Food & Dining team inboxes are flooded daily with questions from readers seeking their next great bite, often centered on dining options in Chicago and the surrounding ‘burbs.
“What’s the latest trend in Mexican food?” “Who has a great wine list?” “Where should I take my mom, who is visiting from out of town?”
We’d be more than happy to breathlessly recommend restaurants we love to everyone who asks, but there are many other topics worth exploring in this vibrant city of ours.
In fact, we get so caught up with chasing down stories, we may miss some of the questions that you, our readers, want answered. This is why we’ve partnered with Hearken, a startup that lets audiences connect with reporters, allowing them to ask their burning questions.
Already, we’ve tackled questions on the peppermint stick and pickle snack from the South Side and the origin and makeup of the popular condiment mild sauce.
No question is too esoteric or too out there for our reporters, who are eager to find new stories to tell. Which is why, below, we’ve gathered 10 reader queries floating in our inboxes and answered them in a speed round. They’re as varied as where to find abalone to what brand of mustard was available on North Avenue Beach in the 1970s.
If you have a question for us, please submit it in the form below, and we’ll get back to you. Your question (and you!) may be the subject of our next feature.
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Without further ado, here are the 10 speed-round questions and answers. (Questions appear as submitted.)
Breaded Steak sandwiches in Bridgeport area. Love them but would like origin. Ricobene’s I presume, but maybe not. Many good places here. (submitted by Dale)
It is fair to presume that Ricobene’s in Bridgeport invented the breaded steak sandwich — that hulking fried slab of beef covered in tomato sauce and cheese. It is certainly the most popular practitioner of the sandwich, especially since a writer for USA Today crowned it the “best sandwich in the world.”
But like the creation story of most iconic sandwiches, it’s hard to know for sure. Sam Ricobene Sr. took over Ricobene’s in in the late 1950s from his parents, eventually adding the sandwich to the menu.
In the Tribune’s obituary for Sam Ricobene Sr. in 2011, his son, Sam Ricobene Jr., admits that there are “still arguments in the neighborhood over who did it first … but he did it right.”
If you’re hungry for a breaded steak sandwich, Bridgeport is definitely the place to go. Besides Ricobene’s, I like the breaded steak sandwiches at Kathy De’s Deli ( 3642 S. Parnell Ave.), Nonna Soluri’s (3142 S. Morgan St.) and Johnny’s O’s (3465 S. Morgan St.). Outside Bridgeport, try the version at CaPo’s, which I recently wrote about here.
— Nick Kindelsperger
Who the h*** is Nick K. and what is his Chicago pedigree? How long has he lived in Chicago? (submitted anonymously)
Yeah, who is this Nick guy? Oh, that’s me. Well, I was born in Indiana, and that Hoosier tag really takes a long time to shake off. Technically, I was born in a hospital in Kentucky, which just happens to be enough time to develop a lifelong appreciation of bourbon. It works like that.
I moved to Chicago nine years ago, which, as a proportion of my 34 years on earth (the only rational way to calculate this) makes me approximately 26 percent Chicagoan. By next year, I’ll be up to 28.5 percent! However, I did live for two years in New York City, which deducts from my total Chicagoishness by a percentage point or two. (Psst … by the way, Phil Vettel was born in New York, so even though he’s been the Tribune restaurant critic since Richard M. Daley started his first term as mayor in the ’80s, can you ever be a true Chicagoan with that kind of background?)
In my defense, I have eaten at a fair number of Chicago restaurants. For example, for my roundup of the best tacos in Chicago, I traveled to 85 different taquerias around the city. That’s not to mention the 40 places I visited for burritos and 17 for an upcoming ramen piece. I’ve snacked on smoked shrimp while sitting on the street curb at Calumet Fisheries, eaten rib tips and hot links out of a foam clamshell at Lem’s and made the pilgrimage to the original Lou Malnati’s in Lincolnwood. I love hot dogs fully loaded, beefs dipped and hot, and Pequod’s with sausage.
Plus, over the summer I tried essentially all the food at Wrigley Field and Guaranteed Rate, which I’m pretty sure counts as the least pleasurable initiation ritual any city could force on a person. — N.K.
What happened to Hot Doug’s? (submitted by Steve Smith)
Quick answer? Owner Doug Sohn didn’t feel like running a restaurant anymore. As he related to the Tribune back in 2014, “There’s a real appeal of closing because I can, not because I have to. It was the end of last year, and I was thinking, ‘You know, we might be done.'”
That hasn’t stopped people from pestering him constantly to reopen the most beloved hot dog shop in Chicago, as I did a few weeks ago. His current response: “Why don’t you open a restaurant?” Touche.
Thing is, Hot Doug’s still sort of exists. There is a Hot Doug’s food stand in the bleacher section of Wrigley Field, and Hot Doug’s sausages are now being sold on Peapod. And the glory of Hot Doug’s past lives on in a book and an upcoming documentary.
— N.K.
Is there an elevator to the mezcal bar on the lower level of Quiote wheelchair-accessible? (submitted anonymously)
I reached out to Quiote’s (2456 N. California Ave.) owner, Dan Salls, and he confirmed that there is not an elevator to the basement mezcal bar. However, he did say that all of the drinks from the bar are available upstairs. He also pointed out that “the entire main floor, as well as the beer garden and patio are ADA compliant.”
— N.K.
