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Community Tavern: A Wine Dinner Experience

When you walk into Community Tavern, located on the bustling six corners of Portage Park, the sounds of busy Chicago traffic dissipate, replaced by upbeat, classic R&B and hip hop. The restaurant ...

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Dining at Alinea

I recently had the opportunity to check off a huge bucket list experience – dining at Alinea! Alinea is one of the top restaurants in the world. In fact, only 13 restaurants in the United States have ...

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Sous Vide: What, Why, & How?

Sous vide, meaning "under vacuum" in French, is a cooking technique where food is sealed in a bag and cooked in a precisely controlled water bath. It’s a method that ensures consistent results, ...

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Behind The Scenes: Prepping for a Restaurant Part II

When you work as a cook in a restaurant, getting food from raw ingredients to finished dishes can, in some ways, be more straightforward than cooking at home, or less, depending on your point of ...

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Behind the Scenes: Prepping for a Restaurant

What goes on in the kitchen of a restaurant can be a bit of a mystery. Even if the restaurant has an open kitchen, by the time the public at large is looking on, almost all the work has already been ...

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The Unsung Hero of the Kitchen: Staff Meal

As a chef, my life revolves around food. From the crack of dawn to the dead of night, I’m immersed in a world of flavors, techniques, and relentless passion for culinary artistry. But amidst the ...

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5 Ways to Celebrate International Women’s Day Through Food

International Women’s Day is fast approaching, and it’s one of my favorite holidays of the year. No matter who you are, there’s a woman in your life who deserves to be celebrated, and this holiday is ...

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What’s For Dinner?

It’s an age-old important question: what’s for dinner? Maybe you’re only feeding yourself, or maybe you’ve got a roommate, partner, or kids to consider when making your decision. Most nights I cook a ...

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Top Ten Fancy Chef Books for the Fancy Cook in Your Life

If you’re one of those among us who celebrates one of the winter gift giving holidays that terminate near the end of December then by the time this post comes out you will technically still have some ...

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Chicago’s Finest Eateries

Working at The Chopping Block, one of the most common questions I get asked as a chef actually has nothing to do with cooking at all. Guests always want to know “What’s your favorite restaurant?”

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Most Recent Posts

A Recipe Revival: Prosciutto Cups with Corn Custard

  When I first started working at The Chopping Block almost 23 years ago, our class...Read more

It's Easy Being Cheesy: Homemade Mozzarella

  Now you might say it’s because I was raised in Wisconsin, but I claim there are few things...Read more

A Wedding Cake Tale

  I love to bake, and I’m frequently asked to bake cakes and cookies for all sorts of...Read more

Franks and Beans from Scratch

    I'm back with another bean blog! It’s been a while since I’ve had the canned...Read more

TCB Chef Wins America's Test Kitchen: The Next Generation

If you watched America's Test Kitchen: The Next Generation you already know the great news: our...Read more

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