T he Reader has covered food and restaurants in Chicago throughout its half-century existence, though not nearly as consistently or comprehensively as music, film, drama, or most of the other arts—certainly not every week when I came on as a starving editorial assistant way back in ’95. Back then there was a very occasional visual […]
Tag: Rich Melman
Posted inFood & Drink
A tale of two tapas bars
El Internacional, Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba!, and bacalao at the dawn of small plates America
Posted inBlogs
Rosemont hotel: There’s no video of Kenneka Jenkins walking into freezer, and other Chicago news
Also, Chicagoans start to organize relief efforts for victims of Mexico City earthquake.
Posted inFood & Drink
Oyster Bah serves up the flavors of Maine on North Halsted Street
Aimee Levitt reviews Oyster Bah, Lettuce Entertain You’s crowd-pleasing New England-style seafood shack.
Posted inBlogs
Intro’s Erik Anderson on pop-ups, Noma groupies, and his tasting menu
On his way from Noma and Nashville to opening Brut in Minneapolis, acclaimed chef Erik Anderson talks about his three-month stint at Intro.
Posted inBlogs
Chicago produces a James Beard award show that honors the producers
How Chicago fared competing for—and running—the James Beard Foundation awards.
Posted inBlogs
Osteria Via Stato was Italian in River North before everything was
River North stalwart Osteria Via Stato celebrates a decade as a pioneer of seasonal Italian food in River North.
Posted inFood & Drink
Thirty of Chicago’s most important moments in food
Nearly two centuries of Chicago’s culinary milestones, from its first lunch counter to its first Olive Garden
Posted inBlogs
Gene and Georgetti: the movie
Michelle Durpetti makes a movie about the family steak house, Gene and Georgetti
Posted inBlogs
Paul McGee is leaving the Whistler
The best mixologist in Chicago is joining forces with the Melman boys at Lettuce Entertain You
Posted inBlogs
In Print: Chicago’s Classic Restaurants: Past, Present and Future
A new coffee-table book on Chicago restaurant history
Posted inBlogs
Key Ingredient Grabs a Beard Nom
Julia Thiel, Mike Gebert, and a host of Chicago chefs, restaurateurs, and restaurants picked up nominations today for the annual James Beard awards, aka the “Oscars of the food world.”
Posted inBlogs
What’s That Smell at Paris Club? Don’t Ask the “VIPs”
Did the curious aroma of pucky make food bloggers swoon at R.J. and Jerrod Melman’s new French spot?
Posted inBlogs
Lettuce Entertain You, and Make Your City a Culinary Icon
How Lettuce Entertain You fostered Chicago’s world-class food scene – a must-read Reader essay from 2006.
Posted inBlogs
Mike Sula, Cliff Doerksen: 2010 Beard Award Finalists
The Reader is a finalist for two 2010 Beard Awards, for feature stories by Mike Sula and Cliff Doerksen.