chicago – In Good Taste

The Guac Stop: Chicago Style Guacamole

Maris Callahan — Sat, 17 Jun 2017 22:06:39 +0000

A Chicago style Guacamole recipe from Wholly Guacamole. Let’s get this out of the way right now: since I moved to Chicago, I have gained about 25 pounds. I know, I know. I’m all about the body image healthy eating love yourself and all that. Bear with me here. As much as I do love to feel healthy and to slide into the smaller pair of jeans, I also love eating. Like, a lot. It’s a happy accident that one of my very favorite foods happens to be quite wholesome and full of nutritious goodness. Wholly Guacamole makes fresh prepared guacamole made that’s made with real, simple ingredients like hand scooped Hass avocados. This summer, the brand is launching the first ever guacamole themed lounge also known as The Guac Stop. The Guac Stop (in Chicago June 14 – 18 at Navy Pier) is literally making avocado and guacamole lovers’ dreams come true. In the spirit of “living wholly” the Guac Stop features a customizable guacamole bar, including all the fixings to create a limited-edition “Chicago dog”-style guacamole featuring pickles, tomatoes, onions, peppers and celery salt. While guacamole is the main attraction at this free event, it’s certainly not the only thing on the menu. The Guac […]

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Chicago: Dyeing the River Green for St. Patrick’s Day

Maris Callahan — Sun, 12 Mar 2017 06:00:49 +0000

There are very few things that will get me out of bed at 7:00 a.m. on a Saturday. Among those reasons: a television segment, a flight and probably the fire alarm. St. Patrick’s Day has never before fallen under that category. Luckily I’ve never had to test that theory. Now we can add a fourth thing to the list: dyeing the Chicago River green in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day with Country Financial. First, I have a confession to make. Until this year, I’ve never been to Chicago’s St. Patrick’s Day celebration. For the first couple of years I lived here, I was out of town for the festivities. For the past few years, I’ve celebrated with my friends by going out to brunch, or doing some good old fashioned day drinking in the afternoon. I had never been to the river dyeing, a tradition since 1961 that attracts hundreds of thousands of people each year. According to Mental Floss, the Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Local was instrumental in the inception of the tradition. In the early days of his administration as Mayor of Chicago, Richard J. Daley was a man on a mission to develop the city’s riverfront area. There was just one problem: The river […]

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A Conversation with Candace D’Agnolo

Maris Callahan — Fri, 22 Jul 2016 05:00:04 +0000

If you know me…if you’ve met me once…if you’ve seen me standing outside of my building holding a leash with a very tiny dog at the end of it, then you know that I’m all but obsessed with Henry, my little chihuahua. He’s about six pounds and full of energy and personality. He travels with me, he goes to work with me, and yes, he does sleep in my bed, sometimes squarely between me and my boyfriend and I know that’s no accident on his part. So imagine my surprise when I learned that there is someone in Chicago who is a bigger dog-a-holic than I am. Candace D’Agnolo started Dogaholics as a retail store and it has since become all things dog… connecting pet parents all over the world. Though she recently sold her Chicago-based brick-and-mortar, her company is all but going to the dogs. Candace spun her retail business into a pet parent powerhouse with retail, daycare, grooming, boarding, educational and even business consulting services to help those whom she dubs “petpreneurs” take their businesses to ‘top dog’ status. We chatted with Candace to learn more about how she (along with her lab/collie mixes, Guinness and Clover) helps retailers, veterinarians, […]

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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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A Conversation With Dana Lanier

Maris Callahan — Fri, 03 Jun 2016 16:51:06 +0000

There are doughnut (donut?) shops cropping up all over Chicago that take the much beloved pastry beyond old fashioned and chocolate glazed. One of these such wonders is Doodle’s Doughnuts, an Old Town shop known for three glorious things: doughnuts, bacon and coffee. The brainchild of San Jose native Dana Lanier, Doodle’s Doughnuts was born from the idea that every neighborhood should have its own independent doughnut shop. A lifelong baker, Dana’s love of sweet treats is evident in her menu: you’ll find flavors ranging from double chocolate cake and maple bacon to pink lemonade and the shop’s specialty: filled bismark doughnuts with white icing, each of which offers a delicious canvas for your own creative design. We chatted with Dana to learn more about this successful entrepreneur’s background and how she finds the time to make the doughnuts. What was your first job out of college? My first job out of graduate school (University of California at Davis, MFA in Dramatic Art, emphasis directing) was as a technician in a small municipal theater. I liked it because it was an opportunity to make money in a field where all anyone ever talked about was how you can’t make money in the theater. […]

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