast interview we sit down with Bruce Sherman of Chicago’s North Pond Restaurant. Bruce Sherman was named Food and Wine Best New Chef in 2003. He’s a graduate of Penn, the London School of Economics, and spent years living in India learning to cook seasonally from what was available each day at the local produce vendor or “wallah”. Chef Sherman is one of the most socially conscious chefs in Chicago. He’s been a huge proponent of the small family farmer, instrumental in growing Chicago’s Green City Market, and a member of the Chef’s collaborative, an organization that that teaches about local, artisanal, and sustainable cuisine. In this week’s conversation we talk about Chicago’s foie gras ban, the economics of running a restaurant, his time in India, and what it’s like cooking for Julia Child.
Also, listen for details on how you can score some free Julius Meinl coffee and Tea.
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: Bruce Sherman Interview
Go inside North Pond’s kitchen with a photo slide show from Hungry photographer Tuan Bui.
Sometimes it’s easier to save a life than serve a diner.
This is some of the wisdom I recieved from Nader Salti, a Jerusalem born practicing surgeon, who owns and operates Saltaus restaurant in Chicago’s West Loop neighborhood in his free time.
In this week’s podcast we talk about street food in Jerusalem, the challenges of restaurant entrepreneurship, and Saltaus chef Brad Phillips, previously of Nomi and Blackbird restaurants.
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: Nader Salti Interview
Check out our photo slideshow of Saltaus by photographer Tuan Bui.
If Paul Kahan was a musician, he’d be a critic’s indie darling. Kahan makes a career of flying below the radar, all the while turning out sublime cuisine. Even though he won the James Beard award for Best Chef Midwest and was named Food and Wine Best New Chef in 1999, he skipped the limelight, avoided writing ego driven cookbooks, and focused on his craft. In contrast to his fellow Food and Wine Best New Chef classmate, Rocco Dispirito, there was no reality show restaurant meltdown for Kahan.
Like an indie band, Kahan makes sure he’s saying something with his art. He pays attention to the politics of the plate, using organic products, developing relationships with independent purveyors, and always respecting seasonality. This is no mere lip service. Kahan was instrumental in building up Chicago’s Green City Market which supports small family farms.
Along with Charlie Trotter and Rick Bayless, Paul Kahan and Blackbird paved the way for independent restauranteurs and played a role in defining Chicago’s current fine dining scene.
Fans of Kahan will be exicited to hear he may be opening a gastropub in Chicago later this year. In our podcast we talk about the vision for this new concept, sustainable agriculture, meat cures, the power of chefs, the influence of architecture on food, and whether chefs take themselves too seriously.
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: Paul Kahan Interview
If the writer thing didn’t work out, Michael Ruhlman could have always opened a restaurant. On the afternoon I interviewed the writer and James Beard Award winner, he cooked a lunch of sweet cured confit pork belly which we ate on crusty French bread with Dijon mustard and a few glasses of Pinot Noir. It was exceptional. Thankfully, his food writing is even better.
Ruhlman penned The Making of a Chef, a behind the scenes look at what it takes to make it at the Culinary Institute of Arts, and The Soul of a Chef, a profile of top chefs including Thomas Keller of the French Laundry in Napa Valley.
His new book, coming out in May, The Reach of a Chef , examines Grant Achatz of Alinea in Chicago, Masa Takayama of Masa in New York City, and topics like Food Network’s impact on the culinary world.
In this podcast we talk about, the impact of chef driven cuisine, whether chefs are artists, food personalities like Anthony Bourdain and Chef Thomas Keller, and charcuterie.
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: Michael Ruhlman Interview
Besides my Polish grandmother, no one, except Chef Michael Symon, has done more for the humble pierogie. Using his father’s recipe, Chef Symon incorporated the lowly dumpling into gourmet cuisine by stuffing it with lobster and crab. Chef Symon calls upon his heritage, whether it’s his mother’s Greek and Sicilian ancestors, or his father’s Eastern European roots , and refines the best examples of those cuisines. He also likes to throw in a dash of Cleveland, avoiding pretension and striving for accessibility in his food.
