Restaurant in Chicago
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From Chicago's bustling kitchens to the far corners of the globe, this week's guest brings a unique blend of culinary expertise and literary flair to the table. Hugh Amano is a chef, writer, and passionate explorer, fueled by a lifelong devotion to learning about our world through food. Armed with degrees in both English and Culinary Arts, Hugh's true education comes from his insatiable appetite for exploring new cultures and cuisines. Hugh's journey has taken him from the kitchen to the pages of acclaimed cookbooks like Let's Make Dumplings!, Let's Make Ramen!, and The Adventures of Fat Rice. He's the creative force behind Bon Vivant, a biannual culinary journal that dives deep into the heart of a single subject per issue, tantalizing readers with delicious recipes, captivating stories, and stunning photography. He comes to the studio to tease a new book, champion the merits of physical media, tell us about his mission to make food more accessible, and so much more.
We're biased but this is an especially fun one for us! We're talking to loooong time friend of the show, designer Crystal Chin, about her mom's Big Fat Rice Noodle Roll (official, technical title). We talk about growing up ethnically Chinese and culturally more Burmese, translating being a maker of things into cooking, and how crucial (and time consuming!) the seemingly insignificant pantry staples are to making certain dishes successful and more accessible. Plus, finding forgiveness in food as a love language, Freesia having her mind blown about the things she could potentially learn to cook and stop ordering out for, and Sam lays down a Best Cousin cooking gauntlet. We told you it's fun! Get the recipe!
John and D return after a several month hiatus. We discuss Portillos, Fat Rice and Whiskey.John's Game Ball:Museum of Classic Chicago Televisionhttps://www.youtube.com/c/FuzzyMemoriesTV/videos?view=0&sort=da&flow=grid
This week, Kate guides us through the history and national anthem of Burkina Faso while eating a delicious new dish called "Fat Rice". Originally called Upper Volta, this former French colony now hosts the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou and the International Art and Craft Fair.Neolithic Era: Began roughly 12,000 years ago and continued until roughly 3500 BCEFat Rice recipe: https://foreignfork.com/fat-rice/Anthem versions assessed:1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhvq4Zgq93w2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m18zRyrxl0Q3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uugHnnu3LwIBonus Upper Volta Anthem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHa6xLPMItwMain sources used:http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/plaintexthistories.asp?historyid=ac21https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13072774https://www.britannica.com/place/Burkina-Faso#ref282544https://thewalrus.ca/thomas-sankara-tried-to-liberate-his-country-from-the-west-then-he-was-murdered/
Desde que empezó la pandemia en Estados Unidos y hasta el 10 de julio, los cierres permanentes de restaurantes alcanzaron a 72, 842 establecimientos en el país, según cifras del informe de impacto económico de Yelp para el segundo trimestre de 2020. De acuerdo con el reporte, hasta el 15 de junio más de 57,000 restaurantes que figuran en el sitio habían cerrado permanentemente desde el inicio de la pandemia de coronavirus. En menos de un mes se sumaron cerca de 20, 000 locales más. Los especialistasq aseguran que la crisis afectó a los restaurantes de forma diferente al comercio minorista, con cierres dispares y una rápida evolución implementada a nivel local para sobrevivir. Actualmente, los restaurantes ocupan un lugar destacado en la lista de pequeñas empresas que necesitan más ayuda. En los primeros días de la pandemia, los analistas de empresas de servicios alimentarios predijeron que las principales cadenas podrían tener más posibilidades de sobrevivir a los cierres y las restricciones de capacidad que los independientes. Sin embargo, los datos indican otra situación, ya que Le Pain Quotidien cerró 63 de sus 98 restaurantes estadounidenses, Sweet Tomatoes/Souplantation 97 unidades, y TGI Friday's podría cerrar hasta 20% de sus 386 ubicaciones. La crisis también afectó a restaurantes de otros tipos: locales que habían estado en el negocio durante generaciones, lugares nuevos y llamativos con clientes distinguidos, y restaurantes dirigidos por chefs famosos como Wolfgang Puck, José Andrés, David Chang, Daniel Boulud, Charlie Palmer y el fallecido Paul Prudhomme. En Chicago el más reciente caso de cierre permanente de un restaurante famoso es Rainforest Cafe del centro, que abandona River North después de 23 años en la esquina noreste de las calles Ohio y Clark. De acuerdo con su propietario, Sean Conlon, el restaurante de dos pisos con temática de la jungla cerró sus puertas un año antes de lo esperado, debido a la crisis por coronavirus. La cadena propietaria Landry's Restaurants, con sede en Houston y que opera varias marcas como Morton's Steakhouse y Bubba Gump Shrimp, cerró su ubicación Rainforest Cafe en Woodfield Mall en los suburbios de Schaumburg a principios de este año. La variedad de restaurantes desaparecidos a causa de la pandemia de coronavirus incluye en la ciudad a Blackbird, del West Loop, inaugurado hace 22 años por Paul Kahan; al Fat Rice, cocina de fusión portuguesa-china de Macao; y al Katana, exclusivo restaurante japonés con sede en Los Ángeles, especialista en ofertas creativas de sushi y carne wagyu de primera línea cocinada en carbón importado de Japón.
