The 17th annual Jean Banchet Awards for Culinary Excellence, presented by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, were held at the South Loop’s Venue SIX10 on Sunday, Jan. 13 with over 400 people — a mix of culinary insiders, media, and fans — in attendance. The late, great chef Jean Banchet, who is credited with bringing fine […]
Mike Neil, a Microsoft executive living in Seattle, contacted San Francisco architect Jim Zack in part to prove how easy cloud computing — Neil’s specialty — and the digital sphere make it for people to work together at a distance. Hundreds of miles away, Zack was enlisted to visit a 15-acre St. Helena hillside lot […]
The dawn of a new year has long been a time for forecasts and prophecies, for both trendspotters and laymen alike. For starters, everyone wants a jump start on the hottest fashions, the colors of the year, sports team rankings, and the future state of the economy. All valid concerns, but of course my area […]
‘Tis the season for becoming your best self in 2019! If improving your diet and overall health is on your list, look no further than Instagram for inspiration. Out of all the diet trends, clean eating has to be one of the simplest plans to follow. Just eat real food. Really, that’s it. No processed […]
When it’s time to entertain, nothing makes a bigger impression than a carefully appointed table. Whether it’s an elegant dinner, a fireside feast or a festive open house, the dining table is the heartbeat of the party; it’s the place to gather, share food, imbibe and celebrate. To help you sail through the final days […]
Allow me to state the obvious: Candy ain’t just for kids. As a matter of fact, I’d argue that the majority of candy — and the plethora of candy stores that have cropped up in the past decade — aims squarely at the over-21 crowd. Sophisticated tastes (think buttery toffee flavored with curry and coconut, […]
In the wake of the devastating fires that struck Northern California’s wine country last year, the region was quick to remind potential tourists that one of the best ways they could help was to continue to support California wineries and winemakers by buying California wines and continuing to bring in tourism dollars. This holiday season, […]
Two of Chicago’s premier food-focused events are on the horizon, and there’s still time for you to take part — and to help find a cure for cystic fibrosis. First up, on Sunday, Jan. 13, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation presents the Jean Banchet Awards celebrating the best of Chicago’s restaurants, chefs, and sommeliers. It will be […]
Nationally renowned cheese expert Nat Caputo of Caputo Cheese Market has been in the family business for 35 years. This year, his 150 employees will sell nearly 30 million pounds of cheese retail and wholesale. The man knows his fromage — and so do his well-trained cheesemongers, who wrangle more than 1,000 different cheeses from […]
The holidays may come and go, but our obsession with cookies — those crunchy, crispy, chewy, and sweet wonders — will never die, because cookies tell our story. Your childhood, your Girl Scout troop, your grandmother, your culture, all on view. One woman’s lebkuchen is another’s gingerbread; my twice-baked cookie might be biscotti or Mandelbrot. […]
