Supper with Sylvia #1 Chicago Foodies Chat

Monica Eng and Audarshia Townsend are veteran journalists who've been covering the Chicago food and restaurant scene for years. In this inaugural episode of Supper with Sylvia, these two foodies reveal some of the city's hidden gems and discuss how the culinary landscape has evolved since the great pandemic of 2020.


The Show Notes:
Read more from Monica Eng at Axios.com and listen to her podcast "Chewing" with the Chicago Tribune's Louisa Chu. Audarshia Townsend is the Content Director for SupplySide Food and Beverage Journal and Informa Markets' 2024 Star Storyteller Winner.

Supper with Sylvia is Produced by Jane Stephens
Audio engineering and Music by Donnie Cutting

Check out SupperwithSylvia on Instagram.
Email us at SupperwithSylvia@gmail.com

Transcript

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Boy, do I love to eat and my home Chicago is one of the greatest places to satisfy any craving. Today, I'm talking to two women who've had their pulse on the city's vibrant food scene for decades. We're talking Chicago Magazine, Essence Magazine, the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun Times, and so much more. Monica Eng now reports for Axios Chicago and has a knack for finding the neighborhood gems that make this city so unique.

And Audarshia Townsend is the current content director for Supply Side Food and Beverage Journal. She's known for digging deep and finding the unusual stories you won't find anywhere else. Welcome to this episode of Supper with Sylvia.

Hi everyone, I am so happy you're here for my first episode of Supper with Sylvia. We're gonna get to our guest in just a moment. I wanted to start this episode by explaining how I got here and telling you a little bit about myself. So I'm a veteran news anchor and reporter in Chicago. In fact, I was just adding up the number of years I have been a broadcaster in Chicago and wow, it's been 35 years. Amazing and I feel so blessed that I've had this long career here in this city that I call home and I love so much. So as a reporter and anchor, I do everything from covering daily crime to political conventions, city council meetings, everything you would expect a local journalist to do. Pretty much that's what I've been doing all my life. But some of my most memorable moments have been at the anchor desk covering breaking news, both good and bad. And just like the rest of all of you out there, the pandemic changed a lot of things for me.

It was during that time that I would go to work that my colleagues and I were separated because of social distancing. Remember that term? So I would come in every single day and anchor all by myself and cover the big story, which was how COVID was spreading, what doctors were advising people to do, and basically trying to keep our viewers informed. And it was during that time that I interviewed a lot of restaurants, chefs about how the pandemic was actually impacting their business.

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And if you recall, the word of the time was pivot for every business, right? Every business had to learn how to change their model to try to be able to stay open and make money because they were all suffering. So I ended up becoming friends with a lot of local chefs because I'd have them on regularly to kind of try to help them promote their business. I knew they were struggling and I wanted to give them a platform to help them survive. So I started ordering to-go meals to support them, just like a lot of you guys did.

And then they would reach out to talk to me about helping them to spotlight some new things that they were doing to try to increase their business. If you'll recall, at the time in Chicago, you were not able to order like alcoholic drinks to go. So that became a thing during the pandemic to try to help these restaurants. You could actually, for the first time, order alcoholic drinks with your dinner. There were all kinds of new introductions brought into the food world to try to help these restaurants.

And before I knew it, I was talking to them regularly. And then when the pandemic shut down, I was going to their restaurants, I was going to their fundraisers, and I found myself eating out even more. And then I realized that trying new restaurants and supporting as many as I could became a hobby for me. I got to learn so much about them. And that's how Supper with Sylvia was born. So as a Chicago foodie, I discovered there are a lot of people out there like me

who love the experience of trying out new places that are different and sometimes exotic cuisines, and actually learning more about these people and the little nuances that make their restaurants and themselves tick. So this is a passion for me, and it's also a fun outlet that takes me away from the everyday news cycle, which, as you all know, can be pretty much a roller coaster, and it is. So here we are, and I'm excited to have this new outlet to have fun.

maybe learn new things and share experiences and ideas with all of my listeners. That's exactly what we're doing with today's episode. I have two foodies who have been writing about the Chicago restaurant scene for decades. Okay, ladies, I'm so happy you're here. Thanks for coming on board. You two have been writing for the Chicago restaurant scene for decades. I'm not aging any of us here, but we've all been in Chicago for a while, which is why I thought you'd be perfect for this discussion.

