CHICAGO CARLESS

(Photo: My Cincinnati chili king, Tony Plum, poses among his faithful subjects. Credit: Chicago Reader.)

You’d think by this late-holiday time of year Yours Truly would be done eating. If you didn’t know me at all, that is. Instead, this week I paid visits to a couple of my regular joints: Lincoln Square’s authentic Cincinnati chili parlor, Cinner’s; and the north Loop’s chainy but yummy Asian bun eatery, Wow Bao. And as usual, I’m telling you all about it on my Gapers Block:Drive-Thru foodie byline.

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(Photo: Waiter, there’s a splatter movie in my burger.)

My favorite local restaurant in my South River North/North Loop hood is not one I would recommend to my worst enemy. Well, depending on the day you ask me my opinion on the place. Because while Emerald Loop’s Irish pub kitchen shines from Monday through Friday, it’s as if the back-of-house is taken over by zombies on the weekend. Find out why a rare burger at Emerald Loop can be a bloody weekend surprise in my latest Gapers Block: Drive-Thru review, Emerald Loop: It’s Not Easy Being Green.

And then someone please find me a weekend hoodie.

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(Photo: Just keep eating; just keep eating...)

It’s been awhile since I told my readership about my recipes and restaurant reviews over at Gapers Block, the deservedly popular home-grown news and features site. It’s not like I haven’t been stuffing my face, folks (and I’m not just talking about Thanksgiving). I invite the foodies among you to head over to Drive-Thru, the Gapers Block food and drink channel, to check out what I and my fellow professional eaters have been up to lately.

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(Photo: I would risk an F5 for Karen Lim’s Little Hotties.)

Back in August, I discovered the best Asian hot wings in the city of Chicago, bar none. Namely, the ginger-garlic goodness of the lollipop-style “Little Hotties” at 18th Street’s Take Me Out. I sang their praises while running from a wall cloud. Then I mourned their closure after a major fire.

I have far happier news to report. Last week, Take Me Out co-owner Karen Lim emailed to to report the eatery will be back in business starting Saturday, October 18th. She’ll be celebrating by giving out free Little Hotties, and that’s reason enough to show up in my book. Read full coverage of Lim’s return in my recent Drive-Thru entry.

And if you havent ever had her wings, Saturday would be a great time to find out what you’ve been missing.

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(Photo: Food porn in convenient amaretto-cherry cookie size from Lido’s Caffé in Oak Park.)

Lately, my life has been a string of unexpected occurrences that have taken even this life-is-flux loving Buddhist by surprise. Some haven’t been so pleasant (two words: Fleet Week). Two of the happiest have been my rekindled friendship with pastry-chef Chris, and my discovery, through said fellow foodie, of Lido’s Caffé in Oak Park.

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(Photo: Smoked chorizo in beer-laced arroz; one of this secretly Hispanic blogger’s best childhood friends.)

Perhaps the biggest open secret in my life is my heritage. The Irish last name is a red herring. I’m actually one-hundred percent Hispanic. Mom was a first-generation American born to Spaniard parents. My father was Puerto Rican. Him I never knew, but mom brought up all of her children white-bread American. By other children, I’m referring to the brother and sister I rarely reference and haven’t known in years. There’s a deeply substance-abusive reason for that on their part, but that’s a backstory for another time.

The point today is that although I never did learn to speak Spanish in childhood (and, boy, did it kill my mom to hear me coming home from college speaking French and Italian), I did learn a thing or two in the kitchen. My most cherished culinary memory from childhood will always be my mom’s Spanish rice. It’s been my go-to dish for years and will be again tonight as I bring a couple of vats of it to the Gapers Block potluck dinner meeting for the Drive-Thru food & drink staff.

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(Photo: Bet you never thought you’d see that picture on this website.)

When I told the Gapers Block editors last week that I wanted to take them up on their last-minute offer to interview Food Network celebrity chef Sandra Lee, creator of the Semi-Homemade television and cookbook empire, their response was instructive: “You’re not going to shred her, are you?”

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