Airwaves Full of Bacon

Fooditor Radio 27: Inside Michelin's Brain 2017, with Anthony Todd, Sarah Freeman and Maggie Hennessy.

Fooditor Radio 26: The Parthenon Falls, But Chicago Marches On, with Joe Campagna and Anthony Todd.

Fooditor Radio 25: In the Backyard With ManBQue, with John Carruthers, John Scholl and Jesse Valenciana.

Fooditor Radio 24: Tacos, Burgers and Other Tastes of Chicago, with Nick Kindelsperger of the Chicago Tribune, and David Hammond of New City and Wednesday Journal.

Fooditor Radio 23: My Dad the Critic, My Son the Restaurateur, with Sherman and Josh Kaplan.

Fooditor Radio 22: It Might As Well Be Spring Openings

Fooditor Radio 21: Talking with Jonathan Gold and Laura Gabbert about 'City of Gold'

Fooditor Radio 20: The Force Steakens, or: 2015 in Review with guests Anthony Todd, Joe Campagna, Melissa McEwen and Chris Chacko

Airwaves Full of Bacon is now Fooditor Radio, the audiophonic auxiliary of Fooditor, The Total Chicago Food Experience. (It's numbered episode 19 to maintain continuity with the 18 episodes of Airwaves Full of Bacon.) For more about this post, go here. You can follow Fooditor Radio by subscribing at the old Airwaves iTunes page, which will transition to Fooditor Radio... eventually.

Airwaves Full of Bacon 18: Live From the Taste of Chicago with Joe Campagna and Special Guest Ina Pinkney Click on the above to go to iTunes, Stitcher, Twitter or Facebook. ______________________________________________________________________________ The more I try to get out, the harder podcasting tries to pull me back in! Live from the Taste of Chicago, it's my previously dead podcast, with guest Joe Campagna and remote correspondent Ina Pinkney talking about the Taste, the state of dining in Chicago, Boeufhaus, Hot Doug and more. Thanks to the city's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events for having us, and to Ed Silha of Radio Misfits Network for engineering this episode. (56 min.) Here's some pics from the event by my son Myles: The bit with Ina Pinkney comes from the same evening as this story at the Reader.

Airwaves Full of Bacon 17: Last Episode! • Apocalypse Soil with Harry Carr of Mint Creek Farm • Tough Love with Ken Zuckerberg • Joe Woodel of Husky Hog BBQ Click on the above to go to iTunes, Stitcher, Twitter or Facebook. ______________________________________________________________________________ (1:27) So it's the last episode of Airwaves Full of Bacon. Why is that? Well, I explain in more detail in the first part of the podcast, but basically, I want to do audio but I think a better way than hour-long shows is to integrate it into other media which draw more traffic. Like this Reader piece about farmer Harry Carr... (4:37) And if you liked the snippet of audio in that Reader piece, here's way more about Harry Carr and Mint Creek Farm. Learn why he thinks soil is vital to civilization, why animals are essential to growing vegetables, why more bugs and weeds are better, and what he's doing in a town that was founded to greet UFOs. Here are a few more pics that didn't make it into the Reader piece: (25:28) My friend Ken Zuckerberg has been one of Chicago's most outspoken food critics on Twitter and his blog, Fuckerberg on Food (the name came from Graham Elliot during a Twitter spat). He's tough, but tough love is good, and there are things he flat out loves, too, so we talk about all of that. Really, he's not the worst person in the world! (54:48) Husky Hog BBQ is a newish BBQ place in Bridgeport run by Joe Woodel, who has a long and twisted history running from Table 52 to competition barbecue to a food truck— and that's not even counting what he did before barbecue. I ran a two-part interview with him at the Reader here and here, this is a choice chunk of that. And here's the Car Con Carne podcast where I first tried Husky Hog and met Joe. * * * Finally, thanks to everyone who listened, ever. I think we did some cool things and went some cool places no one else with a Chicago food show would have done, and I'll be back with audio in some new way, stay tuned.

Airwaves Full of Bacon 16: Greg Biggers of the Sofitel Vs. The City • What's Next After the City Shut Down Underground Chef Julia Pham • Kevin Hickey Returns To Bridgeport • Kate Bernot Leaves Chicago For Beer Click on the above to go to iTunes, Stitcher, Twitter or Facebook. ______________________________________________________________________________ It's the city episode! All the stories have to do with dealing with this city... and the City. (1:16) First up, chef Greg Biggers of Cafe des Architectes in the Sofitel Hotel takes me inside their circuitous kitchens to tell the story of how he had to work with the City to get to do the things he wanted to do... notably, make cheese. It's a great look inside the health and regulatory process in Chicago. (20:06) Then I talk with underground chef Julia Pham, whose Relish Underground Dining came to a halt when she was busted by the City. After that, I list some of my favorite Asian restaurants in the Argyle area. I wrote about Nha Hang here, and made this video about the old Sun Wah. Here's more about Double Happiness, where we met up. (35:05) Kevin Hickey's the Duck Inn marks his return to Bridgeport. We talk about that most traditional of old school Chicago neighborhoods, including mentions of Ricobene's and Bridgeport Bakery. A much longer version of this ran in two parts here and here at the Reader. Here's the original Duck Inn, c. 1935, owned by his grandmother (the lady behind the counter). (50:01) And finally, I talk with Kate Bernot, late of Redeye, about leaving Chicago. Here's her farewell piece.