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So we want to just start right off the bat. It's so funny how controversial, you know, Sam Toia, who's the head of the Illinois Restaurant Association says, Chicago is the restaurant capital of the world. And I remember when I was at the John Banchet Awards, a lot of people were kind of insulted by that. But I want to just start with, we'll start with you, Audarshia. How do you compare Chicago's restaurant scene to other places in the country? Thanks for having me, Sylvia. Lovely to be here.

That was really interesting. I think that Chicago is definitely a world-class city as far as cuisine, as far as people, and it's because we have so many different cultures, of course, who bring their own cuisine with them. And so it just makes it very robust. So I don't understand why people would think that's a controversial statement. What do you think, Monica? I mean, it's one of the great food cities in the world for sure. I mean, it depends on what you're looking for. For our ethnic diversity, it's huge. For our high quality, it's huge. You can get incredible inexpensive food and really incredible expensive food too. You've got people coming in from all over the world to do stages at places like Alinea and Oriole and ever. And we got the James Beard Awards for good sake. So I think it does create a really robust scene that I think could hold up against most cities around the world. Yeah. And it's interesting because you guys know you've, Monica, you have

been nominated for James Beard Awards. How many times? I heard you call yourself the Susan Lucci. Tell me about that. Just six times and I've lost six times. That's okay. No, that's pretty amazing that you've been even nominated six times. Yeah, I mean, it's great. It's an honor and it's the best party in town. When I was in New York, it was a great party to go to and Chicago, it's a great party to go to. Just full disclosure, I've been a judge for many years. I stopped being a judge a few years ago. May go back, but

Yeah. So, and it doesn't help, apparently, to be a judge. It doesn't help. Audarshia, what's your connection to James Beard? I've also been a judge for a few years, and I enjoy being a judge because I love seeing the inside. It also gives me an insight to what people are thinking about the food scene, my peers. So I enjoy it. Yeah. And so James Beard, for people who don't know, we call it the Oscars of the food world, right? And Chicago has been home to James Beard now for how many years now, ladies? At least six.

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And then during the pandemic, was virtual. And I think we have two more to go before they negotiate where they're going to go next. Hopefully they'll stay here. But that's why I wanted you guys on, because your connections, mean, you guys have your pulse on what's happening in the restaurant world here. I'm curious, though, what kind of changes do you think you have seen, starting with you, Monica, since the pandemic? I mean, we were devastated like any other place. What are you seeing now versus

what we experience then? Well, I think some people have wanted to take more chances, maybe not kill themselves by working so hard. They're reassessing their service and payment model. I don't think we've landed on one that's going to stick. I think there's so many out there, some people who provide lots of PTO and insurance and other benefits, others who don't. Many people are going to be

dealing with new regulations from the city this year for PTO and tip minimum wage. And you have others who, I mean, they've raised their prices, frankly, because labor and food with the supply chain shortages during the pandemic, food prices went up and they don't usually come back down after they go up. But yeah, you have some people who are just kind of reassessing what they want to do with their lives and other owners.

reassessing how they're going to get labor because a lot of people decided to leave the hospitality business during. Yeah, it's interesting too, though, because a lot of good things came out of it too. Like we were able to finally get alcohol to go. That was a new thing because of the pandemic, right? And we also, think the whole tipping thing you just brought up, Monica, has been very interesting. And that's something I want to get into later, but I'm afraid

Wondering, Audarshia, how has that impacted you when you go out to eat and you see that automatic whatever 13 % or something? Has the pandemic changed the way we eat? And do you feel that that's a good thing for the people who are employees? Well, I see an upside of what happened after the pandemic and the sim set. A lot of people got voices who did not have voices before. And I can just say that at one of the James Beard parties,

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it was an Eric Williams, Virtue restaurant and it was a black folks. what is it? Black folks eat, black folk, yeah, black folks food. That's it. And they had a huge party and they had people, black folks who all over the country, but not just black people there. Everybody was there, but it was a room full of just power brokers, people all over the food system. as far as black editors, black restaurateurs, black.

chefs, black sommeliers, everything. And then we were looking around the room and we were like 10 years ago, this would have never happened. And it was because of the pandemic, people started to really get their voice and they really started to emerge as, look, you're gonna look at our food as well. And it wasn't just black focused food or black food ways, but it was other ethnicities too, who were finally getting out there and we feel like we did not have a voice before. Yeah, I feel like more people are game to try different areas.

