2021 StarChefs Chicago Rising Stars Magazine | Issue 34 by starchefs

ISSUE 34 | CHICAGO

LAKE EFFECT

PERFECT PAIRINGS

A PIECE OF THE PIE

$5.00 ISBN 978-1-7357675-4-3

50500>

9 781735 767543

INTERCHANGEABLE PARTS

THE PASTRAMI PLAYBOOK

DEAR CHICAGO

In This Issue 22

42 6 9 12 18

DEAR CHICAGO

A hard talk about love from Chef Jason Hammel Hot dog! This club sandwich is a nod to a classic Chicago dog.

LAKE EFFECT

INSIDE THE SHELL

LE BOUCHON’S SECOND ACT

ILLUSTRATION: DANIE DRANKWALTER

THE PASTRAMI PLAYBOOK

A Galit dish is all about salt, fat, acid, and pastrami.

INTERCHANGEABLE PARTS

Chefs and bakers across Chicago expand their definition of “cross-utilization.”

Scallops at Kyōten prove that everything on the inside counts.

Beloved by a generation, a French bistro stays true to its family heritage.

Chicago chefs are using Great Lakes fish to full advantage.

SUMMER'S UNSUNG HERO

GROWING TOGETHER

Fry the Coop’s business model prioritizes efficiency and care for the staff.

THE CAT-SU CLUB

Chef Jonathan Dockter’s favorite off-the-clock side dish gets all dressed up at BOKA.

62 68

89 77

RED GOLD

When Mohammad Salehi left Afghanistan, he found a new passion as a saffron importer.

A PIECE OF THE PIE

Chef Erick Williams reclaims the term “farm-to-table” in a discussion of African American foodways.

MOLE ON THE RISE

After much trial and error, Valeria Taylor’s mole croissant is a nostalgic treat.

FROM BEAN TO BABKA

PERFECT PAIRINGS

Sherry with caviar and white Burgundy with chawanmushi are the new Champagne and oysters.

FAIR SHARE

Jennifer Kim empowers hospitality workers with information at Alt Economy.

THE FLAVOR BREWER

Gastronomy informs the farmhouse-style beers at Keeping Together.

LETTER FROM TEAM STARCHEFS

KITCHEN NOTEBOOK

WE SUPPORT

I SUPPORT

RISING STARS RESTAURANT MAP

ADVERTISERS GUIDE

The story behind a vanilla rose babka’s namesake ingredient

SPRING FEVER

Spring-obsessed Chicago chefs write love letters to their favorite season.

On the cover: Katie Lukes is a Chicago-based illustrator and designer. Read more about Chicago the Bear on page 94.

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2021 Chicago Rising Stars 10

CHEFS RYAN BROSSEAU Dear Margaret

DAMARR BROWN Virtue Restaurant

LUKE FELTZ Smyth and The Loyalist

CÉSAR MURILLO North Pond

44 48 57

COMMUNITY WON KIM Kimski and Pizza Fried Chicken Ice Cream DONAVAN MITCHEM Lou’s Backyard and MONEYGUN PASTRY CHEFS NATALIE SABEN One Off Hospitality

SOMMELIERS ALEX AUGUSTINE Aba

KIMBERLEE BEELER Alla Vita and BOKA BARTENDERS ERIC SIMMONS What If Syndicate

LAUREN TERRILL Proxi and Sepia

LUCAS TRAHAN Ever

84 86

BREWERS JAVIER & JOSE LOPEZ Casa Humilde Cervecería

MENTOR CHEF SARAH GRUENEBERG Monteverde Restaurant & Pastificio

DAVE PARK Jeong

BAILEY SULLIVAN Monteverde Restaurant & Pastificio

CHOPS WAT Lao Peng You

BAKERS MATT PONTARELLI The Exchange

GAME CHANGERS TIM FLORES & GENIE KWON Kasama

SAM ZEITLIN Zeitlin’s Delicatessen

TEA PURVEYORS TAYLOR COWAN & JORDAN SCHERER Spirit Tea

Chicago Rising Stars Partners

SARAH SYMAN The Dandy Crown

Symrise, Vnlla Extract Co., Vitamix Commercial, S.Pellegrino, True Aussie Lamb, Butter of Europe, Niman Ranch, TCHO Chocolate, Steelite International, Kikkoman USA, Wines from Spain, Fresh Origins, Lone Mountain Wagyu, The Montague Company, RATIONAL USA, Cypress Grove, Beam Suntory, Potatoes USA, Angostura, Caputo Cheese, Oktober, Buffalo Trace, Crown Creative, Careers Through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP) 2

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TRIM

Letter from Team StarChefs MOVING THE INDUSTRY FORWARD FOR 26 YEARS StarChefs' mission is to serve as a catalyst for food and beverage professionals to succeed at the highest possible standard and to give them the tools they need to meet and overcome the many industry challenges they face.

Antoinette Bruno EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Nicole Borden MARKETING DIRECTOR Kendyl Kearly SENIOR EDITOR Olivia Hebrand MARKETING COORDINATOR Rachelle Vagy DESIGNER

Will Blunt MANAGING PARTNER Erin Lettera DIGITAL MEDIA DIRECTOR Amelia Schwartz ASSOCIATE EDITOR Lizzie Takimoto DIGITAL MEDIA ASSISTANT Jaclyn Warren PHOTO EDITOR

Misha Garza López EDITORIAL INTERN

Gabby Romero EDITORIAL INTERN

Julia Abanavas CULINARY AMBASSADOR

Whiskey Borden OFFICE TOLLER PUP

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER Bradley Danner CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Eric Barton, Taylor Cowan, Jason Hammel, Jonny Ifergan, Brad Japhe, Amelia Levin, Carrie Schedler, Audarshia Townsend CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATORS Jessica Deahl, Danie Drankwalter, Julia Emiliani, Kisira Hill, Hannah Li, Katie Lukes

For advertising and event opportunities, please contact us at market@starchefsinc.com. For subscription inquiries, email subscribe@starchefsinc.com. PUBLISHED BY STARCHEFS, INC. COPYRIGHT © 2021 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO REPRODUCE THE BOOK OR PORTIONS THEREOF IN ANY FORM WHATSOEVER. STARCHEFS 217 HAVEMEYER STREET, 3RD FLOOR, BROOKLYN, NY 11211 212.966.3775 | STARCHEFS.COM

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LIVE

TO EMBODY THE CHICAGO HOSPITALITY COMMUNITY for the cover of Rising Stars, we didn’t choose a bear just because of the Cubs or the Bears. When we traveled to Chicago during spring, there seemed to be a restless energy, an eagerness to burst out from the coronavirus’s period of hibernation. For the most part, hospitality professionals were optimistic and excited to see their regulars again. (Read Chicago the Bear’s backstory on page 94.)

The 100-plus chefs, restaurateurs, bartenders, sommeliers, and artisans who we met with couldn’t have been more welcoming to share what they’ve been working on, whether they were launching new businesses, R&Ding at home during the shutdown, or staying late to experiment in a quiet kitchen. A few highlights from our visits: a turkey club sando that tastes like a Chicago hot dog (page 9), a Scandinavian cocktail resembling a Thai iced tea (page 7), halibut with a cucumber-infused beurre blanc (page 18), and a cold scallop muscle paired with sautéed scallop innards (page 22). The pandemic made these restaurant professionals nothing if not resourceful. In our “Interchangeable Parts” feature (page 42), restaurant industry writer Amelia Levin explores how chefs and bakers perfect standout items and cleverly repurpose them on their menus to save on labor and food costs. Presented with a ton of brisket from their meat supplier, Galit Chefs Zachary Engel and Thomas Carlin made a pastrami that combines Middle Eastern and Jewish American influences (page 32). The 2021 class of Chicago Rising Stars reflects the city’s dynamic, entrepreneurial ethos. To name a few, Javier and Jose Lopez are brewing their culture at Casa Humilde Cervecería, Chefs Tim Flores and Genie Kwon built a Filipino restaurant that the community could rally around, and Spirit Tea’s Taylor Cowan and Jordan Scherer are importing sustainable, loose leaf tea to hundreds of wholesale accounts. As the industry redefines itself in the coming months, it’s important to remember that many hospitality professionals don’t inherently benefit from the systems that were already in place. Jennifer Kim launched Alt Economy as a way to help hospitality workers navigate ownership (page 83). As Chef Jason Hammel says in his poignant “Dear Chicago” letter (page 6), “...this is a sea change. A chance to transform not only the passage but the destination, too. It’s a chance to live a life of hope, potential, and restorative care.”

If there is a single flavor that defines Japanese cooking, it is the flavor of soy sauce. Savory, complex and rich in umami, it is the soul of the cuisine. For us, being stewards of that fundamental flavor has been a privilege and a joy for more than three centuries. And for the last six decades, we have been proud to share it with chefs and home cooks here in America. You have not only embraced our soy sauce and other Asian sauces. In the openhearted spirit of American invention, you have made them your own — using them to create new dishes and tell new stories. We are honored that the treasure of our culinary

Arigato – Thank you

heritage has become such a valued part of yours. And for that, we thank you.

www.KikkomanUSA.com/foodservice

A G O By Jason Hammel, Lula Cafe

I’m here to have a hard talk about love. Because if you out there in the restaurant industry are experiencing loneliness and fear, like you’re floating on a raft with just one oar, there’s a tantalizing but false hope that all this uncertainty will go away when we reach “the other side.” But there’s no other side to this pandemic. No shore where you should expect safe harbor, a hero’s welcome. No, this is a sea change. A chance to transform not only the passage but the destination, too. It’s a chance to live a life of hope, potential, and restorative care. And it will take courage and love from our leaders.

The experience of the last 18 months has presented us with a choice between nostalgia and the unknown. Either we tend to the ruins of the restaurant industry that once was, like some kind of American Pompeii, rebuilding all that’s collapsed, or we recognize that the deep reckoning of 2020-2021 as a means to an end. This is where the courage comes in. We are now in the place of determining what end we want and who the “we” is who makes this determination. In the end, are we protecting a society of individuals who take what they need for themselves, or are we building a society of those who steward harvests of the future?

I’m saying this particularly in my role as “mentor.” I’m nearly 50,

Like: Are we here for each other, or are we not?

white, went to some really great schools when I was young. And

These are the questions asked every day in a restaurant.

I’ve owned a restaurant since 1999. A lot of young people have

It’s asked of all of us, chefs and diners, purveyors and hosts,

come through these doors and looked to me for leadership and

corporate execs and politicians, anybody who has a say in

care. But frankly, I wasn’t able to see what was possible. I came

how food gets to the public. It’s asked when we make choices

up in a system and built what I have off that system—with new

about how we compensate, how the financial model provides

branches and wings, yes, but all still twisted like vines within their

for workers across the industry, how we foster supportive

own self-germinating garden. It has been only by giving in to the fear of this moment, of the loss and chaos of it, that I’ve found the courage to accept the present moment and grow. I’m not saying that chefs of my generation have nothing left to teach. Quite the contrary. But our “lessons” are just hollow dogma if they aren’t in the service of a community built on the love and care of future generations. Our experience

evaporates.

becomes less wise and more pedantic, more oppressive, more cynical and afraid.

workplace culture, and how the federal and state governments reinforce those efforts through public policy around such issues as parental leave, student loans, health care, and, yes, public health. If you don’t recognize that what we lost in March 2020 is never coming back, I expect you’ll find

the

passage

ahead

pretty rough and dark. And I would say you need to throw away that one oar. It’s useless now. Stop fighting. Be tender and vulnerable. Follow the sea change below

During the pandemic I’ve often

you. Consider yourself lucky.

read out loud to myself and

Because that change is being

my team from Pema Chödrön’s

made by the young and brave.

book When Things Fall Apart,

Step aside and lead, together,

particularly this early passage: “So

with courage and love.

the next time you encounter fear, consider yourself lucky. This is where the courage comes in.”

ILLUSTRATION BY DANIE DRANKWALTER

Kitchen Notebook PARADISE FOUND Traveling to Mexico twice a year, Chef Rishi Manoj Kumar of Bar Sótano spent three years perfecting his carnes apache under the tutelage of Chef Rick Bayless. Manoj Kumar’s treatment of ribeye and tuna references Tenochtitlán (the capital of the Aztec Empire in modern-day central Mexico), where meat was cured with salt then cooked with the acidity of lemon juice and peppers. Immigrants to Veracruz and Baja California inspired the spice mixes, which Manoj Kumar makes into salsa macha. His additions of radish, crunchy kohlrabi, and red vein sorrel are a nod to Chicago. Lastly, he uses a flavor that’s plentiful in his home country of Singapore. Biting like cilantro with a black pepper finish, grains of paradise is incorporated into a crema and the salsa macha. Although the recipe is deeply rooted in Mexico, this international touch was logical to him: “My generation of chefs see the world as a global cuisine.”

PROOF IN THE PUDDIN'

RIDING THE TIGER

PHOTOS: WILL BLUNT

What do you get when you cross Thai iced tea with Swedish punsch? A Swedish Tiger, a creamy and refreshing drink by Briana Hestad, operations manager and co-owner of Ørkenoy. When the Thai iced tea craving hit, Hestad doubled down on the herbaceousness of Pantai Norasingh tea and fortified the cocktail with astringency and complexity, while still allowing the signature velvety texture and sweetness to shine. For weight and a bit of funk, she looked to Batavia-Arrack van Oosten, a pre-Prohibition spirit of sugar cane and red rice. “It can be difficult to work with,” she says. “You gotta find things to complement or mask it, which is how we came up with this.” Paired with its cousin of sorts, Kronan Swedish punsch, the beverage takes on warm spice and notes of smoky caramel. To balance things out, Hestad adds Bonal and rose syrup for a delicate floral flavor and aromatics. All that’s left is to pour over a generous dose of half-andhalf (or coconut milk for the dairy-averse) and watch the cream swirl.

When Pastry Chef Becky Pendola planned the Virtue Restaurant dessert menu, Chef-owner Erick Williams brought in all kinds of banana pudding to taste test. Although Pendola never ate banana pudding as a child, a grandmother-like figure, Millie, used to feed her Nilla wafers as a snack, and Pendola’s mother topped desserts with frozen Cool Whip. Pendola tapped into both Williams’ and her own childhood memories to create Millie’s Puddin’. “This is the quintessential Virtue dessert because it reflects my relationship with Chef Erick,” she says. Instead of starting with a vanilla pudding and adding bananas, she makes banana milk that forms the base, so the overripe banana flavor is infused throughout. Layers of Nilla wafers become soft with a crunchy sprinkle over top. To replicate frozen Cool Whip, Pendola invented a sort of marshmallow/whipped cream hybrid that gets aerated before frozen. The whipping gives it a texture like ice cream, but the lack of eggs helps maintain the glossy white of Cool Whip.

SMASH HIT When Chef-owner Tyler Nickson of Three House sat down to develop the perfect smash burger recipe, he quickly decided that bone marrow was a nonnegotiable ingredient. In his version, hundreds of pounds of beef bones soak for two days before he scrapes out the marrow, freezes it, then grinds it with brisket and chuck. The buttery fat makes for a melt-in-your-mouth patty with crispy edges—no oil needed. Nickson cuts through the bone marrow with smoked and pickled white onions and sharp, funky Hook’s three-year cheddar. The cheese is shredded to “get the good cheesy bits and not some big, melty piece of cheese,” Nickson says. With its sweet caramelized onions, garlic aïoli, and sesame-studded potato roll, the burger was an instant hit—Three House sold hundreds in its first month open. “This is our thing,” Nickson says. “I learned in the first month that we are a smash burger place.”

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BY LIZZIE TAKIMOTO

THE

Cat-Su Club

Few things are as synonymous with Chicago’s food scene as the hot dog. Upon opening pop-up Cat-Su Sando, Chefs Will Schlaeger and Shawn Clendening Sando accidentally channeled the energy of Chi-Town’s food gods into one of their Japanese-inspired sandwiches. Like finger sandwiches at a tea party for giants, sandos are full of pristine layers, savory or sweet, that are spread edge-to-edge with care. One of Cat-Su’s earliest inventions was the Cat-Su Club, a club sandwich that ended up taking on the flavors of a Chicago hot dog. After tweaking the recipe, the final sando starts with the classic shokupan, or milk bread, triple-stacked, fluffy, and crust-less as a soft, sweet contrast to the

savory fillings. The chefs use oak-smoked turkey and Spam to mimic a hot-off-the-grill frank—meaty, salty, and charred to perfection. The layers of provolone, caramelized onions, shredded lettuce, and lemon mayo with celery salt mimic the acid, tang, and crunch familiar to the Chicago dog connoisseur. But the pièce de résistance is arguably the Spam jam, a chunky condiment made with yellow mustard and sport peppers, combining the ultimate Chicago dog toppings into a salty, creamy spread. “We didn’t plan it,” Clendening says. “We were just like, ‘Holy hell, we made a dog sandwich.”

ILLUSTRATION BY JESSICA DEAHL CH ICAGO 202 1

CH E F

Ryan Brosseau DEAR MARGARET

IN A TINY TOWN HALFWAY between Toronto and Windsor, Canada, Ryan Brosseau always found comfort in family-cooked meals. He repaired home appliances for several years, but his friends and family encouraged him to pursue his knack for cooking. So at 26, Brosseau took his first culinary job, making 10-cent chicken wings at Peppers Bar & Grill in Windsor. In his next position as a line cook at a sushi restaurant across town, a mentor, Yanick Duchesne, taught him the pride of craftsmanship and the value of using fresh ingredients and a sharp knife.

In 2010, Brosseau moved to Chicago to study at Le Cordon Bleu. As a 30-year-old father learning alongside 20-year-olds, he put in extra work to stay ahead. The hours of practice paid

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off in the kitchens of Boka Restaurant Group’s Perennial Virant then Table, Donkey and Stick. In 2018, Brosseau served as the opening executive chef of Mediterranean restaurant Le Sud. In early 2021, Brosseau and partner Lacey Irby opened their passion project, Dear Margaret. Named after Brosseau’s grandmother, Dear Margaret meshes the French-Canadian cuisine he grew up eating with local Midwestern ingredients. He uses whole-animal butchery, breadbaking, pickling, and other family techniques to replicate the warmth of his childhood. Earning a three-star review from the Chicago Tribune, the homestyle dishes are elevated with Brosseau’s precision, thoughtful sourcing, and creative formats.

bean_there_doughnut_that / dearmargaretchi Favorite kitchen tool: Vitamix blender Favorite cookbook: Au Pied de Cochon by Martin Picard Most important kitchen rule: Be willing to learn. What you eat on your nights off: My friend’s restaurant Bayan Ko Place you’d visit for culinary inspiration: Lyon, France Advice to your younger self: Start cooking sooner and don’t listen to the haters.

Steak frites Chef Ryan Brosseau of Dear Margaret Adapted by StarChefs

INGREDIENTS Roasted Garlic Aïoli: Yield: 5 pints 3 whole eggs 3 egg yolks 3 cloves garlic confit 1 clove raw garlic 2 quarts vegetable oil Salt Lemon juice ¼ teaspoon hot sauce

50 grams Spanish white anchovies Zest of 2 lemons 1 clove garlic, roasted then minced Meat Jus: 1 head garlic, split 2 shallots, split 2 tablespoons neutral oil 1 bottle white wine 8 quarts beef stock Sachet of thyme, bay leaf, and black peppercorns Salt Vinegar Frites: Kennebec potatoes, cut into ⅜-inch-

thick-by-⅜-inchtall frites Minimally processed beef tallow Steak: Sirloin flap steak, cleaned of excess fat and silverskin and portioned into a 7-ounce piece Salt Olive oil To Assemble and Serve: Minimally processed beef tallow Salt Fresh fines herbes, chopped Sea salt

For the Roasted Garlic Aïoli: In a Vitamix blender, blend eggs, yolks, garlic confit, and raw garlic. Slowly emulsify in oil. Season with salt, lemon juice, and hot sauce. Adjust consistency with water if necessary. For the Anchovy Butter: Sweat shallot and raw garlic in oil. Deglaze with Sherry and reduce to au sec. Remove from heat and let cool. Mix shallot mixture with butter, salt, anchovies, zest, and roasted garlic. Set aside. For the Meat Jus: Sear garlic and shallots in oil. Once wellbrowned, deglaze with wine and reduce by half. Add stock and sachet of herbs, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer until desired consistency and flavor is reached, occasionally skimming off impurities as it reduces. Strain jus through a cheesecloth then season lightly with salt and vinegar. Chill.