Since the pandemic began, people have been concerned about food—how safe it is, how to get it, whether it would be available. We answered many of those questions a couple of months ago. But now, with new state and local regulations coming out for how to reopen, things are slowly beginning to change. And Curious Citizens have asked us what it means for things like Chicago area farmers markets, take out and restaurants. We answer a few of those questions here: What will it be like to shop at the outdoor farmers markets in the Chicago area? The City of Chicago still hasn’t released its guidelines or set a date for the reopening of farmers markets within the city limits—much to the chagrin of organizers and shoppers. But several local area markets, including those in Oak Park and Evanston, are already open, along with dozens of others across the state. The Illinois Farmers Market Association has also put out recommendations for safety. So even though city guidelines haven’t been announced, many Chicago area market operators already have a clear idea of what this year’s socially distant season will look like—and many have been operating virtually in the meantime. Here are some of the most common rules they say will be in place, once markets open for in-person shopping: All markets we checked with in Chicago will require face coverings for all vendors and patrons for entry. Market managers will limit the number of people who can be inside the shopping area at any one time. And, once inside, visitors will be encouraged to walk through the market in just one direction, keeping 6 feet from all others. Managers and farmers want customers to pre-order and pre-pay for their produce in advance so they can pick it up from the market without any money changing hands. They encourage shoppers to use an app called WhatsGood that aggregates the products of all the market vendors in one spot for pre-order and delivery. Most social aspects of the markets, like musical performances, yoga, chef demonstrations and kids activities have already been cancelled or at least delayed until the situation can be re-evaluated later in the year. At Chicago’s Green City Market, organizers have moved some activities, like their kids’ Club Sprouts, into the virtual sphere. Logan Square Farmers Market organizers have developed detailed rules that they will combine with any city rules that emerge in the coming days. They also plan to experiment with a reservation system where shoppers can sign up for a specific time to enter the market in order to manage the flow of traffic and avoid long lines for entry. Christine Carrino, a spokesperson for the City of Chicago, says they plan to share more information about the future of Chicago farmers markets sometime in early June. What are farmers markets going to sell? Shoppers can expect a more limited selection of items at farmers markets when they reopen for in-person shopping. Many market managers tell Curious City that they are going to focus on vendors selling fresh plants, herbs, fruits and vegetables in the early weeks. This will allow them to keep crowding down and expand gradually as shoppers get used to the new rules. Jessica Wobbekind, executive director of the Logan Square Farmers Market, said they may add things like bakery items later in the season, but not prepared items—like tacos. This is to discourage people from hanging around the market and socializing. Still some sacred farmers market traditions will remain in modified form, like the famous Oak Park Farmers Market doughnuts made at Pilgrim Church. They are still being sold at the market, but have to be pre-ordered through the WhatsGood app and pre boxed for pick up—so maybe they won’t be quite as hot. What’s the best way to make sure local businesses—rather than third party delivery companies—are getting the money from takeout orders? Under the stay-at-home order thousands of Illinois restaurants moved to a takeout and delivery model, including many in Chicago. Some restaurant owners say the model has served them surprisingly well and will remain a lasting part of their business—even at high-end dining establishments. Curious City looked at the safety aspects of this model in a previous story, but today there’s a lot more scrutiny on the economics of it. That’s largely because Mayor Lori Lightfoot issued a directive in May requiring third party delivery services to disclose their fees on the customer’s receipt. This has cast a new spotlight on who is actually benefiting from the fees charged by companies like GrubHub and Uber Eats. Sometimes these companies can take up to 30 percent of the total bill. If you want to ensure your local restaurant is getting the most money from takeout transactions, here are a few tips, according to restaurateurs we’ve spoken with: Take a look at your next takeout or delivery receipt to see how much you are actually paying in various fees. The disclosure rules are already in effect in Chicago. You might see that some restaurants have added in-house COVID fees to their bills, and they should be able to answer customer questions about what these fees cover. Don’t always believe what you see on Google or delivery sites in terms of how the restaurant’s takeout procedures