For instance, you mentioned Eric Williams. He's out there in Hyde Park. And a lot of people who live in the heart of the city have never really experienced going out to eat in Hyde Park. And I feel like Eric has been a game changer. Would you agree? I feel like he's the mayor of Hyde Park now. He's opened a new restaurant, as you know, a Mexican focused cocktail lounge. I feel like his place is a destination, all of his three places that are in Hyde Park. And then he just...

Before Eric was starting to get all these accolades, the Black Chef Network in Chicago, there was no such thing. But he started doing, he started bringing other people in and other ones started really getting the accolades that they deserved all of these years. And so I'm loving the fact that they have a network of their own, which you can find in other major cities. before then, before like five years ago, you did not find that network, Black chefs and Black people in food.

in Chicago. So I'm glad to finally see that happen. And I love that I have this minority group with me here too. I just had Monica in recently to come to a segment with me on Fox 32. And that was, you did a really cool segment on different Asian breakfasts that you could now get in Chicago. I mean, something like that, is that a post pandemic thing too? It's hard to say what was driving that. I think, you know, people traveling more, people being more open to Korean food, people traveling to Korea, you know.

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getting into K-pop, so they want to see what a traditional Korean breakfast is. Let's have some roasted mackerel and some pickles and kimchi and rice and miso soup for breakfast. Kazakh, you we've seen a huge influx of Central Asians in Chicago over the last couple decades, mostly because Kazakhstan let us put an air base in their country during the war on terror. And that opened up. If you find that these geopolitical

actions all over the world end up affecting the food on our plates. Okay, so we had the war on terror, Kazakhstan let us put an army base or an air base there. So we get tons of Central Asian food here in Chicago because that opened up a lot of visas. So now we've got Turkmen breakfast, Kazak breakfast, we've got Kazakh breakfast, we've got Uzbek restaurants. And I think there are lots of reasons for it. Sometimes it's a war, sometimes it's a refugee status, sometimes it's a natural disaster, and sometimes it's K-pop.

That makes us say, hey, I'd love to know what Koreans eat for breakfast, so let's have a traditional Korean breakfast downtown. Whatever it takes. Okay, so let's pretend you each have a friend coming to visit Chicago. Audarshia, we start with you. They've never been here before. And you know the restaurant scene here inside and out. Where are you going to take them and why? It's not always that simple, Sylvia, you know.

because I have my favorites, but then people have their own tastes. And so when people ask me, you know, what is the place where I should go? Where are you staying? Are you staying in the city? What type of food do you usually when you're at home? Because I don't want to send them something that's too esoteric for them. So I usually try to send them to, I don't want to name names. so the same. names. But usually, I usually try, you know, so many people have so many different allergies and you know, they, they're not drinking or.

They're vegan. So I try to send them someplace that I feel will have everything for everybody in their group. For example, you know, a steakhouse is always a really good option. So I try to send them to like the most centrally located steakhouses. And then of course, you know, I talked about Eric Williams earlier, I want to send them outside of downtown, of course. So I'll send them to the south side. I'll send them there. I'll send them to Justice.

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Justice of the Pie, so they can come to where I grew up and check out some really good pastries. she also, Maya Camille Brossard also has savory dishes as well. So I want to make sure that people get outside of the downtown area. like I said, I also want to know what it is that you like, you know? Yeah, yeah. And it's interesting because people do tend to stay in the downtown.

area. Monica, with your job and how long you've lived here too, you're really big on the neighborhood gems too. So where would you send people? Well, as Dasha said, it really, really depends. How much money do they want to spend? What city are they coming from? If they're coming from San Antonio, we've got great Mexican food, but they eat a lot of it there too.

I love those gems. I love those out of the way, hole in the wall places. As a journalist, don't print journalists, you don't make a lot of money. And so you really like the places where you can save money. And so, you know, I would send them to Byron's or to Gene and Jude's or to Superdog. I would definitely send them if they're a late night person to the...

to the Polish and pork chop stands on Union near Roosevelt Road, because I think pound for pound that Jim's Polish may be the most delicious and fastest and most cost-effective Chicago treat around. would definitely, unless they're, well, even if they're from Puerto Rico, I'd send them for a jibarito, because you don't really find those in San Juan much, but you find a lot of great jibaritos here in Hope.

and then probably the hibari tozimasu because I like that so much. I take them for breakfast for carnitas at Carnitas donPedro in 18th. Yum. Okay, wait, where's the pork chop place? I don't know about this. my gosh, Jim's Original and Express, they've been next to each other. First, they were next to each other. Their Macedonian cousins were in a feud, and so they will always be next to each other feuding and selling the exact same freaking menu. I love that. Competing against each other. When they moved from Maxwell Street,

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they moved together again, right next to each other, same menu. It used to be 24 hours until Lori Lightfoot cut 24 hour places during COVID. But my God, Sylvia, we're going for a pork chop sandwich and a Polish at like 11 at night and eating in our car and making the whole car smell like a Polish pork chop gosh, that sounds great. Audarshia, do you know about this? Am I the only one who didn't know about this?

