- Peter Engler
- The Pig at Ethel’s
In Omnivorous, Mike Sula chronicles the revival of the west-side soul-food joint Edna’s as Ruby’s. Wednesday, March 9, marked the 45th anniversary of the late Edna Stewart’s landmark restaurant, visited by the likes of Martin Luther King Jr. Now, operating under much of the old staff—including longtime cook-manager Lillie Joiner—it’s offering “the finest soul food on earth,” with Edna presiding in spirit.
What’s New checks out two north-side self-styled “urban” taquerias, Barrio and Taco Joint, both seeming Big Star ripoffs, though surprisingly the latter, while the more overtly gimmicky, pays off in flavor—and will soon also boast a takeout window.
In Key Ingredient, chef Cary Taylor of the Southern and the new Southern Mac & Cheese Truck gets stuck with fish eyeballs, considered a delicacy in southeast Asia but so much a gross-out here that Supreme Lobster fish dude Carl Galvan refused to make his staff extract them. “They would riot,” he told Taylor, who cut them out himself and subsequently squirted them into a Low Country oyster stew. Next up: Mindy Segal of Hot Chocolate, tasked with sorghum syrup.
Morsels reports on Tuesday Night Dinner, a “clandestine dining society” hosted in a Lakeview loft every third Tuesday by an ambitious group that has more in the works, including an April Earth Dinner.
In One Sip Philip Montoro reviews Firestone Walker Double Jack Double IPA, winner of the Golden Tut—awarded to the brew that “best exemplifies the cask ale experience”—at last weekend’s Chicago Beer Society event Night of the Living Ales.
In the listings are more soul-food places, among them Daley’s, one of the city’s oldest restaurants; newcomer Ethel’s; and the aptly named Miss Lee’s Good Food.