Results tagged “philvettel”

Sky Full of Bacon 11: A Better Fish from Michael Gebert on Vimeo.
• Mike Gebert visits Carl Galvan and Supreme Lobster Company, one of the country's largest fish purveyors, about the volume of seafood they sell while maintaining sustainable pracitces. [Sky Full of Bacon]
• Phil Vettel and the Trib's resident "Mayor McCheese" Kevin Pang debate pizza pie slices versus the familiar square party cut. Sorry, Kevin: we're siding with Phil on this one. [Tribune]
• Jennifer Olvera gets canning tips from Paul Virant. [Sun-Times]

Phil Vettel writes that Anthony Bourdain is filming at moto today and will be at Matchbox and Silver Palm (768-770 N. Milwaukee) from 8-10 p.m. this evening. Make us flip a coin between stalking BOURDAIN and watching "One Tree Hill" reruns. [The Stew]

Jesus, have things been busy lately, highlighted by the re-opening of Schwa last night. The Tribune recapped everything we've already read about the events surrounding Michael Carlson and company in recent months, from the killer dinner he prepared for Trotter, Adria, Blumenthal, and a host of culinary Illuminati; to closing Schwa the next day, then going into deep hiding to recharge and re-energize, and coming back.

The clock is winding down for drinkers who enjoy a cigarette with their booze. The Smoke-Free Illinois Act is set to go into effect at midnight on Jan. 1, 2008. Illinois will officially join the list of states that have banned smoking in almost all indoor spaces. Besides bars, Illinoisans will not be allowed to smoke in such cigarette bastions as factory floors, stadiums, casinos, and prisons.

The Tribune's Phil Vettel wrote on The Stew this morning about the just-released 2K8 AAA Restaurant and Hotel ratings. Chicago leads the way with more five-diamond rated restaurants than any other city. Furthermore, there are no surprises on the list, since it's identical to last year's awardees. Congratulations are in order to Alinea, Arun's, Avenues, Charlie Trotter's (his fourteenth straight year with a five-diamond rating), Everest, Seasons, and Tru for setting the standard in local...

Joining Current Conditions in its "new regular feature" designation is Quick Bites, a weekly wrap-up of some of the interesting topics debated and discussed in Chicago's food media. The Time Out Chicago blog scooped Dish on Marcus Samuelsson news; the Ethiopian-born chef will be opening a new restaurant, C-House, in the Affinia Chicago Hotel in early 2008. Samuelsson is known for his work at New York's Riingo and Aquavit. If you've been feeling a little...

Ah, Phil Vettel. When the Tribune's restaurant critic isn't busy with finding bargain brunches or busting restaurants on the use of wine doggy bags, he's a stickler for a clean fork. Vettel writes in today's Tribune that in future dining excursions to restaurants "with ambitions higher than, say, hash house" he's insisting on a fresh, clean fork with every dish. His reasoning being that any restaurant that places hospitality over profit margin would not dare...

It is difficult to believe it has been a year since Chicago outlawed selling foie gras in the city. Judging from the number of times we've written about it, the last twelve months have been interesting ones for the much-maligned/celebrated product. Perhaps what is most interesting, according to Phil Vettel in today's Trib, is that a year later, it really isn't so difficult to find foie gras in the city.

Phil Vettel, in a post late yesterday to the Tribune's "Stew" blog, wrote about how restaurants around the area are joining in on a boycott of Canadian seafood to protest that nation's ongoing annual seal hunt. The boycotts range from simply not offering Canadian snow crab - many crab fisheries are also involved in the seal hunt - to not buying seafood from a specific region or not buying any Canadian seafood. The boycott, sponsored...

Some people have really tough jobs. Really tough. For example, we regular wonder how Chicago's public school teachers, police officers and sanitation workers get up day after day to do what we imagine are incredibly difficult and often thankless jobs that are non-the-less important. You know who Chicagoist doesn't worry about? Tribune dining critic Phil Vettel who had the taxing job of visiting 70 brunch spots over the past two months (with the help of some of his Tribune colleagues) in order to find the best brunches in town. And just in time for Mother's Day too!

It's Easter, y'all. That means, in addition to the re-enactment of the Passion happening as we write this in Pilsen, churches will be filled, families will gather, and restaurants will offer Easter Brunch specials. We have a few for you, in addition to the usual complement of food news and notable events. So sit back and unbuckle your belts. Who Comes Up With These Names, Anyway?: Leave it to us to be late to the...

Tribune food critic Phil Vettel enlisted the help of some fellow Trib staffers last week in another of those "What if?" columns; this time Vettel managed not to mistake two separate chefs with the same surname as brothers on a lost weekend in Vegas. The mission of the article was to test the newly enacted "cork-and-carry" law, an amendment to the State Liquor Control Act that allows restaurants to let customers leave with unfinished bottles of wine, permitted that the wine was a part of their dinner, placed in a sealable plastic bag, and with a dated receipt attached.

Ever since Trio became Trio Atelier, foodies in Chicago have wondered how the experiment would pan out in the long run. The quality of food remained - by far some of the best you'd find in the Chicagoland area - but, alas, it was never really the same.

Does anyone in Chicago really care what Zagat thinks about its restaurants?

In a world where everyone is a critic, few truly know how to mix criticism and creativity as well as Phil Vettel, Chicago Tribune's restaurant critic. Chicagoist is a huge fan of Vettel's, the most obvious of reasons is that Vettel manages to talk about restaurants in a manner that conveys the heart of the operation and why these places should matter to us.

Chicagoist's heart swells with pride and admiration this morning as the winners of the 2005 James Beard Foundation Awards were handed out last night, and taking home this year's prize for Best Chef in the Midwest is Chicago's Tony Mantuano, executive chef of Spiaggia. It's about time Mantuano brings this coveted award to Spiaggia's One Mag Mile home. This year's nomination was his fourth, and he's long been one of the most acclaimed and...