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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

What to Do with an Abundance of Rhubarb

  Rhubarb is thriving this time of year here in the Midwest, both in home gardens and in the...Read more

Chicago Bakeries Worth The Wait

  I’m always asked by friends, local to Chicago and those visiting, for the best places to eat...Read more

Summerween

  Did you know that there is a large faction of people that celebrate Halloween in the summer?...Read more

What is Chinese Black Vinegar and How to Use It?

  Believe it or not, in all my years of professional cooking, I had never used Chinese black...Read more

Crawfish 101: How to Boil, Peel, and Enjoy This Southern Delicacy

  It's the season of the crawfish boil, where flavors are bold, hands get messy, and the...Read more

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