In my pick, okay. We're journalists, so we're gonna ask you to Okay, well, so I agree with you, it all depends, but my first thing is, I'm sorry, when people come to visit and they've never been, I am so stereotypical. I'm taking them to get a hot dog and I'm taking them to get deep dish pizza. Really? Yes, and you know why? I love the reaction of people who have never had a deep dish pizza or a Chicago style hot dog. Their minds are blown away, seriously.

And I always let them know too, you know, there's the tavern style and there's a history behind that.  The tavern style was brought about because the bars were trying to get people into their venues during this happy hour. So they had these little sample pizzas. And this is what we know today as Chicago tavern style. But when I talk to my relatives, they still talk about Chicago pizza and hot dogs. And now that we have Portillo's to go, Taste of Chicago, you can order all of that. I send it out every year.

I send those out for Christmas gifts. my gosh. So fully loaded. Yes. There's a whole Al’s Italian beef. his dad and his brother. And they're like, got, we got the beef. They're so happy to get those kits every year. And everything. So those are huge hits. Those always are huge hits. And I was recently at the Vienna beef plant doing a story on them. I had so much fun.

And you know, in Chicago, you don't put ketchup on your hot dog because it fights with all the other wonderful things that are going on. There's like nine ingredients, including it has to be a Rosen bun, right? From the Rosen bakery. seeds. It's got to be a poppy seed to me, I love that connection to Chicago. It's fun. I don't eat that every day, but when people come to visit, I do one thing for sure. I always make sure they try to take the boat tour and that they get

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a Chicago style pizza and a Vienna beef hot dog. And you mentioned Superdog, love the history with Superdog, right? Yeah, it's just so fun to do like the drive in I think it's special. And Italian beef, that's a whole, that's another Chicago thing. I mean, that you can only find here. Well, yeah, increasingly some places are picking it up outside after the bear and that crazy line outside Mr. Beef now, wow. Isn't that fun though?

I don't think I've, I haven't been there in 20 years, Mr. Beef, but he doesn't need me. He doesn't need me. He's doing just fine, right? Okay. So then let me ask you this, since we're talking about traditional, typical Chicago foods, because we are so much more than pizza and hot dogs. What's your go-to pizza, Audarshia? My go-to pizza place or Sal? I do love the Tavern Sal pizza, but.

I really love Paisanos because they make a really good one. Luma Notties. I mean, I grew up on that. I also grew up, mean, I'm originally from Chicago. So Gia Donnell's in Hyde Park. We used to go every weekend and Luma Notties if we got to go downtown. And, for us, we would have deep dish pizza maybe every six months because you have one slice and I feel like the rest of it, you can't have anything else. So we would always opt for the, the thinner slices. would.

Yeah. did you get the chopped salad? One of my favorite things about Lou Malnati’s is the chopped salad with that dressing. Their salad dressing is crazy. How about you, Monica? We actually, and this is going to sound sacrilegious, we have a Giordano's right around the corner and I get the thin crust. Okay. extra well done. They do a really good thin crust. It's not as thin as one of my favorite taverns, which is Pat's just down the way. But yeah, Lumal Nadi's,

It was always like where you go for birthday parties when you're a kid. And I'll say that dressing was such a great dressing. had this really like very distinctive flavor of red wine vinegar when I was a kid. And then over the years, they've added sugar. I hate that. I I don't want sugar in my dressing. Right. Maybe that's why I like it. oil. I love sugar. But I mean, so I end up eating deep dish when friends are in town. I don't usually go to like.