For the Frites: Rinse frites until the water runs clear and allow to thoroughly dry. In a deep fryer, fry in beef tallow at 200°F for 5 minutes. Allow to cool completely. Set aside. For the Steak: Season steak with salt and rub with olive oil. Grill until desired doneness, turning constantly to develop a charred crust. Rest at least 5 minutes. To Assemble and Serve: Fry 9 ounces of Frites in beef tallow at 350°F until golden brown, about 4 to 5 minutes. Season with salt and toss with fines herbes. Thinly slice the Steak and transfer to a serving plate. Sauce with Meat Jus and season with sea salt. Spread ½ ounce Anchovy Butter on top. Serve with Frites and 2 ounces Roasted Garlic Aïoli. Featured equipment: Vitamix Commercial blender

PHOTOS: WILL BLUNT

Anchovy Butter: 1 shallot, minced 1 clove raw garlic, minced Vegetable oil ⅓ cup Sherry 1 pound butter, softened 9 grams salt

METHOD

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Lake Effect

By Kendyl Kearly

Fish from the Great Lakes haven’t always had the best reputation, but Chicago chefs are using them to full advantage. As soon as the ice melts in early spring, the Lake Michigan commercial fishers are out. Mostly using trap nets, their day boats chug out onto water that Amber Mae Petersen, secretary and treasurer of the Michigan Fish Producers Association, says is cleaner than it’s been in 20 years, mainly due to cleanup efforts. Once the boats return to the docks for the day, the commercial fishers either fillet the catch for the markets or dress the fish and ship to a processor. This middleman is usually close enough to the point of sale that it doesn’t need to add preservatives or freeze the product before distributing to restaurants. Outside of the Midwest, lake fish are sometimes known for being dirty or polluted; some chefs think that stagnant water gives fish a bad flavor. “The Great Lakes are not stagnant. Anyone who's actually swam in them knows that there’s a strong current,” says Petersen, who also founded The Fish Monger’s Wife to retail her family’s fish. Chef Thomas Carlin of Galit uses lake fish all the time for their affordability and to show diners that the fish are worth protecting through conservation. “Restaurants are best-received when they say something about the time and place they are in or tell the story of the people involved in it,” he says. “People seem to forget that Chicago sits on the edge of the fifth-largest freshwater lake in the world.” Whether they migrate in, bottom-feed in the cold, or linger in shallow waters, Great Lakes fish have a wide range of flavors and textures. These three species appear all over Chicago menus—and can be just as compelling on the plate as their saltwater counterparts.

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LAKE TROUT

WHITEFISH Due to government regulations and a surprisingly fierce political battle between commercial and sport fishing, whitefish is probably the best-known Great Lakes fish. According to government and university research, 99.9 percent of commercial fishing on Lake Michigan is whitefish with lakes Superior and Huron not far off. Consumer preferences aren’t the drive behind this. Whitefish are the only thing non-tribal fishing companies are permitted to regularly catch in Michigan, besides “rough catch” like carp, catfish, and suckers. But whitefish did become a staple for a reason. For his beer-battered Fry Life sandwich, Ørkenoy Chef Ryan Sanders chose whitefish for its flakiness and ability to withstand frying. “The crunchy beer batter and flaky whitefish interior are what make the sandwich one of our best-sellers on the current menu,” he says. And one of the biggest advantages is that it’s cheap. “Whenever we are able to put a fish-centered dish on the menu at a reasonable price, our guests get really excited about it, and it nearly always becomes a strong seller. Locally sourced, freshwater fish has made that possible for us.”

Closely related to salmon and char, lake trout are similar in taste to coho but fattier because they eat a lot, amass fat during their relatively long lifespan, and swim in the deepest, coolest parts of the Great Lakes. “It gets cold up here, y'all!” Carlin says. “Because of this mild-flavored flesh with great fat content, we are able to get really nice smoked fish.” For a play on a whitefish salad, he serves the smoked fish with rye, labneh, harissa, preserved lemon, and trout roe. The creamy dish with notes of maple is well-served by the lake trout, which Carlin thinks has a better flake than whitefish. Sanders likewise uses smoked lake trout to reintroduce a favorite. His play on a niçoise at Ørkenoy features gem lettuce, endive, capers, and a chive and horseradish dressing. He says, “The smokiness and [fatty] texture of the fish complement the horseradish and cream in the dressing to create a really strong base for the dish.”

WALLEYE Rising Star Chef Ryan Brosseau’s Canadian customers call them pickerel. At the Southern-inflected Virtue Restaurant, Rising Star Chef Damarr Brown says “mud bugs.” Dwelling in warmer water than whitefish or lake trout, walleye have a mild lake flavor but a flake like mahi mahi. “People who don’t like a fishy taste wouldn’t be into it,” Brown says. His buttery, lemony étouffée with shrimp and crawfish (recipe on page 17) balances the fish and sells out every night during the walleye’s short season. After growing up on the Detroit River, where the fish migrates, Brosseau knows how to build a plate around a walleye. At Dear Margaret, he panroasts the fillet and makes a funky sweet and sour kale with a gastrique of maple syrup and malt vinegar—all leaning into the fishiness.

ILLUSTRATIONS BY JULIA EMILIANI

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MICRO CHERVIL, Lamb, Pickled Beet Stems, Carrot, Carrot Top & Mint Puree, Brown Butter Crumble, Crispy Kale CHEF KARLO EVARISTO

ON TOP OF THE

WORLD’S FINEST CUISINE

600+

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tiny veggies™ | specialty items herb crystals® | flower crystals® | fruit crystals®

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freshorigins.com

Kosher Certified

CHEF

Damarr Brown VIRTUE RESTAURANT

ALTHOUGH HE WAS BORN in Germany, Damarr Brown’s greatest food memories are from the American South. He grew up just south of Chicago, eating his grandmother’s fried chicken livers and collard greens—recipes that came straight from her Mississippi hometown. Influenced by Emeril Lagasse and Julia Child, Brown enrolled in The Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago. Whatever time off he had was spent traveling down south and staging in New Orleans. When Brown graduated in 2011, he prioritized externing under a Black chef. He joined Chef Erick Williams’ team at mk The Restaurant, where Brown worked through each station, while also assisting Williams at County Barbeque.

Brown left mk in 2017 to be Chef Andrew Brochu's sous at Roister, and after a two-year stint, he reunited with his original mentor, Williams, to open Virtue Restaurant. As the chef de cuisine, Brown designs a menu that incorporates the southern flavors that he grew up eating and evokes the culinary traditions passed down by his mother and grandmother. browndamarr / virtuerestaurantchi Favorite kitchen tool: A sharp petty knife Tool you wish you had: A Middleton Made chef's knife

PHOTOS: WILL BLUNT

Most important kitchen rule: Work clean and organized. What you eat on your nights off: I love eating at Lula Cafe and HaiSous. It’s always different. I really enjoy sushi and interesting, vegetable-focused dishes. Advice to your younger self: Be patient and consistent. Every mistake gets you closer to getting it right.

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T KTKTK

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Walleye, shrimp-crawfish étouffée, buttered grits Chef Damarr Brown of Virtue Restaurant Adapted by StarChefs Yield: 4 servings

INGREDIENTS Étouffée: 1 cup butter 1 cup all-purpose flour ¼ cup vegetable oil 1 pint small-diced onions 1 cup small-diced green bell peppers 1 tablespoon minced Fresno pepper 1 cup small-diced celery 2 tablespoons minced garlic ½ cup rough-diced Roma tomatoes 2 bay leaves 2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning Salt 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper ½ cup white wine (something you wouldn't mind drinking) 1½ quarts shrimp stock

Walleye: Four 5-ounce, skinless walleye fillets ½ cup tempered butter Salt Black pepper Buttered Grits: 1 cup stone-ground yellow grits 4 ounces butter Salt Black pepper To Assemble and Serve: 1 pint raw shrimp, peeled and deveined, about 20 pieces 1 cup crawfish tails, cooked Lemon juice ½ cup freshly sliced scallions, both green and white parts

METHOD For the Étouffée: Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat and add flour, stirring frequently until the roux is a rich peanut butter color, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat. Meanwhile, heat oil in a 4-quart sauce pot. Add onions, peppers, celery, and garlic and sweat until soft. Then add tomatoes, bay leaves, Cajun seasoning, salt, and pepper and cook until tomatoes begin to break down. Add white wine and reduce to au sec. Add shrimp stock then bring the mixture to a simmer. Stir in the roux and let simmer on low heat for about 30 minutes to let the flavors meld. For the Walleye: Rub walleye fillets generously with tempered butter and season with salt and pepper. Place the fish on a quarter sheet tray lined with aluminum foil and cook in a 400°F oven for about 7 minutes or until medium-well.

For the Buttered Grits: In a 2-quart sauce pot, boil 4½ cups water. Using a wooden spoon, stir in grits and continue stirring often. They will take about 25 minutes. Once they are cooked, remove from heat, stir in butter, and season with salt and pepper. Put a lid on and let sit in a warm place. To Assemble and Serve: Remove Étouffée from heat and stir in shrimp. Once shrimp are just about cooked, stir in crawfish to warm through. Pull Walleye out of the oven and cover with lemon juice. Spoon a bed of Buttered Grits onto 4 serving plates then top each with 1 Walleye fillet. Top Walleye with shrimp and crawfish that have been cooked in the Étouffée then a few spoonfuls of the Étouffée. Garnish with scallions.

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Summer's Unsung Hero

GRILLED CUCUMBERS Just like in Dockter’s home-cooked version, he throws whole cucumbers onto the grill until the outsides are charred and smoky and the insides, still slightly crunchy, toe the line between raw and cooked. Next, they’re submerged in a soy braising liquid for an hour before being thinly sliced.

Charred cucumbers are a fixture on the table any time Chef Jonathan Dockter fires up his home grill. When BOKA brought in cucumbers from Butternut Sustainable Farm in southern Michigan, his favorite off-the-clock side found its way onto the menu. Dockter utilizes the vegetable in multiple ways in this bright, creamy dish. “The original thought behind this dish was to use cucumbers in a way that highlights the cooked and raw flavors,” he says. Here, we break it down.

COMPRESSED CUCUMBERS In addition to the grilled cucumbers, Dockter shaves raw ones into ribbons and compresses them with a pickling liquid. The raw cucumbers are dressed with lemon oil and dill as a fresh contrast to the grilled ones.

HALIBUT

By Gabby Romero

BOKA sources halibut from California—the fish there more closely resemble flounder than their East Coast relatives. Dockter amplifies the fish’s dense, meaty texture by brining it, which consistently seasons the halibut and prevents the albumin from leaking out. He finishes the halibut by slowly poaching it in olive oil until the center is a touch warmer than body temperature and the fish is juicy, soft, and unctuous.

SEAWEED RELISH To complement the fish, Dockter uses sea spaghetti, which is farmed in California and packed in salt. “Compared to kombu, it's not quite as assertive,” he says. “It has a bit more of a fresh sea sort of flavor.” He finely chops the seaweed and cooks it down with shallots and white wine. A hearty dose of brown butter at the end adds a toasty richness to the umami-packed relish.

CAULIFLOWER PURÉE Cauliflower and half-and-half join forces for a creamy purée. Dockter sweats the cauliflower carefully to avoid gaining any color. “The earthy backbone pairs well with the freshness of the cucumber,” he says.

BEURRE BLANC

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PHOTO: WILL BLUNT

All the components tie together with Dockter’s unconventional take on a beurre blanc. He steeps cream with the reduced interior of cucumbers, white wine, and shallots to add a concentrated vegetal flavor. Then he blends the cream with cucumber peels to impart earthiness and a bright green hue. “It’s a fun, different way to make a butter sauce that reinforces that cucumber,” he says. The cream is later emulsified with butter and combined with trout roe before being spooned over the halibut tableside. The vibrant beurre blanc reinforces the dish’s purpose: to celebrate the cucumber, summer’s unsung hero.

PHOTOS: WILL BLUNT

CHEF

Luke Feltz

SMYTH AND THE LOYALIST

AS A KID, LUKE FELTZ could often be found binging the Food Network in his Michigan living room. Inspired by the chefs he watched on television, he helped his parents around the kitchen and cooked his own meals at the age of 12. In high school, he cooked part-time at local restaurants then worked his culinary side hustle while earning his degree in globalization studies at Gettysburg College. Even after he graduated and became a White House intern, Feltz continued to cook at a D.C. neighborhood bistro, Boundary Road. It was only when he started a full-time position in nuclear security policy that he left the kitchen.

Feltz’s love for food drew him away from drafting federal policy in 2012, and he returned to Boundary Road as sous chef. In

2015, he took over as executive chef, getting free range of the New American kitchen. Feltz joined José Andrés’ minibar as chef de partie in 2016 and worked his way up to writing menus and directing the chef ’s counter as a sous. Feltz briefly left minibar for a six-month stage at Amass Restaurant in Copenhagen, where he reaffirmed his love for hyper-local, sustainable ingredients. After returning to minibar, Feltz met Chef John Shields at an event in 2018. So when he saw a job posting for head chef of Shields’ twoMichelin-starred restaurant, Smyth, Feltz had to apply. Now, he serves as executive chef for both Smyth and its more casual, French-inspired sister restaurant, The Loyalist. At both concepts, Feltz creates elaborate, purposeful dishes that often utilize fermentation-forward techniques.

luke.feltz / smythchicago / theloyalistchicago Favorite kitchen tool: Spoon Tool you wish you had: A dry ager Advice to your younger self: Don't skip the basics. What you eat on your nights off: Galit for Israeli. Le Bouchon for French. For large groups, Cho Sun Ok for Korean barbecue. Most important kitchen rule: Always be knolling.

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Warmed Kaluga caviar buckwheat koji butter, preserved green almonds, almond milk, walnut oil Chef Luke Feltz of Smyth Adapted by StarChefs

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INGREDIENTS Preserved Green Almonds: Green almonds Salt Citric acid Ascorbic acid Almond Miso: 1.9 kilograms toasted almond meal 1.2 kilograms rice koji 124 grams kosher salt, plus more for fermentation Walnut Oil: English walnuts

Almond Milk: 1.2 kilograms Marcona almonds Salt Xanthan gum

Buckwheat Koji: 1 kilogram buckwheat groats, soaked in filtered water for a minimum of 4 hours 1 gram koji spores

Almond Miso Consommé: 10 grams cane sugar

Buckwheat Koji Butter: 454 grams 84%-butterfat butter

Maple Rivesaltes Gastrique: 200 grams Rivesaltes wine 100 grams maple syrup 5 grams cane sugar

To Assemble and Serve: Kaluga caviar

METHOD For the Preserved Green Almonds: In a nonreactive container, combine green almonds with 10% salt, 1% citric acid, and 1% ascorbic acid by weight. Seal and let preserve for a minimum of 2 months. Reserve in refrigerator for up to 18 months. For the Almond Miso: In a mixing bowl, combine almond meal, koji, and 120 grams salt. Wearing gloves, mix by hand to combine. In a separate bowl, combine 4 grams salt with 100 grams water. Using a whisk, mix until salt has dissolved. Add salt brine to almond mixture, a little bit at a time, until you can squeeze it into a ball. Tightly pack almond mixture into a fermentation vessel. Smooth and level the top, wipe the inside of the vessel clean, and sprinkle the mixture’s surface with salt. Weigh down and cover. Let almond miso ferment at room temperature for 3 to 4 months. Once fermented, transfer to a Vitamix blender. Blend with a bit of water until smooth then pass through a tamis. Pack finished miso in nonreactive, airtight containers and store in the refrigerator for 1 month or freeze for several months. For the Walnut Oil: Toast walnuts at 310°F for 12 minutes. Coarsely chop then run through a nut oil press. Reserve. For the Almond Milk: Add almonds and 1 liter filtered water to a Vitamix blender. Blend until smooth then cover and let sit overnight. The following day, blend again. Strain through a cheesecloth-lined fine mesh sieve. Squeeze and press the cheesecloth to release all remaining almond milk. Season with salt and thicken with 0.1% xanthan gum. For the Almond Miso Consommé: Add 390 grams Almond Miso and 2.58 kilograms filtered water to a Vitamix blender. Blend until smooth. Transfer mixture to a nonreactive container then freeze until needed. Once thawed, strain through a fine mesh sieve. Transfer 250 grams strained consommé to a pot over medium heat. Add cane sugar and let reduce for up to 12 hours until it reaches the consistency of maple syrup. Remove from heat and reserve.

For the Maple Rivesaltes Gastrique: Add all ingredients to a pot over medium heat. Reduce until it reaches the consistency of honey. Remove from heat and reserve. For the Buckwheat Koji: Preheat RATIONAL oven to 100% humidity and 212°F. Evenly portion and spread a layer of buckwheat out onto cheeseclothlined perforated pans. The layer should not be more than 1 inch deep. Steam buckwheat until it’s cooked through but still retains some bite. Remove from oven and let cool to 86°F. Transfer buckwheat to a mixing bowl and toss to break up any lumps. Evenly sprinkle koji spores over buckwheat then toss to combine. On trays lined with damp linens, evenly distribute another thin layer of buckwheat. Cover each tray with more damp linens. Set trays inside an 80°F incubator, allowing space between trays for adequate airflow. After 24 hours, the smell should become sweeter and earthier. Remoisten the top linens and give the buckwheat a light toss, breaking up any clumps. Reduce incubator temperature to 75°F. Let incubate for another 36 to 48 hours, monitoring regularly. Harvest and store in a nonreactive container. For the Buckwheat Koji Butter: Add butter and 454 grams Buckwheat Koji to a pot over low heat. Cook for 8 hours, stirring frequently, until the butter and buckwheat has browned. Strain through a fine mesh sieve. Set aside. To Assemble and Serve: In a small, nonreactive container, douse a hefty spoonful of caviar with about 2 teaspoons Buckwheat Koji Butter. Cover container then warm in a steamer at 140°F for 8 to 10 minutes. Carefully spoon the warm caviar and a little bit of Buckwheat Koji Butter onto 1 side of a serving bowl then place ½ teaspoon minced Preserved Green Almonds beside the caviar. Pour 6 milliliters Walnut Oil into the bottom of the bowl then pour 15 milliliters Almond Milk into the Walnut Oil in multiple drops, remaining careful not to create a pool. Season caviar with 3 drops Almond Miso Consommé and 5 drops Maple Rivesaltes Gastrique. Serve immediately. Featured equipment: Vitamix Commercial blender, RATIONAL combination oven

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the

Phan shucks the scallop open, revealing the white, round muscle encased in its outer mantle. The transparent skin shows the scallop’s innards—the charcoal-colored liver and wing-like gills.

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Using his fingers, Phan separates the scallop’s muscle from its innards.

scallop’s muscle, but as Chef Otto Phan proves, there’s even more to this shellfish than the rich, tender meat that we’ve come to know. At Kyōten, he aims to utilize as much of the fresh Maine Bay scallop as possible, innards and all. “Some of the innards are too strong,” Phan says. “But these small scallops are quite pleasant, a bit like escargot.” Here, he demonstrates how he shucks, divides, and prepares his scallops for this hot and cold dish.

The muscle gets treated to a quick cure of lemon juice, salt, and yuzu kosho.

PHOTOS: WILL BLUNT

Inside Shell

Chefs almost always flex the

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Meanwhile, the innards are sautéed in butter with a roasted green almond purée that tones down their funky flavor.

Phan removes the green-almondcoated scallop innards from the pot and delicately slices into their cores, removing the orange gonads.

The cured scallop muscle is plated beside the innards. They’re finished with fresh garlic blossoms and chive flowers and, for a final touch of fat, a drizzle of olive oil.

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CHEF

César Murillo NORTH POND

AT 4 YEARS OLD, César Murillo immigrated from Chihuahua to Dallas with his parents. He always loved working with his hands, often helping his mom with flower arrangements for weddings. As an undocumented immigrant, Murillo knew he wouldn’t be able to travel outside of the country and that he would have limited choices for college. After graduating from Texas Culinary Academy, he set his sights on Chicago in order to cook under his idol, Chef Rick Bayless.

Murillo’s career kicked off at Bayless’ James Beard Award-winning Frontera Grill and Xoco. To learn about farming and hyperseasonal ingredients, Murillo traveled west to cook at California restaurants Nopalito and

Mateo’s Cocina Latina. In 2012, he returned to Dallas, where he worked his way up to lead line cook at FT33 before going back to Chicago. He bolstered his fine dining experience as sous at the Michelin-starred Grace and Sepia then used his connections to consult for a spell. By 2020, he was ready to fill the shoes of North Pond Executive Chef Bruce Sherman. Murillo maintained the Michelin star that the waterside restaurant had earned shortly before his arrival and is striving hard for a second. Using ingredients from his rooftop garden, the plates reflect an inquisitive spirit and subtle nods to his heritage—while staying true to North Pond’s farm-to-table DNA.

chef_cesarm / northpondchi Favorite kitchen tool: Small spatula Most important kitchen rule: Be better. Anyone can do better. But to be better comes from within. It’s a mindset. Challenge yourself to always do a little more, give a little more, push the bar a little higher. And then once you do, maintain it at that level. What you eat on your nights out: My wife buys a lot of food, so there’s always something to make. Place to visit for culinary travel: Mexico for my roots. China because I love their style. Advice to your younger self: Find your voice as a chef.

