Thelma's is the real deal. Gary recommended it to me a couple of Super Bowls ago when Carolina met New England in the big game. It's a beacon of light in an otherwise extremely lame downtown area. (If Carolina had been playing KC in Houston, it would have been the BBQ Bowl.)

LTH Strikes again,

There is a great shout out for Chef GEB and LTHforum in this weeks' Time Out Chicago. Cafe Salamera is the restaurant featured as the weekly Unsung restaurant that deserves your dough.

The forum's also mentioned (and linked) in this week's Dish. It's kind of a shame that they picked a negative thread to highlight considering how many places get a fair amount of our attention and deserve a more public mention, but the folks who care will find the board.

Matsumoto reviewed in the Daily Herald:

Owners Chiyo and Isao Tozuka, longtime friends of Chef Matsumoto, also own Chicago Kalbi Restaurant, a yakiniku (Korean-style barbecue as practiced in Japan) place a block away. They opened their new venue in August with no publicity, but two weeks afterward the first excited message appeared on LTHForum.com, Chicago’s premier food lovers’ Web site, and from there word has spread rapidly, rather surprising the restaurateurs who’d anticipated a mainly Japanese clientele.

Some of the excitement stems from the reason Chiyo Tozuka said she and her husband decided to open this style of restaurant: “There are a lot of Japanese restaurants in Chicago, but nothing serving this kind of food.” Those who’ve been there, though, are even more thrilled by chef Matsumoto’s consummate skill. The artistry of his tasting menus, with their gorgeous flavors, textures and colors, easily equals those of the city’s foremost chefs, including Arun Sampanthavivat, Rick Tramonto and Charlie Trotter.

The first known and likely the only media link between Matsumoto and LTHforum.

Regards,

Well, since we've (I've) groused in the past, thanks to all 3 publications for squeezing in a mention where appropriate, which is exactly what we've hoped for-- not "credit" or sucking up, just a mention in context where new folks will see it and be led to check out the site. To judge by new registrants (who are, of course, only a portion of total visitors), we've definitely seen stepped-up traffic from first-timers in the last week.

LTH,

Nice article on Purple Asparagus and Melissa Graham, aka MAG, in the Nov. 10-17, 2005 issue of Time Out, page 87.

Congratulations.

Enjoy,
Gary

Hi,

In the Sun Times food section today, on pages 2 and 4, is an article on pies I contributed to. The pecan recipe is from my Culinary Historian friend Edgar Rose. The Apple Meringue pie is my creation for a long ago Crisco pie competition at the Illinois State Fair.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/food/foo-news-pie16.html

Regards,

The illustrious Vital Information and family eat locally in Oak Park...read about it: http://www.wjinc.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=4&ArticleID=3033&TM=1431.424

Note also mention of LTHForum.

Rob,

Very nice article and a great picture of you and the kids.

Enjoy,
Gary

Cathy2 wrote:In the Sun Times food section today, on pages 2 and 4, is an article on pies I contributed to.

C2,

Nice article by LAZ and your pie recipes read terrific. Actually, seeing as how I've tasted your pies in the past, I imagine they eat as terrific as they read.

Nice anecdote about Russia, though from now on I think I'll simply refer to you as "Prize-winning pie baker Catherine Lambrecht"

Enjoy,
Gary

Let us not forget the commentary re: Melissa Graham and Purple Asparagus (with mention of Erwin event) in today's Chicago Tribune At Play section. Her reasonable comments are pertinent to Taste of Heaven discussion/diatribes.

MAG, who's your publicist? She/he is doing a heck of a good job for a good cause.

Hammond

David Hammond wrote:MAG, who's your publicist? She/he is doing a heck of a good job for a good cause.

Hammond,

It should be noted that though At Play says MK was the first Purple Asparagus event it was actually Thyme.

Still, a very timely mention of Purple Asparagus.

Enjoy,
Gary

And another nice piece by Reader columnist David Hammond this week, the first of his regional cuisine installments on Jalisco.

Well done, sir.

Aaron Deacon wrote:And another nice piece by Reader columnist David Hammond this week, the first of his regional cuisine installments on Jalisco.

Well done, sir.

