3 Grant Achatz Chef/Owner, Alinea, Aviary and Next A member of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People List. While Achatz has pushed the emotional boundaries of the dining experience more than anyone, his immediate legacy is training cooks to be better versions of their forebears. He’s the torchbearer of the legacy handed down from Escoffier to the great French Brigades through to Thomas Keller. As a result guys like Curtis Duffy (Avenues), Jeff Pikus (Maude’s) and David Carrier (ex-Kith & Kin) are bringing a new level to every restaurant they touch and improving how we eat. If that weren’t enough, Achatz’s cancer survival and push to be the best at all costs is a comic book-like hero mythology that inspires us all.
Big Heat 2020: Chicago’s Food and Drink 50 This year we focus on chefs, pit masters, bartenders, bakers and those who prepare and serve the food that makes Chicago a major culinary center.
Childhood Memories: A Beautiful Bologna Sandwich from Big Kids, Logan Square It was a beautiful November day, with the temps in the mid-seventies, blue sky and bright autumn sunlight rendering everyone and everything gleaming golden. What could possibly make this beautiful day better? Why, a beautiful bologna sandwich, of course!
The Big Cheese: Veal Sausage and Stinky Cheese in Monroe, Wisconsin Wisconsin means dairy. It’s called “The Dairy State,” with a wheel of cheese and a cow on the state’s twenty-five cent piece. Monroe, the county seat of Green County, is the “Swiss Cheese Capital of the USA,” and cheese, along with Swiss culture, permeates the town.
