WhiskyFest 2009; Joaquin Simo & Toby Maloney at Cantina; Wine & Spirits Top 100 Event

“Alcohol may be man’s worst enemy, but the Bible says love your enemy.” – Frank Sinatra COCKTAILS It’s a special night (10/21) at Cantina (a worthy destination any night) when New York City’s Joaquin Simo, of Death & Co, and Toby Maloney (formerly of Milk & Honey, now running culinary cocktail bars around the country, including Chicago’s one-and-only Violet Hour)… Read more →

October 15, 2009

“I was raised among books, making invisible friends in pages that seemed cast from dust and whose smell I carry on my hands to this day… I felt myself surrounded by millions of abandoned pages, by worlds and souls without an owner sinking in an ocean of darkness, while the world that throbbed outside the library seemed to be losing… Read more →

Top Tastes

Top Tastes is my usual run-down of tastes over the past two weeks. Rather than a list of all-time favorites (another thing altogether), it’s highlights since my last newsletter, often from new openings. Many don’t make the cut, being a revisit written about before or simply not as stand-out as dishes mentioned. SAVORY – SEAFOOD •  For me, dinner at… Read more →

Spanish & Portuguese Wines at Contigo; Cocktails at Bourbon & Branch, 15 Romolo & Seasons Bar

WINE • Contigo is a fine source for experimenting with Spanish and Portuguese wines, which the staff know well. Though a crisp, white Bodegas As Laxas from Rias Baixas ($9 glass; $23 carafe; $42 bottle) certainly paired well with my meal, the one I’d hunt down is recently added Vina Valoria Crianza, a 2004 white from Rioja (10 glass; $25… Read more →

October 1, 2009

“I was… an ex-newspaper reporter who had found God in the details of uni sushi and truffled fettucine. ” – Gael Greene, “Insaitable” I’m moving… into my first house, or rather, in true city fashion, condo. It’s a beautiful 1890’s Victorian house in the Haight, completely redone. Though not large, my unit is lovely. By next issue, I’ll be just… Read more →

Top Tastes: A Range of Cheap Eats, My Favorite Under-the-Radar Asian Fusion Brunch & More

Top Tastes is my usual run-down of tastes over the past two weeks. Rather than a list of all-time favorites (another thing altogether), it’s highlights since my last newsletter, often from new openings. Many don’t make the cut, being a revisit written about before or simply not as stand-out as dishes mentioned. SAVORY – MEAT •  B Star has done… Read more →

Chicago’s South Loop, Chinatown & Greektown

“Hog butcher for the world, Tool maker, stacker of wheat, Player with railroads and the nation’s freight handler; Stormy, husky, brawling, City of big shoulders.” – Carl Sandburg, “Chicago,” 1916 Back to Chicago, where my husband once briefly lived, my first visit in nearly a decade. Certainly much has changed, yet the city remains much as I remember it: gritty,… Read more →