Agreed. While people can talk about how great Chicago's Mexican food scene is, David gives us insight into why that is. He gives it roots and dimension. Looking forward to the next installment. I'd say the Reader is on a roll.

Thanks!

The link to Hammond's Jalisco article

Ann Fisher wrote:The link to Hammond's Jalisco article

David,

A little late to the game, I just read your Jalisco article. In a word, enjoyable, interesting and educational. Ok, that's three words.

Enjoy,
Gary

I sincerely appreciate the appreciation.

Hammond

LTH,

Interesting Soup round-up in the Reader this week by Martha Bayne, with a nice mention of LTHForum.com in reference to Ssyal, which I'd guess refers to Mike G's terrific Ssyal post.

Enjoy,
Gary

Yes, some great articles and references to LTH.

Rob, wanted to know if you read Coming Home to Eat:

The book "Coming Home to Eat" by Gary Paul Nabhan is a sensual almanac of Nabhan's year-long culinary adventure of eating food grown, fished, or gathered within 200 miles of his home, near Phoenix. The book, which is available at BookPeople, is "a vibrant portrait of our essential human relation to the foods that truly nourish us, affirming our bonds to family, community, landscape and season."

Wonderful, brilliant, marvelous article on pies.

Delicious article on Jalisco by Mr. Hammond, I can't wait to help out on the Oaxacan region.

LTH,

Kudos to Mike G for being mentioned in this weeks Dish. "Drool over some fantastic food photos, courtesy of a member of Lthforum.com who recapped the ten best things he ate in 2005."

And kudos to Dish for mentioning Pico Rico and the "hallowed Ecuadorian rotisserie chicken"

Enjoy,
Gary

Yeah, Kudos.

But while it rankles me when an article makes vague references to discussion on "internet food forums," I am pleased as punch...

...is it time for the Sally Field oscar acceptance speech?

pdaane wrote:Yeah, Kudos.

But while it rankles me when an article makes vague references to discussion on "internet food forums," I am pleased as punch...

...is it time for the Sally Field oscar acceptance speech?

Any attribution to the quote? You, Mike G, Cher?

That was me.

Remember our New Year's resolution to be nice to the press...

G Wiv wrote:

pdaane wrote:Yeah, Kudos.

But while it rankles me when an article makes vague references to discussion on "internet food forums," I am pleased as punch...

...is it time for the Sally Field oscar acceptance speech?

Any attribution to the quote? You, Mike G, Cher?

It was Mike G, but I'm going with Cher as my answer anyway (she is always under-represented in multiple choice answers).

I think Kudos are also deserved for the folks at Dish for having a pair of courage to attribute and link to Mike G's post.

A nice mention of LTHForum on this blog following the Chicago mag mention.

Vital Information wrote:

Mike G wrote:A nice mention of LTHForum on this blog following the Chicago mag mention.

Hey, he sent me a nice e-mail the other day, and I was gonna mention his blog on my blog! Along with Sean Parnell's updated site and a few other things.

I don't know how you guys do it. Who's got time to read blogs? I wish I did.

Well, when somebody sends you an email and says they wrote about LTHForum...

G Wiv wrote:And kudos to Dish for mentioning Pico Rico and the "hallowed Ecuadorian rotisserie chicken"

LTH,

Pico Rico is currently closed for vacation, will reopen (I'm pretty sure) on Monday 1/9/06. You might want to call first.

Enjoy,
Gary

Pico Rico
4107 W. North
Chicago, IL
773-252-7426

Pick up the wood-fiber-based Chicago Reader this week and you'll find part 2 of David Hammond's Beyond the Burrito series, devoted this time to Michoacan, as well as a bunch of Mexican restaurant capsule reviews by Hammond and other LTHForumites. There's also a link to the PDF for it here:

http://www.chicagoreader.com/cgi-bin/rrr/form.cgi

Debra Pickett's Sunday Lunch column has her lunch with Steve Dolinsky at Fonda del Mar.

Fonda del Mar has been open for only about three weeks. And, though it has been noted in a couple of online guides (including the culinary chat site lthforum.com, a key source for Dolinsky), a televised mention of the slightly-off-the-beaten-gourmet-path restaurant could provide a significant boost.