operate—sometimes it’s wrong. If possible, call the restaurant first and ask them about their set up. Some may have their own in-house delivery person or have limited delivery. Others may have good curbside pick up options to avoid delivery altogether. While most restaurants prefer contactless credit card transactions at this time, they also have to pay the credit card company fees for every transaction at around 1.75 percent. Call to ask if they have other payment options that they prefer. Whether you are picking up or getting delivery, figure out the tip in advance by either putting it on the credit card when you order or having a clean envelope with the cash tip taped to your front door or in the part of your car (back seat or popped trunk) where the staffer is placing your food during curbside pickup. What kinds of creative things are restaurants doing to maintain their business during COVID-19? The prognosis for restaurants in Chicago—and across the nation—is not good. Many have announced permanent closures, others are hanging on by a thread and some may reopen only to fail, according to the National Restaurant Association. While city and state authorities are still formulating rules for when and how local restaurants can reopen their indoor dining rooms, they recently announced rules for the next small step—allowing outdoor dining. You can read the city and state rules on these links. Curious City has heard a lot of ideas from Chicago restaurateurs about how they might reshape in-person dining experiences, like removing half of the tables from the dining room, putting up bookcases between tables, creating tent-like structures around tables and even erecting plexiglass barriers. But a couple of our question askers wanted to know what other things restaurants were doing right now to adapt and try to sustain themselves safely in the time of COVID-19. Some of the most creative innovations to keep restaurants open and people fed during COVID-19 have included everything from takeout meals you cook yourself at home to mixed cocktails (after the Illinois General Assembly passed legislation allowing restaurants and bars to sell the sealed to-go drinks). Here are just a few examples of some of the creative adaptations now on offer in Chicago: Logan Square’s award-winning Fat Rice restaurant has transformed into Super Fat Rice Mart, which sells whole kits to make the erstwhile restaurant’s signature dishes including Macanese vegetable curry and ginger and pork dumplings. More adventurous types can try the “Mystery Box” option, with ingredients and recipes for three unknown (in advance) Fat Rice dishes. Pasta restaurant Daisies in Logan Square is now selling their fresh pasta along with produce and groceries from local farms, including milk, butter, flour and eggs. El Che Steakhouse and Bar has become a butcher shop, selling premium cuts of meat, wine and grilling kits. The popular Gibson’s Steak Houses are also selling aged prime cuts of meat, normally unavailable to ordinary consumers, for cooking at home. El Ideas in Douglas Park on 14th Street is offering curbside pick up of its tasting menus paired with an optional Zoom meeting with chef Phillip Foss later in the night. Here diners can talk with Foss about the dishes and hear the inspiration behind them. “Even though dining rooms are closed,” Foss says, “I think people still want a way to connect.” And one of the biggest surprises has been the sudden (relative) affordability of meals from Chicago’s top-rated Alinea and the Alinea group. Customers regularly paid more than $200 a head at the flagship Lincoln Park restaurant that now offers a nine-course tasting menu for about $50 per person through curbside pick up. A few companies have tried to aggregate a lot of these creative offerings across the country including Chicago-based enterprises Dining at a Distance and Tock. How else can you help out your local restaurants? Kelly Cheng of Sun Wah BBQ in Uptown has a few tips for customers who want to help make the whole contactless takeout experience work better for everyone: Order early. This helps the restaurant organize its workflow. For example, order at noon for a 4pm pick up Try to do curbside pick up at off-times for quicker curbside service when you arrive. If you must pick up at a popular time (like 6:30pm), be patient. Dozens of others have probably chosen the same time for dinner pick ups. Make sure you are clear about how the pick up will go—like, do you text when you get there or call to retrieve your order? Consider putting a flag on your antenna or a sign in your window that says “Picking up Order for John Doe.” Cheng says, “It can be hard sometimes to hear and understand each other through masks and this way you can be sure you don’t have to get out of your car and interact.” Park safely. “We have seen a few near accidents as people have parked in bike lanes while waiting for their pick up,” Cheng says. Don’t pop your trunk until you see the staffer coming out of the restaurant with the food, “especially if it’s raining,” Cheng says. Thank you to question askers Jennifer Ptak, Diane Danbury, Leslie Harris and Mary Beth Nevulis for your great food questions. Monica Eng is a WBEZ reporter. You can contact her at meng@wbez.org.
