To Eat – In Good Taste

Where to Dine Gluten-Free in Chicago Restaurants

Maris Callahan — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 01:50:43 +0000

Last month, my cousin Kristin came to visit Brad and me for a weekend. She goes to University of Alabama and because she grew up in New York City, was clearly craving an urban adventure in the Midwest. Even though we’re about 15 years apart and didn’t grow up together, Kristin and I are so similar in so many ways. One of those ways is that we both love, love, love to eat. Usually, I have a go-to laundry list of restaurants to take out of town visitors. It includes deep dish pizza at Lou Malnati’s, tacos at Big Star, classic Italian food at Club Lago, Chicago-style hot dogs at Portillo’s, the list goes on and on. This trip was a little trickier because Kristin was diagnosed with celiac disease a few years ago, so she eats a gluten-free diet. When Kristin booked her ticket, I did some research to find restaurants with gluten-free menus or gluten-free options in Chicago. I thought it was going to be challenging, but it turned out that we were able to go to many of my favorite restaurants and make only minor modifications to our orders. It’s hard to believe that we fit this much eating into one weekend, but […]

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Must Eats: 9 Casual Restaurants in New York City

Maris Callahan — Mon, 13 Feb 2017 07:23:48 +0000

It’s easy to go to New York City and find 7,000 options perfect for when you want to go out for a really special dinner. It’s not easy to go to New York City and identify which bakery has the best cookies, which pizzeria has the best pizza, or which café has the best soups and sandwiches. I lived in New York and the surrounding area for a few years and I visit frequently, so I’ve racked up quite a few favorite places to eat, drink and hang out. Some of these restaurants would also befit a special night out, but are best known for their pizzas, sandwiches, brunches and other goodness that doesn’t require a dress code to enjoy. Here are a few of my favorite places to eat in New York when you’re looking for lunch, something quick and easy or a laid back meal that you know you’ll enjoy no matter what. Levain Bakery Everything you’ve heard is absolutely true. The cookies from Levain Bakery really are the best in Manhattan. I mean…the best that I’ve tried, and I’m a reliable source when it comes to cookies. Otto Pizzeria I know I said that New York City […]

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Where to Get the Best Fried Chicken in Chicago

Maris Callahan — Thu, 12 Jan 2017 03:52:22 +0000

This past fall, I began writing for Chef Magazine, a trade publication for chefs and foodservice professionals. My most recent story ‘Let’s Play Chicken‘ was about some the ways that chefs across the country are putting their own spin on the ubiquitous bird (hint: a lot of them are partial to fried chicken). I interviewed a lot of chefs and researched a lot of cooking techniques and two things were very apparent: even though chicken is one of the easiest things to cook at home, people love to order it in restaurants, and wow do people really love chicken when it’s fried. Growing up, there was a fast food joint in my hometown called Chicken Holiday, where you could order chicken to feed a family of four for under $10. I’m pretty sure that Chicken Holiday would fry anything that could be fried — shrimp, clams, scallops — but my family was usually partial to the blue and white striped buckets with chicken breasts, thighs and drumsticks. There was also a robust side dish menu that in retrospect, was a fat kid’s dream: crinkle-cut French fries, corn fritters, cheesy broccoli, macaroni and cheese, dinner rolls. If my current preferences are any indication, […]

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Chicago: Tacos & Ceviche at Cantina 1910 – NOW CLOSED

Maris Callahan — Wed, 13 Jul 2016 05:00:29 +0000

Located in Andersonville, Cantina 1910 is a Mexican restaurant that merges the diverse cuisine of Mexico with the bounty of Midwestern farms and producers to innovate traditional Mexican dishes. Do you like to visit restaurants when they first open, or do you like to give them some times to iron out the kinks, perfect the service and tweak their menus? Even though there is definitely an excitement to getting a table at a hot new restaurant the week it opens, I’m on Team Wait. I like to read reviews, hear feedback from friends and know what I’m getting into before I eat someplace. Of course, there are exceptions, but I’ve also been to far too many openings where I was so excited to eat amazing food at a new spot in town only to be hugely disappointed in the experience. In the past month or so, I’ve been to two much hyped spots within weeks of their openings. At one, the food was hugely disappointing and at the other, the service was awful. Both had potential to be far better, so I wonder if had we waited longer to try each restaurant, we’d have had a better experience. Even so, I hesitate to […]

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Bucks County: Caleb’s American Kitchen

Maris Callahan — Sun, 06 Sep 2015 21:33:55 +0000

It’s not often that I dine out and then think, “I could eat every meal here.” At Caleb’s American Kitchen, a BYO New American restaurant helmed by Chef Caleb Lentchner, I had this thought after every course. Lentchner, the former executive chef and general manager of New Hope’s Marsha Brown has created a bright, modern eatery with a menu inspired by all things American including steaks, burgers, lobster, shellfish, Creole, California and of course, local and regional farmers from nearby PA and NJ. Adjacent to Peddler’s Village in Bucks County, PA, this bistro style BYOB eatery is a distinct interpretation of what American cuisine should be: clean, simple, fresh and full of natural flavor, but representative of numerous regions and cultures. Caleb’s is built around the idea of showcasing signature dishes from around the nation — meats and cheeses from Iowa, Oregon and Pennsylvania, Kansas City Strip Steak, Maryland Crab, Hawaiian tuna poke. Using the ever-popular farm-to-table concept, chef cooks with tomatoes from his own garden and rotates the menu seasonally, so it’s difficult to recommend specific dishes. My party of three began with two salads, first being beet, goat cheese arugula salad topped with house pickled beets, candied orange segments, spiced goat cheese, toasted almonds tossed in […]

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