Cadinho Bakery explores the dazzling world of Portuguese pastry
Alejandra Rivera previews her upcoming McKinley Park cafe.
Monday Night Foodball
Meet your new fungal overlords when Sauce and Bread Kitchen, 18th Street Distillery, and Fernet Fungo play the next Monday Night Foodball
Check out Mike Bancroft and Anne Kostroski’s shroom-dominant menu at the Reader’s weekly chef pop-up at Ludlow Liquors.
“I see the mycelium as the Earth’s natural Internet,” wrote mycologist Paul Stamets. “A consciousness with which we might be able to communicate.” Yeah, that’s also kind of how a figurative fungal network operated when Sauce and Bread Kitchen’s Mike Bancroft infused an Italian-style amaro with shitake mushrooms and gave Drew Fox a taste. Invisible threads stretched through the ether…
Mike Sula
The Reader’s 2023 Holiday Gift Guide
Locally available items and gift ideas handpicked by Reader staff, from stepping and skate classes to handmade accessories and clothing, plus books, records, and more.
At the upcoming Bonyeon, chef Sangtae Park will have a hundred tastes in his head
The couple behind the West Loop’s Omakase Yume and TenGoku Aburiya are opening the first dedicated all-beef tasting menu in the U.S.
We all know Chicago is a food town! But senior writer Mike Sula, with decades of Reader eats under his fingertips, brings depth whether writing about Chicago faves or hidden gastro gems. Every Friday he delivers exclusive highlights and reviews of some of Chicago’s best restaurants and chefs. This free weekly newsletter comes hot off the grill with coveted Chicago food coverage you won’t want to miss.
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It’s a Balkan three-peat with the Brothers Milunovic at the next Monday Night Foodball
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Pierogi Papi does dumplings at the next Monday Night Foodball
Max Glassman takes his busia’s nearly lost recipe and runs with it at the Reader’’s weekly chef pop-up at Ludlow Liquors.
This year is getting old, but Monday Night Foodball is brand-new
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18th Street Distillery brings weird, wonderful new spirits to the midwest
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Fuck Around and Find Out with Rafa Esparza and Anthony Baier at the next Monday Night Foodball
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Not-so-secret speakeasies
From tunnels to TikTok, the bars once used for illicit drinking look much different 90 years post-Prohibition.
All hell breaks loose with Chubby Boy’s Burgers at the next Monday Night Foodball
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Join the Filipino food movement with Mabu Yami at the next Monday Night Foodball
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Laimoon normalizes wood-fired pita at the next Monday Night Foodball
Check out Brandon Dumot’s extraordinary Middle Eastern menu at the Reader’s weekly chef pop-up at Ludlow Liquors.
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Restaurant Reviews
Dawn Lewis of D’s Roti & Trini Cuisine has a sweet hand
A self-taught home cook opens the city’s second Trinidadian restaurant.
A Viagra Triangle dive rises under chef Amanda Barnes
After nearly a half century, Pippin’s Tavern embraces crafty, chef-driven, farm-centric food.
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The Jewish Deli, FORTS!, and more
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Something magic’s growing at Back of the Yards Algae Sciences
An unlikely team of bioprospectors is experimenting with the green stuff, psychedelic mushrooms, and toxic toads.
The Food Issue 2022
The tastes of home
Reader staffers recount some of their most memorable food experiences from Chicago summers past.
If you teach a girl to pickle
She might also learn to process love, grief, and hope through food.
Sugar and snacks and everything nice
What would you do with 22.4 pounds of treats?
Drink less, party more
Local spirit-free drinks brands and community platforms are creating a booming sober curious movement in Chicago.
The Pride Issue 2022
Where the bars are
Has LGBTQ+ acceptance resulted in losing valuable community spaces?
Where the bars (actually) are
Some Chicago LGBTQ+ friendly bars to check out during Pride Month and beyond
Best cocktail menu likely to lead to a theft-related credit card charge
“The Meadowlark’s Field Guide Vol. 1: Birds of the Midwest”
Neo: where misfits fit in
The Lincoln Park club closed in 2015, after providing a sanctuary for generations of night crawlers—but its subcultural legacy continues to reverberate.
The Drinks Issue 2021
Drinking and surviving it
On sharing a genetic predisposition to alcoholism
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The flood that birthed Love Cork Screw wines
Négociant Chrishon Lampley turned a business loss into a trailblazing brand.
Overgrown Orchard makes the best wine in Gary, Indiana
Their wild-fermented dry apple cider is fruity, funky, and very food-friendly.
Social and sober
Eli Tea Bar provides a place to gather without the booze.