Openings

Pang Pings Kahan’s Plans

Paul Kahan at The Publican.
Paul Kahan at The Publican.

In a season of high-profile openings, Publican Quality Meats is aiming to be one of the high-profiliest, and tomorrow’s big Tribune profile of Paul Kahan probably marks the kickoff of total media domination by PQM as it prepares to fully open for business next week. Kevin Pang leaked a few of the story’s revelations in advance of anyone else doing it, and here are a couple of them: 1) One Off Hospitality (the company behind Kahan’s restaurants) is part of a Rick Bayless initiative to bring better food to our airports; watch for Publican Burger at a terminal near you sometime in the next year or two, and bless them all for trying to make airport dining an encouragement, not an obstacle, to eating in Chicago. 2) Avec may open a branch in New York. We’ve always kind of liked that Kahan et al. ignored New York and mostly kept their restaurants within a couple of small, easily-visited areas, but at the same time, if we can repay the fairly wan New York imports that tend to open here with something genuinely first-rate like Avec, that’s pretty cool. 3) Pilot Light, the nutrition-in-schools program involving local chefs that Kahan and Matthias Merges started and tested this year at Disney II Elementary Magnet, will expand to six schools this year. Look for more in the paper tomorrow. [Tribune]

Pang Pings Kahan’s Plans