Airwaves Full of Bacon 15: Soul Food Truck With a Side of Negro League Baseball • Hanging Out With Scott Worsham and Nick Lacasse of mfk • Why A Wisconsin Butcher Shop Was Run Out of Town • Anthony Todd on the Best of 2014 Click on the above to go to iTunes, Stitcher, Twitter or Facebook. ______________________________________________________________________________ (1:55) First up, I talk with Don Curry, who recently launched the Negro League baseball-themed Southern Pitch Food Truck. You can follow it on Facebook and Twitter. (12:10) Then I hang out with chef Nick Lacasse and owner Scott Worsham of mfk. That's the razor clams dish referenced multiple times above; here's the piece Scott wrote for Morsel. My favorite fact about M.F.K. Fisher is that she was a gag writer for Bob Hope in the early 40s, no joke. (30:38) In 2012 I made a documentary about butchers called The Butcher's Karma; the part about Bartlett Durand and Black Earth Meats was this segment, The Zen Butcher. We talk about what happened since then, none of it good. (There's a longer version of this interview and a fuller telling of the story here.) Here's Black Earth Meat's Kickstarter. (40:30) And finally, Anthony Todd and I talk Michelin, Shake Shack and other things. Here's the Kickstarter for a movie about composer Kevin Macleod.

Airwaves Full of Bacon 14: Hunting Frogs with Iliana Regan of Elizabeth • Hiring Grant Achatz • Wine Lists and Wine Writers in Chicago • The Squeezonk of Tolerance Click on the above to go to iTunes, Stitcher, Twitter or Facebook. ______________________________________________________________________________ They're out there... and there's only one way to stop them! (1:15) I go frog-giggin' with Iliana Regan of the foraging-based Chicago restaurant Elizabeth and her friends Tonya Pierce and William "Getty" Sikora, and then see how she turns foraged frogs and childhood memories into a fine dining dish. It was a long drive, so we had a lot of time to talk about foraging as a trend and a lifestyle on the way. You can read more about this at the Reader here and here. (24:34) Henry Adaniya (right above) was back in town for Next's newest menu paying tribute to his restaurant, Trio, where he gave Grant Achatz his start over a decade ago. The full interview was here in the Reader but I selected an excerpt about hiring, and almost not hiring, a kid named Achatz. Black truffle explosion (30:36) So wine retailer Craig Perman wrote this on Facebook. Then Shebnem Ince, who works for him, wrote this, and my friend John Lenart wrote this. What are they all talking about? Wine lists, and why we don't have more food writers critiquing them. So I gathered all three of them at Perman Wine Selections to talk about all that some more. Shebnem Ince, Craig Perman. (63:13) And I read a story at the last Between Bites, at Homestead, in July, called The Squeezonk of Tolerance. Another Between Bites event is coming up at Frontier on October 20th; here's how to find out more and get tickets.

Airwaves Full of Bacon 13: Smoked Salmon Tasting With Ethan Forman of H. Forman and Son, London • Paul Fehribach of Big Jones on His Southern Cookbook • Michael Nagrant on Life as a Restaurant Critic in 2014 Click on the above to go to iTunes, Stitcher, Twitter or Facebook. ______________________________________________________________________________ It's the very far from fat free episode! (1:40) First up, David Hammond and I taste smoked salmon with Ethan Forman of London's H. Forman and Son, makers of superior smoked salmon which you can find at Eataly, Whole Foods, and a number of north shore delis including Kaufman's, Upper Crust, and Once Upon a Bagel. Sashimi cut. Paul Fehribach with caul fat for making chaudin. (17:25) Then I talk with Paul Fehribach of Big Jones, who has The Big Jones Cookbook coming out next year, based on his extensive research into southern food. I've written several times about his digging into old food ways, like here, here and here. A longer version of this interview was at the Reader here and here. Salt-rising bread. Pancit noodles at Isla Pilipina. (36:10) Then I talk with Michael Nagrant, reviewer for Redeye, about reviewing and the restaurant scene in 2014, and we mention lots of things along the way. Here are links to things he wrote about: the chicken-donut sandwich, North Pond, Isla Pilipina, Laughing Bird, Publican Quality Meats, Bohemian House, Tete Charcuterie, and MFK. So contrary to what it says in the podcast it doesn't look like my last appearance on WGN Radio is available online, but here's the episode of Outside the Loop in which I talk about the food journalism scene.