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nine-year-old kid birthday parties anymore. not anymore. Which we're used to. I want to know what's the last restaurant that you ate at, Audarshia, we start with you, that has left- In Chicago? In Chicago, Miss World Traveler, that has left an impression on you that you're still talking about. okay. I guess I'll have to say I was with you last time we did that because we had a foursome for dinner and it was, my goodness, what's the name of that restaurant?

in Lincoln Park. Galit. Galit. We had a feast. That was so good. Everything that they brought was just spot on delicious. I still think about that. It's not the kind of place that you can do takeout or you have delivered, but it's just one of those meals. It was about the food, but it was also about the, just the community and just sitting there and sharing that food. It was just, it made it even better.

And so Galit is just one of those places where you take a group. It's just one of those places, but the food is really good too. So yes, definitely Galit. It's been around for a few years, right before the pandemic, but it's definitely a great place to take a group. that was a restaurant, correct me if I'm wrong, that shortly after it opened, it was creating huge buzz and then they got that Michelin star. So that was pretty cool. Okay, Monica, what's yours? The other night, Sunday night, Bears were playing.

and I'm doing this like New Chicago Restaurant thing. was like, shoot, I haven't been to the Parachute reboot. So Johnny Clark, Beverly Kim, they closed Parachute in the spring. And they're like, we need a rest. We need something much lower key. We got three small kids under 14. We need to simplify our life. So they opened as a listening bar. So Johnny's got these incredible speakers behind the bar, a turntable, and a lot of vinyl.

And I said, so what, I couldn't find your menu online. We're not going to put it online. I'm like, okay. Wow. He said, we want it to be an analog, laid back experience. You want to know what's here? You got to come and look at this pizza paper. I said, how often are you going to change the menu? I don't know. Wow. We want the freedom to like be able to change it. So I said, well, let me take a look what's on there. And they have this, you know, really like Asian influence, bar food. And I ordered.

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the salmon nigiri, so it's beautiful sushi rice, and then smoked salmon on top of a scallion horseradish cream cheese, and then they do a shiitake fruit glaze. You get six really very generous pieces of nigiri for 19 bucks. Wow. I mean, if you go to an Omakase place where you're getting the chef serving you the sushi, six pieces of nigiri is going to go over a lot more than 19 bucks.

really delicious. And then he does this take on Pad Thai where he uses Tuk Kuk Kee noodles instead. And those are those rice noodles that are really thick. For a carb-reverse old lady like me, it's a little too carby, but for young people, they can eat it. And it's just going to be really interesting. He had Miles Davis's Kilimanjaro playing the whole time. He plays the whole LP. It's not just one cut. And it feels kind of like your grandma's rec room because it's got the wood paneling.

It's supposed to feel very mid-century modern. No reservations, no online menus. You just walk in and you have to see what they're serving and you get to listen to a whole record depending on who's spinning that night. He says, some nights we just do 1960s K-pop. I didn't even know there was 1960s. Who knew they were around that long? Yeah. So it's a fascinating place. I saw your...

You wrote something about this on Axios, because I remember seeing this and I think I just saw it today or yesterday. I can't remember which day. And I thought, I need to go to Parachute, because that's not the parachute I remember. No, it was fine dining, James Beard award winning. This is like, we want to keep it chill because we want to be chill. I love that. OK, let me tell you mine. And I went to this. I went to this place without either of you. But I have a feeling both of you have been. OK, it was about a month ago.

I decided that I wanted to go eat here because there was a James Beard party there. Audarshia, you and I missed the party. So I thought, let me go back. I heard all these great things. They have this rooftop garden and that is Maxwell's Trading, right? Okay, the thing I love about this place, because I did go back to do a story for TV and they've got this amazing rooftop garden that works pretty much year round because they have greenhouses up there as well.

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But what blew my mind is instead of farm to table, it's really rooftop to table. Everything that is grown upstairs is used not only in their kitchens, not only in their bar, but they also have a trading store. They take the flowers, they make tea, they take the flowers, they use it as dye to sell for the yarn that they dye from the flowers that they grew upstairs. mean, this place is incredible.

Plus the chefs involved are very well known. Everything that was brought to us to eat was even better than the last thing. The drinks are creative. And I think I'm going back on Saturday for a friend's birthday. Have you guys been? Nice, I've not been yet. Monica, you've I love it. That bread is, I've never found anything exactly like it around the world. It seems like it's a mix between naan and these Shian style pan breads.

but wow, like fluffy and easy. I don't want to say like an English muffin, cause those aren't always so delicious, but sort of like that, but so moist and crisp. then all those dips that they served them with. Was it an eggplant dip? Did you like the eggplant? I liked the truffle dip. It was incredible. Okay, Audarshia, we're definitely hitting that place because that was an experience. but it was fun for me to go first to go do the story.

