John Kessler

2 weeks ago | chicagomag.com | John Kessler

If you order the rigatoni alla amatriciana at Il Carciofo, the cook starts with a handful of diced guanciale, cured pork jowl that looks like bacon but has a far denser texture. Over a flame it renders quickly — the fat liquefies while the flesh shrinks into porky pebbles. The cook tips white wine into the pan, and as it all simmers, the guanciale turns toothsome. Tomato purée goes in next, along with a pinch of red pepper, a splash of cooking water, and the rigatoni.

2 weeks ago | chicagomag.com | John Kessler

One of the things The Bear really gets right about Chicago is the way the whole world-class tasting menu thing and the whole pizza-beef-hot dog thing basically keep the conversation here going by shouting at each other across the room. Those seem to be the two subsets of our vast and varied dining culture that elicit the most opinions, the most passion, the most words. But it looks like things on the high end are starting to change — maybe even come back to earth’s atmosphere.

2 weeks ago | l8r.it | John Kessler

One of the things The Bear really gets right about Chicago is the way the whole world-class tasting menu thing and the whole pizza-beef-hot dog thing basically keep the conversation here going by shouting at each other across the room. Those seem to be the two subsets of our vast and varied dining culture that elicit the most opinions, the most passion, the most words. But it looks like things on the high end are starting to change — maybe even come back to earth’s atmosphere.

1 month ago | chicagomag.com | John Kessler

Fifteen months in, Maxwells Trading has reached its “late adolescence,” in the words of chef and co-owner Erling Wu-Bower. When he and his team opened the ambitious spot, they ignored a lot of conventional wisdom and dining tropes, and as a result, its infancy was a handful. Wu-Bower (Avec, Pacific Standard Time) and executive chef Chris Jung (PST, Momotaro) wanted the menu to hold a mirror up to Chicago in all its multicultural variety and messy excellence.

1 month ago | chicagomag.com | John Kessler

Novel Pizza Cafe 1759 W. 19th St. Heart of Chicago Hours Perfect order Longanisa and giardiniera pizza ($31.50) and ube latte ($6.50) Something special happens when pork, sugar, and hot peppers find each other, which is why hot honey and spicy pepperoni cups have become a popular one-two punch for pizza.