FlavorHood, an upcoming ethnic food show, needs your input!

Hi all,

I just joined and I'm thrilled to be part of your community. I am a producer in Chicago developing a show to be aired on WTTW (CH 11) on the ethnic food here in the neighborhoods. The goal is to demystify ethnic food and get people to head to the neighborhoods and try new things, and/or cook new dishes at home. Each episode will have restaurants, grocery stores, specialty stores and a segment with a home cook-preferably someone from the Old Country, who can teach viewers how to make an authentic dish from their cuisine.

Because PBS requires journalistic integrity, I need input on my content from "civilians", meaning not the production staff, and not restaurant/store owners. LTH is the perfect place to get recommendations on delicious/interesting/even scary world cuisine. I will be disclosing where I sourced my content on the FlavorHood website, with a link to the LTH Forum, once we air.

I know this information is already scattered about the site, but I would sure appreciate your collated suggestions here. I've talked to the moderators about this and they are ON BOARD.

What I specifically need is restaurant and store recommendations by cuisine-I'd like to have them clustered together in a neighborhood (or suburb!) if possible, but if there is an outlier that is "can't miss", like La Ordena grocery store, then I'd like to hear about that too.

I also need introductions to home cooks-abuelas, ya-yas, grandmas, bubbes, etc who can teach us how to make pierogis, dumplings, roasted goat, etc the old fashioned way.

I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Thanks! Kelly

The family that owns Zaragoza's--one of the places for Birria in Chicago--recently did a dinner featuring mom, grandma and son at Jonathan Zaragoza's current restaurant, Masa Azul where he is the Executive Chef. All of the dishes were family recipes. Zaragoza goat and consommé are amazing and beloved by this board. It was very charming when they did the dinner together and, I'm guessing, it would make for some good tv as well. Birria is also a dish that can sound very intimidating to those who've never tried it--personally, it's one of my favorite things to take out-of-town friends who've never had goat and watch them fall in love

We also have a wonderful concentration of exceptional Thai spots within a mile of one another on the north side. GNRs Sticky Rice, Aroy and Rainbow, as well as perennial favorites Rosded and Spoon, would make for a great show on ordering thai food beyond Pad Thai and Crab Rangoon. I've been lucky to learn how to make my favorite dish, Naem Khao Tad, right in the kitchen at Rainbow from the lovely owner, Wanpen--she is a soft-spoken but wonderful teacher. I've also had some terrific meals at Aroy, when the owner, Tee and his mom, cooked up some family recipes that were incredibly delicious.

I'm sure you'll get some terrific recommendations from the group and look forward to seeing your show!!!

Thank you Boudreaulicious! I have heard about the Zaragozas from others, and I will head down there ASAP. I've never had Birria, but I've had goat ragu in Italy-delicious!

I'm looking forward to trying Rainbow-heard it's great.