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PHOTOS: WILL BLUNT

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Pork belly lechón, Parmigiano-Reggiano purée, vanilla pork jus Chef César Murillo of North Pond Adapted by StarChefs

INGREDIENTS Caramelized Cheese Purée: 75 grams grated Caputo ParmigianoReggiano 125 grams half-and-half, warmed 2 grams xanthan gum Salt Sugar Frico: 100 grams finely grated Caputo Parmigiano-Reggiano Fennel Mint Gel: 50 grams fennel fronds 50 grams mint Salt Sugar Ultra-Tex 8

White Soy Butter: 150 grams tempered butter 25 grams white soy sauce Milk Brine: 2 lemons, halved 12 bay leaves 100 grams parsley 10 sprigs thyme 60 grams sugar 60 grams honey ½ head garlic, peeled 85 grams black pepper 550 grams salt 1 gallon whole milk

Pork Belly Lechón: 1 Niman Ranch pork belly, skin on Salt Black pepper 1 package Activa RM Vanilla Pork Jus: 120 grams pork scraps 15 grams oil 120 grams roasted chicken jus 50 grams vegetable stock 3 Vnlla Extract Co. whole vanilla beans 40 grams butter Cider vinegar Salt

Sliced Fennel: 1 bulb fennel Salt Shaved Fennel Salad: ½ bulb fennel, shaved paper-thin on a mandoline 30 grams minced fennel fronds Lemon juice Salt To Assemble and Serve: Cornstarch Neutral oil Maldon salt Sweet cicely

METHOD For the Caramelized Cheese Purée: Spread cheese onto a sheet pan. Toast in a 350°F oven until golden brown. Using a Vitamix blender, blend cheese, warm half-and-half, and xanthan gum into a smooth purée. Season with salt and sugar. Pass through a fine mesh strainer and into a squeeze bottle. Reserve. For the Frico: Spread cheese onto a sheet pan. Toast in a 350°F oven until golden brown. Break into bite-sized pieces and store in a dry area. For the Fennel Mint Gel: Bring a pot of water to a boil. Blanch fennel and mint for 10 seconds then shock in ice water. Once cold, transfer blanched herbs to a Vitamix blender and add enough cold water to barely cover them. Blend on high until the sides of the blender feel like room temperature. Don’t let the liquid become too warm. Strain liquid into a bowl and generously season with salt and sugar. It’s going to need more seasoning than you think, or the gel won't be able to stand up to the other components on the dish. Whisk in Ultra-Tex 8, 1 teaspoon at a time, until gel is no longer runny and can stand up on its own. Pass through a fine mesh strainer. Place gel in a vacuum chamber to remove air bubbles. This results in a greener gel that won’t oxidize as quickly. Place gel into a squeeze bottle and reserve. For the White Soy Butter: In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip together all ingredients until incorporated. Keep cold.

For the Milk Brine: In a pot, bring all ingredients to a boil. Remove from heat and place pot over ice to chill. Once cold, strain and reserve liquid.

For the Sliced Fennel: Turn the fennel bulb on its side and cut into ½-inch slices. Using a peeler, peel the outsides. Salt for 1 hour before service to soften.

For the Pork Belly Lechón: Using a small knife, remove skin from the pork belly and scrape the excess fat from skin. Cut pork belly in half lengthwise. Make a slit down the middle of the belly, cutting about halfway through. Place knife inside the slit and butterfly each side open. Think of it like opening a book. Trim off any silverskin. Repeat with remaining piece of pork belly. Brine the butterflied pork belly in the Milk Brine for 3 hours. Remove and let sit in the walk-in to air-dry overnight on a rack. Season on all sides with salt and pepper then dust all sides with Activa RM. Roll pork belly into itself like porchetta. Cut and score one piece of pork belly skin the length of the rolled pork belly. Dust the top of the rolled pork belly with more Activa RM and place the pork skin on top. Tie with kitchen string at 2-inch intervals. Cryovac the tied pork belly and sous vide for 12 hours at 167°C. Once cooled, remove the kitchen string and portion into 4-ounce servings.

For the Shaved Fennel Salad: Toss shaved fennel with fennel fronds. Season with lemon juice and salt to order. The salad should be bright and acidic.

For the Vanilla Pork Jus: Sauté pork scraps with oil until golden brown. Add roasted chicken jus and vegetable stock. Reduce until nappe then strain. Add vanilla and mount with butter. Season with vinegar and salt. The finished sauce should be bright and acidic.

Featured ingredients: Niman Ranch pork belly, Vnlla Extract Co. whole vanilla beans, Caputo Parmigiano-Reggiano

To Assemble and Serve: Dust a 4-ounce portion of Pork Belly Lechón with cornstarch and drop in a 325°F fryer until the exterior is crispy and the inside is warm. Let rest before slicing into 3 pieces and finish with maldon salt. Sear Sliced Fennel in a hot pan with oil. Once Sliced Fennel begins to brown, add some White Soy Butter and baste until tender. Place 2 generous dollops of Caramelized Cheese Purée onto a serving plate. Dot the plate with Fennel Mint Gel. Plate a bed of Sliced Fennel and add small piles of Shaved Fennel Salad. Place the Pork Belly Lechón on the plate and sauce with about 2 tablespoons of Vanilla Pork Jus. Garnish with pieces of Frico and sweet cicely.

Featured equipment: Vitamix Commercial blender

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SECOND ACT

By Eric Barton

Beloved by a generation in Chicago, a French bistro stays true to its family heritage. “He was like, ‘Oh, you think you know everything, don’t you? Well, I’ve been open for 20 years,’” Oliver says. After these quarrels, they’d still end service with a glass of wine, never stopping the trash talk about who was the better chef. Leaving service on April 9, 2016, Jean-Claude was on the Eisenhower Expressway when the road went to ice. He died in a 15-car pileup.

Oliver Poilevey and Executive Chef Waldo Gallegos

His father, Jean-Claude, opened Le Bouchon in 1993, and the place was largely just as it had been on the first day. With his new job as his father’s sous, Oliver began pushing dishes that he figured would be the restaurant’s new favorites. His father found them overly complicated.

Jean-Claude Poilevey’s chef jacket is framed on the restaurant wall.

PHOTOS 1 & 4: WILL BUNT; PHOTOS 2 & 3: BRADLEY DANNER

Oliver Poilevey was 24 years old when he came back to work at the family restaurant. After attending culinary school and line cooking all over the world, he was sure his destiny was to bring new energy and ideas to the place. He walked into his father’s kitchen and knew he would be an agent of change.

As kids, the brothers took on odd jobs in the kitchen, washing dishes or cleaning mussels, and Oliver recalls asking line chefs how to cook this or that. “I loved the energy and the camaraderie of the kitchen,” he says. The restaurant still employs some of those same staffers who were there back then, including Executive Chef Waldo Gallegos, who first started working for the family in 1983 at a previous restaurant. Gallegos isn’t just in charge of the kitchen’s day-to-day; he’s family, someone the brothers have known their entire lives.

Brothers Nicolas, who revamped the wine program, and Oliver

Now 32, Oliver remembers reading articles describing what his father had meant to so many. The Chicago Tribune called him “a dean of French cooking, whose exacting standards influenced scores of culinary professionals and made him one of the city’s guardians of classic bistro food.” Regulars stopped by to recall the special occasions they had celebrated there, and they taped notes to the door. Reading those articles, seeing those notes, and hearing those stories, Oliver realized just how wrong he had been. “It was kind of a revelation for me to continue what my dad had done,” Oliver says.

One update that he and Gallegos worked on is ocean trout en croute with troisgros sauce. His father made it the traditional way, a large piece of salmon or ocean trout cooked in puff pastry. This method left the fish well-done, so Oliver and Gallegos tinkered with the recipe. They serve smaller versions now, about the size of Hot Pockets. They’re cooked in a very hot oven, and the process yields an en croute that slices medium rare. Oliver says the dish has gotten the most acclaim on the menu, but it’s still not far from what his father served— an updated version of a classic. “You never can be him, but you have to be that guy who’s like, ‘Oh welcome, we’re still doing it,’” Oliver says. “His spirit still lives on for us.”

He then ran the place with his mother, but that continued for just three years. She was fighting cancer during most of it and passed in 2019. Oliver took over as chef-owner of the restaurant that he and his brothers grew up in. The middle son, Nicolas, was 1 year old when his parents opened the place and now serves as wine director. Although the wine menu had always been well-regarded, Nicolas refocused it to concentrate on pairing with specific dishes. The list now features many natural wines but also something rarer: beaujolais, a wine that many diners think about only at its release in early winter. The youngest brother, Henri, is now pursuing music and also works at Taqueria Chingón, the family’s new Mexican place with Chef-operator Marcos Ascencio—the duck a l’orange tacos speak of the family's French roots. Truite des fjords en croute was updated with a modern presentation.

CH E F

AFTER IMMIGRATING TO NEW JERSEY when he was 8 years old, Dave Park’s grandparents kept him connected to his birthplace through homestyle Korean dishes. But it was his extended family’s American-style restaurants that first sparked his infatuation with food, and he got started at 16 as a prep cook and dishwasher. He then moved on to study at the Culinary Institute of America, where he would meet his future partner, Jennifer Tran.

After a short stage in one of Chicago's cutthroat kitchens, Park nearly quit cooking and moved back to New Jersey to reassess his career. Six months later, the urge to cook returned, and he traveled back to Chicago to work at The Aviary and Takashi. In 2015, he and Tran opened Hanbun in a suburban food court, serving a riff on the food of Park’s Korean upbringing. In addition to the small, unfussy menu, he offered secret tasting menus for his regulars. Mall maintenance issues forced Park and Tran to close Hanbun in 2018, but they opened their next project one year later in more upscale digs. Jeong, named after Park’s grandmother, earned the distinction of one of Bon Appétit’s 50 best new restaurants in its inaugural year with Park also cinching Eater Chicago’s Chef of the Year award. But his original restaurant lives on through an adaptation of one of its most popular dishes: salmon tartare seasoned with yuzu and crispy rice pearls.

dave_cook_love / jeongchicago Favorite kitchen tool: Matfer Bourgeat nylon dough scraper Favorite cookbook: Michel Bras’ Essential Cuisine What you eat on your nights off: I love to eat out at places like Dancen, Agit, and Peking Mandarin Restaurant. They make casual and delicious comfort foods, and if we end up at a place like Dancen or Agit, we drink a lot of beer and soju. Place you’d visit for culinary inspiration: Australia and New Zealand for sure Advice to your younger self: Don't sweat the little things. Learn to let go, especially when it isn't a big deal.

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Dave Park JEONG

Salmon tartare, dwenjang, yuzu crème fraîche Chef Dave Park of Jeong Adapted by StarChefs

INGREDIENTS

METHOD

Salmon: 250 grams salmon

30 grams yuzu juice Zest of 1 lemon

Yuzu Dwenjang Gastrique: 37 grams dwenjang 150 grams sake 70 grams yuzu marmalade

Whipped Yuzu Crème Fraîche: 140 grams crème fraîche 10 grams yuzu juice

For the Whipped Yuzu Crème Fraîche: In a bowl, combine all ingredients. Whisk until medium peaks form. Transfer to a piping bag and reserve.

For the Yuzu Dwenjang Gastrique: Add all ingredients and 300 grams water to a large pot. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Cook the mixture down until thick and syrupy. Using an immersion blender, blend until smooth. Cool over an ice bath. Reserve.

To Assemble and Serve: In a bowl, toss Salmon with Soy Yuzu Marinade and season with salt. Place about 5 grams Yuzu Dwenjang Gastrique onto the center of a serving plate. Set a ring mold on top of the Yuzu Dwenjang Gastrique. Gently press about 60 grams Salmon tartare into the mold. Sprinkle the top with bubu arare. Pipe on spots of Whipped Yuzu Crème Fraîche and garnish with micro nasturtium.

For the Soy Yuzu Marinade: Add all ingredients to a bowl. Whisk to combine. Set aside.

Featured ingredient: Fresh Origins micro nasturtium

PHOTOS: JACLYN WARREN

Soy Yuzu Marinade: 40 grams brunoise shallots 8 grams sugar 55 grams white soy sauce

To Assemble and Serve: Yield: 1 portion Salt Bubu arare Fresh Origins micro nasturtium

For the Salmon: Trim salmon of excess fat and skin. Remove any bones. Dice salmon into ½-inch-by-½-inch cubes. Reserve in a bowl set over ice.

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In spring of 2020, recipe development wasn’t a question of what to make. It was more, “What ingredients do we have available?” At Galit, Chef-owner Zachary Engel and Chef de Cuisine Thomas Carlin asked their meat purveyors that exact question, and what Slagel Family Farm had was a bounty of brisket. So for their Middle Eastern menu with Jewish influences, the chefs naturally purchased the beef with the intention of curing it into pastrami. “I was previously the head butcher at Publican Quality Meats, so I had a pretty bangin’ pastrami recipe,” Carlin says. To hone in on common Middle Eastern flavors like fenugreek, caraway, and cumin, Carlin married his pastrami-making technique with Engel’s pastirma spice blend. The hybrid warrants the dish’s tagline on the menu: “Armenian meets Lower East Side.” The brisket is treated to two brines. The more traditional liquid brine, infused with brown sugar, coriander, and pink salt, is injected into the meat itself. It’s sealed tight in a Cryovac bag filled with more liquid brine, left to develop the savory-sweet flavor for 10 days. The Middle Eastern spices enter in the form of a dry brine that crusts the brisket before getting placed over hot hardwood coals to smoke. Nine hours later, the black-crusted pastrami is ready for slicing.

Slagel Family Farm raises mostly Holstein cows for the brisket—the iconic black and white cows typically used for dairy. “Their beef is really rich and buttery, more than other beef we’ve found,” Carlin says. To cut through the deeply rich pastrami, he pairs it with a radicchio salad coated in an acidic urfa biber colatura vinaigrette. He tosses the radicchio with fermented Thomcord grapes (like concord but without the hassle of seeds). “The seasons in Chicago are micro-seasons, so grapes are around for, like, two weeks,” he says. So instead of serving the tannic, Welchlike fruit fresh, Carlin lacto-ferments them in salt for an extra hit of funk and an extended shelf life. To slightly counter the acidity, Carlin squeezes dollops of beef fat mayonnaise, another pandemic-born component. “We had a lot of beef fat from some braises we were doing,” Carlin says, “and since we weren’t throwing anything away, I did a beef fat mayonnaise.” The dish is finished with a pile of chives, a signature Carlin touch: “When we put chives on stuff, I like to put as many as possible.” It provides a final, subtle onion flavor. Carlin’s pastrami dish works in many variations. Sometimes, the grapes are swapped for a different lacto-fermented fruit; sometimes, it's thrown into a sandwich, but the same formula holds true: salt, fat, acid, pastrami.

PHOTO: WILL BLUNT

tz Schwar a i l e m By A

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PHOTOS: WILL BLUNT

CHEF

Bailey Sullivan MONTEVERDE

WHILE STUDYING AT KENDALL COLLEGE, Bailey Sullivan picked up an internship at the two-Michelin-starred, Coastal New England-inspired restaurant Acadia. She stayed on as a pastry cook before joining the line at Yusho Logan Square, where she became captivated by Japanese cuisine. Sullivan made the most of the restaurant’s Ramen Battles, which allowed her to meet and cook with some of the city’s best chefs—most notably, Sarah Grueneberg of Monteverde Restaurant & Pastificio.

Favorite kitchen tool: The wok at Monteverde! The flavor of the wok is unlike anything else, and I love the unique spin it can add to traditional Italian dishes.

After graduation, Sullivan worked at Parachute for a year then was hired at Monteverde as a pasta cook. She had a real desire to learn about pasta, and if she was going to stop cooking Asian food, Grueneberg was the person she wanted for a teacher. Sullivan quickly fell in love with Italian food, and for the next five years, she hustled through the kitchen as a line cook, sous chef, purchasing sous, executive sous, and, finally, chef de cuisine. Now, Sullivan incorporates untraditional flavors into classic Italian dishes—think egg yolk raviolo with garam masala and pomegranate molasses.

Place you’d visit for culinary inspiration: Italia! My goal is to make it to all 20 regions. So far, I’ve gotten to experience a few.

justdessertz / monteverdechi

Tool you wish you had: Wood-burning oven Most important kitchen rule: Respect—respect for each other, the guest, the ingredients, the farmers, the producers, the purveyors, and the space you work in and share with others

Advice to your younger self: “The hard is what makes it great.” (From the great League of Their Own)

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Egg yolk raviolo, spinach, garam masala, asparagus, pomegranate molasses Chef Bailey Sullivan of Monteverde Adapted by StarChefs

INGREDIENTS Raviolo Dough: Yield: 865 grams 500 grams 00 pasta flour 2 whole eggs 14 egg yolks Garam Masala: Yield: 1 cup Canola oil 6 grams green cardamom 30 grams black cardamom 6 grams cloves 30 grams chopped cinnamon sticks 18 grams halved nutmeg

6 grams star anise 18 Indian bay leaves

Toasted Pistachios: Pistachios, shelled

Garam Masala Verdi Filling: Yield: 1.43 kilograms Butter 200 grams diced yellow onion 2 kilograms spinach 24 grams salt 730 grams Caputo parmesan 500 grams Caputo ricotta 32 grams finely grated lemon zest 300 grams Cypress Grove goat cheese

To Assemble and Serve: Yield: 1 serving 1 egg yolk Asparagus Salt Spring onion, bottoms julienned in rounds and tops julienned on a bias Butter Pomegranate molasses

METHOD For the Raviolo Dough: To a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, add flour then slowly and gradually add eggs and yolks. Once the dough is formed, remove from mixer, loosely cover with plastic wrap, and let rest 30 minutes. Portion dough into 40-to-50-gram balls. Reserve. For the Garam Masala: In a pan over medium flame, heat oil. Add remaining ingredients and bloom spices until they become toasty and fragrant. Pour over a chinois then buzz in a spice grinder until fine. For the Garam Masala Verdi Filling: In a rondeau over low heat, cook butter and onion until onion becomes translucent. Add spinach and season with 12 grams salt. Once the spinach has wilted, drain excess liquid then immediately transfer spinach to sheet trays. Place in a blast chiller to cool to just below room temperature. Transfer chilled spinach to a food processor and add 230 grams diced parmesan. Pulse together until smooth. To a bowl, add spinach mixture, ricotta, lemon zest, goat cheese, remaining salt, 500 grams grated parmesan, and 36 grams Garam Masala, starting with a portion and tasting before adding all. Mix by hand; there should be no lumps. Adjust seasoning as needed.

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For the Toasted Pistachios: Bake pistachios at 350°F for 12 minutes. Transfer to a food processor and pulse until fine. To Assemble and Serve: Roll out a Raviolo Dough portion to the 5 setting twice and cut out 2 large, semicircular shapes. In the center of a semicircles, pipe 100 grams Garam Masala Verdi Filling in layering circles, forming a beehive shape. Pipe a dollop into the center then top with an egg yolk. Layer the other sheet of dough over the top, carefully pressing out all the air with your finger or a ring mold. Using a pasta cutter, cut out a square around the mound. Blanch asparagus in salted water for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Sauté spring onion bottoms in brown butter. Meanwhile, boil raviolo in well-salted water for 2 to 3 minutes. Add cooked raviolo and asparagus to the spring onion bottoms. Baste raviolo in brown butter and transfer to a serving plate. Garnish with spring onion tops, Toasted Pistachios, and pomegranate molasses. Featured ingredients: Cypress Grove goat cheese, Caputo parmesan and ricotta

CH ICAGO 202 1

CH E F

Chops Wat LAO PENG YOU

IN ERIC "CHOPS" WAT'S CHILDHOOD

home in Aurora, Ill., the family had a monthly tradition of sitting around his grandmother’s kitchen table and folding dumplings. His nai nai, who immigrated from Suzhou by way of Hong Kong, exposed her grandchildren to a variety of regional Chinese cuisines. Her talent with food and the ritual of dining together deeply impacted Chops and his brother, Daniel. When the brothers moved to the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago in their early 20s, Chops cooked any chance he could get: at taquerias, local bars, and even his own wedding. With more than a decade of industry experience between them, Chops and Daniel decided to join forces and open a place of their own. In true Wat family form, Lao Peng You became a family business with Chops’ wife, Taylor Reaves, designing the branding and interior, Daniel taking over the front of house, and Chops conceptualizing the menu. The restaurant’s handmade dumplings, noodles, and bing embody the culinary traditions passed down by Chops and Daniel’s grandmother. And Nai Nai’s legacy continues on Lao Peng You’s walls, where she is prominently displayed in framed photos. choppy808 / laopengyouchi Favorite kitchen tool: A sharp cleaver Tool you wish you had: A wok station Favorite food resource: Pei Mei’s Chinese Cook Book (Vols. 1-3) by Fu Pei-Mei Most important kitchen rule: Behind. What you eat on your nights off: Probably leftover comida, tacos, or something nice at home with my wife Advice to your younger self: Stay attentive to your work and life because you may not know how to later.