Abe Conlon joins Michael and Pat to talk about pivoting the restaurant Fat Rice into a meal kit service, his website video game, and what's coming next for everyone. This podcast was brought to you by the best PR team in the business, Melissa Harris and Jane Hirt. It was also brought to you by Chicago indie-rock label Sweet Pea Records. Show notes: Michael on Instagram Fat Rice
3/8/14: Making Dim Sum at Fat Rice • Nico Osteria's Erling Wu-Bower Talks Italian Seafood • Joe Campagna, Chicago Food Snob • Behind the Scenes With Big Head Farm
In this bonus episode, we're looking for the helpers in the restaurant world: those individuals who have taken it upon themselves to bolster their own communities during this unprecedented crisis -- and, we'll cover how you can help, too. We're going to tell you where you can support undocumented workers who find themselves out of a job. We talk to the James Beard award-winning chef Abe Conlon and business partner Adrienne Lo on how their restaurant Fat Rice selflessly dedicated their food supply and talent to feeding service workers. We speak with a rum distiller in D.C. who pivoted from spirits to hand sanitizer, and a strip club owner [NSFW link!] in Portland who managed to keep his employees working with a... bold new idea. And, we speak with microbiologist Jason "the Germ Guy" Tetro on how to properly clean your takeout and delivery orders, and why he is still ordering delivery and takeout meals. Links: Win Son's Venmo: @win-son Proceeds go to undocumented workers who make out at least 20% of the restaurant industry. Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation, an organization that’s using donations to directly support individual restaurant workers and restaurants in crisis. Please consider donating: https://secure.restaurantworkerscf.org/np/clients/restaurantworkerscf/donation.jsp?campaign=2&forwardedFromSecureDomain=1&test=true Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers
Ari and Maggie chat with Adrienne Lo, co-owner of Chicago's Fat Rice, The Bakery at Fat Rice and The Ladies Room. Hear about how her family tradition influences her work, the "backlash" around the restaurants tipping policy and more.
Radio Cherry Bombe stopped in Chicago last year as part of its Future of Food Tour for a live episode at The St. Jane Hotel. Chrishon Lampley of Love Cork Screw and journalist Maggie Hennessy speak about their vision for the future of food. They are followed by a panel featuring Ellen King, co-founder and head baker of Hewn Bread in Evanston; Chef Beverly Kim of Parachute; Adrienne Lo, co-owner of Fat Rice; Christine Cikowski, co-founder of Honey Butter Fried Chicken; and Radio Cherry Bombe host Kerry Diamond. Thank you to Kerrygold for supporting our tour. Radio Cherry Bombe is powered by Simplecast.
SALT + SPINE is hosted by Brian Hogan Stewart and produced by Alison Sullivan. Today's Episode: François-Régis Gaudry François-Régis Gaudry is the author of Let's Eat France!. Paula Forbes' recommendations of other books that break the typical cookbook mold: The DIY Cook by Tim Hayward Au Pied de Cochon: The Album and Sugar Shack Au Pied de Cochon by Martin Picard The Adventures of Fat Rice by Abraham Conlon, Adrienne Lo, Hugh Amano Chasing the Gator: Isaac Toups and the New Cajun Cooking by Isaac Toups Bonus SALT + SPINE Features: Giveaway: Win your own copy of Let's Eat France! Enter here. Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | GooglePlay SALT + SPINE: Our website is SaltAndSpine.com. Shop for Salt + Spine books in our bookstore. Find us on Patreon, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. We record Salt + Spine at San Francisco's The Civic Kitchen. Thanks to Jen Nurse, Chris Bonomo, and The Civic Kitchen team. Thanks to Celia Sack at Omnivore Books and Paula Forbes of Stained Page News20. Our theme song was produced by Brunch For Lunch. For more music, visit soundcloud.com/BrunchforLunch. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Building a food business, running a farm and marketing a new product all take skill and know-how; and of course money. Coming up on this week's show, The Good Food Expo comes to Chicago. We'll talk to some of the key players and discover why it's become one of the leading events of its kind in the Midwest, if not the entire country. Jim Slama, the C-E-O of Family Farmed and Producer of the Annual EXPO, the Executive Chef of Fat Rice in Chicago, Abe Conlon, and one of the nation's leading experts, Michael Harlan Turkell, author of "Acid Trip: Travels in the World of Vinegar" tell us why we should care about these potent potables. Garden Educator, Corenna Roozeboom from Big Green schools us on gardening programs for students. And Kara Babinec is the Director of Sales and Marketing at Gunthorp Farms in LaGrange, Indiana on Meat Labeling: What's the Meaning Behind the Label?".
