Reader and Sun-Times: Food And Beer

Second verse, same as the first! A little bit louder and a little bit involving completely different publications!

THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, newspaper with a confoundingly awful website
•Pat Bruno sets aside his love for all things Italian and chows down on some falafel at Chickpea (2018 W. Chicago, 773 384 9930). This review, blandly positive, basically reads like a vocabulary checklist list for Middle Eastern food — list item, explain what it is, say it tastes nice. Also this fun call-and-response part: “Kabobs? Yes, several.” I’m going to start asking people “Kabobs?” at random junctures now, and I will be sad if they don’t answer “Yes, several.” Very sad.

• The triumphant return of Thomas Witom, lord of the suburbs! (Okay, he’s actually been bylining since December, but that was a crazy month what with holidays) He goes on an odyssey to Lombard to check out Odyssey (see what I did there?!), a traditional-foods-oriented Greek restaurant with solid offerings. Try the daily specials.

• Bruno’s more substantive review is of Oak Park’s Briejo (also reviewed this week in TOC). He likes it a lot, yay. More importantly! We get some insight into the patented Bruno Reviewing Philosophy: “I don’t usually write about salads; greens are greens. However, when I do come across a salad that is something special, I believe I should bring it up.” Thanks, Pat, super-helpful.

THE CHICAGO READER, beleaguered alt-weekly
• Martha Bayne has the byline this week, profiling Josh Deth, the (awesomely named) proprietor of Handlebar, who’s putting together a brewpub for his (also awesomely named) Revolution Brewing Company. It’s been nearly a decade in the making, but an end is finally in sight. Of course, it will be green (In the -er-than-thou sense, not the color-of-Kermit sense), but it also sounds like it will be very very good.

[Photo of Briejo via their official site]

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Reader and Sun-Times: Food And Beer