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Pork and Dill Dumplings

PHOTOS: WILL BLUNT

Chef Chops Wat of Lao Peng You Adapted by StarChefs

INGREDIENTS Infused Oil: Caiziyou Green onions, sliced Red onions, chopped Ginger Star anise Cinnamon Fennel Brown peppercorns Garlic Ginger Water: Garlic, rough-chopped Ginger, smashed Ground Pork: Niman Ranch pork butt Dumpling Filling: Note: Percentages are made according to the weight of the Ground Pork (meat plus fat cap). 0.05% baking soda 2% salt

METHOD 1.5% tiánmiànjiàng 0.5% light soy sauce 0.1% white pepper 0.1% monosodium glutamate 10% chicken stock 0.2% sesame oil 25% salted, chopped, and squeezed cabbage 8% plucked and chopped dill

For the Infused Oil: In caiziyou, fry onions and ginger until brown but not burnt. Remove the fried bits and set aside. Soak star anise, cinnamon, fennel, and brown peppercorn in water for 10 minutes, strain, then add to onion ginger oil. Fry slowly until all moisture is gone and the oil is clear again. Remove spices and let cool.

To Assemble and Serve: Dumpling wrappers Soy broth Dried shrimp Cilantro Zha cai Wood ear mushrooms Sesame seeds Garlic Green onion Chile oil

For the Dumpling Filling: Dissolve baking soda in 3% Garlic Ginger Water. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, add Ground Pork meat and salt. Mix at lowest speed until salt is incorporated. Mix in tiánmiànjiàng, soy sauce, white pepper, and MSG, followed by the Garlic Ginger Water mixture. Add chicken stock in stages, gradually mixing to incorporate. Mix to combine Ground Pork fat until the filling looks stringy and bouncy. Mix in sesame oil and 2% Infused Oil, making the filling shiny. Finally, add cabbage and dill; mix well.

For the Garlic Ginger Water: In a nonreactive container. combine all ingredients. Cover with boiling water and let it sit for 10 minutes. For the Ground Pork: Using a knife, separate pork butt meat from fat cap. Pluck out and discard the gland and much of the stringy fat and veins running through the cut. Weigh the lean meat and fat cap separately, adding or removing in order to maintain a 4:1 ratio, lean meat to fat. Using a chilled meat grinder, grind lean meat and fat separately.

To Assemble and Serve: Fill each dumpling wrapper with a small spoonful of Dumpling Filling. Fold over and seal dumplings. Steam until pork is cooked through. Serve dumplings in a warm soy broth cooked with dried shrimp, cilantro, zha cai, and wood ear mushrooms. Garnish with sesame seeds, garlic, green onion, and chile oil. Featured ingredient: Niman Ranch pork butt

CH ICAGO 202 1

introducing

New Products 2021

visit our chicago showroom

Located At 1052 West Fulton Market, Chicago, IL 60607. To schedule an appointment contact chicago@steeliteusa.com • www.steelite.com

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growing together INTE RVIEW BY K E NDY L K E ARLY

A hospitality industry lifer, Joe Fontana likes to take care of people. He was the kind of bartender who had a favorite drink ready as soon as the guest sat down. Now that he’s running five locations of his hot chicken concept, Fry the Coop, Fontana wistfully spends more time on the computer than with customers. But through technological efficiencies and clever growth strategies, he also gets to take care of staff.

What’s your approach to staffing? There’s this quote that really struck a chord: “If you want to prosper for a year, grow a plant. If you want to prosper for 10 years, grow a tree. If you want to prosper for 100 years, grow people.” We want to open 75 stores in 10 years. We want to do partnership programs—so we start with a dishwasher making $13 to $15 an hour, then they become a prep cook then a kitchen manager, someone who knows the system. We would partner with them to open a restaurant where they’d be a partowner. Then it’s a waterfall system where they open three stores. It’s franchising only for inside people. Or we might do an employee stock ownership plan. The whole idea is to grow the company so we can grow our people and give them the pay they deserve. We haven’t gotten there yet, but that’s our idea.

How do you retain employees in the meantime? We just launched full benefits, so anyone can get health insurance. That’s expensive, but the more revenue you bring in, the more you can do for people. We donate a lot to the community, but we are also setting up a fund for the crew if, for example, someone needs a down payment or their car breaks down.

PHOTO: WILL BLUNT

When there’s such an emphasis on the employees, good hiring seems especially important. We have an H.R. person and are constantly hiring. We set up interviews whether we need someone or not. Thursdays are interview days. If we find someone who’s great, we make room. With restaurant turnover, you should always be hiring. Being short-staffed puts so much stress on the whole team.

How do you stay efficient enough to keep growing? It’s all technology. Jolt is a task list app. Every person in the restaurant has a Jolt list and has to check off “chores” before the shift change. It has to be signed by a manager, and you know what you need to knock out. I also use HotSchedules, and Google Suite helps us stay in contact with documents and folders. Slack has been pretty cool for constant communication.

How does communication factor in? Every store does end-of-day reports, end-of-week reports, and end-of-month reports. Emails go out to everyone in a store with information about sales, complaints, incidents. They do a pre-shift talk to go through notes from the night before. It’s crazy that some of these guys who work Monday through Friday don’t even know the weekend people. This keeps everyone on the same page. It’s kind of a pain in the ass to keep growing. But if you want to create opportunities for the staff, you’ve got to keep going. The goal of opening those stores isn’t for us to be on a boat with money. It’s all to help the crew.

GA ME C H A NGE RS

H 21 C ICAGO

GAME CHANGER AWARD PR ESENTED BY

S.P

E L L EG R I N O

Tim Flores, Genie Kwon

TIM FLORES GREW UP JUST outside of Chicago with his parents, who immigrated from the Philippines in 1975. His first experience in professional kitchens was polishing dishes at GT Fish & Oyster between college semesters in Iowa. After graduation, Flores returned to Chicago and transitioned to GT’s kitchen, where he met his future wife and business partner, Genie Kwon, as she ran the restaurant’s pastry wing. Kwon, a native of New Orleans, graduated from Newbury College’s culinary management program in Massachusetts. By the time she found herself working alongside Flores, Kwon had cut her teeth at Flour Bakery & Café, Nobu Fifty Seven, and Eleven Madison Park.

In 2014, Flores moved on to work as a line cook at Senza under Rising Stars alum Chef Noah Sandoval while Kwon served as the pastry chef at BOKA and netted a Jean Banchet Rising Pastry Chef of the Year award. After a couple rounds of post-service drinks, Sandoval, Kwon, and Flores decided to open a restaurant together. One year later they opened Oriole, a fine dining restaurant that earned two Michelin stars in its first year. In 2018, Flores and Kwon left to conceptualize a space of their own. After two and a half years, they built that space in the Ukrainian Village and named it Kasama, meaning “together” in Tagalog. The couple lives up to the restaurant’s name by collaborating on the Filipino-inflected sweet and savory offerings. For example, Kwon’s halo halo recipe combines her own flavors with her mother-in-law’s recipe for leche flan.

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KASAMA timothyryanchi / geniekwon kasamachicago

Tim Favorite kitchen tool: Bowl scraper Favorite cooking resource: Bar Tartine by Cortney Burns and Nicolaus Balla Most important kitchen rule: Don't be an asshole. Advice to your younger self: Be patient. Genie Tool you wish you had: Unlimited space Favorite cooking resource: so good.. magazine Most important kitchen rule: There is always a better way. Advice to your younger self: Set a goal but don’t be consumed by getting to the destination and miss the ride.

Black truffle croissant Chefs Tim Flores and Genie Kwon of Kasama Adapted by StarChefs

INGREDIENTS Croissant Dough: 280 grams milk 60 grams yeast 100 grams sugar 1 kilogram flour 25 grams salt 100 grams butter Lamination: 600 grams butter Flour

PHOTOS: WILL BLUNT

Délice de Bourgogne Sauce: 400 grams heavy cream 400 grams délice de bourgogne 12 grams truffle paste 12 grams truffle oil Salt

METHOD

To Assemble and Serve: Egg wash Honey Rock sugar Black truffle, freshly shaved

For the Croissant Dough: Add all ingredients and 300 grams water to a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment. Mix 6 minutes. Cover dough and let chill overnight. For the Lamination: Sandwiched between 2 pieces of parchment paper, pound out butter into a large rectangular shape. Wrap butter in plastic and refrigerate until solid. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out chilled Croissant Dough to about 15 by 36 inches. Roll out chilled butter block to approximately ⅓ the size of Croissant Dough rectangle. Center butter block over Croissant Dough and give it 3 letter folds and turns, back-to-back. Using a dough sheeter, sheet laminated Croissant Dough until very thin. Cut into 3-by-9-inch, 70-gram portions. Let proof until tripled in size, 2 to 8 hours depending on temperature. For the Délice de Bourgogne Sauce: In a pot over medium flame, heat cream and délice de bourgogne until boiling. Remove from heat and add remaining ingredients. Using an immersion blender, blend until smooth. Let cool to room temperature. To Assemble and Serve: Brush croissants with egg wash and bake at 350°F for 35 minutes. Let croissants cool on a cooling rack. Once room temperature, use a knife to slice a hole at the bottom of each croissant. Using a piping back, fill each croissant with 25 grams Délice de Bourgogne Sauce. When ready to serve, drizzle with honey, sprinkle with rock sugar, and top with shaved black truffle. CH ICAGO 202 1

By Amelia Levin

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Challenged by ongoing labor shortages after a global pandemic and lockdowns, chefs and restaurateurs are tasked with doing more with less. This led to slimmed-down menus and an expanded definition of “cross-utilization.” The use of culinary interchangeable parts takes things one step further, focusing on a house-made item that can be applied to multiple dishes—just like Industrial Revolution manufacturers realized they could speed production by using type parts for a wide array of products. What might have started as a reaction to an economic crisis has lasting benefits, including labor and food cost savings. Even better, diners don’t seem to miss those lengthy menus or extra dish components of pre-pandemic times. Perfecting one versatile component then using it over and over again is the new name of the game.

Sweet Pastry Chef Felicia Mayden of Ace Hotel Chicago uses her croissant dough for a range of handmade pastries, such as a grown-up Poptart. “When the pandemic hit, we looked for ways to maximize menu items and started with the bread and bakery program,” Mayden says. Much to the enjoyment of her regulars, the croissant dough has now become the basis for everything puff, taking on different shapes and flavors.

At Beacon Doughnuts, cofounder and Executive Chef Andrew Catrambone has been able to gain efficiencies by using the same two doughnut bases for the 12 flavors that are on the menu at a given time, but he and his team add toppings and flavor infusions throughout the week. “We do small-batch Mondays and Wednesdays and make half the menu and then Tuesday do the same thing and make the other half of the menu,” Catrambone says. Flavors like lavender vanilla and blueberry pancake have been met with high demand.

Savory Filipino sausage is an interchangeable part that’s helped Rising Star Chef Tim Flores of Kasama maximize his menu. Longanisa is traditionally served at breakfast but shows up in a variety of places on the menu. Drawing from his heritage, Flores spent two years testing and perfecting the recipe. The sausage stars in a Filipino breakfast plate of garlic-fried rice, fried egg, pickled green papaya, cilantro, and tocino. Kasama also served a barbecue platter with longanisa, tocino ribs, white bread, and pickles and the Chicago-inspired Italian combo sandwich. In this case, longanisa and shaved pork adobo are stuffed into a French loaf and topped with spicy giardiniera.

Cam Waron, culinary director at Honey Butter Fried Chicken, says that during the coronavirus, his team decided that if an ingredient wasn't being used in multiple ways, it got cut. For example, when preparing his famous candied jalapeño mayo, Waron saves the candying liquid for a signature margarita. Likewise, schmaltz is a house staple that’s used in many dishes, like a smashed potato side with rosemary-infused gravy. Pre-pandemic, the longstanding Bittersweet Pastry Shop & Café “Schmaltz is a good secret ingredient, and we can use it in place of had a huge section of dessert offerings and flavor combinations. butter,” says Waron, who extracts the fat while rendering chicken For a nimbler menu, Pastry Chef and Managing Partner Mindy scraps and bones for stock-making, so waste is minimized. Gohr maximizes her brioche dough as an interchangeable part. “Brioche dough is excellent, no matter what you put in it,” Gohr says. Honey buffalo sauce is yet another key component that is featured She typically folds in a fruit of some sort—most recently, she used in various dishes, including the honey buffalo sandwich with mango lekvar, lime agar, and coconut pastry cream (also used for a fried chicken, blue cheese, and giardiniera and in the buffalo mac and cheese with diced-up leftover fried chicken pieces and fried coconut cream pie). crunchies (those excess bits of fried dredge). Again, lots of chicken “Cross-utilization really helps with bottom line,” Gohr says. “I cross-over, little waste. feel a strange sense of guilt saying this, but the pandemic has provided the opportunity for us to slow down, reprioritize, and “We slimmed down our menu quite a bit,” he says. “We need to get two uses out of everything, or it doesn't stay on the menu. We work on streamlining.” figured out what we were good at and ran with that. It forced us to be laser-focused on offerings.” Compared to tangy sourdough, Mayden says laminated dough— when the lamination is spot-on—is a great blank canvas that can be used for croissants, of course, but also pie crust, bear claws, and more. Rather than simply buying it from a manufacturer, making the dough in-house allows Mayden to control the process and store it for other uses.

ILLUSTRATION BY DANIE DRANKWALTER

CO MMUN I TY 20

H 21 C ICAGO

COMMUNITY AWARD PR ESENTED BY

KKO

MAN U

AFTER WORKING 50 TO 60 hours a week, Won Kim’s mother would teach him how to make Korean staples in Chicago as a teenager. He was immediately inspired by the vibrant art, music, and restaurant scenes. So through college, Kim found gigs as a graffiti artist, DJ, and cook. He trained at Le Cordon Bleu, where he met Polish Korean brothers Mike and Ed Marszewski, co-owners of Maria’s Packaged Goods & Community Bar and Marz Community Brewing Co. Kim would regularly stop by Maria’s industry nights, where the Marszewskis shared their half-joking idea of expanding—with Kim at the helm of the kitchen. Kim turned down the offer five times, but on the sixth, he finally agreed.

In 2016, Kim launched Kimski, which combines Polish and Korean cuisines. During the pandemic, Kim operated Kimski as Community Canteen, offering pay-whatyou-can meals. He would hire and pay other cooks and restaurants to serve food while continuing to pay his staff $15 per hour and keep them employed through the winter. He also sold custom art pieces and accepted donations so he could make sure his staff had extra money during this tumultuous time. The Marszewskis and Kim partnered with Eat Free Pizza and Pretty Cool Ice Cream in 2020 for a restaurant that serves the best possible assortment: Pizza Fried Chicken Ice Cream. But Kim is still doing his side hobbies, free murals and DJing for the Chicago community. revisecmw / kimskichicago / pizzachickenicecream PHOTO: JACLYN WARREN

Favorite kitchen tool: It's a toss-up between a mini offset spatula and a bench scraper. Tool you wish you had: A robot that could do all of our jobs

Won Kim KIMSKI 44

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Most important kitchen rule: Be kind and decent to each other and please clean your fucking mess. What you eat on your nights off: My fiancee and I eat a lot of Korean barbecue, or we eat at our friends’ restaurants to support them and because they make wonderful food. Place you’d visit for culinary inspiration: Korea and Japan for sure Advice to your younger self: Be mindful of each other's space and situations. Be curious and always ask questions.

INGREDIENTS Pierogi Dough: 2 cups all-purpose flour Salt 1 egg ½ cup sour cream 4 tablespoons butter, room temperature or melted Potato Cheese Filling: 3 to 5 russet potatoes, peeled and roasted or boiled 1 cup Cypress Grove goat cheese Salt White or black pepper Dried or fresh dill (optional)

Soy Cream: Sour cream Kikkoman tamari soy sauce Kikkoman toasted sesame oil To Assemble and Serve: Salt Butter Red onions, sautéed Shiitake mushrooms, sautéed Dried dill Dried thyme Dried marjoram Fresh herbs Scallion oil Cypress Grove goat cheese

METHOD For the Pierogi Dough: Sift flour and salt together (or just combine) in a bowl and work in the wet ingredients until everything is incorporated. Warning: Dough will be sticky and annoying as fuck to work with. Knead the dough until it gets less sticky and everything gets worked into a ball. Do your best not to add extra flour during this stage. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 48 hours. You can also freeze the dough for later use. For the Potato Cheese Filling: Run potatoes through a ricer or mash by hand as finely as possible. Stir in remaining ingredients then transfer to a piping bag. (Or just grab your best grandma spoon.)

To Assemble and Serve: Let’s fill these little fuckers! Separate your Pierogi Dough ball into sections and roll out to approximately ⅛ inch thick. Use a ring mold or something circular to cut out circles (or a different shape if you prefer). Add a small amount of Potato Cheese Filling then fold over and pinch edges closed. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook pierogies until they float or dough is cooked through. In a sauté pan, heat them with butter, onions, and mushrooms to get nice, toasted notes. Plate with Soy Cream and garnish with remaining ingredients, plus more salt. But the sky is endless as far as fillings go, and you can go ham (literally) with garnishes. Featured ingredients: Kikkoman tamari soy sauce and toasted sesame oil, Cypress Grove goat cheese, Russet potatoes

PHOTO: BRADLEY DANNER

For the Soy Cream: Combine all ingredients at a ratio of 3:1:1 and whisk.

Korean pierogies Chef Won Kim of Kimski Adapted by StarChefs Yield: 8 to 12 small dumplings

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Potatoes with AN ASIAN TWIST

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RED

GOLD BY CARRIE SCHEDLER

When Mohammad Salehi had to leave Afghanistan for his safety, he found a new career in importing high-caliber saffron. The question had been nagging Mohammad Salehi:

to learn English, and he got a job as a linguist for the

Why was the saffron at his neighborhood grocery

U.S. Army. When he became a target for the Taliban,

store so cheap?

he participated in a government relocation program

It wasn’t as if the shop’s $4 per gram price tag was wallet-friendly. But Salehi, the son of farmers from the saffron-rich Afghanistan, knew that the cost to produce a gram of the spice was more like $7—100 grams requires 25,000 crocus flowers with the stamens and styles removed by hand to create threads. Something wasn’t adding up, so he opened

degrees in cybersecurity with Heray as a side hustle, but it grew into a passion. Salehi started selling his saffron to Chicago restaurants and educating chefs on the difference between his product and the fake versions on the market. At etta, Chef Mike Amazeen blends Heray saffron

his new container and ran some unscientific tests.

into his chitarra pasta dough then spikes the seafood

It smelled like paint fumes instead of the usual

sauce with saffron, too. “The color, the aroma, the

woody herbaceousness. The color was bright red

flavor—it’s fresh and bright,” Amazeen says. “This is

instead of a mellow orange-yellow. He placed a few

a vibrant, aromatic saffron.”

threads in water alongside another glass with some higher-quality saffron, and the cheap stuff tinted the water an orange-red, while the more expensive saffron imparted a golden hue. Then he tasted the grocery store saffron: chemical and limp instead of delicately savory with notes of honey and lemon. “That’s when I learned my sales pitch,” Salehi says. In 2017, he and his business partners, Iqbal Zarifi and Shahram Mohammadi, founded Heray Spice, which imports “red gold” directly from farmers in Afghanistan. Other companies often work

PHOTOS: WILL BLUNT

to Chicago. He earned bachelor’s and master’s

Going forward, Salehi’s main concern is the political stability of Afghanistan. He’s always had to navigate a complex customs process to get saffron to the U.S., but now that the Taliban has taken over, he is worried that small farmers might be incentivized to grow poppies for opium instead of crocuses for saffron, as has happened when the Taliban has previously held power. Salehi is also worried that western shipping companies might pull their offices from Afghanistan, making it much harder to get his product out of the country.

through networks of middlemen, and through the

Heray donates a portion of profits to schools in

wholesaling process, fake saffron (made of safflower

Afghanistan, and he’s working on more efforts

plant fibers dyed red to look like the real thing) can

put company proceeds back into supporting small

more easily creep into the market. Salehi built a co-

farmers, helping them to develop safer and more

op network of 28 farmers, paying fair-trade prices

effective processing practices. “I know each source

directly and shipping it to the U.S. to resell.

of this product and where it’s coming from,” Salehi

Salehi’s own family saffron farm is part of Heray’s

says. For him, it’s a taste of home.

model. In high school, his family sent him to school CH ICAGO 202 1

CO MMUN I TY

Donavan Mitchem

LOU'S BACKYARD AND MONEYGUN DONAVAN MITCHEM'S HOSPITALITY CAREER STARTED at TGI Fridays as he worked to finance his political science degree at George Washington University. Serving wasn’t his thing, so Mitchem’s manager told him that he could either try bartending or quit. Mitchem accepted the bartending position and never looked back. He returned to his hometown of Chicago in 2011 during its cocktail renaissance and fell in love with barbacking at The Pump Room. He continued to work his way around the city’s cocktail scene at spots like Drumbar, Celeste, and The Bedford.

