stevez wrote:Not really LTH related, but someone on this list is the cover boy for Crain's Chicago Business this week. Oh wait...it's me.

Steve,

Very cool, front page and everything. I think I'll go buy a frame for the Mr. Z Crain's edition.

Enjoy,
Gary

MAG wrote:More evidence of the LTHer reach. (And I apologize in advance for unseemly tooting).

If you didn't say, we wouldn't know. Unseemly? I call it giving fate a little push, which is the smart thing to do.

Best regards,

stevez wrote:Not really LTH related, but someone on this list is the cover boy for Crain's Chicago Business this week. Oh wait...it's me.

Steve,

I may have got bumped for Tom Cruise's baby, but I'm looking at your picture in Crain's as I type. Very cool!
(Now were did I put that dart board. )

Enjoy,
Gary

I just watched Gary's brief, but memorable apperance on the Today show. He was credited as being a food critic and his on-screen title mentioned LTH Forum. There were quotes from quite a few people in the piece, but he was the only one mentioned by name. Way to go, Gary.

Wonderful. I hope this gives a big bump to H1 (and Gary).

If someone TIVO-ed it, and can burn it to DVD, we can get it on-line.

leek wrote:If someone TIVO-ed it, and can burn it to DVD, we can get it on-line.

Should somebody have that content it might be better to make it available as a torrent, which would allow a bit more stealth in staying under the radar of the NBC Universal legal team.

HI,

This is a quick flash moment rather than domination. Friday Night the Hungry Hound on WLS-TV did a review of David Burke's Primehouse. If you click on the video link, then you can see the entire televised review.

The quick flash moment is when they are making the Ceasar Salad tableside with MsWiv watching the spectacle. It is only a flash, though another LTHforum moment.

Best regards,

C2, thanks for posting the link -- Ellen told me about it yesterday (and she certainly deserves a little airtime, as I believe she's been to David Burke's a zillion times already).

I was a little disappointed, though, in the Tempting Toxins spot that comes up before Dolinksky -- I guess I was expecting something different.

Those of you who fly on Southwest Airlines and get bored (and who wouldn't) might open a copy of their in-flight magazine (May 2006) for a feature on restaurants that serve breakfast ("The Breakfast Club" by Jeff Siegel) - airlines no longer serve breakfast, just write about them.

There on page 142:

"There's also something about breakfast itself, says Gary Alan Fine, a sociologist who teaches at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. he sends his students to fast-food restaurants to practice basic field methods, and one of their unexpected finidings - and this happens almost every time, he says - is that the fast-food place has an almost completely different feel at breakfast than it does at lunch or dinner. "At breakfast, it feels like a diner," Fine says. "The customers know the staff; they know each other. After breakfast, it feels like any anonymous fast-food restaurant. Breakfast, as a meal, can create its own community. It's like the water cooler in a large office."

Pretty pathetic, I know, but I'm saving the good stuff for United.

The restaurants discussed are Mama's Royal Cafe in Oakland, Barney Greengrass in New York, Tiny Diny Restaurant in Mobile, Paris Coffee Shop in Fort Worth, and our own Lou Mitchell's. Way to go, Lou!

Gary,

It must be very pleasant to find yourself, I presume unexpectedly, quoted in a magazine.

Your observation is very true about fast food restaurants at breakfast. At the Highland Park McDonalds, sitting at the round tables by the windows like a lot of little towns, there are school bus drivers eating before making their rounds. It is also the hang out for the senior citizen crowd who eat, drink their discounted coffee and read the complimentary newspapers.

Regards,

GAF,

I believe generating a "breakfast community" was a conscious marketing strategy of McDonald's -- somewhere during the time I spent at their corporate headquarters, I seem to recall an effort to offer senior discounts or some such incentives to attract an early crowd (the elderly like things early).

Your work is very interesting -- I should probably read one of your books.

David

PS. Is Jeff Siegel a local writer? I may know him.

Jeff is Dallas-based. So I guess he's local there.

McDonalds should have hired me as a consultant. It's never too late.

Too funny about the quote in the recent issue of Southwest's magazine on breakfast dining. I just read that very same snippet in route back to Chicago from SF/Napa. Aside from reading the magazine with this very article, I was working on taking notes so I could later posted a detailed trip report to this forum, since I took advantage of many recs posted here

I also worked on a certain chain's efforts to get that community-- which is nearly all seniors, I think-- at breakfast, specifically to lure them away from Hardee's, which had a lock on seniors in the south due to the quality of its biscuits. I remember being in a meeting where some food scientist said, with all the seriousness of NASA circa 1967, "We're working on a new biscuit." It took all my willpower not to blurt out, "Have you considered flour and shortening?"

Speaking of the same certain chain, an acquaintance also worked on their advertising account. She recollected an occasion when they puzzled over why the filet-o-fish sales went off the charts every spring on Fridays. She claims to have waited a painfully long time before blurting out, "Have you ever heard of the Lent before Easter? When many Christians abstain from meat on Fridays?"

