Smithsonian - Engler, Sula, Chicago and the Mother-in-Law

LTH,

Smithsonian.com has a couple of Chicago centric articles Searching for a Mother-in-Law Sandwich and Chicago Eats by Jamie Katz. Both Peter Engler and Mike Sula feature prominently.

Interesting enjoyable read, plus photo gallery.

Enjoy,
Gary

Bravo!

HI,

Two things:

1. I think it is about time Rene G drop the word amateur, when describing himself as an amateur culinary historian. He was a culinary historian long before he knew there was such a catagorization.

2. "And where did the sandwich originate? Engler and others believe it traces back to the Mississippi Delta, just like Chicago blues."
Rene G has documented tamales in Chicago pre 1900. The link to Mississippi Delta is something John T. Edge is promoting, but I don't think Engerl/Rene G is solidly commited to this or at I don't recall his saying so.

Glancing throught the Chicago article, I see friends from Culinary Historians Colleen Sen (who spoke in March for Chicago Foodways Roundtable) and Evelyn Thompson who conducts ethnic food tours.

Glad to have our friends properly acknowledged for getting the good word out.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:I think it is about time Rene G drop the word amateur, when describing himself as an amateur culinary historian. He was a culinary historian long before he knew there was such a catagorization.

Hear, hear! Somebody ought to pay the man, anyway!

This month's Smithsonian Magazine has an article on Chicago's Ethnic Restaurants.

Mike Sula is quoted extensively on the joys of Maxwell Street (although the photo they use makes it look like a vacant lot -- they must have realized that after they went to press, as the online article doesn't even have that pic).

Other places noted include
* La Condesa
* Mataam al-Mataam
* La Unica, Hashalom, Zapp Thai (surprisingly not listed on LTH), Bhabi's Kitchen and other points on Devon
* Obama's faves (the closed Chilpancingo, Topo and Spiaggia, which need no links here), Italian Fiesta Pizzeriain Hyde Park, and Valois Cafeteria, MacArthur's and Izola
* A loving look at Podhalanka

Go read the article. Hardly any more in depth than Bourdain's tour was, but a different cross section at least. I figure this thread may drag in a few visitors who read the article, thought I'd heavily link it to the search terms.

I was so happy to see the article mentioned on the cover when I pulled my Smithsonian out of the mail box just now, and even happier to open it and see that Mike Sula was the author's guide. No wonder it's such a good article! Some nice photos, too, including a great map featuring Albany Park, Pilsen, and the south side. Lovely photo of Helena at Podhalanka, too. Highly recommended!

Ann Fisher wrote:Some nice photos, too....

The photos were all really good except for the pictures of the food. I looked at them for awhile wondering why the food looked sort of strange and then noticed they were taken right above the food, with nothing visible but the table or placemat underneath. It must be a style decision but it just didn't seem to go with the rest of the pictures. Of course what I know about photography is not much...

I get the actual magazine too and it was very cool to see this article in there. Smithsonian is always enjoyable.