Australian blogger and forager Rohan Anderson makes sneaky eel dip and payback paella; Adam Gopnik reminisces about New York City’s Carnegie Deli; Abraham Conlon of Chicago’s Fat Rice reveals the home cooking of Macau; and we present our recipe for pistachio-cardamom loaf cake.
We're still celebrating Chinese New Year with another incredible Macau dish frmo the restaurant Fat Rice in Chicago. This one uses rice vermicelli and shrimp, roast pork and bean sprouts, carrots and scallions. It's not spicy but it's so aromatic. And as you'll hear, we cook it in under 5 minutes. Amazing.
This week on Food Talk with Mike Colameco, Abe Conlon is on the phone from Chicago to talk about the new book he co-authored with his business partner Adrienne Lo, The Adventures of Fat Rice: Recipes from the Chicago Restaurant Inspired by Macau. With 100 recipes, this is the first book to explore the vibrant food culture of Macau—an east-meets-west melting pot of Chinese, Portuguese, Malaysian, and Indian foodways—as seen through the lens of the cult favorite Chicago restaurant, Fat Rice.
Monday Munchies Episode 010: Welcome to Monday Munchies. On these episodes you will be sitting shotgun on my adventures of exploring restaurants in the past few weeks. Albeit, I am not a certified food critic but I do love to eat and some would say that I do have a certain set of skills… I’m not sure what those are nor am I a “yelper” like the majority of residents in South Park, Colorado. But I do love trying new restaurants and food. So enjoy: Toni - http://www.tonipatisserie.com/ Bridge House Tavern - http://www.bridgehousetavern.com/ Fat Rice - http://www.eatfatrice.com/ Franklin Tap - http://www.franklintap.com/ Antique Taco- http://www.antiquetaco.com/ Cochon Volant Brasserie - http://www.cochonvolantchicago.com/ Central BBQ - http://cbqmemphis.com/ Highline - http://highlinebarchicago.com/
On today's episode of THE FOOD SEEN, we ship off the trading port of Macau, a city on the Pearl River, an hour's ferry ride away from Hong Kong, China. Centuries long a vibrant trading port, a Portuguese colony under Chinese ownership up until 1887, this melting pot of culture and cuisine became inspiration for Abe Conlon & Adrienne Lo top open up Fat Rice restaurant in Chicago, now bringing about their comprehensive cookbook, The Adventures of Fat Rice: Recipes from the Chicago Restaurant Inspired by Macau. Of course in it, you'll find their namesake, “Arroz Gordo” a layered rice dish for special occasions (jumbo prawns, chili lemon, char siu pork, pickled chilies, tea egg, sweet & sour raisins, shredded duck, sofrito-scented jasmine rice, linguine sausage, Portuguese olives, manila clams, curried chicken), as well as the building blocks of Macanese cooking. But I must warn you, watch out for the Attack of the Chili Clam!
The Adventures of Fat Rice Recipes From The Chicago Restaurant Inspired By Macau By Abraham Conlon, Adrienne Lo, Hugh Amano
In this Chewing food and health podcast episode co-hosts Louisa Chu and Monica Eng talk Fat Books. Monica talks to The Omnivore’s Dilemma author Michael Pollan, aka her prestigious $10,000 fellowship pal. Then Chu and Eng talk with Fat Rice chefs / owners / authors Abe Conlon and Adrienne Lo about their origin story, new bakery and speakeasy, plus upcoming graphic novel cookbook, The Adventures of Fat Rice, live at the Printers Row Lit Fest. Finally Louisa brings Monica, Adrienne, and Abe a secret seafood flavor jelly beans, but Will They Eat It? (Photo: Chicago hot dog bun by at The Bakery at Fat Rice, by Louisa Chu)
Chicago is a melting pot when it comes to cuisine. We have pretty much every country covered, in terms of representation. Not just the obvious places, like Mexico, France, Thailand and Japan, but also lesser-known countries, like Peru, El Salvador and Kyrgystan. But up until a few years ago, there was nowhere to satisfy a craving for chamuças or lacassa rice noodles, or even mackerel chutney. Thanks to the persistence, and skill, of chefs like Abraham Conlon and his partner, Adrienne Lo, Fat Rice has become THE go-to restaurant for all things Macanese. And this week, Rick Bayless and Steve Dolinsky welcome both Abe and Adrienne to the show.