Forest Park: Flavour & House Red

Forest Park: Flavour & House Red

Flavour is a culinary supply store/cooking school and a perfect example of the Madison Street Resurgence, one foodzone of several that make Forest Park worth a trip from as far away as Chicago (it’s about a 15 minute ride, Post Office to Harlem).



The Wife and I wandered in last Saturday after going to a French wine tasting at House Red (which, incidentally, was quite good). We were talking with Cristeana and Denise, who was prepping for a class, and I mentioned olive oils, and Cristeana accommodated my interest by pouring out little cups of her favorite three.



We bought the Columela, which wasn’t inexpensive but which had a rough quality that I liked, very similar to the stuff my Italian granny kept in her cupboard (though this particular bottle was from Spain).

The folks here run a cooking school here that features hands-on and just-watch demos that cover a wide range of subjects, including sushi, seasonal stuff, and 101 type classes.



There’s a back room where students eat after making dinner (or watching it being made). This place used to be a dingy dump that sold uniforms; thanks to a drop ceiling, much of the upper architectural detailing has been preserved (though you can't see it in this pic).



More about Flavour: http://www.flavourcookingschool.com/index.php

If you do make the trip to Forest Park, consider these other places within no more than two blocks of Flavour:

• Todd & Holland Tea Merchants (fabulous)
• La Piazza (featured on “Check Please” about two weeks ago)
• Jimmy’s Place (a red sauce Italian place – longtime fav of Vital Information and me, too)

….and House Red, where we had some nice sips before our main course of olive oil.



The young couple that owns House Red is into music and film, so they set up a piano in front of this triptych that converts to a movie screen. They host music performances, and they plan to show films, too, which is just a beautiful example of the sort of entrepreneurial and food-related inventiveness that characterizes this little strip of street just west of Oak Park.



More about House Red here: http://www.house-red.com/