Hosts Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot discuss the impact of protest music in the 21st century and name a few of their favorite tracks from the genre from the last 18 years. They also review Robyn’s new album, Honey, and Greg chooses a favorite song to add to the Desert Island Jukebox.
Catfish is pretty much at every soul food restaurant in town, having a fried one on their menu. Coming up on this episode, a catfish challenge with Hunter Moore, the chef of Parson’s Chicken and Fish, as he and Rick attempt to come up with an easy weeknight meal in 15 minutes or less, using just some catfish, plus five extra ingredients you can find pretty much anywhere.
We would put music right up there with lighting, ambient noise and décor, when it comes to creating a mood. Coming up on this episode, how does music play a role in the design and function of a restaurant, and who actually gets to decide on what to play, when? We’ll talk to two industry experts to actually get paid to listen to music and then curate playlists for dozens of different types of restaurants.
As a guy so closely associated with Mexican food, people may not realize Rick, at one point, was in the pastry department, and mixed with his Southern upbringing, pies are a big deal. Both sweet and savory pies seem to come to the forefront as summer moves into fall, but there are debates about which type of fat to use. Butter? Lard? Shortening? On this episode, Rick and Steve break it all down, then visit a legendary Middle Eastern bakery where they’ve been making savory pies for decades.
Like the salmon that swim upstream to spawn each year, we find ourselves, once again, navigating our way through the thicket of hungry and thirsty festival-goers at Chicago Gourmet in Millennium Park. On this episode, a quick check-in on the beginning of the second decade of this citywide culinary event, with the added bonus of a chorizo challenge, featuring the Chef Diana Davila, the Chef and owner of Mi Tocaya Antojeria, in the Logan Square neighborhood. She and Rick attempt to come up with an easy weeknight meal in 15 minutes or less, using just some chorizo, plus five extra ingredients you can find pretty much anywhere. Plus, a very special guest stops by to help me out in the kitchen.
We’ve been doing Ingredient Challenges for about three years now, and can’t believe we haven’t done this one yet. On this episode, a bacon challenge with Andrew Zimmerman, chef of two successful restaurants, Sepia has earned a Michelin star for each of the last seven years and just last year, he and his business partner, Emmanuel Nony opened Proxi. He and Rick attempt to come up with an easy weeknight meal in 15 minutes or less, using just some bacon, plus five extra ingredients you can find pretty much anywhere.
Fall is in the air. The apple trees are flush with fruit and while the kids love hot apple cider, those of us old enough to partake 21, have fermented cider to look forward to. But this isn’t really a seasonal drink anymore. Coming up on this episode, a cider revolution. We’re not talking about the sweet stuff, but rather, drier, leaner fermented cider that’s made by top-notch brewmasters. Rick and Steve are joined by Hayley Shine, the “Lady of Liquids” at Eris Brewery and Cider House in Chicago, then Kim Vavrick, Communications Director for Virtue Cider, joins us to talk about their style of cider.
It begins, “Do you remember?” — and we supply the memories. Dan Charnas tells the origin story of the Earth, Wind & Fire hit that still unites generations on the dance floor.
It always been America’s favorite comfort food. Pizza is so much more to your favorite pie than just cheese, sauce and dough. There’s tavern-style in your local bar, popular chains, mom-and-pop storefronts, chef-driven pies, Neapolitan classics and so many more styles, all calling for cheese – mostly mozzarella – and sauce – mostly from tomatoes. On this week’s show, we’ll talk to the king of New York City pizza tours. Scott Weiner is the founder of Scott’s Pizza Tours, which leads about a dozen tours per week, but he also writes about pizza for Pizza Magazine, and happens to hold the world record for the number of pizza boxes. Then, we widen the lens a bit, looking at both the city of Buffalo, but also the entire East Coast with Arthur Bovino a pizza writer who says there’s a “Pizza Belt”. And finally, we talk with Tony Gemignani about the west coast flavors. Tony is the first American (and non-Neapolitan) to become World Champion Pizza Maker at the World Pizza Cup in Naples, Italy, 11 years ago.
A trip to LA’s massive Korea Town, in search of a trio of dishes that speak to the Korean experience: kalbi, dokbokki and soontofu. Steve heads to the left coast to talk with the owners of three well-regarded restaurants there about the stories behind the dishes that have made them famous.