And then I realized the passion and dedication they have to sustainability and to try to really make a difference. And I was just so impressed. And I thought as a diner, maybe for the average diner, that doesn't matter to them. But isn't it nice to go to a restaurant where you know that they are trying to help Mother Earth, right? Absolutely. You know all about that. Yeah. Tell me about the cocktails. The cocktails were delicious. There were huge cocktail options.

I can't remember the specific names that we got. Mine had some, it was, I'm trying to remember what it was specifically made of, but I just know it was green and delicious. Monica, did you have any cocktails? I did not. If I have a sip of a cocktail, I'm out for the night. okay. Well, we're not going to allow you to go out with us then. Okay. So if you have a choice, if you have a choice,

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of hitting a particular neighborhood in Chicago, when you're feeling like you don't need anything fancy, you're not necessarily thinking Michelin star, where do you go? I stay in my own neighborhood. What's in your neighborhood? I'm in Logan Square. There's a lot of cute little restaurants, boutique-ish style restaurants. And you can just pop in, pop out of restaurants and just grab an appetizer, a drink, desserts, all little just...

up and down Milwaukee, up and down Kedzie. There's this Mexican restaurant we're obsessed with. They have like the cutest little back patio and they have huge margaritas. And it's like, it used to be our little secret, but everybody's found out about it. I did write a story for a Miss Chicago magazine. That could have been it. But there's nobody used to be back there. What's it called? She's like, I'm not going to share.

You already wrote about him for Chicago Magazine. Girl. Yeah. But I just know where to go. You go to the back patio. We may have eaten it in the inside maybe twice, but the patio is just so awesome and just such kickback atmosphere. They have these large pictures of sangria, red or white, but they're always so good. El Cid.

That's it. was gonna say that. Yeah.  I mean, the portions are generous, super generous, it's very family oriented, but then there are lot of adults just having fun. And it's like so unpretentious. I love It's my favorite place in the neighborhood. Cool. Okay, Monica, your turn. I probably go to Chinatown. I give a lot of tours of Chinatown for charity. And I take people like, here's where you go for soup dumplings. Here's where you go for these really interesting noodles that look like small noodle tacos in this basement.

here's where you go for the most breathtaking barbecue pork in the city. place you wouldn't go in there, cause you're like, God, this place looks filthy and the people are so mean, it smells really bad in here. I would never walk in here like, just hold on, just try this and you will faint when you take a bite of this pork. Okay, where is this? Tell us. It's called Tai Wah, it's a little grocery store on the corner of I believe 24th place or 23rd place in Wentworth.

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I'll be honest with people, they're like, what do you want? And they're like, I want some of your barbecue pork, please. And they're like, do you want fat? I'm like, yes, lots of fat. So like you say bunfe, which means half fat in Cantonese, and it is so delicious. You get it warm, it's like you're eating pork caramel. you gotta get there early, because it sells out in the morning. I love it. So that's where I'd go. And like it never makes it home. My kids are always like,

But mom, let me have another piece. And they're in their 20s now. So you have to buy like two pounds because one pound will be eaten in the car when you try to get home. Well, Audarshia, I think I learned something here. We need to go to Chinatown with Monica. Right? Sounds like a plan. I need to get there. I need to get there more. OK, so I tend to stay in my neighborhood too. I live in River North, I don't nothing is cheap in River North, but nothing's cheap anywhere. Right. Yeah. You know, I have two go to places in my neighborhood.

Number one, you know this, Piccolo Sogno. I never ever am disappointed. I love to sit in that back, I call it the enchanted forest. That garden area is gorgeous, right? Love, love, love. Plus I love Tony Priolo. He's one of the most kind philanthropic chefs in the city of Chicago. I adore that man. And then, right? I think we all agree. And then my second go-to, it's been around forever, but it's always hard to get into. That just shows you how good it is.

And that's Gilt Bar. is that still open? Yes. And you still can't get in, Monica. You got to go at like four o'clock. What about the, do they still do the donut vault thing? Yeah, donut vault is right around the corner. The lines are still there for donut vault, but this is a restaurant that's been around forever. It's part of Hog Salt, right? It's Hog Salt? So they do donut vault. They do Trivoli. They do Chichio Mio. They do...

all of, they do Guildhart, Bavettes, and they're all restaurants that are really hard to get into. He does that on purpose. Yeah. Does he build small on purpose to give it that, you know, I need to get in, I can't get in? I think it's very, very nice talking to all the journalists too. I'm being sarcastic. And don't forget about the fact that with Bovet, he'll turn every night, I think it's 9 a.m. or 2 a.m. every morning.