PHOTOS: WILL BLUNT

In 2017, Mitchem became beverage director at no-frills MONEYGUN and its sister restaurant, Lou’s Backyard. He spearheads MONEYGUN Charity Club, a program that supports a rotating list of nonprofit initiatives through monthly cocktail specials. One cause especially close to Mitchem’s heart is Causing A Stir, a Chicago-based organization that aims to expand access and opportunities to marginalized groups in the bartending industry. In addition to riffing on classic cocktails, Mitchem curates vibey, ’90s hip-hop playlists and establishes MONEYGUN as the unofficial heartbeat of the West Loop industry scene.

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fraicheprince / saintlouschicago / moneygunchicago Favorite bartending tool: Double strainer Most underrated cocktail ingredient: Bénédictine Cocktail trend you’d like to see: I'd love to see Scotch get its day in the sun cocktail-wise. Cocktail culture you’d like to explore: The super trendiness of agave spirits has always fascinated me. What you drink on your nights off: I like to go out and support friends and am usually more comfortable in a dive bar setting. I usually stick to my High Life and shot of rye, but I am always up to try anything new that the bar staff is working on.

INGREDIENTS

Pepper LaBeija Bartender Donavan Mitchem of MONEYGUN Adapted by StarChefs

Cilantro Syrup: 12 ounces sugar 12 ounces passionfruit purée 0.5 pound fresh cilantro 2 large jalapeños, 1 with seeds and 1 without To Assemble and Serve: Yield: 1 cocktail 1.5 ounces Libélula tequila 0.5 ounce Journeyman Distillery Humdinger Jalapeño 0.25 ounce Chinola passionfruit liqueur 0.75 ounce lime juice Mineral water Lime wheel Mint

METHOD For the Cilantro Syrup: Add all ingredients to a Vitamix blender. Blend until smooth then strain through a fine mesh strainer. Seal until use. To Assemble and Serve: In a shaker, combine tequila, Humdinger Jalapeno, Chinola, lime juice, and 0.75 ounce Cilantro Syrup. Strain into a collins glass over cubed ice. Top with mineral water. Garnish with a skewered lime wheel and mint. Featured equipment: Vitamix Commercial blender

CH ICAGO 202 1

BY AU DARS H IA TOW ILLU S TR NSE ATE ND DB YK ISIR A

HIL

Chef Erick Williams is a man of few words when it comes to his menu at Virtue Restaurant. For instance, no explanation is necessary for the fried chicken gizzards, blackened catfish, and even his grandmother’s beloved cornbread, recipes that have quickly become savory staples at this contemporary, Southern-focused Chicago restaurant.

The show emerged during a period when “many Black folk didn’t have a lot of access to wealth and access to opportunity,” says Williams, who serves as executive chef and owner at Virtue. The Jeffersons was aspirational. It showed viewers that if they worked hard, they too could get a “piece of the pie” and possibly a seat at the decisionmaking tables of America.

But it’s the “sweet rations” menu that’s certain to elicit a chuckle, followed by questions at the sight of We Finally Got a Piece of the Pie, a nod to the theme song of the 1970s hit sitcom The Jeffersons. The show follows a Black family with a business that’s so successful that it affords them material luxuries such as fur coats, a live-in housekeeper, and a “deluxe apartment in the sky,” their penthouse condominium in Manhattan.

Williams, however, interprets We Finally Got a Piece of the Pie as his opportunity to build the table of his dreams with Virtue so he can share the wealth with like-minded, creative people. And naturally, he has plenty to talk about on this topic. That includes African American foodways, his staff, surrounding communities, and, of course, the culinary community at large.

The veteran chef, born and raised on Chicago’s tough West Side, has been featured in major publications, earned Michelin recognition, and was a 2020 finalist for the James Beard‘s Best Chef: Great Lakes award. But what’s more important for him is passing on what he’s learned—formally and from his folks—to the next generation. For Williams, historical context is everything. Therefore, understanding how The Great Migration from the South to Chicago plays a significant role in modern Southern fare is necessary. He believes Black people pioneered the farm-to-table movement in the U.S., yet they get very little credit. “There are a lot of chefs who like to believe they were the first ones to town with farm-to-table, farm-to-fork, soil-to-table, and so on,” Williams says. “I would dispute many of the modern-day chefs who say they are the first to introduce it in their respective communities because my ancestors were the first to introduce Southern cooking as we know it in a seasonal approach. They didn’t have refrigeration. There was no freezer to pull something out of. What they did do was can, and canning is omitted from the farm-to-table conversations.” Canning, smoking, curing, and fermenting were essential, explains Williams, because the techniques allowed them to enjoy out-of-season produce throughout the year. More important is that it helped save money on grocery bills. And when fruits and vegetables are canned at the peak of their seasons, he adds, they taste as though they were just picked. He believes the proof is in tasting his food. “Chefs are flavor chasers, and we always want to work with optimum ingredients,” says Williams. “Artisans, craftsmen, people who are passionate about a thing want to work with the best of that thing that they possibly can.” That brings us back to the pie. Like so many dishes at Virtue, it is seasonal. Since opening in fall 2018, the restaurant has featured talented Pastry Chef Becky Pendola’s interpretations of Southern classics like pecan pie, coconut cream pie, lemon meringue pie, sweet potato pie, and Key lime pie. While these desserts can be found on menus at most of the city’s soul food eateries, there’s a lot more here than meets the eye. It might look like just a pie, says Williams, but Pendola’s pastries focus on “uber-fine finishes and technique.”

And that’s the key to Williams’ success. He and his team have taken what are considered simple Southern ingredients and transformed them into masterpieces. That includes the crispy fried chicken gizzards, which are served over dirty rice and drizzled with a rich chicken reduction that we call gravy; the blackened catfish, which comes with a heaping of “Carolina Gold” rice and barbecued spiced carrots; and even his grandmother’s treasured cornbread, which arrives piping hot with house-made butter topped with local honey. Williams’ sharp attention to detail is admirable, and he credits that to his grandmother’s tutelage—and his thirst for knowledge. He’s traveled throughout the South and studied the legacy of African American foodways, all while absorbing somber details about how his ancestors were omitted from America’s culinary history for centuries. “We were the keepers of technique and the keepers of ingredient bases and the keepers of procedures in kitchens for many, many years in this country,” he says. “But we were not allowed to read and write, so this was all done through memory. … People like to omit the fact that the settlers didn’t cook their own food, and if they owned slaves, then slaves cooked their food. Their servants were the ones who cooked their food and grew their food and preserved their food and handled and managed their lands.” As a result, he continues, recipes were stolen, and credit was not given to the originators. Until now. Authors and historians such as Adrian Miller, Dr. Jessica B. Harris, Toni Tipton-Martin, and Michael W. Twitty have been diligent in uncovering lost stories of these unsung culinary pioneers with their award-winning books Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue, High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America, Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking, and The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South, respectively.

Williams additionally credits Edgar “Dooky” Jr. and Leah Chase for preserving African American foodways and culture with their landmark New Orleans restaurant. Dooky Chase’s Restaurant opened in 1941, and though both of its founders have passed away, their legacy will forever impact Williams and how he operates Virtue. “It was this idea that there could be a safe space for Black folks during the most hostile times and a communal space for everyone when things were well,” he says. “[Virtue] has become that space in a way. The first seven days we were open, we had President Barack Obama in the building convening with friends. … During the pandemic, we had local and statewide officials reaching out to get a finger on the pulse of how we felt personally and how the restaurant community may have been feeling at the time. “Our intention is to give space to everyday folk and to allow everyone outside of our race to see Black people in their element and to dine and commune with Black people in their element—and around our food with dignity and respect.” In other words, there’s a piece of pecan, lemon meringue, or sweet potato pie waiting for anyone who enters the doors at Virtue.

on the

RISE

PHOTOS: WILL BLUNT

MOLE

BY MISHA GARZA LÓPEZ

Pastry Chef Valeria Taylor (or Maria del Socorro Valeria Rebeca dough from the spice. But still, exact timing is key—if Taylor waits Ballado Velazquez, as she’s known in Mexico) made her first too long to bake after shaping, the bonds will begin to break and croissant two years after she opened Loba Coffee + Pastry. A fan the croissant will not rise properly. of chocolate croissants, she wanted to put a twist on them by adding mole, inspired by her childhood in Guadalajara. Taylor’s “Mole is the Mexican version of curry,” she says. Everyone has family cooks whatever they can from scratch, so once she a different recipe, and it varies depending on where and when developed her mock-sourdough croissants, she began working it’s being made. Although mole in Guadalajara is likely going on her own mole recipe. When time and seasonality allows, to be pretty different from a mole croissant in Chicago, both Taylor blends up a sesame-based mole paste with golden raisins, evoke childhood memories of pasilla and chipotle chiles, cinnamon, and unripe plantains. special occasions. Taylor says, “I’m always trying to recreate When it doesn’t, she uses Teloloapan mole paste instead. something that I had when I With the croissant recipe figured out and the mole chosen came was growing up.” the final unexpected challenge: combining the two. When Taylor attempted to integrate the mole into the dough, the spices broke down the gluten bonds. After some trial and error, she found that incorporating the mole into the butter block best protected the

StarChefs is partnering with Cafe Tola and True Aussie Goat to benefit Careers Through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP). Through culinary training, career advice, and scholarship opportunities, C-CAP fights the cycle of poverty by guiding underserved high school students toward a bright future in the hospitality industry. For every goat birria empanada ordered during Rising Stars Restaurant Week from September 21 to October 5, StarChefs is donating $2 to C-CAP.

we Support

INGREDIENTS

PHOTO: WILL BLUNT

Red Sauce: 1 pound dried puya chiles, rinsed and deveined 1 pound dried guajillo chiles, rinsed and deveined 10 cloves garlic 1 white onion, chopped

METHOD Birria and Consommé: 2 cases 6-way-cut Australian goat 10 cloves garlic 10 bay leaves 3 tablespoons paprika 3 tablespoons ground cumin 3 tablespoons oregano 48 ounces tomato sauce 4 cans (size #10)

garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed To Assemble and Serve: Empanada dough White onion, diced Cilantro, chopped Chihuahua cheese Oil for frying

For the Red Sauce: Boil the chiles with enough water to cover them. Add garlic and onion. When the chiles are soft, blend in a Vitamix blender then strain. For the Birria and Consommé: Preheat oven to 475°F. Add goat, garlic, spices, tomato sauce, and 48 ounces Red Sauce to a roasting pan. Add enough water so the goat is fully submerged in liquid. Cover with aluminum foil and roast 4 hours. Remove goat from roasting pan and let cool. Add garbanzo beans to braising liquid and cook another 20 minutes. Once goat is cool enough to handle, shred into bite-sized pieces.

To Assemble and Serve: Using a tortilla press or rolling pin, flatten empanada dough into rounds. Place a small amount of Birria, onion, cilantro, and cheese in the center of each round. Fold dough over filling and pinch edges to seal in a half-moon shape. Deep-fry empanadas 3 minutes or until golden brown on both sides. Serve with Consommé for dipping. Featured ingredient: Australian goat Featured equipment: Vitamix Commercial blender

"When I tried the 68% Fruity Dark Chocolate from TCHO, it started singing to me in a sense that I wanted to pair it with something that had a lovely citrus flavor, yet not as sour as a lemon."

StarChefs Rising Stars Award Winner, 2015 TCHO Pro Erin Kanagy-Loux, Pastry Chef

THE DELICIOUS IS IN THE DETAILS. TCHO IS GIVING AWAY 30 CHOCOLATE TASTING KITS!

Enter at TCHO.com/samples

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PAST RY CHEF 20

H 21 C ICAG

PASTRY CHEF AWARD TC

PR ESENTED BY

TE CHOCOLA

HAILING FROM THE SOUTHERN SUBURBS of Chicago, Natalie Saben set her sights on a culinary career early on. As she hosted at local restaurants, her fascination with what was happening behind the scenes inspired her to transition to the back of house. With a push from Chef Steve Chiappetti, she decided to forgo a formal culinary education and started working on the line at Cafe le Coq. After a stage at Graham Elliot, Saben was hired on and spent three years working through every station to become tournant. She then moved to Graham Elliot Bistro as opening sous chef and helped start the pastry program. In 2014, Chef Curtis Duffy offered her the role of pastry sous chef at the threeMichelin-starred fine dining restaurant Grace. With Duffy’s guidance and encouragement, Saben brought her skills to a new level, incorporating savory accents, and became the pastry chef in 2015.

When Grace closed in late 2017, Saben joined Underscore Hospitality and opened Pacific Standard Time the following spring. There, she and the team focused on seasonal ingredients with a California influence—earning her a nomination for 2019 Jean Banchet Rising Pastry Chef of the Year. With the closure of PST in fall 2020, Saben transitioned the space to avec River North before becoming the pastry chef for One Off Hospitality as a whole, including avec River North, avec West Loop, bar avec, The Publican, and Publican Quality Meats. After working in pastry for the better part of a decade, her love for savory flavors still endures with her use of ingredients like baharat, coriander, and black pepper. npsaben / avecchicago / publicanchicago Favorite kitchen tool: Mini spatula Favorite cooking resource: Hello, My Name Is Ice Cream by Dana Cree. I also love Instagram for ideas/inspiration. Advice to your younger self: Don't lock yourself into one idea for your career. Place you’d visit for culinary inspiration: Israel and Turkey Most important kitchen rule: Your time isn't any more valuable than anyone else's.

Natalie Saben

ONE OFF HOSPITALITY

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Chocolate baklava, walnuts, pecans, chocolate mousse, coffee frozen yogurt Chef Natalie Saben of avec Adapted by StarChefs

INGREDIENTS Coffee Frozen Yogurt: Yield: 2 third pans 1 kilogram brewed coffee 1 kilogram heavy cream 250 grams whole milk 1 kilogram sugar 250 grams glucose 14 grams stabilizer 40 grams coffee beans 2 kilograms yogurt 20 grams salt Honeycomb Candy: 400 grams sugar 100 grams honey 24 grams baking soda Cooking spray House Spice Blend: 36 grams cinnamon 12 grams allspice

12 grams ground black pepper 4.5 grams Aleppo pepper 3 grams nutmeg Nut Mix: 800 grams toasted pecans 800 grams toasted walnuts 14 grams salt Babka-Style Filling: 680 grams TCHO dark chocolate 112 grams brown sugar 224 grams butter 8 grams cinnamon Honey Syrup: 680 grams honey 680 grams sugar 1 whole lemon peel 1 whole orange peel 10 grams vanilla paste

Baklava: Yield: 1 half sheet pan 32 sheets phyllo dough, thawed to room temperature 1 pound butter, melted Chocolate Mousse: 670 grams cream 400 grams milk 136 grams sugar 270 grams egg yolks 8 sheets gelatin, bloomed 700 grams TCHO dark chocolate 10 grams salt 1.2 kilograms heavy whipping cream To Assemble and Serve: Yield: 1 serving Fresh Origins edible flowers

METHOD For the Coffee Frozen Yogurt: In a pot, combine coffee, cream, milk, sugar, glucose, and stabilizer and bring to a boil. Pour over coffee beans and let steep overnight. Strain liquid into a large, nonreactive container. Add yogurt and salt then, using an immersion blender, blend until uniform and smooth. In an ice cream machine, freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

For the House Spice Blend: Combine all ingredients.

For the Honeycomb Candy: In a pot, combine sugar and honey with a little water until it resembles wet sand. Cook until sugar has reached a light amber color. It’s best to go lighter because as you add the baking soda, the sugar continues to cook and darkens more. Remove from heat and whisk in baking soda. Working quickly, whisk in the baking soda fully. Make sure not to whisk too much, or the candy will deflate. Pour into a sprayed, lined, deep half hotel pan. Allow to cool completely before breaking apart. Store in airtight containers to prevent the candy from becoming sticky.

For the Babka-Style Filling: Over a double boiler, melt to combine all ingredients, stirring often. Remove from heat and set aside.

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For the Nut Mix: Add nuts to a food processor then process until they just begin to release their oils. Toss with salt and 43 grams House Spice Blend.

For the Honey Syrup: Simmer all ingredients with 680 grams water until slightly thickened, about 15 minutes. Let cool.

PHOTOS: WILL BLUNT

For the Baklava: Place phyllo dough under a damp towel while you work. Brush 1 sheet with butter and place another sheet over. Repeat the process until 10 sheets are stacked. Transfer to a half sheet pan lined and framed with parchment. Evenly spread on 100 grams Babka-Style Filling then 200 grams Nut Mix. Top with a 4-sheet stack of buttered phyllo. Add another 100 grams Babka-Style Filling, 200 grams Nut Mix, and another 4-sheet stack of buttered phyllo. Repeat twice more, finishing with 10 sheets of buttered phyllo instead of 4. Brush top of the baklava with butter and portion into 9-inch-by-4-inch rectangles. Bake at 350°F for 40 minutes then reduce temperature to 325°F for 40 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 30 minutes. Pour 1 kilogram Honey Syrup over each baklava and let sit overnight. For the Chocolate Mousse: Combine cream, milk, and sugar in a pot and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and temper in yolks. Return to heat and cook until temperature reaches 180°F. Strain over gelatin, chocolate, and salt. Let sit for 5 minutes. Whisk together until smooth. Let cool to 86°F. While chocolate is cooling, whip heavy whipping cream to medium peaks. Once chocolate has reached room temperature, fold in whipped cream. Refrigerate. To Assemble and Serve: On a small bed of Honeycomb Candy, stack 2 pieces Baklava with 3 dollops Chocolate Mousse and 1 scoop Coffee Frozen Yogurt. Garnish with edible flowers. Featured ingredients: TCHO dark chocolate, Fresh Origins edible flowers

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PASTRY C H E F

Lauren Terrill PROXI AND SEPIA 20

H 21 C ICAGO

PASTRY CHEF AWARD TC

PR ESENTED BY

TE CHOCOLA

GROWING UP ALL AROUND EUROPE and in the Washington, D.C. area, Lauren Terrill hadn’t considered cooking as a career. But even when she was living in New York City and working in the publishing industry, baking remained in the back of her mind. Eventually, she followed her dream and moved to Paris for an accelerated pastry program at Le Cordon Bleu. In 2013, she received her first cooking job at French restaurant Le Diplomate in D.C.

One year later, Terrill moved to Chicago to work at Homestead on the Roof. From there, she found a job as Swift & Sons’ pastry sous alongside Rising Stars alum Meg Galus. At Dutch & Doc’s,

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Chef Chris Pandel taught her how to keep her cool in stressful situations and be an efficient leader. Terrill contributed to the opening of five Boka Restaurant Group restaurants in the span of four years. Needing a chance to recharge, she moved on to Pretty Cool Ice Cream with Rising Stars alum Dana Cree. Then in 2020, Terrill was ready to return to plated desserts and scored the executive pastry chef position at Proxi and Michelinstarred Sepia. At both restaurants, she creates dynamic, globally inspired pastries like black sesame financiers with grapefruit ice cream and coconut panna cotta with a dok jok cookie.

lauren_terrill sepiachicago / proxichicago Favorite kitchen tool: My baby offset spatula! Favorite cookbook: Frozen Desserts by Francisco J. Migoya and The Flavor Bible Most important kitchen rule: Treat everyone with respect. Place you’d visit for culinary inspiration: I've been lucky to travel pretty extensively through France already, so I'd like to do the same in Italy and Japan. Advice to your younger self: At the end of the day, it's only food.

Coconut panna cotta Pastry Chef Lauren Terrill of Proxi Adapted by StarChefs

INGREDIENTS

Coconut Panna Cotta: Yield: 30 servings 1.6 kilograms coconut milk 800 grams coconut cream 200 grams sugar 140 grams chopped ginger 100 grams chopped galangal 10 lemongrass stalks, light parts only, chopped Zest of 8 limes 12 makrut lime leaves, chopped 14 gelatin sheets, bloomed Blueberry and Lime Leaf Compote: 750 grams blueberries 75 grams sugar 20 grams lime juice

6 makrut lime leaves, center stem removed, cut chiffonade 24 grams cornstarch Salty Coconut Crunch: 250 grams sugar 250 grams cake flour 250 grams desiccated unsweetened coconut 250 grams tempered butter 8 grams salt Dok Jok Cookie: 190 grams rice flour 75 grams tapioca flour 3 grams salt 125 grams sugar 8 grams black sesame seeds 8 grams white sesame seeds 1 egg 110 grams coconut cream Neutral oil for frying PHOTOS: WILL BLUNT

Limestone Water: 2 tablespoons Thai pink limestone paste

METHOD For the Limestone Water: In a nonreactive container, combine limestone paste with 1 quart water. Stir, seal, then shake well. Let sit 30 minutes for the limestone to settle. This will last indefinitely.

juice, and about half the lime leaves. In a separate bowl, stir just enough water into cornstarch to make a slurry. Add slurry to cooking blueberries and boil for 1 minute, stirring frequently. Let cool and mix in remaining blueberries and lime leaves.

