Texas was once Mexican. Texas is Mexican again this November 14 when Heffer BBQ returns to Monday Night Foodball, the Reader’s weekly chef pop-up at the Kedzie Inn in Irving Park. I’m sure you remember back in September, the last time someone parked a 500-gallon offset smoker outside the bar and the sweet haze of […]
Category: Food & Drink Column
Posted inFood & Drink News
Ramen Lord returns to the next Monday Night Foodball
Chui does exactly what you tell it to do. That’s the name of Mike “Ramen Lord” Satinover’s gleaming, new, half-ton Yamato Richmen Type One ramen noodle machine, currently in residence in the living room of his West Loop apartment. It’s named—or at least I’ve named it—for one of the minor AI drones in the classic manga […]
Posted inMonday Night Foodball
Umamicue brings Texas barbecue—via Asia—to the next Monday Night Foodball
Her name is Odesza. Charles Wong’s bright red, 22-foot, 500-gallon mobile road pit comes from Texas, and so does the barbecue she smokes—at least in terms of method and material. But the flavors and textures of his brisket banh mi and smoked crab rangoon come from other lands. “I’ve always wanted to marry the Asian […]
Posted inMonday Night Foodball
The Melanin Martha celebrates Juneteenth at Monday Night Foodball
“I’m really trying to think of ways for us to take the trauma that’s linked to our food and uplift it in ways that makes us feel good and connected to who we are and our cultural identity,” says Jordan Wimby, aka the Melanin Martha, the subject of my column this week. You can see […]
Posted inFood & Drink
It’s a Lebanese-Armenian family feast at the next Monday Night Foodball
Lebanon and Armenia are separated by vast stretches of Syria and eastern Turkey, but when Mary Eder-McClure and Kat Stuehrk Talo compared notes about the heroic family meals they grew up on, they discovered that similarities in the food they ate shrank the distance. For one thing, there’s the abundance of generosity. And the stuffed […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Kedai Tapao returns to kick off a summer of Monday Night Foodballs
Annnnd we’re back . . . Last January when the couple behind Malaysian pop-up Kedai Tapao took an extended winter break to visit the folks back in Kuala Lumpur, Jennifer Pou-Alesi spent her first week quarantined in the comfort of her old bedroom, eating home cooking and tapao (“takeout”) of her street hawker favorites (roti […]
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Angelina Bastidas does Dominican food her way at Monday Night Foodball
Abuelita Dircia wanted to know why there’s no rice and beans or sancocho on her niña’s menu. You might know “niña,” aka chef Angelina Bastidas, from her work at the late AMK Kitchen Bar and BIN 36. Or maybe you know her from her turns on Top Chef or Bong Appetit; or her private, fine-dining […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Chick-Feel-Gay puns in the face of oppression at Monday Night Foodball
As recent events have demonstrated, public mockery, scorn, and derision are effective, legitimate means to achieve justice. And to that end, the Monday Night Foodball team loves a powerful pun, which is why we are right chuffed to welcome Dani Kaplan to the Reader’s weekly chef pop up at the Kedzie Inn. Up until January, […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Pig & Fire present Filipino pork belly tacos and sizzling pig face at Monday Night Foodball
When I first tap-tap-tapped the glassy, porky exterior of Roel Estanilla’s lechón back in January, I knew he was Monday Night Foodball material. Just a shard of the crispy skin jacketing the lush roasted pork belly would be worth the price of a ticket to the Reader’s weekly chef pop-up series at Irving Park’s Kedzie Inn. […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Ricky Hanft is bringing German deep cuts to the next Monday Night Foodball
Ricky Hanft is the sausage king of northwest Indiana. Currently in the case at the Wurst—his Griffith, Indiana, butcher shop—he’s stocking 30 different varieties of encased meats: among them French morteau, Ukrainian kovbasa, Vietnamese cha lua and cha bo, Armenian sujuk, Irish black pudding, North African Merguez, and Cajun boudin. There not a single jalapeño-cheddar […]
Posted inFood & Drink Feature
Sfera Sicilian Street Food ghosts its virtual kitchen
In the Before Times, Daniela Vitale and Steven Jarczyk made a name for themselves selling cheesy, gooey, deep-fried rice balls at farmers’ markets. Like many nimble food businesses, their Sfera Sicilian Street Food pivoted during the pandemic, jarring sauces and delivering their arancini chilled and ready to reheat at home. In October 2020, things took […]
Posted inFood & Drink Column
Tigist Reda feeds you for Tigray at Monday Night Foodball
Thousands of civilians have been tortured, imprisoned, murdered, sexually assaulted, and expelled; their homes occupied and looted by an invading military that has blocked humanitarian aid from reaching those left behind. No, it’s not Ukraine. It’s the northern Tigray region of Ethiopia, which has been under siege since November 2020 when a civil war broke […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Become one with the bowl for the return of Bokuchan’s Curry House at Monday Night Foodball
During the pandemic, Shin Thompson and Liga Sigal established themselves as masters of carryout curry—specifically karē, the alluring, enveloping, Snuggie-in-a-bowl that is Japan’s great gift to global comfort and reassurance. Maybe you’re skeptical. What’s so hard about packing a thick, warmly-spiced, root veggie-stocked edible lava in a plastic jewel box and sending it on its […]
Posted inFood & Drink
There’s as much Desi-barbecue, masala cheesesteak, and chocolate as you can handle from Dhuann BBQ Company and Maa Maa Dei at Monday Night Foodball
Sheal Patel’s wife Shelly does not eat beef. That’s not unless it’s the Philly Masala, the gooey Desi-cheesesteak mashup that’s the signature of the Dhuaan BBQ Company, the weekly Pilsen-based pop-up he’s maintained for more than a year. I’ve flipped a couple vegetarians by barbecue over the years, so I know how satisfying that can […]
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Worlds collide with Flavor Supreme and Lolo Agogo of Monday Snack Gathering at Monday Night Foodball
Did you miss the good times last Monday, when Joey Pham (@flavorsupreme), Kelly Ijichi (Mom’s Chicago), and their Monday Snack Gathering* cohort conjured magic from the depths of the Kedzie Inn’s roiling deep fryer? Chicken gyoza showered in black truffles flew around the dining room like a flock of sizzling hummingbirds. From that you’d never […]