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They open the reservations for like the next set of reservations and then people are clamoring to get them and then there's always like a 10 PM reservation. You can't get a 7 PM reservation. It's just a mess. who wants to eat at 10? Exactly. And then what's the restaurant in Lincoln Park that he owns? Armat de Jailhouse. Yes, that place. I still haven't been because of that. Have you been, Monica?

I pass by all the time. I know, I haven't been either. We need to go. My other, my other go-to, it's so close. I call it my grocery store is Gibson's Italia. And that brings me to this question to you ladies. I think it has probably the most romantic view in the entire city of Chicago. So when people want romance, I say go to Gibson's Italia. So Monica, I'm a friend and I want romance. actually I'll ask you first, Audarshia. I want romance.

What restaurant are you sending me to? Ask Monica first so I can think about it for quick Okay, Monica, romance. Romance. Well, it's so funny because when you mentioned Bavette, we were scrambling to do a Valentine's Day story. okay, we'll send people to Bavette. And they're like, we've had our reservations full for like 10 months now, so don't even try it for Valentine's Day. Jeepers, romantic. You know what, Italian Village.

almost 100 years old. And they have those like little alcoves where you can sit. In fact, there's one called Il Prisione, supposedly Al Capone used to sit. And then if he saw the feds walking in, he could run through the kitchen and escape. And, but you know, it might feel like a prison, but it also is a good place to propose to someone. I love that. Because it's like your own tiny little dining room. my gosh, I forgot about Italian village. It's been a while.

You've got me wanting to go back. obviously, obviously in Chicago, it's Italian restaurants when it comes to romance. Because we feel that way about La Scarola. And I know that's around the corner for me too, Sylvia, but it's just, it's just has that old school feeling. You know, I saw you on the wall. Your photo on the wall. But it just has an old school feeling. And you just feel like, you know, when you're with your guy that

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I don't know. It's just you're really tightly in there and it just feels like you're taking care of really well. And the servers are just always so awesome. And I've never had a problem there and the food is always really good. Yeah, the guys are fun. The owners are hilarious. They're so fun. Okay, best burger in town. Monica? God, there was this, we did a best burger thing for Axios and it was this gas station in Rogers Park. God, no. What? A gas station.

That is the last place I thought you were going to recommend. Now I feel totally snooty. was called Burger Bite and they have really, really good burgers there and they like brand it with their name on top. I would definitely, definitely try it. Okay. I'm writing this down. Where is it? Let me get the next set of drinks. Okay. Yeah. That's our girl. Are we Googling? Yeah, we're all looking. Yeah. I'm Googling my own story.

Best, it's best gas station food in Chicago. Wait, whoever would think to best gas station food in Chicago? Well, it was a great story we did. I love that. Actually, Chicago was at 1500 West Devon. Okay, 1500 West Burger bite, seven ounce patties on toasted brioche, beautiful presentation and plenty of ingredients.

I got the bacon avocado burger for 11.99. that's great. Buena Stias burger with the egg bacon hash browns. Ooh, I love that. Okay, Audarshia, can you follow up with that? Well, in Andersonville, we have this little favorite place card, Little Bad Wolf. Yes. And they have like these big juicy burgers. And they also have the miniature version. But the larger versions, it's kind of like an all-cheval burger, you know, like the film patties. And they usually have a double one.

It's something like that, but I like theirs better and then Au Cheval, you know I'm not trying to take anything away from Au Cheval, but I just feel like Little Bad Wolf It has a if you don't want a burger, There's a lot more on the menu that you can eat to and then the portions again and then the burgers just so classic and perfect and I can't I don't know what kind of bun they use but it's just when you mesh it down, it's just absolutely perfect, but

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definitely Little Bad Wolf and also The Loyalist because it also has one of those juicy, juicy burgers. And I still have not been upstairs. Smith, Loyalist downstairs is everything for that burger. I was just talking about that. of wine. Yep, and a glass of wine, a nice red cab. I was just talking about that today. I love you guys have your neighborhood spots. I guess I'm a little more bougie than I need to be because

