CARLY FISHER

Part of six awards published in Time Out Chicago on April 11, 2012

In the ongoing battle between New York– and Chicago-style pizza, your new favorite pizza joint is surprisingly neither. Folks from the Quad Cities can grab a slice of their hometown thanks to Roots Pizza owner Greg Mohr (Fifty/50), who introduced to Chicago the scissors-cut strips made famous at Harris Pizza in Rock Island. Quad Cities–style pizza is known for its medium-thick, malt-heavy dough, traditionally topped with finely ground sausage, spicy red sauce and mozzarella. Wackier varieties include taco pizza, teeming with mozzarella, shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes and tortilla chips. Olé? 1924 W Chicago Ave (773-645-4949).

Read more at Time Out Chicago.

published in Tasting Table Chicago on March 13, 2012

Chicago is a veritable coffee boomtown, with more than a dozen local roasters. These two newcomers are worth sipping and watching.

One to drink: Part roasting works and part community project, Passion House Coffee Roasters shares a Kinzie Corridor warehouse space with artist collective The Infusion Project. Using a refurbished antique Probat Roaster, owner Joshua Millman produces seasonal, light-roasted single-origin beans, available for sale online and brewed at Alliance Bakery, City Grounds, Sacco Bruno and Sweetcakes. While Passion House doesn’t have a retail storefront, Millman regularly opens the warehouse for weekly cuppings and a monthly live art show to benefit local community projects.

One to watch: After years of making small-batch roasts for friends and family, farmer-turned-chef-turned-coffee roaster Tim Coonan is turning his hobby into a full-time position with Big Shoulders Coffee Works. Its 1,000-square-foot production facility has a straightforward focus on lighter-roasted micro-lots from around the world. Wholesale production rolls out at the end of March, with the first bags of El Salvador hitting the shelves at Farmers Pride Market and Amish Healthy Foods in Chicago, and Vinic Wine Company in Evanston. Later this spring, commuters can grab a cup on the go, when Big Shoulders opens at 1105 W. Chicago Avenue.

Read more at Tasting Table Chicago.

published in February 2012 on Food & Wine and MSNBC

It’s been more than two decades since Starbucks started serving designer lattes in Seattle, and America’s obsession with coffee continues to grow as a new wave of independent, boutique cafés opens across the country. The mark of a great café isn’t just about a well-poured cup. Coffee snobs might not adore the chicory-spiced coffee at Café du Monde in New Orleans, but the atmosphere and location of the open-air café overlooking Jackson Square—and the powdered-sugar-covered beignets—are incredible.

Read more at Food & Wine and MSNBC.

published on December 20,2011 on Serious Eats Chicago

Twinkling lights, fragrant evergreens, and the looped soundtrack of pop artists covering “Come All Ye Faithful” at department stores—Christmas is nearly here, bringing a bounty of specialty holiday dishes along for the big day. Okay, we know that you’ve already snacked on many of those comforting holiday favorites since as far back as early November. But resolutions aren’t for another few weeks anyway, so there’s really no point in stopping now.

Spend the snowbound holiday filling up on these five Christmas dishes from around the world (in the convenience of Chicago), including a traditional Swedish mulled wine, a decorative French yule log, and the lesser known Filipino mochi.

Read more at Serious Eats Chicago.

published in December 2011 at Tasting Table Chicago

If nothing says “holidays” like ten varieties of herring, take note: Tre Kronor’s annualjülbord feast has one week left, and only a handful of seats remain.

The Irving Park Swedish restaurant has prepared jülbord (Christmas table) feasts from Monday through Saturday ($55, Monday through Thursday; $60, Friday and Saturday) in the weeks leading up to Christmas. For more than a decade, the holiday smörgåsbord has had a cult following among those in the neighborhood and those in the know–and as an abundant Scandinavian spread, it has no rival.

Read more at Tasting Table.

published in December 2011 on Food & Wine

The 100-year-old Ball Drop in New York City’s Times Square is the most iconic and famous New Year’s Eve celebration in the world, but it’s not the only over-the-top party, and not the biggest or most expensive. Read more at Food & Wine.

published by Food & Wine in November 2011; featured on MSNBC and The Atlantic

With traffic jams of trendy food trucks piling up in American cities, it’s easy to overlook the rich global history of street food. Dating back to the food hawkers of ancient Rome (with some centuries-old outdoor markets, like the Djemaa el Fna in Marrakech, still standing today), street food has long played an exciting role in cuisines throughout the world.

