Chicago Bloggers

I have a whole folder of "food blog" bookmarks- bookmarks of people who regularly eat out (and often cook, but really I care more about eating out), both in their home town and in their travels. I was asked a great question however as I was showing the various web pages to someone: where are the Chicago bloggers?

I love reading others' food blogs to live vicariously though, but too often I'm finding myself living vicariously someplace else instead of here in the hometown, where I can actually take action and go.

Besides the LTH Forum, I had to admit that I can't point out any other website for inspiration of a food experience like the ones I have bookmarked for places throughout the west coast. Although I have bookmarks to EatChicago.net and Vital Information's, and also one to At Out Table, everyone else is non-Chicago based, and these websites, although interesting, aren't kept very current (nothing wrong with that of course, but they aren't really "food blogs" the way ones such as Chez Pim's or Extra MSG's are, for example).

Chicago is such a great eatings town, I could only think that many of the technophiles happen to be on the west coast and not so much in Chicago, thus the lack of coverage here. I was embarassed when that someone pointed out I blog more about my amateur eatings, simply because I make it a point to update my blog at least once every two weeks. Again though, I'm an amateur- I have no ability to distinguish what specific culinary touches are pleasing my palate, and I don't venture very far to try food places because of lack of car and getting cold easily- I'm in my off-season now! I know there must be people better then me out there.

So now I'm calling out on this forum, are there food bloggers out there to represent Chicago online, and not just here here in the forum/community? Where are they? At least in my definition, a food blogger would focus mainly on culinary experiences (a spattering of personal stories is fine, but food is an obvious focus), usually writing and posting pictures of dining out or cooking, and updates regularly (at least once every few weeks if not more often- most of the famous food blogs post much more often!)

Hi,

Every once in a while, people come on this site to recruit people to blog. I haven't followed the trail to see if anyone jumped at the opportunity.

Personally I have no desire to blog as I am quite content to contribute to the content of this website. While it doesn't have a blog's focus of one man's opinions, I like the collection of personalities and the collective wisdom. Certainly there are some whose advice I follow more closely than others, largely due to comparative experience may match my sensibilities closer than others.

While I know both Vital Information and EatChicago, I almost never read their blogs. Frankly, I am too busy keeping up with LTHforum.com.

I am curious, why do you favor a blog, which seem relatively one-dimensional, over the symphony of players and experiences on a forum such as this?

Best regards,

There is only one food blog I read with any regularity and it's one in Japan called Obachan's Kitchen & Balcony Garden at http://kokonuggetyumyum.blogspot.com/ There was a local baking blog that I quickly grew tired of reading. LTHForum is so much more. With the variety of backgrounds and experiences sharing here, I am always learning something new. Maybe we Chicagoans are more practical?

There was one Chicago food blog(recently defunct) that I used to keep tabs on just because I found the blogger's culinary worldview so irritating.

That'd be: fuckcorporategroceries.net

Favorite world food blogs happen to include several Malaysian and Philipino sites. There appears to be a much more intensive food blog culture among these participants.

I've tended lately to narrow my blog checks because so often a great, interesting food blog will suddenly go offline: victims of this phenomenon include Shiokedelicious, Fatman Seoul, The Daily Bread.

Remaining worthwhile contenders: Meathenge, Umami, Tasting Menu.

As far as Chicago food bloggers go: there are several(including myself under a different name which I don't link to here...upon which I do a fair amount of food reportage) on sites like Livejournal
and Blogspot.

Then there's the "Metromix" of micro food blog hosts, Yelp.

LTHforum remains a paragon of culinary culture and information.

Cathy, I just wanted to clarify that I really value the LTH Forum. It is *the* place I go to looking for Chicago food info because time and time again, I've found that I don't go wrong when I follow a post's advice here. In fact, I wouldn't even say that I prefer blogs to forums- I just don't know of any other city that has a online food forum like Chicago does.

Not only that, but the very fact that the posts are threads with so much feedback, are searchable and indexed... well, that makes getting to the good stuff so much faster. In fact, my second and third choices, I have to admit, would probably be eGullet and Chowhound but I don't know if I trust them as much as LTH (I mean, eGullet just lumps Chicago with the Heartland? Are you kidding? You'd think we'd at least get the state of Illinois...)

At the same time, I also enjoy certain food blogs. I guess if I were to make a comparison, although I love the back and forth of Check Please that is similar to LTH Forum, I also like watching Bourdain eating some bbq meat on the street of Vietnam. Sure, the chance of me being to get that same food myself is slim, but I love living vicariously through him, and that's what a food blog does for me. It takes me on a lil guided trip to someplace and let's me share the experience. If say, Erik M had a blog that just highlighted the best meal he had every month, I'd probably follow it because he probably eats much more adventerously then I would dare, and I've love to see the pictures and hear about the flavor.

That's really what I was looking for in my original post- other sites to enhance my online food ogling experience besides LTH Forum. And I don't want to read yet again only about all the big-name, rave reviewed in the media, multiple starred places that everyone's already heard of on Metromix or Chicago magazine. I may hear about a dining destination at one of those places, but I want to check the review with real people. I want real people telling me what they enjoy eating normally, not just the splurge meals. Sometimes, what really hits the spot is chow fuun, extra extra crispy, not truffles (though who could resist either really).

I always was greedy about food. LTH offers a helpful community of opinions, and now I'm just looking for more sources, if there are any out there.

There's a somewhat out-of-date list of Chicago bloggers here.

www.chicagofoodies.com

Anyone's more than welcome to contribute.