Adventures in Urban Eating: Steve Dolinsky's Podcast

 West Town Tavern book.mp3Susan and Drew Goss (pictured) have been fixtures on the Chicago food scene for as long as I can remember.

Dirk Flanigan is a busy guy these days.

Chicagoan Joan Reardon has spent the past few years pouring over the personal letters between Julia Child and her penpal/friend Avis DeVoto. If it wasn't for DeVoto, Child's seminal book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking might have never reached bookshelves.

It wasn't exactly an Oprah-on-James Frey-intensity interview, but the 15 minutes I spent with Michelin Guide Director Jean-Luc Naret still didn't have him apologizing for any of the perceived inconsistencies from this year's first-ever Chicago edition, but rather, defending his group of inspectors a

Paul Bartolotta has had success pretty much everywhere he's ever worked.

Amanda Hesser has written for The New York Times for years.  She's currently an Editor for the Sunday Magazine, but has also spent the past five years sorting through the Times' extensive archives (back more than 150 years) and pulling together the greatest recipes, ever.

Kevin MethenyWell, it's nice to know there's at least one thing the notorious program director of WGN-AM (720) and his critics can agree on: He very well may be screwing things up at the Tribune Co.-owned news/talk station.Kevin "Pig Virus" Metheny, the man who's

I've been a recreational cocktail enthusiast for the past year or so, and I continue to be drawn to these new compendiums about our cocktail culture. Whereas Dale DeGroff is considered one of the Masters, Tony Abou-Ganim is certainly on par with the best of the best in the U.S. these days.

Barbara Lynch loves vegetables. She'll eat pretty much anything from the ground that's been harvested or picked by some local farmer. But she's also a savvy restaurateur and one of the most talented chefs - male or female - in the country.

Bin 36 in North River (photo by Steve Dolinsky)Dan Sachs and his partners had seen enough. Like a 50-something housewife in Orange County who's seen too much sun, his beloved Bin 36 desperately needed a facelift.

a plethor of paczki from Old Mill Bakery (photo by Steve Dolinsky)While everyone concentrates on Fat Tuesday parties next week, Chicagoans know that today is also a big day for the million or so residents in our area of Polish descent.

As you may know by now, I was in Paris earlier this week, covering the annual Seafood Summit, which has grown quite a bit since it was held in Chicago five years ago. Back then, there were about 70 delegates in attendance.

I had a quick, 48-plus hour trip to Ontario earlier this week, checking out the Ice Wine Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Foodies have known for years that the province churns out world-class ice wines, from producers such as Inniskillin, Stratus, Cave Springs and Lailey.