Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Seriously, please try Ruth & Phil's Gourmet Ice Cream. I will admit that the owner is a friend of mine, and it's located in an out of the way 'hood north of Lincoln Square, but I promise it is the BEST ice cream in Chicago. Completely handmade from scratch, unique flavors like pear apple cider champagne sorbet and sour cream cinnamon ice cream, it is worth a trip!

http://www.sweetcollective.com/

"But for various reasons, the next generation is slacking. You find the sacrificing of small scale artisan techniques for large scale production, or the substitution of cheaper vegetable oils and shortenings for what was once butter."

As the co-owner of a still-fairly-new pastry shop in Chicago, I take offense to this statement. There are still plenty of us out there using real Plugra, imported Swiss chocolate, and other high quality ingredients, in our handmade artisanal products. We may be harder to find, but trust me, we're here.

I sort of don't think it's worth a trip to Kuma's if all you want is a burger "your way." Yes, the meat is delicious and well seasoned and could, in theory, stand on it's own, but the whole point of Kuma's is to experience their creativity and menu options you can't get anywhere else. I guess it depends on what you would wait 2 hours for. . . (the last time I was there we arrived at 7 pm on a Monday and weren't seated until after 9).

I highly recommend the Mastadon. Oh man, I need to get back soon!

It drives me crazy how our farmers' markets are so expensive. I used to shop there all the time and just can't afford it any more. $3/pint of strawberries? I just paid $3 for 2 POUNDS at Stanleys. It's such a shame, because I really want to support the local farms, but just can't.

Jagged Metal Krusty-Os?

Good to know- this is right in my hood!

I've been a huge fan of fresh pecorino toscano ever since I first tried it in florence 9 years ago. . . I thought that you couldn't find it in the US because it's not pasteurized- have the rules changed? Or are stores now importing pasteurized yet still unaged cheese?

The difference between this show and LRS is that White appears to be a typical egomaniacal chef-jerk, as opposed to Raymond Blanc's normal, almost sweet (yet still stern) demeanor. I'm sure it's going to be totally 'Americanized' in the sense that there will be a lot of screaming, cursing, and crying. Which doesn't really sound that appealing.