This year marks Louisa Kung Liu Chu‘s 10th anniversary at the Chicago Tribune. She’s been the newspaper’s critic since 2022, but started as a reporter with the Food & Dining team in 2016, after a lifetime in the restaurant industry with a few big detours along the way.
For her milestone Tribiversary, she wanted to check in with some of the people whose stories she’s had the privilege to share in the past decade by asking them 10 elemental questions.
You may know them well, or this may be your introduction to the food icons of Chicago.
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Gus Rickette of Uncle Remus Saucy Fried Chicken turns 100 this year
Gus Rickette, the legend behind the Uncle Remus restaurants, turns 100 years old this year. He and his late wife, Mary Rickette, co-founded the Black-owned house of fried chicken and mild sauce in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side, where he still lives. Read more here.
Sam Sianis of Billy Goat Tavern and Cheezborger legend
Sam Sianis inherited a family legacy of legendary billy goats, but he immortalized the mythological Chicago incantation: cheezborger, cheezborger, cheezborger.
Sianis, who will celebrate his 93rd birthday this December, is not only the next in our Chicago food icon series, he’s also a curse breaker. Read more here.
Inocencio Carbajal of El Guëro of Carnitas Uruapan
Inocencio Carbajal founded Carnitas Uruapan at a small storefront in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood in 1975. A big expansion under a new generation led to a location in Gage Park, and finally a stunning flagship in Little Village for their 50th anniversary. Read more here or the Spanish translation here.