[See full article on MSNBC and The Atlantic, and flip through slideshow on Food & Wine]

published by McSweeney’s Internet Tendencies in October 2011

Wandering the yuppie-packed aisles of Trader Joe’s can be an intimidating experience when you only have $150 to your name and so many tempting items at your fingertips. Tarte d’Alsace, Chicken Serenada, and Reduced Guilt Filet of Sole call my name, but it is only one that wins my affection: I turn to you, Trader Joe’s Mildly Spiced Vegetable Burrito.

The true zeitgeist of the recession, these burritos appeal to my innate sense of desperation. At around $2.50 for two burritos, you get a real bang for your buck—leaving plenty of spare change for the standard purchase of $3 Chuck Shaw. As advertised, the burritos are mildly spiced, which adds a slight punch of color to an otherwise unfulfilling and loveless life. Don’t fool yourself into believing these burritos are meant for sharing (couples don’t buy microwave burritos), so come hungry!

It would probably be in your best interest to use an oven to heat up the burritos to avoid the watery mess of corn, black beans, and tomatoes. But really, who does that? Instead: open the bottle of wine, heat up the burritos to an acceptable temperature, and then start writing. You have a whole lot of soul searching to do and only 300 calories to fuel those tears until your unemployment runs out, so time to get crackin’!

Read more at McSweeney’s.

published by The Feast on 10/18/2011

Opening earlier this year to critical acclaim and a monumental fan reception that included $3,000 black market tickets and a site crash caused by 7,000 frantically-clicking users, it’s hard to believe that Next’s Tour of Thailand menu—closing with its last hurrah this past Sunday—was only the restaurant’s second concept.

Of course, the hysteria captivating fans is entirely warranted. The sister to Grant Achatz’s world renowned restaurant Alinea, Next, morphs into a new concept every three months keeping diners—and staff—always wondering what’s to come. The restaurant has already taken ticket-holders from 1906 Paris to the streets of Bangkok, with future plans for Kyoto, Sicily, and a highly-anticipated 20-course recreation of 20 years at el Bulli.

Next on tap: the ambiguous Childhood menu—an abstract menu that focuses on memory and emotion, drawing inspiration from the combined childhood experiences of Chef Achatz and executive chef Dave Beran, and utilizing broader symbols of discovery, exploration and naivety. Aside from a recently tweeted photo of a Strawberry Shortcake lunchbox, most of the tangible ideas have yet to be revealed.

To hold you over until the carpal tunnel-inducing online ticket sales begin, get to know Achatz, Beran, and others running the show at Next in this week’s Class Photo.

published by The Feast on 03/09/2011

When it comes to strollers, Sprout executive chef Dale Levitski is unapologetic about his disdain. In fact, the Top Chef alum has made mention of his apathy for catering to children at least twice during recent interviews with The Feast. So we were hardly surprised when he told us the restaurant would be starting a new kid-free brunch service on March 20. Levitski says, “We’re not the type of place where there’s going to be a baby smashing Cheerios into the table. There are so many places that can do it better than we can, and they do.”

So what does the anti-kid brunch entail? No kids menus, for one. Also: “We want to be a place that can be semi-special occasion, or a place you can have your inappropriate conversation with your girlfriend without having to worry about dropping an f-bomb around kids. If you want to drop an f-bomb, you can do that.” Levitski says the brunch will be very cocktail-friendly, with “lots of bubbles and martinis.”

Expect playful derivatives of classic brunch items in the $9-20 range, such as cured sturgeon with caviar mustard crème fraiche, truffle egg salad, pickled radish apple, potato salad, and pumpernickel; or braised rabbit leg with fava, potato, mushroom escarole hash, poached egg and horseradish hollandaise. Levitski also swears by his unusual sounding chicken Caesar salad omelet, featuring grilled romaine, roast chicken crouton omelet, anchovy, tomato, manchego herb salad, Caesar vinaigrette and Worchestershire reduction. He says, “You’ll dare your friend to get it and then you’ll be jealous.”

Brunch service will begin with limited reservations the first four weeks—with only 50 seats open for the soft launch on March 20. From there on out, brunch will be Sundays only from 10:30 A.M.-2:30 P.M. And if you happen to be in the industry, Levitski says the restaurant will toss a weekly incentive to industry folks on their day off. For more information, call Sprout at 773-348-0706.