Buzz in the News
Think Global, but Eat Local
Spots like Bin 36, Buzz Cafe can help meet Localvore Challenge
By Monica Eng | Tribune staff reporter
August 23, 2007
For seven days next month -- Sept. 10-16, to be exact -- scores of mindful Chicago-eaters will take "The Localvore Challenge."
This means they will try to limit themselves to mostly local foods for a whole week as part of a program sponsored by Green City Market.
What constitutes local chow is a difficult to define. But most localvores agree that it's food and drink grown and produced "nearby." (What's the definition of "nearby"? 100 miles. 300 miles. Midwest. Big Ten conference. Take your pick.)
Regardless of the exact mileage -- Green City Market defines it as "grown or made entirely with ingredients from Illinois and its border states, plus Michigan" -- it's about promoting seasonal eating, fostering relationships between food producers and eaters, supporting local economies and consuming less energy to preserve and transport food (as yesterday's Good Eating story on localvores explained).
Eating locally at home, where you control all of the ingredients, is pretty doable. More challenging is sticking to your localvore guns when dining out -- or so we thought. After a little hunting, we found lots of pleasant surprises beyond the usual local-friendly suspects, such as Blackbird, Lula Cafe, Terragusto, Vie, Naha and North Pond. Many of our finds are in the very affordable range.
For those taking the challenge, these dishes may help you get through the week; for others, they offer fresh tasty food. For more places and information on the Green City Market challenge, go to chicagogreencitymarket.org.
Cousins Incredible Vitality
For folks who want to eat dishes made of mostly local ingredients, organic raw chef Mehmek Ak suggests his Mediterranean kale salad made almost entirely with local kale and accented with decidedly non-local goji berrries and lemon. He also suggests the "pasta marinara," with local zucchini substituting for the pasta. "We make the sauce with tomatoes and red bell peppers from local farms. The sun-dried tomatoes are the only things not local," says Ak. "They're from Turky."
He also recommends the "farmer's punch that's made 90 percent with local Swiss chard and then some orange juice, olive oil, cashew pieces, raisins and shredded coconut. It's a salad." His most local dish, he says, is the "Cousins Delight" made with "local broccoli, cauliflower, celery and carrots and topped with the same marinara sauce and some curry powder." The dishes cost $8-$12. 3038 W. Irving Park Rd.; 773-478-6868, cousinsiv.com.
Uncommon Ground Coffee House and Cafe
Each week this restaurant, which may be better known for its great lineup of singer-songwriters and coffee, buys a lot of produce from Green City Market to make its sunshine salad ($8-$11) almost entierly local "except for the avocados, of course," says general manager Kristin Jones. She notes that "most of our specials are also built around local ingredients." Her top suggestion is the all-local Heartland Piedmontese ribeye with roasted market vegetables, portobello mushroom salad and Shepherd's Way blue cheese out of Minnesota, all for $27. 3800 N. Clark St.; 773-929-3680, uncommonground.com.
Bin 36
It's surprisingly easy to put together a mostly local meal at this wine-centric spot, even if it offers no Midwestern wines. Start with Honkers Ale from Goose Island and the Growing Power dandelion salad ($8.50) withSeedlings apricots, Nichols Farm beets, Growing Power farm dandelions and a Country Cottage Farm fresh egg. For your entree, go for the juicy Country Cottage Farm chicken breast ($19) with Illinois sweet corn flan. And finish with a cheese plate ($7) of Carr Valley Marissa, Pleasant Ridge Reserve and the Buttermilk Roth Casa blue -- all from Wisconsin. We recently made a delicious meal for two out of these offerings alone. 339 N. Dearborn St.; 312-755-9463, www.bin36.com
Buzz Cafe
Eating a big plate of bacon, sausage, eggs and fruit with a cup of joe may never feel so virtuous as when you do it at Buzz Cafe. They buy their eggs, bacon and sausage from an Illinois Mennonite farm; their produce comes from a farm in Prairie Crossing, near Libertyville. The coffee (OK, coffee doesn't grow in the Midwest) at least comes from the celebrated local micro-roaster Metropolis in Edgewater. We paid about $11 with tip for a local breakfast of two eggs, bacon, sausage, a fruit cup and a cup of coffee, and it was worth every penny. 905 S. Lombard Ave., Oak Park; 708-524-2899, thebuzzcafe.com.
The Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream
For a really indulgent local treat, stop by this Edgebrook ice cream shop that is a franchise of the Madison, Wis.-based chain. These super--premium ice creams are all made with cream from a dairy in Wisconsin, though not all of the flavorings are local. We love the espresso flavor of this ultra-richstuff. A pint to go costs $4.69, but it's so good you might want to sit at one of the shop's outdoor tables and finish it all right there. 5337 W. Devon Ave.; 773-763-9778, chocolateshoppeicecream.com.
Spiaggia
OK, so it's not on the cheap end of the spectrum, but a regional Italian restaurant isn't exactly where you'd expect to find local produce. But chef Tony Mantuano is an avid fan of local and tries to use it at all three of his restaurants when possible. He suggests the restaurant's dish of Pinn-Oak Ridge Wisconsin lamb belly, cheeks and loin paired with seasonal -- and at this time of year, almost always local -- side vegetables on the plate for $42. 980 N. Michigan Ave., 2nd Floor; 312-280-2750.
Cool Spotting
We looked a little closer and found 25 people and places not seen by the uncool eye.
June 22, 2007
Cool is elusive. Sure, you can look it up in Webster's, but that would instantly mark you as uncool because dictionaries aren't cool. Besides, you should know it when you see it. Common is cool. Busta Rhymes isn't. Steve McQueen is cool. James Dean isn't. Denzel Washington is cool. Samuel L. Jackson isn't. See what we mean? No? Try this: Cool is usually where you aren't because, by the time mere mortals hear about it, cool has moved on. Until now. Here are 25 local entertainment people and places that are cool, for a host of reasons. Might be reliable excellence, great music or horn-rimmed hipsters. So. Have at it.
"NIKI NIGHTS"
From 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday nights, check out "Niki Nights," a series of dance and live music performances at the Garfield Park Conservatory through Oct. 25. See the colorful, large-scale sculpture exhibition "Niki in the Garden" and hear the cool sounds of swing, salsa and jazz. 300 N. Central Park Ave. $5p; 1-877-CHICAGO or www.artofplaychicago.com. (Jacqueline Fitzgerald)
"IT CAME FROM THE NEO-FUTURARIUM VI: CURSE OF THE NEO-FUTURARIUM"
An annual series of staged readings from "the most obscure, trashy, and all-around terrible film scripts of all time." This week: "Xanadu" (1980), the Oliva Newton-John musical, as a sing-along. Next week: "DreamQuest" (2000) An adults-only take ake on the adventures of a porn star who travels to an alternate universe. Thursdays through July 26 at the Neo-Futurarium 5153 N. Ashland Ave.; $10 773-275-5255. (Doug George)
HARRISON STREET ARTS DISTRICT, OAK PARK
The art-festooned Buzz Cafe (905 S. Lombard Ave) features live acoustic entertainment, while Diane VanDerhei's Intuit Dance (237 W. Harrison St. ) is making a name for itself as a creative dance mecca for kids and young adults. Longtime musical fixture Val's Halla (239 W. Harrison St.) has relocated there, and the record store has a small stage perfect for hosting live performances. (Louis R. Carlozo)