Do locals eat deep-dish pizza, or is it mainly a tourist thing? (submitted anonymously)
You certainly could be forgiven for thinking that deep dish is “a tourist thing” if you’ve happened past Pizzeria Uno (29 E. Ohio St.) or Gino’s East (multiple locations), where souvenir T-shirts seem to be a requirement. But Lou Malnati’s has more than 40 area locations; those aren’t tourists filling the seats in Lawndale and on West Randolph Street, not to mention the full-service locations in Buffalo Grove and Elk Grove Village. Louisa’s Pizza & Pasta in Crestwood also seems to be doing just fine without the out-of-town crowd.
— Phil Vettel
Where can I get soft shell crabs? (submitted anonymously)
Got a time machine? Then flash forward about seven months or backward a month or two.
Soft-shell crabs are blue crabs that have shed their hard shells in order to grow new ones. For a short time between old and new, the crab’s shell is paper-thin, and the cooked crab (typically sauteed or deep-fried) can be eaten whole. The soft-shell season runs roughly from early May to mid-September. Look for them at any seafood restaurant, but especially at Shaw’s Crab House and Hugo’s Frog Bar, both of which have city and suburban locations. I’ve also had good luck at Naha, Sunda and HaiSous.
— P.V.
After a Wednesday matinee of “Hamilton,” where can we eat with three adults and two children (ages 12 and 9), and not too pricey? (submitted by Lois Kelly)
The Wednesday matinee will put you back on the street by 4:15 p.m., when restaurants are close to starting dinner service. If you don’t mind a little travel, this would be an ideal time to talk your way into Girl & the Goat (809 W. Randolph St.; you might even snag a 4:30 or 5 p.m. reservation), or Frontera Grill (445 N. Clark St.; opens at 5 p.m.), two tough places to get into during prime time. Or, as you’ve been sitting for about three hours, you might prefer to stroll a bit, in which case I’d recommend the superb food halls Latinicity (108 N. State St.) and Revival Food Hall (125 S. Clark St.), both very close by, or the somewhat farther Eataly (43 E. Ohio St.). Your family will be happy with the choices, and you’ll be happy with the overall bill.
— P.V.
I grew up in Chicago & loved the hot dogs at North Avenue beach. Do you know the brand of mustard used in the 1960s to 1970s? Was the best. (submitted by Joette Higgs)
A similar question was posed in 2012 about the mustard used on hot dogs at the Lincoln Park Zoo in the 1950s and 1960s. That mustard was a Dusseldorf-style condiment made by Monarch Foods and used by Paul Hecker, who held the zoo’s concession contract at the time.
I called his granddaughter, Barbara Shields of Wilmette, about your question. She told me that Hecker held the concession contracts up the lakefront “from Ohio to Touhy.” Would he have served the same mustard at North Avenue Beach as he did at the zoo? “Absolutely,” Shields replied.
Monarch Foods is now part of US Foods in Rosemont. It’s a food-service brand sold to restaurants and businesses.
Back in 2012, I looked to find a mustard that consumers could buy that came close to Monarch’s and held an informal blind taste test. The winner, by a 3-2 vote, was a mustard from White Castle, which uses a Dusseldorf type in the Chicago area. Second place in that 2012 tasting went to Koops’ Dusseldorf mustard, which is made by Olds Products Co. of Pleasant Prairie, Wis. Give them both a try, and let us know what you think.
— Bill Daley
Where can you get abalone like they used to serve at Nick’s Fishmarket, not a Chinese restaurant? (submitted by Robert Mile)
Short but expensive answer? Nick’s Fishmarket Maui, where they currently serve “Pacific coast abalone,” aka abalone Chicago-style, on the menu at “market price,” which is currently $120.
According to a 1986 Tribune review of the original restaurant in the Loop, abalone (a shellfish somewhat similar in texture and taste to squid) was prepared two ways: “The simple browned-butter, dore preparation surpasses the version with a topping of asparagus, mushrooms and shrimp.”
But it’s the latter preparation that survived. At the restaurant in Hawaii (owned by a restaurant group, not founder and namesake Nick Nickolas), the abalone is breaded, then fried and served with sauteed tiger prawns, asparagus, and ali’i mushrooms in lemon-butter-dill-sauce with butter-whipped potatoes.
If you want to make abalone Chicago-style yourself, the H-Mart location in Niles currently has them live for $5.99 each. But Dirk’s Fish (2070 N. Clybourn Ave.) owner Dirk Fucik suggests using squid steaks as an affordable alternative, which he always has available frozen at his sustainable seafood shop on the Clybourn Corridor near the DePaul neighborhood.
— Louisa Chu
Growing up, I didn’t know there was Chicago-style popcorn. My family just made it and ate it that way because we were from Chicago. Story? (submitted by Tina Stacy)
Chicago-style popcorn improbably mixes caramel corn with cheddar cheese corn.
The best known makers have long been Garrett Popcorn Shops — founded by wife and husband team Gladys and Claude Garrett in 1931 in Milwaukee, who moved to Chicago in 1949. There are now locations worldwide. When you visit a shop, a counter person will shake your bag of Garrett Mix to order, with the signature sweet CaramelCrisp and savory CheeseCorn.
But G.H. Cretors’ popcorn may be better known outside of Chicago, since it’s sold pre-bagged at numerous retailers, including Costco and Amazon, and also worldwide. The brand launched in 2010, but has a history that dates to 1895, when Charles Cretors moved to Chicago with his new invention: the popcorn machine. The Waukegan-based company calls its caramel and cheese popcorn blend The Mix.
While you might call Chicago-style popcorn “Chicago mix,” that name is trademarked by a Minnesota-based chain called Candyland. Co-owner Brenda Lamb created the Chicago Mix in 1988 with three flavors of popcorn (a signature seasoned, caramel and cheddar cheese), then trademarked the name in 1992.
— L.C.