For the Coconut Panna Cotta: In a pot, heat coconut milk, coconut cream, sugar, ginger, galangal, lemongrass, lime zest, and lime leaves long enough to melt sugar. Remove from heat, cover, and let steep for 20 minutes. Rewarm if necessary and stir in gelatin to melt. Strain and distribute 3-ounce portions into bowls or glasses. Let set in the cooler for at least 2 hours. Leftovers can be remelted gently over a bain-marie.

For the Salty Coconut Crunch: In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, add all ingredients and mix until crumbly. Transfer to a sheet tray and bake at 250°F until dry; it should have little to no color.

For the Blueberry and Lime Leaf Compote: In a pot, heat 500 grams blueberries with sugar, lime

For the Dok Jok Cookie: In a bowl, whisk dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl, whisk together egg, coconut cream, and 120 grams Limestone Water. Combine the mixtures and whisk until smooth. Heat a dok jok mold in a 350°F fryer. Dip hot mold into tempered batter, just to the

top of the mold. (If batter goes over the top, the cookie might stick.) Dip mold into the fryer and gently bounce it up and down in the oil until the cookie releases itself. Fry until light golden brown, flipping once. Keep the mold in the fryer so it’s ready for the next cookie. Remove cookie from fryer and immediately drape over the top of a bottle, something that’s as big as the center star of the cookie mold, to open up the cookie into a lotus flower shape. To Assemble and Serve: Place a spoonful of Salty Caramel Crunch onto the center of the Coconut Panna Cotta. Top that with a spoonful of Blueberry and Lime Leaf Compote then place a Dok Jok Cookie on top of it all. The Dok Jok Cookie should hide the other components so it’s a bit of a surprise when you crack into it.

CH ICAGO 202 1

From

Bean to Babka By Amelia Schwartz

To infuse a vanilla rose babka with potent, sustainably made flavor, Masa Madre utilizes vnlla Extract Co.’s pure vanilla extract. Bakers Tamar Fasja Unikel and Elena Vázquez Felgueres know how to put a twist on sweetened breads. Their signature hot chocolate babka is what launched Masa Madre. The pair would bake in their apartment then hand-deliver the babka to local cafes. Now operating out of F&B incubator space The Hatchery, Fasja Unikel and Vázquez Felgueres built an entire menu of Mexican- and Jewish-inspired pastries, including many seasonal spins on their original babka. When Mother’s Day came around, Fasja Unikel and Vázquez Felgueres wanted to create something feminine and lavish. “We were thinking that babka is already a gift, but a typical Mother’s Day gift is flowers,” Vázquez Felgueres says. So they set out on a mission to incorporate floral flavors into a butter-based filling. “We tried different fillings that were more complicated and went with the simplest, which was vanilla.” They whip butter and sugar together until it gets nice and fluffy, then they add vanilla extract, mixing again to infuse the flavor. After spreading the vanilla butter onto the dough, they sprinkle a layer of dried rose petals, light enough to not overpower the vanilla. Symrise, vnlla Extract Co.’s parent company, created its extract for people like Fasja Unikel and Vázquez Felgueres—chefs who want to unleash their creativity. The vanilla comes from the SAVA region of Madagascar, where Symrise partners with more than 7,000 farmers across 84 villages. Paid competitive incomes with benefits, the Malagasy farmers are educated on crop management to produce quality beans. Vanilla trees are planted in precise locations that have the perfect amount of shade and soil moisture. Although the flowering period occurs over a three-to-four-month period, blossoms are open for only six hours, so farmers are constantly monitoring the fickle plant. The flowers are pollinated and the green-colored beans are harvested, both done by hand, then cured to become dried and dark brown. The beans are shipped to the United States, where they are extracted, packaged, and distributed. This sustainable supply chain guarantees a consistent, reliable, and delicious final product.

PHOTO: BRADLEY DANNER

vnlla Extract Co.’s pure vanilla extract is fit for Masa Madre’s vanilla rose babka. Fasja Unikel and Vázquez Felgueres exclusively use sustainably made ingredients and love what it adds to their loaves. “It has a distinct smell, very characteristic of real vanilla,” Vázquez Felgueres says. “A lot of people think vanilla is boring, but when you get a good vanilla extract, I think it’s very subtle, elegant, not too overwhelming, not too sweet.”

Presented by

PAST RY CHEF

H 21 C ICAGO

PASTRY CHEF AWARD PR ESENTED BY

TE CHOCOLA

PHOTOS: WILL BLUNT

Lucas Trahan

EVER

ALTHOUGH LUCAS TRAHAN STARTED AS a culinary student at Johnson & Wales in Denver, he decided that the business side of hospitality would be more worthwhile. So in 2011, he transferred to The Art Institute of Dallas to study food service management and picked up jobs at Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek in 2012 and Chef Matt McCallister’s locally driven FT33 in 2013. When Pastry Chef Maggie Huff needed to take time away from the FT33 kitchen, Trahan filled in at the pastry station. She eventually returned to take over her station, but Trahan decided to stay by her side and really lean into the pastry side of the line.

After a stage turned into a full-time food running position at Grace in Chicago, Trahan found his way back to pastry. He landed a pastry chef position at Entente before taking on the role of pastry sous with the opening team of Chef Erling WuBower's Pacific Standard Time. He then landed the pastry chef role at Chef Curtis Duffy’s refined tasting menu restaurant, Ever, in 2020. Thoughtfully prepared for the end of a tasting menu, Trahan’s desserts are ethereal, delicate, and full of whimsy.

lucas.trahan / everrestaurant Favorite kitchen tool: Spoon What you eat on your days off: Days off are precious, and I want to spend them with precious people. Good food and drink are always good, but the company makes it special. Place you’d visit for culinary inspiration: I want to go off the beaten path. I want to go with my family down to the bayou of Louisiana and cook jambalaya in a bathtub. I want to pound taro in Hawaii or ice fish in the Arctic Circle. I’d find much more inspiration in the experience than grinding away staging. Most important kitchen rule: Be better. It’s not built around the idea that you as an individual are inadequate. It is instead built on the concept that an endless amount of potential resides in your bones.

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Cream cheese ice cream, strawberry ganache, einkorn crumble Pastry Chef Lucas Trahan of Ever Adapted by StarChefs

INGREDIENTS

METHOD

Pickled Green Strawberries: 150 grams white balsamic vinegar 100 grams Champagne vinegar 100 grams rice vinegar 5 lemon peels 30 grams salt 100 grams sugar 500 grams green strawberries, tops removed

For the Pickled Green Strawberries: In a pot over medium heat, combine vinegars, lemon peels, salt, sugar, and 350 grams water. Bring to a boil. In a nonreactive container, pour hot liquid over strawberries. Cover and let sit in a dark, cool place for about 1 week.

Cream Cheese Ice Cream: 600 grams heavy cream 1.1 kilograms sugar 2 vanilla beans, split and scraped 1.4 kilograms half-and-half 1.4 kilograms cream cheese, diced into small pieces 25 grams lemon juice Strawberry Ganache: 300 grams strawberry purée 40 grams white balsamic vinegar 2 grams salt 300 grams strawberry chocolate 5 grams lemon juice Chewy Fraise du Bois: Fraise du bois Einkorn Crumble: 160 grams red fife flour 80 grams einkorn flour 90 grams tempered butter 40 grams sugar 5 grams salt To Assemble and Serve: Freeze-dried strawberries, blended to a powder Lemon verbena Cyprus black salt Pepperberry salt

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For the Cream Cheese Ice Cream: Pour heavy cream and sugar into a large sauce pot. Over low heat, add vanilla beans and allow cream to come to a simmer. Remove from heat and let steep 15 minutes. Strain and discard beans. To a Vitamix blender, add cream mixture and remaining ingredients; blend until smooth. For best results, pour into an ice cream maker and follow manufacturer’s instructions. Alternatively, pour into a shallow dish, cover, and allow to freeze overnight, covered. For the Strawberry Ganache: In a small pot, bring purée, vinegar, and salt to a boil. Pour over chocolate and let sit for 3 minutes. Stir until smooth then emulsify in the lemon juice. Let crystallize overnight. For the Chewy Fraise du Bois: Dehydrate the fraise in a dehydrator for 15 to 30 minutes depending on size. It should be just long enough to let the sugars firm up and give the fruit a little bit of chew. For the Einkorn Crumble: In a bowl, mix all ingredients. Crumble onto a parchment-lined sheet tray and bake at 350°F. Every 5 minutes, take it out and chop with a bench knife to crumble. Bake until toasty and golden, about 15 to 20 minutes. To Assemble and Serve: In a frozen serving bowl, pipe a small amount of the Strawberry Ganache. Place a scoop of the Cream Cheese Ice Cream on top and use the back of the scoop to depress the ice cream. Use a tea strainer to evenly dust the top of the Cream Cheese Ice Cream with a solid layer of freeze-dried strawberry powder. Place a piece of Pickled Green Strawberry on the rim of the divot at 10 o'clock, a Chewy Fraise du Bois at 10:30, and a leaf of lemon verbena at 4 o'clock. In a straight line from 12 to 6, sprinkle some of the Einkorn Crumble then do the same with the salts. Featured equipment: Vitamix Commercial blender

BAK E R

H 21 C ICAGO

BAKER AWARD BU

PR ESENTED BY

E R O F E U RO

Matt Pontarelli THE EXCHANGE

AFTER GRADUATION FROM THE University of Dayton in 2014, Matt Pontarelli was living at home, unsure where his life would take him. He found an old bag of flour and decided to make bread. The loaf was mediocre at best, but the entire process captivated him. Unable to find a baking position, Pontarelli became a line cook at Chef Brian Huston’s Boltwood. Huston became a mentor and taught Pontarelli the value of relationships with farmers in order to produce quality bread. After a year and a half, Pontarelli moved on to his first professional baking job at Publican Quality Bread, where he built his skills under James Beard Award-winning Baker Greg Wade.

In February 2021, Pontarelli reunited with Huston to open DMK Restaurants’ European-style bakery, The Arch. As head baker, Pontarelli now focuses on the bread program for the newer, vegetable-forward restaurant, The Exchange, also in Chicago’s historic Railway Exchange Building. His precise creativity drives him to bake naturally leavened items such as Midwestern-style cornmeal baguettes and melt-in-your-mouth, ultra-hydrated country loaves.

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marque_p / theexchangechicago Favorite food resource: The Bread Builders by Alan Scott and Daniel Wing Most important kitchen rule: Aside from cleaning up after yourself, move and work with intent. What you eat on your nights off: avec in the West Loop for refined Mediterranean food. Also, Daisies in Logan Square for Midwestern-focused pasta and wine. Place you’d visit for culinary inspiration: San Francisco or Rome Advice to your younger self: Experience is priceless. Work hard, accept the challenges, and always say yes, even if it’s scary. Everything you want is on the other side of fear.

Country loaf Baker Matt Pontarelli of The Exchange Adapted by StarChefs

INGREDIENTS Levain: 15 grams ripe, bubbly sourdough starter 125 grams fresh flour

Country Sourdough: Yield: 2 loaves 830 grams all-purpose or bread flour, plus more for shaping 120 grams local whole wheat flour 50 grams local whole rye flour 27 grams all-natural salt (The ingredient list on the label should say “salt” and nothing else.) Rice flour To Assemble and Serve: European butter

METHOD For the Levain: The night before you plan to bake, stir to combine starter, flour, and 125 grams very cold water. For the Cracked Wheat Mixture: The night before you plan to bake, pour 200 grams boiling water over the cracked wheat. Set aside at room temperature to be used the next morning. For the Country Sourdough: In a large bowl, mix all the flours (except the rice flour), 200 grams Levain, and 800 grams warm water. Mix until all the dry clumps are completely hydrated and let rest for 30 minutes. Then mix in salt and 50 grams warm water. Squeeze together until it is all incorporated and becomes one cohesive dough again. Let rest 5 minutes. Mix in Cracked Wheat Mixture. Again, squeeze and mix any clumps. Let sit untouched about 20 to 30 minutes. Then wet your hand and reach underneath 1 side of the dough and fold it back on top of itself. Repeat that move with the 3 remaining unfolded sides of dough. Flip the dough so the seam of your folds is on the bottom. Repeat this action a few more times, never less than 30 minutes between each set of folds.

PHOTOS: JACLYN WARREN

Cracked Wheat Mixture: 100 grams cracked wheat

The dough is ready to shape after it has grown to about 30% to 50% of its original size, anywhere from 3 to 6 hours, depending on the temperature of the dough and the room. If you go to do a set of folds and it looks billowy, smooth, and near 50% its original size, do not fold it; it is ready to shape. Dump the dough out onto a floured work surface. It will be very wet and sticky—flour is your friend here, as it will keep the dough from sticking too much. Divide the dough into 2 equal-size pieces. Fold 1 piece the same way you did when it was fermenting in the bowl. Be careful not to get too much flour inside the folds, or they won’t be effective. Flip it seam-side-down and set aside. Repeat with the other piece. Rest for 20 to 40 minutes. Meanwhile, grab 2 proofing baskets or small, kitchen-towel-lined salad bowls. Sprinkle the towels or baskets with rice flour. After about 20 to 40 minutes, cover the top of 1 dough piece with flour. Flip it so that the seam side is now up facing you. Repeat the 4-sided-fold technique, careful not to get any raw flour on the inside of the folds. This time, make sure you are really stretching the dough (without tearing it) as you fold it onto itself. This creates tension in the dough, resulting in a loaf that is

strong and airy. Immediately transfer the shaped dough into the towel-lined bowl or basket with the seam side up. Repeat with the other dough piece. Let rest in the baskets at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours. Place both shapes in the fridge overnight. The next morning, place a Dutch oven or cast-iron combo cooker in the oven and preheat to 500°F for a minimum of 1 hour. Dump one of the shaped doughs onto a piece of parchment paper. Peel off the kitchen towel and slash the top of the loaf with a knife or scissors so the dough will expand properly while rising. Place the parchment paper (and dough) in the Dutch oven or combo cooker, cover with the lid, and set on the middle rack. After about 20 minutes, remove the lid, reduce oven temperature to 475°F, and bake until your preferred darkness, careful not to burn the bottom. Repeat with second loaf. Let loaves cool completely before slicing, at least 2 hours. To Assemble and Serve: Slice Country Sourdough Loaf and serve with European butter. Featured ingredient: Butter of Europe

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r e v e F g n i r Sp Forced to make due with root vegetables and shipped-in produce for much of the year, Chicago chefs love spring. During the short, intermittent season, they shake down their farmers for all they’re worth and preserve everything to hoard into winter. They R&D with the imported stuff so they don’t miss a minute of serving plump stalks of asparagus and just-plucked-from-the-forest morels. They fortify their flavors by using the same ingredient in multiple ways on the plate, and during our visits in April through June, they served some of the most spring-forward dishes we’ve seen. But the heart wants what the heart wants, so we asked these chefs to write their love letters to their most fleeting time of year.

Chef Bailey Sullivan, Monteverde Restaurant & Pastificio The dish: Sweet pea agnolotti, ricotta, Mangalitsa pork loin, prosciutto, pea tendrils

Chef Morgan O’Brien, Lula Cafe The dish: Carrot and lilac salad, strawberries, mint, green garlic dressing, radish

Dear Spring... “To quote the 2012 crime drama Spring Breakers, ‘Spring break, spring break forever.’ As a chef, that’s how I feel after months of much-loved but sometimes tiring turnips and rutabaga.”

Dear Spring… “It’s the most exciting time being able to see flowers bud and all the young plants peek their way through the soil. But we can’t forget the humble carrot or potato that got us through the cold winters. Dressing up some staple Midwest ingredients with lilac flowers, mint, and fresh garlic captures how beautiful the seasons can all work together.”

Chef Emery Ebarle, Kumiko The dish: Tofu parfait, burnt and pickled rhubarb jam, macerated strawberries, rhubarb vinegar, shiso furikaké Dear Spring... “As the Midwest thaws out, we experience something called ‘fool’s spring.’ We get a glimpse of summer only to get one more flurry of snow. Like our own groundhog, the first strawberries on the farm list are the sign that the freezes are finally done and all the amazing spring produce we’ve been dreaming about is right around the corner.”

Chef Justin Selk, Ever The dish: Jumbo white asparagus, green asparagus purée, citrus sabayon, salsify, Osetra caviar Dear Spring… “We planted a garden on the roof of Ever’s building this spring. The bees have been busy pollinating the herbs and vegetables. Chicago’s growing season is short; we have to make the most of it!”

Pastry Chef Kristine Antonian-Vilarosa, The Hoxton The dish: Strawberry tres leches cake, strawberry purée, strawberry whipped cream, strawberry crumble, fresh strawberries, passionfruit honey, lime Pastry Chef Jacquelyn Paternico, Temporis The dish: White chocolate cake, cherry blossom mousse, cherry sorbet, cherry vinegar gel, cherry meringue, puffed cherry blossoms

Dear Spring… “Last year, we had shut down right before spring. I was writing spring menus during quarantine thinking we would only be out for two weeks. Ha! So my 2020 spring menu ideas were stuck on the back burner for a whole year!”

Dear Spring… “I get excited for spring produce but also for flowers to start blooming. I saw that Regalis had preserved sakura flowers and had to make a dessert with them.”

Chef Kyle Cottle, Sepia The dish: Rohan duck breast, pickled green strawberry relish, rose vinegar, green garlic, duck leg rillette, fennel, chamomile, honey, nasturtium

Chef Jennifer Kim, Alt Economy The dish: Lamb loin, brown rice amazake, steamed bread, kimchi, sunchokes, pickled turnips, wild chives

Dear Spring… “Waiting for spring in Chicago is the definition of patience; even when the calendar says it’s spring, we are subject to waiting it out a little longer than we’d like to. So when you finally see strawberries available, it’s truly an exciting time. The bounties of locally grown produce have finally arrived.”

Dear Spring… “Seeing spring produce hit the markets is nature’s olive branch that farmers markets, gardening, planting season, and beers on the stoop while the sun sets over the city are not too far behind.” Chef Troy Jorge, Temporis The dish: Poached Holland white asparagus, asparagus purée, rhubarb gel, asparagus and rhubarb curls, brioche crisps, egg yolk, oxalis Dear Spring... “Holland white asparagus and ruby red rhubarb symbolize spring. Their colors are vibrant and either complement or contrast with seasonal greens. It’s truly a breath of fresh air as the weather transitions after a long winter.” Chef Abigail Zielke, All Together Now The dish: Poached mussels, focaccia, almond romesco, lemon, shaved radish, chive blossoms Dear Spring... “I always get excited to see green and earthy items show up in the spring like stinging nettles and baby radishes. Then I know it won’t be too long until we are eating bright, herbaceous foods on the patio with a cold glass of wine.”

Bakers Ben Lustbader and Sarah Mispagel-Lustbader, Loaf Lounge The dish: Breakfast sandwich: sourdough English muffin, black garlic maple sausage, egg, muenster, ramp aïoli Dear Spring… “Ramps are super exciting around here!” Ben says. “They are crazy-delicious wild onions with a really distinctive smell that at this point is completely tangled up in my sense memory of early spring.” Chef Alex Skrzypczyk, Sunday Dinner Club The dish: House-smoked salmon dip, ramps, sourdough, breakfast radishes, microgreens Dear Spring… “There comes a point during winter where it’s just like, enough squash and potatoes already! Give me something green. Please. Spring ingredients are the light at the end of the dark and very cold winter tunnel.” Chef César Murillo, North Pond The dish: Grilled asparagus, ramps, black kataifi, quail egg, uni hollandaise, yuzu gel, daylilies Dear Spring... “Every chef gets excited about spring, but we all know there’s really no spring in Chicago. It can get a little awkward sometimes because there’s always that one day in April when you’re serving asparagus, and it starts to snow. John Arents, the general manager of North Pond, likes to say, ‘Spring in Chicago, I love that weekend.’”

ILLUSTRATION BY KATIE LUKES

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Sam Zeitlin

ZEITLIN'S DELICATESSEN

AFTER GRADUATING FROM THE Culinary Institute of America, Maryland-raised Sam Zeitlin developed his cooking skills at restaurants across the East Coast, including Blue Duck Tavern and Masseria. Zeitlin left D.C. to spend a summer working on 8 Hands Farm on Long Island, where he was introduced to a symbiotic relationship with local grains and ingredients grown directly on the property. The experience inspired him to move deeper into the world of bread. He moved to Chicago in the summer of 2018 to continue his culinary education and searched for the comfort foods that once defined his childhood. After countless failed attempts to find true bagels, Zeitlin got to work on his own and perfected spins on classic Jewish baked goods from his apartment. He was also part of the opening team at Galit under Chef Zachary Engel and stayed for two years.

