Searching for Johnny Marzetti: 2 men, a myth and a legendary hot dish
Chef Avishar Barua places the flat, bronze disk he uses to extrude creste di galli (cock’s-comb-shaped) pasta, into my hand. The disk is warm from the heat of the kitchen...
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How late-night eating can wreak havoc on your body and what to do about it
Dagwood Bumstead lives at the very edge of my brain. In the long-running “Blondie” comic strip, Dagwood is known for his serial midnight fridge raids. It’s a running gag. Forever-hungry...
Easy as….
Even though my mom's ancestors settled in Kentucky before Daniel Boone and had a taste for sugar and spice, I didn't meet or eat a Kentucky Appalachian stack cake until...
Tried, true and blue
Thousands of Americans nationwide go for the blue — ribbon, that is — in state fair food contests. Jim Woodworth is one of those home cooks who enter the cooking...
Rhubarb custard a sweet-tart of a cake
Rhubarb lovers have written in search of old recipes for the ruby-colored "pie plant." Here's a recipe worth reviving. It's from the long-defunct Bill Zuber's Restaurant and Dugout Lounge that...
Sherried, garlicky goodness: Binyon’s take on shrimp
Those of you who knew and loved Binyon's restaurant during its long run on Plymouth Court in Chicago may not know the restaurant's legacy stretched back to 1849 and Binyon's...
Building a better Easter basket
Sure, kids want chocolate and jelly beans, but an overload of sweets serves no one well. Shaping an Easter basket that's full of fun, minus some of the sugar, is...
Building a better Easter basket
Sure, kids want chocolate and jelly beans, but an overload of sweets serves no one well. Shaping an Easter basket that's full of fun, minus some of the sugar, is...
Como Inn favorite shared by chef
It's a cold, wet, weekday afternoon, and I'm sitting down with Augie Sanchez, who for 44 years was chef of Como Inn, the Marchetti family restaurant that operated on Milwaukee...
Sweet and sauer
Reader Linda Rogers Lewandowski of Winfield wrote us about her great-aunt, Caroline Hill, a lifelong Chicagoan, career woman, seamstress, baker, cook and, for Lewandowski, enthusiastic educator: "On mornings after Sunday...