Regards,

Believe me, it may have been a mystery to the ad agency but it wasn't a mystery to the store I worked at in high school, a block from St. Thomas Aquinas.

Cathy2 wrote:Speaking of the same certain chain, an acquaintance also worked on their advertising account. She recollected an occasion when they puzzled over why the filet-o-fish sales went off the charts every spring on Fridays. She claims to have waited a painfully long time before blurting out, "Have you ever heard of the Lent before Easter? When many Christians abstain from meat on Fridays?"

Regards,

The legendary Lou Groen of Cincinnati invented the Filet-o-Fish at the first franchise in town, with the intention of specifically catering to a local Catholic crowd. (http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2006/03/06/story3.html).

As I'm sure I bragged elsewhere, I've had the pleasure of enjoying a "fish sandwich" with him in the mid 80s. Man's a god.

Hammond

"I do not wish to set off global tempests because I frankly just don't know enough on those."

Wow, Hammond, I guess that's the first Tony Snow reference in LTH and made only hours after he said that. Just wondering why I'm the one that some people think is political . . .

Kman wrote:"I do not wish to set off global tempests because I frankly just don't know enough on those."

Wow, Hammond, I guess that's the first Tony Snow reference in LTH and made only hours after he said that. Just wondering why I'm the one that some people think is political . . .

I'm an equal opportunity quote-lifter. Whether it's a Kennedy or a Bush, when something silly or questionable is said by one of our "officials" (elected or otherwise), I consider it sig-line fodder. That, plus punch lines from bad jokes, which I consider roughly equivalent.

Just happy knowing that we have standards - many - to pick and choose as we see fit.

LTH,

Congratulations are in order for Cathy2, LeeK and Trixie-Pea for their participation in Bill Daley's "Under the weather" (Inclement weather Memorial Day cookout tips) in todays Chicago Tribune Good Eating section.

LTHForum was mentioned as well and, to boot, it's quite an interesting article.

Enjoy,
Gary

G Wiv wrote:LTH,

Congratulations are in order for Cathy2, LeeK and Trixie-Pea for their participation in Bill Daley's "Under the weather" (Inclement weather Memorial Day cookout tips) in todays Chicago Tribune Good Eating section.

LTHForum was mentioned as well and, to boot, it's quite an interesting article.

Enjoy,
Gary

LTH mentioned twice in one article -- I think that's a record.

C2, I like the idea of cooking in my fireplace but have never made anything other than roasted chestnuts.

Another cool thing about using the "hearth" to make food is that others could participate. When I'm grilling, it's pretty much just me -- if we were cooking in the fireplace (though it would limit the menu a little), others would feel licensed to assist. Heck, I'm starting to hope it rains Monday...

Hammond,

An idea I tossed into the mix, which is on the cutting room floor, is the flaming cabbage!



Though I could imagine people loving the idea but not the execution!

I liked Trixie Pea's mighty fine ideas for totally reworking the ingredients for Memorial Day BBQ into a soul food dinner.

Regards,

Some familiar faces perhaps in the photo from Honey 1 in this slide show at the Metromix site?

The august Vital Information has spilled some ink in the June 8-15 issue of Time Out Chicago regarding Mandarin Kitchen. On the newsstands now; you can access it online, but you may need a subscription: http://www.timeout.com/chicago/Details.do?page=1&xyurl=xyl://TOCWebArticles1/67/eat_out_drink_up/save_this_restaurant.xml

Congrats to VI -- let's see more like this!

G Wiv wrote:LTH,

Congratulations are in order for Cathy2, LeeK and Trixie-Pea for their participation in Bill Daley's "Under the weather" (Inclement weather Memorial Day cookout tips) in todays Chicago Tribune Good Eating section.

Except he left out the part where I said if you served enough liquor no one would notice that the food hadn't been cooked outside

And because it said I work at UIC College of Medicine our Public Affairs department sent it to me! I managed not to get the paper that one day, and that's the day it was in!

David Hammond wrote:The august Vital Information has spilled some ink in the June 8-15 issue of Time Out Chicago regarding Mandarin Kitchen. On the newsstands now; you can access it online, but you may need a subscription: http://www.timeout.com/chicago/Details.do?page=1&xyurl=xyl://TOCWebArticles1/67/eat_out_drink_up/save_this_restaurant.xml

Congrats to VI -- let's see more like this!

We went last night for dinner (homemade noodles were damn good) and it seemed like there was a considerable TOC reader presence there. The place was pretty full and there were a lot of first timers ordering soup dumplings. Service, though, was completely overwhelmed.

That's great, well not about the service, but that is great that it got them some folks in the door. Very nice piece Rob.

Two LTHers in the media this week:

--The June 15th issue of Time Out Chicago includes a terrific article about dining on regional Italian food in Chicago by our own David Hammond.

--The Sunday June 18th Trib features a column about BBQ by John Kass which prominently features Gary Wiviott. Kass coined a new battle cry for backyard BBQ everywhere: WWGD (What would Gary do?).

Best,
Michael