When the pandemic left him laid off, Zeitlin moved to Austin for a couple of months. He helped launch the Casper Fermentables bread program with owner Ben Hollander. When he returned to Chicago, Zeitlin was determined to start his own business. He shared his goods with culinary teams and local nonprofit organizations throughout the city, and what started as a sourdough pop-up outside of Kimski swiftly became a full-blown remote deli at the South Loop Farmers Market in 2020. Zeitlin’s Delicatessen now has a second farmers market location and a brick-and-mortar in the works. With every culinary concept he creates, Zeitlin bridges the gap between traditional Jewish deli and Midwest seasonality while developing “future family recipes” to pass down to the next generation. ledgerockcourt / zeitlinsdelicatessen Favorite kitchen tool: Dutch oven for braising, roasting, and baking Tool you wish you had: A Picard rotating deck oven What you eat on your nights off: I most recently tried the cold noodles at Lao Peng You and the potato and kale knish at Jeff & Judes. Noodles and Jewish delis have always been comforting foods for me. Place you’d visit for culinary inspiration: If I had a time machine, early 1900s New York City. That was the start of so many great food innovations, including the Jewish deli. Most important kitchen rule: Cook from the heart.

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PHOTOS: WILL BLUNT

BAKER

Pastrami-spiced mushroom knish Baker Sam Zeitlin of Zeitlin’s Delicatessen Adapted by StarChefs

METHOD

INGREDIENTS Knish Dough: 100 grams rye flour 1 kilogram all-purpose flour 18 grams salt 10 grams baking powder 5 grams caraway seeds 305 grams vegetable oil 150 grams eggs 20 grams white distilled vinegar 305 grams seltzer water Pastrami Spice: 80 grams black peppercorns, ground 80 grams coriander seeds, ground 20 grams mustard seeds, ground 40 grams onion powder 30 grams garlic powder 80 grams paprika

8 grams smoke powder 70 grams brown sugar For the Pastrami-Spiced Mushroom Filling: 1.525 kilograms peeled and diced Yukon gold potatoes, submerged in water to avoid oxidation 65 grams salt, plus more for seasoning 2 kilograms mixed mushrooms, cleaned 135 grams neutral oil 250 grams julienned onion Deli mustard To Assemble and Serve: 1 egg Deli mustard

For the Knish Dough: To a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine all dry ingredients. While mixing, drizzle in oil until flour looks like coarse sand. In a separate bowl, beat eggs, vinegar, and seltzer. Slowly incorporate liquid into flour until dough comes together into a cohesive mass. Split dough in half. Wrap and chill for 1 day.

checking halfway to make sure they are not burning. Meanwhile, in a pan over low heat, cook onion in remaining salt and oil until very soft. Transfer cooked potatoes, mushrooms, and onion to a large bowl and weigh. Using 2% weight of potato mixture, add mustard. Mix and mash to combine. Taste and season as needed.

For the Pastrami Spice: To a large bowl or container, add all ingredients. Stir to combine.

To Assemble and Serve: Roll out ½ of Knish Dough into a large square. Using a square or large circle nylon cutter, cut out dough. Scoop an 85gram ball of Pastrami-Spiced Mushroom Filling into center of 1 pastry. Carefully scrunch up sides into a symmetrical square. Repeat with remaining Knish Dough. Transfer knishes to parchmentlined sheet trays and chill 1 hour. Preheat oven to 400°F. Combine egg with 1 ounce water then brush egg wash over knishes. Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with mustard.

For the Pastrami-Spiced Mushroom Filling: In a large pot, combine potatoes, 30 grams salt, and 1.5 kilograms water. Bring water to a simmer and continue simmering until potatoes are tender. Drain potatoes into a colander and let sit 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 500°F. In a mixing bowl, toss together mushrooms, 50 grams Pastrami Spice, 100 grams oil, and 30 grams salt. Spread mushrooms out on a parchmentlined sheet trays and cook 10 minutes,

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Jordan Scherer, SPIRIT TEA Taylor Cowan

TAYLOR COWAN'S INTEREST IN TEA began after he was diagnosed with cancer at 22. As he pushed through chemotherapy, his mom gave him a tea set containing a booklet of information about the teas; he was hooked. Every morning that he didn’t want to get out of bed, he had a new favorite ritual to motivate him.

On one rainy day in college, Jordan Scherer sought shelter in a tea shop. The barista suggested a Japanese green tea, and Scherer felt an immediate calm and alertness. This aha moment led him to cofound Wiseman Tea Co. in 2008 to provide wholesale tea and training to Chicagoans. Frustrated with the pressure to make tea “cool,” he moved on after two years. Both East Coasters who grew up in the Midwest, Cowan and Scherer met, ironically, in a coffee shop. Cowan was just getting into tea and peppered Scherer, who was the tea provider to DarkCloud, with questions. They both found jobs opening stores for loose leaf brand Adagio Teas. Scherer then became a commercial salesman for a Taiwanese tea farm, while Cowan jumped around as a pedicabber, karaoke host, Levi’s sales associate, writer, and bartender at Mott Street. Scherer returned stateside to sell espresso machines for BUNN and saw the prevalence of low-grade, flavored teas in the wholesale market. The industry wasn’t talking about the incredible people and places that tea comes from. So he and Cowan reunited to start their own company, Spirit Tea, that focuses on premium, sustainably sourced, loose leaf teas without artificial flavorings. Educating and exciting people about tea, they now sell tons of tea per year to hundreds of national accounts. 72

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treestobreathe / taylorcowan / spirittea Jordan Favorite tea resource: Eighty Degrees magazine Tea region you're most excited about: Taiwan Varietal you’re most excited about: Charcoal-roasted oolongs Tea trend you’d like to see: More commissioned lots Advice to your younger self: Distill what you are doing down to the simplest form. What does it symbolize? What does it represent? Finding a place of enthusiasm and passion is essential to cultivating perseverance and willpower. Taylor Favorite tea resource: Tea Journey magazine Tea region you're most excited about: The United States Varietal you’re most excited about: Indigenous tea varieties Tea trend you’d like to see: Respect and collaboration of tea importers among each other and toward origin How you brew tea at home: Standing up, strangely. I open my windows, light incense, sometimes listen to music.

Embrace the Ritual

By Taylor Cowan

Tea infusion is very simple in its elements. The more you make tea, the more you will learn about what you like and don't like. The equipment you choose for infusion will be unique to you and your tastes. It’s not an oil change: The pieces are always different. I’m speaking broadly here, naming the essential factors for good tea infusion. I suggest finding wares that delight you and encourage you to slow down and embrace the ritual. These are the things that transcend culture and have made tea the most consumed drink on the planet.

Begin warming your water as you gather your accoutrements. This step usually takes the longest. I recommend a glass or porcelain teapot (no strainer baskets, teabags, or tea balls), a pitcher, and as many cups as there are drinkers.

Dose good-quality loose tea leaves on a scoop or small caddy. If you’re not sure how much to use, refer to the instructions provided by the vendor. You can use a scale, scoop, or your instincts.

When the water reaches the right temperature, pour a small amount into your teapot. Swish it around then pour it into the pitcher and from the pitcher into the cups. This warms them and makes for a consistent tasting experience. Once vessels are warm, discard all water.

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Slide the tea leaves from your scoop into the warmed teapot. At this moment, inhale slowly and take in the aromas. Pour your warm kettle over the teapot’s leaves in a gentle, circular motion. As a rule of thumb, we use 70 milliliters of water per gram of tea. This is meant for a longer infusion style (three to five minutes). For short, successive steeps (30 seconds to a minute), use 25 milliliters of water per gram of tea.

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Let the tea steep. When the desired time has elapsed, decant all of the liquid from the steeping vessel into the serving pitcher, making sure the leaves stay behind. If a strainer is not part of the inherent design of your teapot, pour through one. Using the pitcher, pour tea into each person’s cup. Enjoy the tea. Breathe deeply and slurp when you drink.

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THE SON OF A 30-YEAR hospitality veteran, Alex Augustine has always been part of the restaurant industry. Growing up in New Jersey, he hustled through every position at his parents’ neighborhood restaurant. But his dream to work with wine didn’t come about until 2011. Augustine traveled through Europe with his brother and landed in the Loire Valley to help with the harvest at Catherine & Pierre Breton winery. After two weeks of wading through mud and picking grapes, Augustine had the lifechanging realization that he needed to pursue a career in wine.

Augustine followed his brother to Chicago and took a job at Kai Zan. Having just received its liquor license, the sushi restaurant was on the hunt for someone to develop the beverage program. Augustine jumped at the opportunity, allowing him to study beer and sake. In 2015, he went on to be a wine director at Formento’s and learned from Sommelier Steven Morgan, who eventually became one of his best friends and mentors. With Morgan’s help, Augustine’s wine list earned the title of Best Medium-Size Wine List in the World from The World of Fine Wine. In 2018, Augustine was hired as a sommelier and manager at Chef CJ Jacobson’s Mediterraneaninflected restaurant Aba. There, he sources wines from small, family-run vineyards like the one that inspired him almost a decade ago. augustine.aj / abarestaurant Favorite wine region: Côte-Rôtie in Northern Rhône Most important pairing rule: Classics are fun, but always try to think outside the box.

PHOTOS: BRADLEY DANNER

What you drink on your nights off: If at home, I drink wine with friends; if out at a bar, either High Life or an old fashioned. Wine list you admire from afar: PRESS Restaurant in Napa Valley Favorite high-low pairing: Sour Punch strawberry candy with Marcel Lapierre Morgon

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Toothpick Lamb

Chef CJ Jacobson of Aba Adapted by StarChefs Yield: 4 servings

INGREDIENTS Lamb Spice: Yield: ¼ cup 10 chiles de árbol, seeds removed ¼ cup cumin seeds Lemon Kosho Vinaigrette: Yield: ⅔ cup 2 tablespoons yuzu kosho ½ cup lemon juice Lamb Strips: Two 6-to-8-ounce Aussie lamb sirloins, lightly frozen and sliced into ⅛-inch strips 3 tablespoons arak or grappa Oil for frying To Assemble and Serve: ½ cup yogurt 3 to 4 drops fish sauce Chives Olive oil

METHOD For the Lamb Spice: In a sauté pan over medium-low heat, toast all ingredients for 10 minutes or until fragrant. Turn heat off and allow to come to room temperature. Transfer to a spice grinder or Vitamix blender and process until finely ground. For the Lemon Kosho Vinaigrette: Thoroughly mix all ingredients with 3 tablespoons water. Transfer to a squeeze bottle. For the Lamb Strips: Place lamb strips in a baking dish and marinate with arak or grappa for 20 minutes. Fry each lamb strip at 400°F for 30 seconds. Drain and cool.

“To pair with Chef CJ’s toothpick lamb dish, I chose a super fresh and bright white wine from Spain, Pardevalles Albarín from Tierra de León! Not to be confused with the more popular Albariño, Albarín is an indigenous varietal that is similar to a cross between sauvignon blanc and gewürztraminer. I think the grassy, floral aromatics balanced by the rich texture and herbal spiciness is a perfect pairing for a spicy and rich lamb dish. It helps keep the heat in check but allows all the exotic flavors to shine.”

To Assemble and Serve: Heat a large sauté pan over high flame for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, spread yogurt inside a shallow serving bowl and set aside. Add Lamb Strips to the pan, flipping after 1 minute. Coat Lamb Strips in 2 to 3 tablespoons Lemon Kosho Vinaigrette and sauté, moving the pan around quickly. Remove from heat and coat Lamb Strips in 1 teaspoon Lamb Spice. Return to heat and sauté the strips again. Quickly place them on top of the yogurt and sprinkle with chives and drizzle with olive oil. Stab each Lamb Strip with a toothpick and pair with a glass of with Albarín Blanco, Pardevalles, Tierra de León, Spain, 2019. Featured ingredient: Australian lamb sirloin Featured equipment: Vitamix Commercial blender CH ICAGO 202 1

Just like in their relationship, CoffeeDate’s Erin and Jason Koroll found pairings that work in tandem. Jason roasts Juan Felipe Aristizábal espresso from Caldas, Colombia, and its natural, 48-hour fermentation comes with a serious fruitiness like plum and lychee with a caramel finish. When Baker Erin tasted it for the first time, she had total tart eyes and immediately wanted something toasty and comforting but also bright and punchy. So she went with a toasted-corn-silk tart with sunflower seed frangipane for nuttiness and rhubarb to match the espresso’s fruity notes. The coffee and dessert react to each other like twin flames, completely magnetic from sip to bite and back again.

Smyth The opulent warm caviar dish (recipe on page 20) was already on the menu when Head Sommelier Kevin Goldsmith took over the wine program at Smyth. His predecessor’s instinct was Champagne, and, unsurprisingly, no one complained about that combination. But Goldsmith had a different idea. “The warming of the caviar brings much more nutty flavors to the forefront, combined with the Marcona almond milk and black walnut oil that are reminiscent of oxidized flavors found in certain wines,” he says. Goldsmith paired it with a palomino Sherry, Bodegas Tradición’s “VORS 30 Years,” for its oxidative qualities, acidity, and high alcohol content. Starting with the Sherry triggers salivation and wets the palate for what’s to come. The buttery caviar satiates the dryness, but you immediately want the palomino again in an addictive back-and-forth like sweet and salty snacks.

RPM Seafood Instead of choosing haddock or cod for fish and chips, Chef Bob Broskey went all out with Dover sole at the fine dining RPM Seafood. (It’s probably the only fish and chips that requires buying fish at auction in Holland twice a week.) Broskey fries the sole in a masa batter and serves with pommes soufflés and a sauce gribiche made with cornichons. For this high-low dish, Wine Director Richard Hanauer chose a 2012 special club Champagne from Vazart-Coquart & Fils. The chardonnay grapes grow in similar soil to the region around the English Channel, where the fish swim. “The fish with the masa batter is such a cool texture, and the bubbles enhance it,” Hanauer says. “And this blanc de blancs has so much lemon; it’s like a squeeze of lemon juice over fish.”

Sepia Chef Kyle Cottle’s rich king crab chawanmushi with sauce Nantua, yuzu butter, and shio kombu just stews in textural freedom. Wine Director Alex Ring says, "The dish is delicate but decadent, and I want a wine that is textural in depth but not fat." So he leaned into Burgundy and pulled a bottle of chardonnay, Domaine Bachey-Legros, “Les Grands Charrons,” Meursault, 2017, which comes from a single-vineyard, mother-daughter-son operation. Because drinking the sauce Nantua that floods the chawanmushi would be frowned upon, the wine is the next best thing. The buttery, round white Burgundy builds and builds on every last note until the last clink of the spoon in your bowl.

Perfect Pairings

COFFEEDATE PHOTO: JACLYN WARREN; ALL OTHERS: WILL BLUNT

CoffeeDate

BY KENDYL KEARLY AND ERIN LETTERA

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Kimberlee Beeler

ALLA VITA AND BOKA 20

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AFTER GETTING HER ASSOCIATE'S DEGREE

in hospitality management from the College of DuPage and serving at chain restaurants, Kimberlee Beeler got her big break in 2014: a front-of-house job at Chef Lee Wolen’s Michelin-starred BOKA. The Chicago native was fascinated by how a beverage pairing could completely transform a dish and dived into wine education. So when Wine Director Ryan Musser decided to lead a tasting group, Beeler joined him to help prepare for her level two certified exam. By the time Boka Restaurant Group opened Somerset at the Viceroy Chicago hotel, Beeler was ready to be a floor somm there. She became captain in 2017 then got promoted to wine director. When tasked with overhauling the wine list, she cut the bottle selection from 300 to a lean 120 to zero in on Somerset’s throwback country club theme. In 2019, Beeler received an offer to return to BOKA as wine director; she replied with an emphatic, “Yes, please!” But just as she regained her footing, the coronavirus forced the dining room to close. Taking inventory of what the restaurant already had, Beeler created pairing menus based on two-person dinners so guests could experience BOKA at home. She also collaborated with wine reps to organize Zoom tasting experiences. Now as beverage director of BOKA and the new Alla Vita, Beeler’s expressive storytelling showcases her knowledge and enthusiasm for the wines. She also leads weekly wine education sessions for servers who have the same curiosity that she did when beginning with BOKA. kim_ber_leeb / allavitachicago / bokachicago Favorite wine region: The Loire Valley. When I first started at BOKA, we had a very Loire-focused list, so it's the first region I ever really learned about in depth. What you drink on your nights off: At the moment, I'm on a grüner kick, but chenin blanc is also a big go-to. Favorite wine resource: The World Atlas of Wine by Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson for the technical/geeky stuff. The Flavor Bible and What to Drink With What You Eat by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page for pairing inspiration.

PHOTO: WILL BLUNT

Wine list you admire from afar: No surprises here—Canlis

Wine region you’d most like to visit: The Canary Islands. Their vineyards look otherworldly, and volcanic/island wine is a personal favorite.

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Black-garlic-glazed wagyu Chef Jonathan Dockter of BOKA Adapted by StarChefs Yield: 4 servings

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"Bodegas Bernabeleva's Navaherreros garnacha from the foothills of the Sierra de Gredos Mountains exhibits bright notes of juicy raspberry and cherry with expressive florals that make the wine enjoyable on its own. When paired with the dish, the sunchoke and tamarind components highlight the herbal and spice characteristics in the wine. The tannin from the region's granite soils gives the wine the texture it needs to hold up to the richness of mushroom and wagyu."

METHOD

INGREDIENTS Sunchoke Purée: 1 pound sunchokes, washed very well in warm water and completely drained 1 tablespoon canola oil Salt 3 tablespoons butter Tamarind Jus: 4 tablespoons butter 3 tablespoons tamarind paste 1 cup chicken jus 1 tablespoon palm sugar Salt Roasted Maitakes: 2 clusters maitake mushrooms, broken into a couple pieces held at the stems Salt 2 tablespoons canola oil 1 tablespoon butter 1 tablespoons chicken jus

Black Garlic Glaze: 1 cup Sherry vinegar 1 cup dark brown sugar ½ cup chicken jus 8 cloves black garlic

For the Sunchoke Purée: Preheat oven to 400°F. Toss sunchokes with oil and salt in a bowl and place onto a roasting rack over a sheet tray. Roast for 1 hour. Transfer to a Vitamix blender and blend on high, adding butter in thirds. Season with salt and pass through a fine mesh strainer.

To Assemble and Serve: Yield: 1 serving 1 Lone Mountain Wagyu ribeye Salt 3 tablespoons butter 1 sprig thyme 3 cloves garlic, smashed Sea salt Knob onions, charred

For the Tamarind Jus: In a small pot over medium heat, brown butter. Set aside. Place 2 tablespoons of tamarind paste in a small bowl and add ¼ cup boiling water. Let sit for 5 minutes to soften the paste. Whisk until the paste is fully dissolved then strain through a fine strainer. In a pot, heat the jus, palm sugar, and tamarind paste. Transfer to a Vitamix blender and slowly add in the brown butter until it reaches a creamy consistency. Pour back into the pot and season with salt and additional tamarind if needed for acidity. For the Roasted Maitakes: Heat a large sauté pan over medium-high flame. Season maitakes with salt. Add oil to the pan then maitakes. Sear on all sides until well-browned. If not cooked through, place pan in the oven for a few minutes. Add butter and let it sizzle and foam until brown, turning mushrooms. Add jus, swirling to emulsify the butter. Toss mushrooms in glaze until well-coated. If the glaze looks oily, add water, 1 tablespoon at a time, to emulsify everything back together.

For the Black Garlic Glaze: Combine the vinegar, brown sugar, and jus in a small sauce pot and reduce until it has a thick, syrupy consistency. You should have about ¾ cup of liquid. In a Vitamix blender, blend the black garlic into the liquid to create a smooth glaze. To Assemble and Serve: Preheat oven to 325°F with no fan. Season the ribeye well on all sides with salt. Heat a cast-iron pan over medium flame. Once hot, add butter and swirl to melt and foam. Add the ribeye, placing the side with the fat cap (if it has one) down in the pan first. Add thyme and garlic and baste ribeye on all sides. Flip after 10 seconds, continue basting for another 10 seconds, then transfer ribeye to a roasting rack set over a sheet pan. Place pan in the oven and cook to medium rare. (internal temp around 128°F). Once cooked, let the steak rest at room temperature about 10 minutes Once grill is hot, brush steak on all sides with Black Garlic Glaze and grill, flipping and basting a couple of times to form a shiny crust with a light char. Slice steak and season with sea salt. Serve with the Sunchoke Purée, Roasted Maitakes, charred onion petals, and Tamarind Jus. Pair with a glass of Albarín Blanco, Pardevalles, Tierra de León, Spain, 2019. Featured ingredient: Lone Mountain Wagyu ribeye Featured equipment: Vitamix Commercial blender

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BARTE NDE R

Eric Simmons

WHAT IF SYNDICATE BORN AND RAISED IN MEMPHIS, Eric Simmons learned the craft of hospitality from working in his family restaurant business, Wrapzody Gourmet Wrapz. He fell into his first bartending gig at a Buffalo Wild Wings in Nashville before moving around to Music City Tippler, Pinewood Social, Amari, and Sinema Nashville. But on an inspiring trip to Chicago, Simmons realized that he was surrounded by talented hospitality professionals of color from so many different cultures and backgrounds.