I just discovered the burger from Boulevard. Have you guys tried that burger yet? Remember Boulevard? It's in the West Loop. used to be kind of seafood area. they've switched to become kind of a steakhouse. And they have a delicious burger. I not had the burger there. I usually have a steak. Yeah. Well, they, you know, there's so many great options and we've all just mentioned there's many more where this came from, but I think it's kind of fun to give people a direction to maybe what to try. And Monica, I'm so excited.

about Burger Bite. I want to take a picture and send it to you. Yeah. Okay, we've covered foods. Anything in particular that we've left out as we wrap up people who love to eat in Chicago as foodies. What is your impression that you want to leave friends with when they ask you for recommendations, Audarshia? My impression is that, you know, Chicago, I have a lot of friends from the East Coast. And when they come to Chicago, they have an attitude and they think that

you know, they're going to walk into a place in Chicago, going to be beneath them. So they always have low expectations. And I'm like, you need to, when they leave, they're always just like, wow, I had one of the best meals of my life or that cocktail bar was really hot or wow, I had no idea it was going to be anything like that. But that is really very, very upscale or the, was way better than they thought it was going to be. And so I appreciate that. And I'm talking about places, of course, li, La Scarola.

They just don't think that Chicago is on par with what's in DC, Atlanta, and of course, New York. And when they come here, they're pleasantly surprised. And of course, our hospitality is way better than what you'll find on the East Coast. And that's coming from me. All right. Monica? I mean, it depends on the person who's coming. But I say enjoy eating outdoors now that the weather is so beautiful in Chicago. Watch out for those yellow jackets.

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Take advantage of eating. We should actually finish this series called Beach Bites of places, restaurants that are on Chicago beaches. And we always include how many steps until you're in the water, because I always swim right after ordering my first course. I run, jump in, splash around, come back to the table. And yeah, enjoy the outdoors and Chicago restaurants that have alfresco dining or on the beach before it's too late. Yeah, I think you're so right about that.

I want to leave with a tip that I have discovered, which isn't easy for everybody because some people just can't do it. But if you want to go to some of the hardest restaurants to get into, I say try to make a lunch reservation or do what I plan on doing this afternoon when I take my producer to Bar Kumiko, because she's never been. We're going to get there 10 minutes before it opens. as soon as that door opens, we are going to go sit at the bar.

arrive as early as you can or make a lunch reservation and then maybe you'll be able to get into some of these neighborhood hot spots. Is there any tip that you guys might have before we go? On that same point, I'd say that happy hours are a great way to be able to try both the cocktails and the food at places. The best deal in town, I said it was a Parachute high-five, it's actually Art Smith's Reunion. They've got these incredible, I don't know how they do it, these wings, these big, juicy, delicious wings for one.

dollar each during happy hour. you're like looking out at the lake, wind is going through your hair, you're having these incredible cocktails for those who drink cocktails, and these super delicious wings for a dollar each. I asked him how he does them. It's gotta be a loss leader art. And he said, it gets people in the door, honey. honey, that's art too. And I love that because I love Reunion. A lot of people think, it's at Navy Pier and the food's not good. It's delicious. Really good. Yeah, really good. Okay, Audarshia, final words.

no, I was just going to say yes. The bar is you can order, you can always order the entire menu when you go to the bar and you can sit there and you can really see what's going on. Make friends with the bartender and he can probably get you a table or he can give you tips on how to get that table. And also brunch, brunch if that place has brunch, that's always a good option and get on the earlier side of the brunch. Okay, so many good restaurants, so little time. and Audarshia, thank you. This was so much fun.

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My foodie friends look forward to including you guys again. And we should let everybody know, Monica, tell everybody where they can find you with your podcast and on Axios. Sure, you can find us at Axios.com slash Chicago. And our food podcast, think it's like chewing. Louisa Chu and I do still, after 10 years, we're still doing that Chewing podcast. awesome. It's fun. Yeah. And you're such a foodie. Audarshia, and where can people go to read your great articles? Yes.

I'm a content director, Supply Side Food and Beverage Journal. We just changed and we rebranded it. So it went from Food and Beverage Insider to Supply Side Food and Beverage Journal. So just Google that and you'll find it. Okay, awesome. Thanks again, ladies. Happy eating. For more on Monica and Audarshia, take a look at our show notes. Thanks for joining us for this episode of Supper with Sylvia. I'm Sylvia Perez. This podcast was produced by Jane Stephens with technical support and music by Donnie Cutting.