At Lolita and the soon to reopen Lola in Cleveland, along with his New York City venture Parea, Chef Symon is practicing what might be classified as New Midwestern Cooking, a unique style that has earned him honors such as Food and Wine Best New Chef, a James Beard nomination, multiple appearances on the Food Network including an Asparagus battle with Iron Chef Morimoto, and even his own chapters in the book, Soul of a Chef.
In this week’s podcast, I spoke with Mike Symon about curing his own meats, James Beard, his Iron Chef dream ingredient, and what’s going on in his new restaurants.
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: Michael Symon Interview
No gutbombs or paperweights allowed. You need fluffy matzo balls, the kind that suck up rich chicken broth. You also need freshly steamed moist corn beef, peppery handcut pastrami. Throw in a syrupy frothy egg cream, a couple of crusty charming countermen, deep vinyl booths, and a healthy dose of chrome, and you got yourself a old style delicatessen and late night diner.
A student of the legends like Katz’s, Langers, and the Rascal House, Bradley Rubin, the owner and visionary behind Chicago’s soon to open Eleven City Diner (March 30, 2005, 1112 S. Wabash ) knows this. It’s why the only sleep he gets nowadays is a few winks curled up on the diner’s leather banquettes shrouded by a thin blanket and guarded by carved art deco wood patterns.
Rubin’s devoted his days (and his nights) to the details, whether it’s installing an old Bastian Blessing soda fountain or pinching the kreplach right. Rubin is a firebrand, slinging stories like a good counterman slings corn beef, and he’s devoted to keeping alive the community and spirit of the old coffee shops, late night diners, and jewish delicatessans with Eleven City Diner.
In this week’s podcast, we talk to Rubin about the old deli legends, whether you need Brooklyn water to make a good bagel, the elements of a great deli/diner, and the perils of entrepreneurship.
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: Bradley Rubin Interview
Go inside Eleven City Diner with a photo slideshow from Hungry photographer Tuan Bui.
We don’t swoon at the feet of food celebrities. In fact, everytime Giada De Laurentiis pops up on our tv screens with her carefully orchestrated cleavage and soft focus kitchen, we feel a little ill. It’s not that we don’t think she can cook, because we know she can. It’s just that it is such an overt attempt at capturing the 18-43 year old hormonally challenged male demographic. It’s food porn where the food isn’t even in the money shot. Besides, everyone knows that young males are watching Stone Cold Steve Austin throwing down on WWE Raw with bikini clad ladies dancing in the backround.
That being said, we were at the Home and Housewares show at Chicago’s McCormick Center last week when we ran into Alton Brown of Good Eats. He is clearly a food celebrity, but a celebrity who is teaching America about the science behind our favorite foods. He tackles the food we cook everyday and demonstrates the best techniques for success. It’s an idea we love.
In this week’s podcast, we talked about how Americans don’t break down their own poultry anymore, why Alton thinks Shun knives are the best bang for the buck, and in light of his own personal health scare, what he’s doing to promote healthy eating. We also caught some of Alton’s cooking demonstration at the show, and feature the question and answer session that followed. Find out what new shows the Good Eats staff has planned.
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: Alton Brown Interview
You can also view a slideshow of the Home and Housewares show, including pics of Mario Batali, from Hungry magazine photographer Tuan Bui.
Alton has also put out a couple of great cookbooks. You can order them here.
This week I speak with Ayun Halliday, a saucy, hip New York City mama. She’s written a food memoir called 
Besides my Polish grandmother, no one, except Chef Michael Symon, has done more for the humble pierogie. Using his father’s recipe, Chef Symon incorporated the lowly dumpling into gourmet cuisine by stuffing it with lobster and crab. Chef Symon calls upon his heritage, whether it’s his mother’s Greek and Sicilian ancestors, or his father’s Eastern European roots , and refines the best examples of those cuisines. He also likes to throw in a dash of Cleveland, avoiding pretension and striving for accessibility in his food. 
