SPOTLIGHT: Here are more Foodie Fast Facts, courtesy of Terri Schlichenmeyer:
• The older the hen, the bigger the eggs she lays.
• Because you cannot digest the nutrients in it and because it contains a lot of cellulose, estimates are that you could live approximately three months by eating only grass.
• According to Yahoo.com, the most expensive dish in the world isn’t, technically, in the world. It’s a nearly $500,000 dinner served by a space-travel firm while aboard a “space balloon.”
• On average, you will swallow between 500 and 700 times today.
• Brownies were invented in Chicago.
—Cookie fortune: Levain Bakery will have its brand-new, never-before-tasted-in-Chicago, limited-edition Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate Chip cookie available for one weekend only, on Oct. 4-5.
Also, the first 40 customers on each day of the weekend will receive their cookies packed in exclusive Levain mini-totes.
—Fall in: Farm Bar Ravenswood is welcoming fall with a lineup of seasonal menu items.
Reflecting the tastes of the season, highlights include slow-roasted carrots glazed in harissa honey, layered atop seasonal greens, citrus and fresh herbs, accompanied with a sunflower seed dukkah; an apple salad with roasted sweet potatoes, dried cranberries and creamy feta; pumpkin hummus with sage chermoula, pumpkin seed tahini and pickled raisins; and maple-cured North Road salmon that’s crowned with caramelized Brussels sprouts and Nichols Farm baby sweet potatoes, then finished with a walnut-sage crumble and bright, pickled leeks.
—That’s Italian!: Petterino’s Pasticceriais capturing attention with a new Italian import that’s already creating buzz: the Panuozzo.
It’s a sandwich built on freshly baked pizza dough—crisped on the outside and warm, chewy on the inside. The sandwich is then layered with Prosciutto di Parma, fresh mozzarella, roasted red peppers, caramelized onions and arugula, and finished with a drizzle of balsamic glaze.
—Dead zone: Never Trust the Living—a Halloween-themed pop-up bar/restaurant—will return to Chicago’s The Dandy Crown for its third year through Nov. 2. The event is free to attend but reservations are encouraged.
Just some of the cocktail highlights will include People Are Strange (Tanqueray Sevilla Orange Gin, Metaxa Ouzo, blackberry, vanilla and lemon); Personal Jesus (Ketel One Vodka, Lapsang Souchong Syrup, lemon, peach bitters and club soda); Boo-Berry (Dickel 8 Year Bourbon, blueberry, lemon, bitters and egg white); Goo Goo Muck (Myers’s Platinum White Rum, Cointreau, Saler’s, ube, orgeat and lime); and Devil Inside (Corazon Reposado Tequila, Combier Doppelt Kummel Extra Liqueur, agave nectar, lime and jalapeño).
—Taking stock of things: On Oct. 7, at 7 p.m., Stock Mfg, the brand outfitting Chicago’s top culinary destinations, will host a dinner party in collaboration with Zach Engel—the James Beard Award-winning chef behind Michelin-starred Galit and the newly opened Cafe Yaya.
Guests can expect an evening highlighting Engel’s signature style: Middle Eastern flavors grounded in farm-driven, Midwestern sensibilities, paired with wines and beverages. Tickets are $275 per person, all-inclusive of food, beverages and service; seating is limited.
—Social studies: Asador Bastian has launched a monthly series called Pinxto Social, inspired by the Basque tradition of gathering to graze, sip and share. It will be held on the second Sunday of each month in the afternoon. It begins in The Bar Room with a 30-minute, walk-around pinxto tasting, paired with a complimentary pour upon arrival; then, the experience will continue upstairs in the main dining room with a three-course prix fixe lunch.
This first one will be held Sunday, Oct. 12, at 1-4 p.m. The complimentary pour will be courtesy of Virtue Cider. Tickets are $90 per person; RSVP here.
—Opening up: The acclaimed spot avec—which has locations in River North and the West Loop—will open in Highwood, at 250 Waukegan Ave., next spring.
This will be the One Off Hospitality restaurant’s first suburban outpost—nearly 25 years after avec first opened its doors in the West Loop. The new Highwood restaurant will span nearly 5,000 square feet. The space, once home to a boxing gym and adjacent empty lot, will be transformed into two distinct rooms: a main dining room with seating for 70, and a bar area with booths for 25 guests plus 20 bar seats, offering both intimate dining and larger gathering spaces.
Don’t forget to read much more culinary news at SAVOR with Andrew!
The write stuff: Be sure to read and subscribe to my other Substack—Pop-Eds: My thoughts on pop culture. (Like SAVOR, it’s less than $5/month to access everything.) Columns have discussed cheating, movie sequels, Zohran Mamdani, vampire facials and Chappell Roan, among many other topics.
Until next time…