A permanent move to Chicago brought him to What If Syndicate’s Maple & Ash as a head bartender, along with Mario Flores. Although the cocktail program blew his mind, he saw room for growth

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and the opportunity to make the modern steakhouse a cocktail destination. By changing the drink presentation and flavors, Simmons built a steady following, and he’s able to promote his message that there are great opportunities for Black bar professionals in the industry. As bar director, Simmons now runs What If Syndicate’s four beverage programs: Maple & Ash in Chicago and Scottsdale; etta in Bucktown, River North, and Culver City; and Monarch and Kessaku in Dallas. His growth within the group and in the community helped Simmons be recognized by PUNCH as one of the bartenders in residence for the class of 2021.

blackcheeeze / ettarestaurant / mapleandash Favorite bartending tool: Shaker tins Favorite cocktail: My favorite cocktail to drink is the vesper, and my favorite to make is the espresso martini. What you eat and drink on your nights off: I usually find myself at etta, eating a few orders of the bubbling shrimp and sipping on a few Fromage Noir cocktails; MONEYGUN for a patty melt and High Life; or The Delta for shrimp and grits with white wine. The music at each of these locations is always a vibe. Most underrated cocktail ingredient: Coconut water—I enjoy the way it enhances paired flavors, hydrates, and has a refreshing taste. Cocktail culture you’d like to explore: I’d like to explore more island cultures to put a different spin on fruity, fun flavors but with style. Think Idris Elba as 007 and a piña colada having a baby.

Fromage Noir Bartender Eric Simmons of etta Adapted by StarChefs

INGREDIENTS Goat-Cheese-Washed Gin: 6 grams Cypress Grove goat cheese, melted 1 liter Roku gin Spiced Pear Syrup: 3 Asian pears 5 cinnamon sticks Cloves Allspice Sugar To Assemble and Serve: Yield: 1 cocktail ¾ ounce lemon juice 2 dashes Angostura bitters Black pepper

METHOD For the Goat-Cheese-Washed Gin: In a nonreactive container, add goat cheese then gin. Freeze overnight; this will capture the flavors and aromas of goat cheese while eliminating the chunky texture. Strain through a fine strainer and cheesecloth. For the Spiced Pear Syrup: Add pears, spices, and equal parts sugar and water to a Vitamix blender. Blend until uniform in texture. Transfer to a pot and bring to a boil. Remove from heat then strain through a fine mesh sieve. Let cool. To Assemble and Serve: In a shaker tin, combine 2 ounces Goat-Cheese-Washed Roku, ¾ ounce Spiced Pear Syrup, lemon juice, and bitters. Add ice, shake, and doublestrain into a rocks glass over a large ice cube. Garnish with pepper. Featured ingredients: Angostura bitters, Roku gin, Cypress Grove goat cheese Featured equipment: Vitamix Commercial blender

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FAIR SHARE

Interview by Erin Lettera

Who are you trying to reach? As an owner, you will already know this information; it’s basic stuff. But pieces of info are gatekept from hourly employees. It’s for people who have never held management or f inance positions—people who don't know where to start. This is info that should be shared with everyone without people feeling like they have to go to culinary or business school.

These resources are great, but the ideal would be for managers and owners to keep more of an open-book policy and offer the knowledge in-house. How do we convince the gatekeepers to share?

Jennifer Kim has a lot of information to share, amassing a mountain of paperwork during her years as a two-time restaurateur. Instead of going to the shredder when Passerotto and Snaggletooth closed, she launched Alt Economy, an initiative to empower workers who don’t inherently benefit from the mainstream restaurant economy. In addition to distributing a financial toolkit, Alt Economy hosts a pop-up tour that pairs burgeoning food businesses with established restaurants to share space and resources. We asked Kim about her approach to helping these “alternative economies.”

PHOTO: WILL BLUNT

What kind of information does Alt Economy give out? A lot of the living worksheets and information are geared toward folks who are either operating a business or are pretty close to starting one. There is information available on how you would price food or retail, and it offers a lot of samples of specific events, businesses, or pop-ups. It’s a living worksheet, so you can literally just plug in your own numbers and play around with it. It also gives you a P&L statement.

We have to realize that accessing the necessary information is a lot easier for some folks. Addressing the issues that exist within our industry is something we all have to participate in in some way shape or form. Let’s talk about how to collectively work on dismantling those systems that only help the privileged so we can have more voices readily available to dictate what the new hospitality movement will look like. You need to let go of a lot of aspects of control to really incorporate as many identities and voices as possible. Because you as one person have a limited view; you have limited capabilities.

You were once a first-time restaurant owner. Where did you seek your knowledge in those early days? Before opening Snaggletooth, I had no idea how a restaurant operated outside of a kitchen. I didn’t know what happened to servers' money or how P&Ls worked. I never held a position in which I was responsible for wages or finances of any kind. I looked to the people who held knowledge and information around me, and I asked a lot. The response was always the same: You don’t need to know this; this is not your business. That idea, that it’s not your business, it’s all rooted in capitalism, and my ability, willingness, and readiness were taken out of my hands. I had to take that power back. That was the catalyst to say, “Fuck you. If you’re not going to teach me or give me room to learn, then I’ll figure it out on my own.”

alteconomychicago.com

BARTE NDE R

Sarah Syman

THE DANDY CROWN CHICAGOAN

SARAH

SYMAN

INITIALLY

When The Drawing Room closed in 2013, Syman went on to BellyQ, Pump Room, and The Dawson, where she worked alongside Rising Stars alum Harrison Ginsberg. From there, she followed Bartender Clint Rogers in 2016 to open Beacon Tavern. In 2019, she took on the position of beverage director at the newly opened River West cocktail lounge The Dandy Crown. Now, Syman builds a strong sense of community for the industry while slinging historical cocktails and her original refreshing creations.

PHOTOS: WILL BLUNT

entered the hospitality industry as a high school student, hosting in the West Loop. She moved on to bartending to subsidize her art history degree at the University of Illinois. After graduation, Syman struggled to find a good job in her field during the recession, so she decided to continue behind the bar. At 24, she had a light bulb moment at sports bar The Anthem. She realized how much there was to learn about the beverage industry and was eager to lean in. Syman was hired as a server at The Drawing Room, but when a bartending position opened up, she jumped at the opportunity to grow at one of Chicago’s cocktail hubs. sarebear238 / thedandycrown Favorite bar tool: Does a Lewis bag and mallet count? I actually rarely use mine for crushing ice, but I do use it frequently to break up spices for syrups. Tool you wish you had: A big, industrial freezer so I could start to dabble in specialty ice What you drink on your nights off: One night, you may find me on the patio at Sportsman’s Club; another day, you may find me at the dive bar down the street from my apartment. I love getting a meal at Split-Rail, Yuzu Sushi & Robata Grill, and All Together Now. Place you’d visit for inspiration: I'd love to go back to Spain and drink all the Sherry and try all of the food possible! Advice to your younger self: Don't be afraid to ask questions when you don't know something.

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99% Yes Bartender Sarah Syman of The Dandy Crown Adapted by StarChefs Yield: 1 cocktail

INGREDIENTS 1.5 ounces Buffalo Trace bourbon 0.75 ounce fresh lemon juice 0.5 ounce Amaro Nonino 0.25 ounce crème de cassis 0.25 ounce elderflower liqueur Sage leaves

METHOD In a shaker filled with ice, combine bourbon, lemon juice, Amaro Nonino, crème de cassis, and elderflower liqueur. Shake then fine strain into a rocks glass over ice cubes. Garnish with sage. Featured ingredient: Buffalo Trace bourbon

G N I T I R REW Y R O HIST

Even if you know to look for it, the recipe is easy to miss. “How do you qualify a cocktail as a modern classic?” Syman Running at seven lines in an old book, The Shanghai asks. “How many people have to be conscious of it? This cocktail was lost to history for the better part of a century is a historical [cocktail]. It was in this book but never (at least). But when The Dandy Crown co-owner Julia caught on.” She adjusted the quantities, chose Appleton Shell happened upon The Official Mixer’s Manual by Estate Signature for the Jamaican rum, makes her own Patrick Gavin Duffy in a vintage store, she had the perfect grenadine, and used Pernod for the anisette element. “That book has been a really fun resource because it’s birthday gift for Beverage Director Sarah Syman. important to understand where our drink-making comes Flipping through it, Syman stumbled upon The Shanghai, from,” she says. “There’s no way any of us would be able a bright, refreshing drink with funk on the rum and a to create these craft cocktails without the basics.” black licorice backbone. She reinterpreted it for her menu, which is separated into “Historically Inspired” and “Craft.”

PHOTOS: WILL BLUNT

B R EWE RS

Javier and Jose Lopez CASA HUMILDE CERVECERÍA JAVIER AND JOSE LOPEZ GREW UP immersed in Chicago’s Hermosa neighborhood. As the children of Mexican immigrants, they were raised with a deep appreciation for their heritage. The Lopez brothers were always into craft beer, but it was the Gumballhead release from 3 Floyds Brewing Co. that showed them how special a brew could really be. Craving a career shift after 10 years in a band, Jose partnered with Javier to go all-in on stainless steel, temperature-controlled home brewing equipment. As they experimented, Javier worked in construction while Jose handled food distribution at meat and seafood companies, followed by Omega Yeast. His next distribution job at Hopewell Brewing Co. allowed Jose to study the business of owning and operating a brewery.

With their savings, small investments from friends, and help from industry insiders like Ben and John Saller of Burnt City Brewing, Javier and Jose launched Casa Humilde Cervercía in 2019 within the brewery collective District Brew Yards. The Saller brothers essentially became their brewers committee, guiding them through the opening process. Although Mexican beers are most often associated with macrobrews like Corona and Modelo, the Lopez brothers believe that through a balance of traditional Latin flavors like hibiscus and corn, they can create craft beers that would appeal to the people in their community and beyond. Casa Humilde now produces about 800 barrels of craft, Mexican-inspired beer per year and is collaborating with Chef Diana Dávila of Mi Tocaya Antojería on a burnt-corn lager to benefit The Resurrection Project, a nonprofit for social change.

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javi_casahumilde / jose_casahumilde casahumildecerveceria Javier Favorite brewing resource: The Brewers Association Most important brewing rule: Maintain a clean and organized brewery. Advice to your younger self: Have fun and get creative. Don’t be afraid to experiment and push boundaries. There will be some failures, but never give up. Jose Most important brewing rule: Proper cleaning and sanitation What you drink on your nights off: Mezcal Beer trend you’d like to see less of: Milkshake IPAs Place you’d visit for inspiration: Munich, Germany. I would love to attend Oktoberfest.

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www.caputocheese.com 88

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PHOTOS: WILL BLUNT

BY BRAD JAPHE

Although Brewer Averie Swanson starter. Flavors are incorporated with which it’s paired. Human Attention of Keeping Together specializes in through both raw materials and is Sacred marries hibiscus, cinnamon, mixed-culture fermentation—a subset fermentation byproducts from the and ginger salt into an orangish elixir that drinks like a Loire Valley rosé. of beer dependent upon multiple microflora of the culture. Charting a more contemporary course, species of yeasts and bacteria, some of which are wild and often “The culture changes and evolves, the From the Outer Edge of Inner Space unpredictable—her formula for success same way all living things do,” says offers the assertive bitterness of is fairly straightforward. Essentially, she Swanson, who spent the majority of galaxy hops—a modern craft darling. thinks like a chef. Her technique feels her brewing career at Jester King in like it borrows pages from the chef Texas. “I might start out with an idea But it’s one particular output, Preoccupied playbook The Flavor Bible by Karen of how I want a final beer to present, With Memory and Expectation, that Page and Andrew Dornenburg.“My but more often than not, the culture perhaps best embodies the Swanson approach to recipe development is will guide the beer in a direction that is ethos. Brewed with Japanese red shiso greatly informed by the gastronomic slightly different than what my original leaf and burnt honey, it finishes with experiences that I have had in my vision was. I feel that by deferring to a pleasantly creamy, coconut profile. life,” Swanson says. “Everything from the expression of the culture for a given Swanson counts it as among the most childhood snacks to 20-course meals beer, I am able to create something interesting beers in her portfolio. at the best restaurants in the world greater than the sum of its parts—the final product ends up being something “Several ingredients that are seemingly inspire the beers that I make.” entirely unrelated and disparate highly unique and special.” come together to create an incredibly The brews at Keeping Together are fermented with a combination of Although the range of flavors are as integrated and wholly unique flavor yeasts and bacterias that Swanson has nuanced as they are varied, they all fall experience,” she says. “If you can pick cultivated and maintained since she under the catchall umbrella of saison out individual elements, I think I haven’t launched the company. She carefully (or farmhouse ales). The Art of Holding done my job.” No one who has ever tends to an in-house culture much like Space is a dry and slightly acidic table experienced Swanson’s beers could a baker stewards her own sourdough beer meant to accentuate any meal credibly accuse her of that.

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MENTOR

Sarah Grueneberg MONTEVERDE The 2021 class of Chicago Rising Stars anonymously voted on a Mentor Chef Award, presented by Vitamix Commercial. The award goes to the chef who supports and inspires young chefs in their city. For her ability to nurture talent, combined with her generosity, skill, and vision, Sarah Grueneberg is the recipient of the 2021 Chicago Rising Stars Mentor Award. chefsarahjayne / monteverdechi

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MENTOR AWARD VI

PR ESENTED BY TA AL CI M IX CO M M E R

SARAH GRUENEBERG SPENT MUCH OF her Houston childhood making sausages and baking wild berry pies with her German grandparents. She opened her first business venture, a restaurant called Tastes of the World, under her school’s bleachers in the fourth grade.

Grueneberg earned her associate’s degree in culinary arts from the Art Institute of Houston in 2001. That July, she joined Brennan’s of Houston under Chef Chris Shepherd. She began as garde manger and worked her way up to become the restaurant’s youngest female sous chef at the age of 22. In 2005, Grueneberg moved to Chicago to join the award-winning team at Spiaggia, helmed by Chef Tony Mantuano. Grueneberg started on the line but eventually became executive chef in 2010. During her tenure, Spiaggia gained a Michelin star for three consecutive years.

PNOTO: BRADLEY DANNER

In 2013, Grueneberg left her post at Spiaggia to develop her own concept, Monteverde Restaurant & Pastificio. Since it opened its doors in 2015, Monteverde has drawn crowds with hand-rolled pastas and modern interpretations of Italian classics. Grueneberg and her restaurant have nabbed numerous accolades since, including James Beard’s Best Chef: Great Lakes in 2017 and Jean Banchet’s Restaurant of the Year award in 2018.

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A creative agency working with the best hospitality in thewithworld. A creative agencybrands working the best hospitality brands in the world.

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crowncreative.co @crowncreative crowncreative.co @crowncreative

I Support

RISING STARS AND THE CAUSES THEY BELIEVE IN

1% FOR THE PLANET |

GROCERY RUN CLUB | groceryrunclub.com

PAWS CHICAGO | pawschicago.org

In order to fight the climate crisis, 1% for the Planet helps fund diverse environmental organizations. Taylor Cowan, Jordan Scherer

Giving away fresh produce and other everyday necessities to underserved communities in Chicago, Grocery Run Club aims to dismantle systems founded on discriminatory and oppressive ideologies. Alex Augustine, Eric Simmons

PAWS Chicago is a no-kill animal shelter that sponsors the spaying or neutering of pets. Lucas Trahan

onepercentfortheplanet.org

AFIRE CHICAGO | afirechicago.org Alliance of Filipinos for Immigrant Rights and Empowerment advocates for Filipinx immigrants and pushes back against structural injustice. Tim Flores

ASIAN AMERICANS ADVANCING JUSTICE |

advancingjustice-chicago.org

The Chicago branch of Asian Americans Advancing Justice Affiliation serves to tackle anti-Asian hate and discrimination in the Midwest. Genie Kwon, Bailey Sullivan, Chops Wat

EARTHJUSTICE | earthjustice.org Earthjustice commissions environmental justice lawyers to advocate for clean energy, the protection of wildlife, and sustainability. Luke Feltz

CHICAGO CANINE RESCUE |

chicagocaninerescue.org

Dedicated to supporting unhoused Chicago dogs, The Chicago Canine Rescue helps them find forever homes. Dave Park

GREEN CITY MARKET | greencitymarket.org The Green City Market focuses on making locally grown food more accessible and sustainable to communities in Chicago. Ryan Brosseau

HOPE FOR THE DAY | hftd.org Hope for the Day equips people with the necessary tools to prevent mental health crises in their communities. Kimberlee Beeler

MICHAEL J. FOX FOUNDATION FOR PARKINSON'S RESEARCH |

michaeljfox.org

By funding research and improving therapies for people with this disease, the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research is committed to finding a cure. Lauren Terrill

MONEYGUN CHARITY CLUB |

moneygunchicago.com

MONEYGUN Charity Club focuses on a different cause every month by donating a portion of proceeds from MONEYGUN cocktail sales. Donavan Mitchem

MY BLOCK MY HOOD MY CITY |

formyblock.org

Through programs that address the needs of locals, My Block, My Hood, My City motivates Chicagoans to build close bonds that start at the family and eventually extend to the city. Eric Simmons, Bailey Sullivan

PILSEN FOOD BANK | figueroawufamilyfoundation.com The Pilsen Food Bank serves high-quality and culturally appropriate food and hygiene products to families that are food insecure. Matt Pontarelli

SHE SHOULD RUN | sheshouldrun.org Nonpartisan nonprofit She Should Run focuses on increasing the number of women considering running for public office. Luke Feltz

THE COMMUNITY KITCHEN |

communitykitchenchicago.org

The Community Kitchen offers living wages to food workers who provide complimentary meals to the people of Chicago who are in need. Won Kim

THE RESURRECTION PROJECT |

resurrectionproject.org

With the goal of building community wealth, The Resurrection Project defends immigrant rights, facilitates access to affordable housing, and helps families build financial security. Javier Lopez, Jose Lopez

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About the Cover After seeing the characters that inspired the beers at Ørkenoy, we asked Brewer Jonny Ifergan and illustrator Katie Lukes to bring Chicago the Bear—a representation of the Chicago hospitality industry—to life.

Chicago the Bear By Jonny Ifergan Chicago’s most distinct memory as a cub is swimming and catching trout off the southwestern tip of Michigan. Separated from their birth parents early on, Chicago grew up fast on their own, learning to forage and store food in their lovely, little cave, appropriately named “The Cocoon.”

One spring morning, Chicago was sipping a tea they made with dried fruit and currant leaves and thinking about their future. It was time to follow their dreams. Chicago decided to host an arts, music, and culinary festival to raise funds for Kendall College. Chicago then migrated across the lake to Kendall College and dived into learning the skills of a great chef like sharpening a knife, keeping your station clean, and completing a dish before eating it. (They couldn’t help it!) Chicago particularly loved fermenting vegetables and cooking with seasonal ingredients. They learned how to sous vide and cure meat, which could prove useful during hibernation. But nothing quite tickled Chicago’s nose more than the smell of freshly baked bread in the oven. After graduation, Chicago migrated around the city’s neighborhoods, learned more about different cuisines, and worked their way up from washing dishes at a greasy spoon to being a line cook at a fine dining restaurant. Chicago still laughs about those memories, thinking about trying to hold those tweezers in their giant paw while plating. 94

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ILLUSTRATION: KATIE LUKES

Throughout their travels in the forest, Chicago became aware of the lack of resources for the other orphan bears. So Chicago started inviting all their new friends into The Cocoon before winter to feast on berries and fish that Chicago had smoked and dried to preserve. But Chicago always dreamed of moving to the big city of their namesake to attend Kendall College.

Chicago is now an award-winning chef at a well-known, minimalist restaurant in the Fulton Market District. But not a day goes by where Chicago doesn’t think about those days on the beach as a young cub, full of naivete and curiosity. In fact, Chicago plans to open a local market near the lake one day named The Cocoon to give back to the communities that have taught them so much about life, love, and the pursuit of food. What you eat on your days off: A few Depot Dogs in the parking lot while running errands What you drink on your days off: Mead, but when that’s not an option, Chicago doesn’t mind trying new beers, especially those made with fresh fruit or foraged ingredients—the fruitier the better! How you spend your free time: Chicago loves riding their bike through the boulevards and lakeshore, discovering new places to eat or stopping at a nearby farmers market.

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ILLUSTRATION: KATIE LUKES

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Careers through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP) is a workforce development nonprofit that provides underserved teens a pathway to success.

For more information go to ccapinc.org